If we are looking at the history of romance on screen, we can divide it into two distinct eras – those films that were made before Brief Encounter, and those that were made after it. This isn’t a hyperbolic way of calling this one of the greatest screen romances ever committed to film – it’s…

Francophone cinema has certainly held a monopoly when it comes to foreign language filmmaking, as evident by the prominence of French and Belgian films that are widely consumed every year. However, an area that we tend to overlook are the movies produced in Canada by the French-speaking population. It’s certainly not a case of there…

How do you begin a conversation about Eo without simply collapsing into a state of complete psychological despair? This is one of the many questions that anyone endeavouring to discuss the ambitious drama written and directed by the legendary and highly influential Jerzy Skolimowski has to face when confronted with the abundance of emotions contained…

Watching a film made by a pioneer of a specific kind of movement or national cinema is always a compelling experience, since it allows us to see a different side of the filmmaking process, as well as gives insights into the challenges these directors tend to face. Márta Mészáros is one of Hungary’s most celebrated…

Every few years, there is a film that comes along that is so striking and ambitious, the process of leaving the cinema is nearly impossible, whether it be the result of awe-inspired wonder, or the abundance of emotions that wash over the viewer. The Whale was a very difficult film to walk away from –…

They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery – but for François Ozon, it has never only been about paying tribute to his artistic heroes, but infusing his films with a celebratory spirit that vividly praises their work, getting to the heart of what makes each one of them such important influences in…

It’s often been said that in order for a story to be effective, all one needs is a single location, a pair of good actors and a strong script that gives them something to do. It’s the foundation for a lot of theatre, and as a result has inevitably found its way into cinema as…

One of the more unique traits of being a director who is often defined by his prolific output is that you are often responsible for some of the greatest films ever made, as well as some of the worst, which is especially true when another distinctive quality is that they were driven by the desire…

There is such a narrow boundary between interest and infatuation, and no one knows this better than the protagonist of Love and Death on Long Island, which focuses on a few months in the life of a pedantic English writer who finds himself accidentally seeing a teen-oriented comedy, and by almost a serendipitous turn of…

At a cursory glance, Tender Mercies does not seem like a particularly noteworthy film – designed mainly as a vehicle for Robert Duvall, who was at the peak of his career as an actor, having been dominant in a range of films throughout the 1970s that made him one of the most sought-after actors working…