“Not quite comedies, not entirely horror movies and not normal family films, Dante’s work continues to impress with the layers each work reveals over time, a key factor in their lasting power.”
“Great art has every piece in intimate communion with the art as a whole. ‘Gretel & Hansel’ takes an elemental approach to the folklore, gasping with the fears of the original material while exhaling a new mystique of its own.”
“Ferrara throws everything at ‘Siberia,’ turning it into a playground for emotive relation. But it is Dafoe, his muse, who so thoroughly brings the audience along with the randomness…”
“Petzold’s use of fairytale is rote, but – as a piece of Sirkian high melodrama – ‘Undine’ is eminently satisfying.”
“At its seemingly lugubrious heart, ‘Return to Oz’ is an ode to imagination; a celebration of the weird and wonderful worlds of our own making, in which we find sanctuary and satisfaction.”
“Andersson depicts fragments of humanity, stitched together with humour and relatability, and without a hint of loftiness or condescension.”
“The persona, the artist, the maestro, the ringmaster — one can’t help but bask in the direct, subjective joy and the elegiac reverence for cinema itself.”
“The Houses in Motion strand breaks the mould in successfully exploring how concepts of life and death, home and away and physical and mental states metamorphose and develop within their own spaces.”
“There is a danger and dynamism to 20s cinema which was gradually eradicated by the standardisation of production processes.”
“With ‘Daniel Isn’t Real,’ Mortimer stands by his choices and doesn’t wobble. The result is a film that’s harmonious and undiluted, if prickly and divisive.”
“In a weird way, Flanagan might have inadvertently made the best X-Men movie to date.”
“‘The Witch’ may be the superior film, but ‘The Lighthouse’ shows Eggers growing by leaps and bounds as a storyteller and visual stylist.”
“One can’t help but wonder how Waddington might reinvigorate other sci-fi tales with her fairy tale stylings.”
“Fantasy exists to create a place of greater safety, a rejection of the real world in favour of one that allows for an open, unapologetic queerness.”
“No matter what one pulls from Kon’s work, there’s no denying his lasting impact and innate ability to immediately render a viewer speechless.”
“In Malick’s effort to capture the alienation that accompanies modernity, in his contemporary-set films, he ultimately achieves a similar alienation cinematically.”
“What ‘Tigers Are Not Afraid’ doesn’t contain in terms of deep characters and real-world specificity, it makes up for with its supernatural elements, allowing its allegory to resonate.”
“A few of the tales are a bit of a stretch, but the scope of the ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ universe comes out feeling much larger than ever before.”
“‘Carmilla’ proves to be a successful adaptation that will appeal to anyone looking for some unearthly shivers, or a coming-of-age story where being conscious of one’s own sexuality takes centre stage.”
“‘Yesterday’ didn’t need to be a dry, emotionless sci-fi story, but in taking such a basic approach to the concept, it really lessens the impact and results in a watered-down, forgettable experience.”