“Babel is Crash with delusions of global grandeur; a film that masquerades as a sweeping, humanistic epic, but is instead an ultimately hammy, superficial and miserablist game of connect-the-dots.”
“Amores Perros clocks in at 150 minutes, yet not a single frame feels unnecessary.”
“It’s understandable for viewers to call something ‘overrated’ when they feel let down, however, critics should strike the word from their vocabularies.”
“A tiresome example of early 2000s prestige filmmaking, 21 Grams holds the impressions of grand gestures without any of the substance.”
“A Walk Among the Tombstones beholds one of the most understated and unique performances from action hero-era Liam Neeson.”
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
“Sisters is a house party film told by and from the perspective of women, and that is precisely why it succeeds.”
“Throughout much of his 60s work, Imamura often examined the balance between ordinary and unordinary people, and in The Profound Desire of the Gods, he finds an exceptional way of highlighting the extremity of this concept.”
Here’s Josh Slater-Williams on four underrated gems of the past year.
“For all its frenetic editing, energetic performances and twisty narrative structure, there is sadly an elephant in the room, and that’s the film’s treatment (or mistreatment) of women.”
“Mistress America revels in the romance of being young before carefully setting its characters back down into the real world.”
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Jaime Grijalba, a Chilean writer, comments on the exploitation of his country’s cinematic landscape.
“Featuring a standout performance from Agyness Dean and some of the best landscape photography since Mr. Turner, Sunset Song strikes a balance between toil and ecstasy that is at once overwhelming and completely uplifting.”
“As it is, it’s like a stocking crammed with too many little bits and bobs that came to mind for the stocking-stuffer, ultimately pleasing no one like one or two well-considered big gifts would have.”
Lust, Caution is a bi-monthly series of essays that examines films within the label of “queer cinema.”
“Simply put, Slow West is unlike anything out there this year and deserves to be recognized as one of the most unique works of 2015, as it only grows and develops with each viewing.”
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
“Radiator never actually “deals” with any of the lofty existentialisms it digs up, firmly positing that they should remain the unknowable, unthinkable aspects of life.”
“With its diverse range of attendees and entries, as well as the festival’s strong showing at the 64th and 65th Berlinale, The UK Film Festival seems to have a very strong future in the heart of London.”