While I’d not consider myself a dissident, I have been open about how critical I am of the form Disney and Pixar have taken over the last couple of decades, going from producing the gold standard in animation and mastering the art of family-oriented storytelling, to a shrill shadow of their former glory, another cog…
Tag: film
Invisible Ghost (1941)
One of the great injustices of the genre hierarchy that was so prominent during the Golden Age of Hollywood was that the supposed prestige films, such as westerns and melodramas, were promoted as being the most integral to every studio, whereas those shafted to the category of B-movie were seen as lesser achievements, and only…
Y tu mamá también (2001)
There are some filmmakers who defy categorisation, since their versatility in terms of skill and tendency to explore a wide range of stories has often allowed them to challenge conventions, going in pursuit of something deeper and more profound, regardless of which genre in which they’re working. Very few directors have been able to achieve…
The Owl and the Pussycat (1970)
I love stories that take place over a single period of time, whether an individual night or a slightly longer stretch, where everything is contained into something slightly more manageable. I once recall driving through a city at night with a friend, and remarking to him how I am still waiting to have my own…
Holy Days (2026)
There’s an old adage I’ve heard bandied about in the film industry from time to time – when all else fails, put a nun in the movie. Has there ever been a group of people more affectionately relegated to the status of human props more than the brides of Christ, whose distinctive manner of dressing…
Round Midnight (1986)
Music is more than just a pleasant distraction to break the monotony of daily life. It’s a form of expression, into which many artists pour their hearts and souls, using it as a vessel for a range of existential quandaries, filtering the pain and confusion that comes with being alive into sonically pleasing works of…
Your Monster (2024)
Everyone has a proverbial monster in their closet, a creature that represents our innermost quandaries and most closely guarded secrets, which we keep hidden away from prying eyes as much as possible. In the case of Your Monster, this concept becomes quite literal, with director Caroline Lindy (adapting her own short film of the same…
The Searchers (1956)
The exceptionally insightful critic Stuart Byron once famously asserted that “in a broad sense it can be said that all recent American cinema derives from John Ford’s The Searchers” – and it just so happens that this was amongst the first pieces of film criticism I read as an adolescent. It is something that has…
Clifford (1994)
There’s a special joy that comes in discovering a film that was seemingly been dismissed, if not outright despised, by the industry, audiences and critical establishment, to the point where it carries the burden of being considered a failure, which becomes an indelible stain on its reputation – and realising that it is actually a…
Solo (2023)
There comes a point in many people’s lives when they look in the mirror and realise they don’t quite recognise who they see on the other side, whether for better or worse. In terms of the protagonist of Solo, the ambitious drama written and directed by Sophie Depuis, it is a combination of both. Best…
The Postmodern Pelican 