Category Film

#LFF 2023: ESSEX GIRLS (Short) Film Review

Busayo Ige in ESSEX GIRLS (2023)

ESSEX GIRLS is a short but impactful film about identity, race and the power of female friendships.

4 out of 5 stars

When you look up the term “Essex Girl” on Google, you’ll come across a stereotype: a loud, materialistic white woman, typically with blonde hair and a fake tan. It’s a stereotype we all know, but it doesn’t fit Bisola.

Growing up in Benfleet, Essex as a British-Nigerian girl hasn’t been easy for Bisola...

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#LFF 2023: LAST SUMMER (L’ETE DERNIER) Film Review

Léa Drucker and Samuel Kircher in LAST SUMMER (2023)

LAST SUMMER is an oddly subdued affair about the impulsive and regrettable choices people make when desire takes control.

2.5 out of 5 stars

French filmmaker Catherine Breillat returns to the screen with LAST SUMMER, an unsettling anti-romance, which is a remake of May el-Toukhy’s award-winning Danish film QUEEN OF HEARTS.

The story revolves around Anne (Léa Drucker), a successful lawyer with a wealthy husband and two adopted daughters...

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BFI #LFF 2022: THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE CAR Film Review

Shamelessly indulging in genre cliches, Christine Ko’s twisty thriller, THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE CAR, finds new ways to turn itself on its head.

3 out of 5 stars

Originally conceived as a short, two-part TV drama, Christine Ko makes her feature film debut with THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE CAR, a twisty thriller that centres around three women.

The film opens with a frantic young woman arriving at Seolwon hospital by car, carrying a limp body...

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BFI #LFF 2022: SICK OF MYSELF Film Review

Dark, funny, and deeply disturbing, SICK GIRL is a sharp and biting satire about our desire to be seen.

4 out of 5 stars

Following his debut feature, DRIB (2017), writer-director Kristoffer Borgli serves up a deliciously horrid treat with SICK OF MYSELF, an extremely grotesque satire about morbid attention seeking.

On the surface, Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp) and boyfriend Thomas (Erik Saether) look like an Insta-perfect couple, but their constant and petty attempts to outshine each other point to something m...

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BFI #LFF 2022: THE WOODCUTTER STORY Film Review

Strange, surreal, and deeply melancholy, THE WOODCUTTER STORY is a muted social comedy driven by Finland’s famously deadpan, dark humour.

2.5 out of 5 stars

Mikko Myllylahti delivers an unpredictable Nordic oddity with his debut feature, THE WOODCUTTER STORY, a deadpan philosophical fable with famously deadpan Finnish humour.

Set in a snowbound area of Finland surrounded by mountains and forests, THE WOODCUTTER STORY follows Pepe, a middle-aged, easy-going woodcutter who lives in contentment with his wife and yo...

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BFI #LFF 2022: SUBTRACTION Film Review

Taraneh Alidoosti in Subtraction (2022)

Taraneh Alidoosti in SUBTRACTION (2022)

Driven by strong cast performance and impressive cinematography, Mani Haghighi’s twisty human drama SUBTRACTION keeps you guessing until the final frame.

4 out of 5 stars

In his latest feature film, Iranian filmmaker Mani Haghighi delivers a tense Hitchcockian thriller about a married couple who meet their doppelgangers in Tehran.

While out on a lesson, young driving instructor Farzaneh (Taraneh Alidoosti) spots her husband, Jalal, walking into a woman’s apartment...

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THE BEZONIANS Film Review

Vinnie Jones in The Bezonians

Despite its stand-out cast performance, THE BEZONIANS is let down by cliches, lack of character development and an incohesive plot.

2.5 out of 5 stars

The world of underground clubs and strong cultural groups is unknown to many...

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GRIMMFest Easter 2022: WOODLAND GREY Film Review

Chelsea Goldwater in Woodland Grey (2021)
Despite its frustratingly vague storyline, WOODLAND GREY is an unsettling slow burn, driven by a powerful cast performance and striking cinematography.

3 out of 5 stars

Canadian indie horror WOODLAND GREY is an unsettling slow-burn whose flame threatens to go out at any minute. It follows suspicious forest dweller, William (Ryan Blakely), as he stumbles upon the unconscious Emily (Jenny Raven) and attempts to nurse her back to health...

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GRIMMFEST Easter 2022: THE FAMILY Film Review

THE FAMILY Film

With striking visuals, grippingly intense performances, and a thrillingly unpredictable story, THE FAMILY is horror at its finest.

4 out of 5 stars

Family dynamics, religious oppression, and moral hypocrisy form the focus of Dan Slater’s uneasy and subtly gripping feature film THE FAMILY, which plays at GRIMMFest Easter this coming weekend.

Written by Adam Booth and Dan Slater, THE FAMILY follows a macabre religious cult that relies upon its members to pledge their allegiance to their god, Etan, through har...

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OPERATION MINCEMEAT Film Review

Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, and Johnny Flynn in Operation Mincemeat (2021)
Blending high-level espionage with ingenious fiction, OPERATION MINCEMEAT is a lavish, well told, old-fashioned war story about the greatest weapon in war – deception.

4 out of 5 stars

It is said that the greatest weapon in war is deception, and if John Madden’s latest spy thriller OPERATION MINCEMEAT is anything to go by, it certainly is true.

Set in 1943 during World War 2, OPERATION MINCEMEAT tells the extraordinary true story of an elaborate plan to deceive Hitler into believing English forces intend to la...

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