BFI Flare Review: Oskar Roehler’s ‘Enfant Terrible’
“‘Enfant Terrible’ is one of the more successful examples of a director biopic, but the familiar conventions of the genre eventually do a disservice to such a talented filmmaker.”
Alistair Ryder
Why Criticism: Can Film Criticism and Awards Season Co-Exist?
“Many of us may miss the drama of awards season, but there are untold benefits to criticism if it continues to evolve away from its current state.”
Sundance Review: Ben Wheatley’s ‘In the Earth’
“The most surprising thing about ‘In the Earth’ may be just how much of a return it is to the pitch black humour that characterised Wheatley’s earliest films.”
Sundance Review: Jane Schoenbrun’s ‘We’re All Going to the World’s Fair’
“‘We’re All Going to the World’s Fair’ would’ve benefitted from leaning more into the ambiguous lines between documentation and constructed fiction, but it remains a fascinating fiction debut nevertheless.”
Sundance Review: Nattawut Poonpiriya’s ‘One for the Road’
“‘One for the Road’ feels like a filmmaker trying to capture another director’s voice to the extent that they lose their own in the process.”
Review: Deepa Mehta’s ‘Funny Boy’
“‘Funny Boy’ may seem groundbreaking on paper, but there’s nothing particularly original about this overly familiar and largely reductive adaptation of an acclaimed novel.”
Review: Lee Isaac Chung’s ‘Minari’
“‘Minari’ might be the best example to date of a film that understands the romantic appeal of a country that claims to pride itself on its immigrant population, and why millions of people worldwide still follow that ideal…”
Review: Kornél Mundruczó’s ‘Pieces of a Woman’
“There’s a lot to admire about ‘Pieces of a Woman,’ but Mundruczó’s film loses its way as it continues to untether itself from the opening’s grounded realism.”
Local Heroes: Alistair Ryder on Odeon Leeds-Bradford
“If the cinema was responsible for so many happy childhood memories, how could I continue to embrace reminiscing when it was equally responsible for the soul-crushing tedium of a public-facing retail job?”
Interview with ‘Moffie’ Filmmaker Oliver Hermanus
Alistair Ryder Interviews South African Filmmaker Oliver Hermanus About ‘Moffie’
Review: Safy Nebbou’s ‘Who You Think I Am’
“Stories of older women emotionally manipulating younger acquaintances remain commonplace, but Nebbou’s film manages to find something genuinely human beneath tired hagsploitation tropes.”
Review: Romas Zabarauskas’ ‘The Lawyer’
“‘The Lawyer’ doesn’t fully grapple with its weighty white saviour theme, and ends up becoming as simplified as what it was setting out to subvert.”
Review: Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘The Truth’
“‘The Truth’ is best viewed as a watered down (but often quite enjoyable) riff on many of Assayas’ recurrent thematic obsessions.”
Illness and Self-Reflection: Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘Broken Embraces’ and ‘Pain and Glory’
“By experiencing Almodóvar’s films as the product of a man whose view of the world is deeply affected by a variety of nagging medical concerns, only a few late period works thoroughly scratch under the surface of his psyche.”
Attack the Headlines: How Joe Cornish’s Films Subvert Gloomy British News Stories
“That Cornish has managed to make two films that can easily be viewed as thoughtful ruminations on the state of Britain in the centre of two national crises should be applauded.”