What is there to say that hasn’t already been said countless times before when it comes to All About Eve? The film, which is almost unanimously considered not only the personal best work of the brilliant Joseph L. Mankiewicz, but one of the most well-regarded and iconic pieces of cinema to ever be produced, has…

As the adage goes, desperate times breed desperate measures – and a group of filmmakers that implicitly understood this concept were those that worked under the umbrella of Italian neo-realism, the movement that emerged during the Second World War, and sought to describe the challenges faced by ordinary people that fell victim to the social…

When it comes to discussing art, there is a great deal of discourse surrounding the debate between style and substance, with many tending to view it as a binary system, and one that an artist (regardless of medium) can only employ individually. If there was ever someone who could be considered to have mastered both…

Saying goodbye is never easy. Whether or not we find it tragic or cathartic (or both, which is often the case with losing a loved one), there’s something profoundly challenging about uttering those final words, granted one even has the power to say something so absolute. This is the foundation for As They Made Us,…

When an artist has achieved perfection (or something very close to it), it’s difficult to justify their decision to try to replicate that same success. This is the case for Joanna Hogg, whose efforts in bringing The Souvenir Part II to the screen were admirable, if not slightly bewildering, not because the film was bad…

Crime doesn’t pay, but it certainly doesn’t seem to help pay the rent on occasion. This is the fundamental conversation being conducted throughout King of New York, the ambitious crime drama by Abel Ferrara, who has made something of a career out of telling stories of individuals that may engage in activities that are somewhat…

You liked Rashomon “That’s not how I remember it” The Simpsons, “Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo” (1999) Not only is Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (Japanese: 羅生門) the basis for arguably the most elegant and unexpectedly funny joke in sitcom history, it is quite simply one of the most important films ever made. It wasn’t Kurosawa’s first film…

The very mention of the name Federico Fellini is bound to stir a strong reaction – for some, he embodies the very essence of Italian cinema, being one of the foremost auteurs that brought his nation to global relevance through his prolific and varied career that stretches across nearly half a century. For others, he…

Regardless of the story he’s telling, or the characters that occupy it, Mike Leigh’s films are always captivating, grabbing the audience’s attention through his engaging approach to looking at a range of subjects. Interestingly, we can divide the esteemed director’s work into two broad categories – there are the contemporary films, set in modern-day England,…

In An Ideal Husband, Oscar Wilde quipped that “in the old days men had the rack. Now they have the press”. This piece of sardonic humour is oddly resonant, especially since the media has shown very little sign of not being the source of torture for many individuals. Over the years, we’ve seen how the…