Long before they were the critically-acclaimed embodiment of the modern independent auteur, known for directing masterful works such as Good Time and Uncut Gems, Josh and Benny Safdie were obscure filmmakers that worked on shoestring budgets that could barely fund even a day’s work on a mainstream film, and who created films from the most…

Before he was a world-class actor known for an almost chameleonic control of his craft, Riz Ahmed was a journeyman entertainer, taking on minor roles in smaller productions, all as a means of supporting his music career, where he would rap under the stage name Riz MC, as part of the underground duo Sweat Shop…

Adam (Youssouf Djaoro) lives in the centre of a busy city somewhere in Chad. He has lived a simple but worthwhile life, with his earlier years being dominated by his reputation as one of the best swimmers in his nation’s history, which has made him into quite a folkloric figure. However, he has mainly spent…

Jim (David Thewlis) and Veronica (Laysla De Oliveira) are a father and daughter who carry many secrets, most of which have gone with the former to his grave. Now deceased, Jim is about to be buried, and his daughter decides to honour his final wish to have his funeral at a specific Catholic church, for…

Archie Rice (Laurence Olivier) is the last person who will ever admit to being outdated, even though nearly everyone else around him holds this to be an unimpeachable truth. A relic of the days when the stage was dominated by eccentric, middle-aged men who performed in sold-out theatres to adoring crowds who enjoyed the upbeat,…

Beth (Sophia Lillis) is an impressionable young woman starting college in New York City, which is just about as far as she can get, both physically and mentally, from her hometown, the small working-class hamlet of Creekville, South Carolina, where the spectre of the past still lingers, despite being well into the 1970s. As a…

The world of art has often made a point of exploring the concept referred to as a “national novel”, which is defined as a work of literature that embodies every aspect of that country, encompassing both its history and present culture, and touching on many issues that are faced by their citizens, condensing them into…

When it was announced a few years ago that Joe Mantello, an actor and director known for his electrifying stage productions, would be mounting a revival of Mart Crowley’s powerful play The Boys in the Band, the response was divisive – it’s a text that has carried great significance over the past half a century,…

I’m not sure what any of us expected from Hillbilly Elegy, but if it was a good film, it seems to have been something of a tall order, and one that simply could not be met in any conceivable way by a film that seems, more than anything else, entirely unnecessary to begin with. Naturally,…

A lot is simmering below the surface of Proxima, the daring space drama (which doesn’t actually show the proverbial “final frontier” at all, one of several fascinating directorial decisions made in the creation of this film) from Alice Winocour, who plucks a number of timely, incredibly relevant themes and throws them together into what can…