London Film Festival Review: Michel Franco’s ‘New Order’
“By the time Franco joins together strands that the audience will most likely have seen coming, ‘New Order’ grinds to a halt.”
Ben Flanagan
London Film Festival Review: Brandon Cronenberg’s ‘Possessor’
“There is so much stuff in ‘Possessor’ that you might think you’re at a venerable cinematic feast. But take away the squelching and splatter and there’s barely enough to fill an episode of ‘Black Mirror.’ The food turns to cotton wool in your mouth.”
London Film Festival Review: Jennifer Sheridan’s ‘Rose’
“Many British micro-productions focus on Britain’s mud. ‘Rose’ shows us the frost.”
London Film Festival Review: Natalia Meta’s ‘The Intruder’
“‘The Intruder’ interpolates the parts of Giallo without the scares, keeping true to the genre’s more strictly crime-oriented titles like ‘The Cat o’ Nine Tails.'”
Time Cascades: On the Absent Collaborators Programme at Open City Documentary Festival
“These tentative, tangential films each act like a pause for reflection, a moment of reprieve from life itself as the makers each summon a voice from their past to explore their present.”
Open Spaces, Solid Foundations: ‘The American Sector’ and ‘The Building’ at Open City Documentary Festival
“While ‘The American Sector’ outstays its welcome, I’m not sure if ‘The Building’ wants to be invited in to begin with.”
Shorts Without Borders: Assessing the National Competition at Locarno 2020
“Given that documentaries are being pushed into hybrid spaces, and that many modern animators are covering morbid subject matter, these 12 short films give an example of contemporary moving image work pushing at cinema’s comfort zones.”
One Tough Nun: Spiritual Awakening in Isabel Sandoval’s ‘Aparisyon’
“It’s a fascinating experience to see ‘Aparisyon’ via Locarno’s ‘Open Doors’ strand, where it is presented as a key work in understanding contemporary Filipino cinema.”
Local Heroes: Ben Flanagan on Odeon Chelmsford
“Local Heroes” is a Vague Visages column dedicated to movie theater memories and the theatrical experience.
Uneasy Recognition: On Hong Sang-soo’s ‘Yourself and Yours’
“A lager-frothy comedy, ‘Yourself and Yours’ is a perfect balance of Hong’s output, an ideal entry point for new viewers while delivering variations of the filmmaker’s recurrent themes.”