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,…
Champagne for Caesar (1950)
Beauregard Bottomley (Ronald Colman) is something of a genius – it’s unlikely that one will find him without his nose nestled deeply within a book on nearly any subject, a multitude of facts residing in his middle-class brain. However, his preoccupation with educating himself on every matter has left him at a disadvantage when it…
Trees Lounge (1996)
As arguably one of the most distinctive faces in the history of independent cinema, to the point where his name is synonymous with a particular era and style of filmmaking as a result of his prolific career and role in the movement, Steve Buscemi certainly is someone we could expect to have learned a great…
Ace in the Hole (1951)
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…
Breakfast on Pluto (2005)
Art has the ability to bring profound change, even if it is solely through the channel of provoking thought, which usually lead to spirited discussions about a range of vitally important issues. Patrick McCabe’s Breakfast on Pluto tells the story of a young transgender woman growing up during an era of extreme social and political…
Strangers on a Train (1951)
If there was ever a film that’s title reflected the most deranged sense of false marketing, it would be Strangers on a Train, since only approximately ten minutes of this film are spent on a train, and the two titular characters introduce themselves almost immediately, removing all sense of them being strangers. Luckily, this is…
Dogra Magra (1988)
His career may have produced a relatively short output, in the form of only having directed four feature-length films over the course of two decades, but no one would ever deny the brilliance of Toshio Matsumoto, one of Japanese cinema’s most fascinating provocateurs, and someone whose work has left a profound impression on post-war Japanese…
The Palm Beach Story (1942)
Any film that starts and ends with the words “they lived happily ever after…or did they?” is bound to be something quite remarkable, especially one produced over eighty years ago. It’s hardly a surprise that the mind behind this simple but effective manipulation of a common trope is Preston Sturges, a filmmaker whose entire existence…
Brad’s Status (2017)
It’s tough to be mediocre – or at least, that’s the basic premise of Brad’s Status, which follows a middle-aged man as he tries to make sense of a world he no longer recognizes while undergoing a series of college tours with his gifted son, in whom he sees every lost ambition and broken dream…
Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
“Qu’est-ce que cela fait? Tout est grâce” These are the chilling final words that appear in Diary of a Country Priest (French: Journal d’un curé de campagne), the beautiful but shattering adaptation of the novel by Georges Bernanos, carefully brought to the screen by esteemed French realist Robert Bresson, who utilizes his ability to capture…
The Postmodern Pelican 