I adore surrealism. I think it is the most unique and brilliant sub-genre of art that has ever existed. How can complete absurdity, and otherworldly imagery, come together to form something so human and realistic? At the forefront of the surrealist film movement is Alejandro Jodorowsky, a man I have admired for many years, both…
Category: Drama
Brooklyn (2015)
Period dramas can either be dreadfully boring or wonderfully entertaining, depending on the approach taken. There are some period dramas that tell a true story, and others that tell fictional stories set in the past. Brooklyn falls into the latter group, and while it certainly was not dreadfully boring by any stretch of the imagination,…
Room (2015)
It is a strange occurrence when a film brings you to tears. I won’t pretend to be a tough person by claiming to have the ability to not be brought to tears. There are a few films that made me a complete emotional wreck, and while I may not be overly sensitive to the tricks…
In the Mood for Love (2000)
It was about two years ago when my perception of cinema was completely changed, when I saw a film that broke the boundaries of what a film could make one feel. The film was Chungking Express, a bizarre and brilliant masterpiece of cinema. The mind behind that film was Wong Kar-Wai, a filmmaker who has…
The Great Beauty (2013)
What can I say about this behemoth of a film? Finding words for something like The Great Beauty is an extraordinarily difficult task. I could list an entire dictionary of terms to explain what I felt about The Great Beauty – complex, hilarious, meaningful, brilliant, twisted. It is a film unlike any you will ever…
The End of the Tour (2015)
My love of books predates my love of cinema, and something I have noticed is the almost complete lack of films about writers. We have so many biopics of musicians, athletes and performers, but very rarely films about authors, which is a shame because, in some ways, they are some of the most interesting people…
Beasts of No Nation (2015)
War films have the ability to be either an absolute chore to get through, or to be moving and emotional adventures into times of extreme suffering. War films, in my humble opinion, are best when they are unflinching in regards to their subject matter. What is the use of telling the audience a story about…
Love & Mercy (2015)
There is a moment in Love & Mercy where a young Brian Wilson, played by Paul Dano, is standing in a recording studio, and is confronted by his father, who tells him that he has peaked and that The Beach Boys are going to be forgotten in a few years. It is the typical moment…
Sicario (2015)
Denis Villeneuve is a filmmaker capable of making thrilling drama and emotional brilliance, and as a visual storyteller, he is absolutely phenomenal. With the release of his sadly underrated Prisoners two years ago, Villeneuve has started to gain somewhat of a mainstream following, which resulted in him being able to do a large studio film,…
Two Days, One Night (2014)
Who doesn’t love a good social drama every now and then? The Dardenne Brothers (Luc and Jean-Pierre) are seen as masters of Belgian cinema, and absolute geniuses at creating captivating drama about society. Their most recent film is Two Days, One Night, a harsh and unflinching look at the realities of a particular aspect of…
