The Magistrate (Sir Mark Rylance) is an unnamed bureaucrat perched at the top of a remote outpost in a distant region of an indeterminate colonial empire. He maintains a good relationship with the locals – he’s a kind-hearted and genial man who immerses himself in the culture, and longs for nothing other than a peaceful…
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)
Very few artists were able to capture the wide-ranging milieu of the United States during the twentieth century more than August Wilson, whose Pittsburgh Cycle remains one of the most daring explorations of the last one-hundred years in American history. Gradually, these stories have made their way to film, mainly due to the efforts of…
Happiest Season (2020)
It’s the time of the year where Hollywood sets its sights on the world’s most lavish consumerist event, hoping to capture the spirit of the season and captivate audiences, who are undoubtedly clamouring to get into the Christmas mood. Every year, we receive new Christmas-themed films, many of them following a familiar formula, which we…
Narcissus and Goldmund (2020)
Hermann Hesse’s Narcissus and Goldmund (German: Narziss und Goldmund) is a classic of European literature, a moving story of two individuals who start out their lives in much the same way, before deviating onto wildly different paths, it has been the source of a lot of discussion since its original publication. Oddly enough, it has…
Floating Weeds (1959)
Even when he wasn’t directly focused on it, the central concept in the work of Yasujirō Ozu has always been family, with many of his films venturing towards discussions into the role of the individual amongst their closest connections, which has made for some thoroughly compelling viewing throughout his career. One of his crowning achievements…
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
Tennessee Williams truly redefined the concept of having an old friend for dinner with Suddenly, Last Summer. A playwright who captured both the gritty nuances of the human condition, as well as the bold and absurd excess of our behaviour, Williams tapped into a side of life that has yet to be matched by any…
Let Them All Talk (2020)
Steven Soderbergh has a tendency to be very surprising – quite literally. One of the most prolific filmmakers of his generation, it is not unheard of for him to produce multiple films in a year, or at the very least have a new project in the pipeline at all times (which is amusing, considering how…
Querelle (1982)
Querelle is a bloated, pretentious and incredibly convoluted mess of a film – and it’s one of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s greatest achievements. Not normally a film discussed outside of the context of being the director’s final work, it is something that appeals more to those interested in looking at Fassbinder’s oeuvre in more detail, than…
Daddy Longlegs (2009)
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…
The Prom (2020)
Musical films tend to be a gateway genre into more serious forms of cinema, since many of us grew up being enchanted by the singing and dancing of colourful characters who were normally animated, and there to provide us with a bridge from the earliest days of consuming film, to when we are fully aware…
The Postmodern Pelican 