Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) is a mild-mannered choir teacher who harbours a very unconventional secret – when she is not conducting the ragtag group of citizens in harmonious arrangements, she is the infamous “Woman of the Mountain”, a activist (some would call her a vandal) who has taken it upon herself to prevent the encroaching threat…

Sometimes, we find ourselves blessed with an unexpected gift. Earlier this year, Netflix continued to prove themselves as not only one of the most rapidly-ascending entertainment providers but also the facilitator of some truly astounding and original pieces. It came in the form of an obscure short film that bears the masterful title Frankenstein’s Monster’s…

“The whole past is just fiction” I don’t think we’ll ever understand exactly what was going on in the gloriously twisted mind of Shūji Terayama, whose groundbreaking work spans a few decades and looked at growing up in a way very few artists ever managed to. Perhaps his most beloved film is Pastoral: To Die…

A nightclub singer named Yolanda witnesses her troubled boyfriend overdose on heroin that she has given to him, and knowing that she is going to be the prime suspect in his death, from both the nosy police officers set to investigate the case, and the violent underworld figures that he had shady dealings with, she…

Schmuel (Géza Röhrig) has recently lost his beloved wife to cancer. The well-liked cantor and father of two finds his world thrown into disarray with this tragic incident, and as a result, he recedes from public view, becoming a shadow of his former self, constantly burdened with nightmares and dark thoughts about his late wife,…

Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young woman who has recently moved to New York City, finds an abandoned bag on the subway. She decides to return it to its rightful owner, who turns out to be Greta (Isabelle Huppert), a friendly French piano teacher who is very grateful to the younger woman for her act…

I first watched Network about a decade ago, when I initially sought it out after discovering that it is considered a seminal piece of New Hollywood filmmaking, and an essential example of satire. I thought it was a splendid film, but one that felt fundamentally cold and detached, and no matter how hard I tried,…

When it comes to making controversial, transgressive cinema, John Waters reigns supreme – throughout his career, especially in the earlier stages, he relished in shocking viewers and leaving the audience shocked. His films are still twisted and perverse by today’s standards, and we look at them through the rose-tinted glasses of cult nostalgia. Imagining audiences…

In 1996, Danny Boyle established himself as a filmmaker to watch with his sophomore film, the dark comedy Trainspotting, which would go on to become a cult classic, and an iconic piece of renegade filmmaking. Something about Trainspotting (both the film and the novel it is based on) just made it a sensation – whether…

Three sisters reuniting in the farmhouse that they grew up in, in their rural Mississippi community. Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart is a staple of community and amateur theatre and has been a reliable production ever since debuting decades ago, with its story of family and community resonating with audiences. It also received the…