Is Michael Mann’s Horror ‘The Keep’ a Hidden Gem? Well…
“Really, the main worth of The Keep is as a curiosity; to see a significantly different career path that Mann could have taken had this film had any sort of positive impact on pop culture.”
IndieLisboa 2016 Review: José Barahona’s ‘I Was in Lisbon and Remembered You’
“Sometimes the most difficult kind of review to write is one for a film that’s full of good intentions; a film that’s never outright hateful or anything like that, but lacking or floundering when it comes to certain decisions at a script or direction level.”
Kinoteka Polish Film Festival: Rediscovering ‘The Secret Garden’
Josh Slater-Williams on the Nostalgic Element of Agnieszka Holland’s 1993 Film
Kinoteka Polish Film Festival: Jerzy Skolimowski’s ‘Barrier’ and the Sneaky Cameo
Josh Slater-Williams on Polish Director Jerzy Skolimowski
‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’ Turns Snow White Into Keyser Söze
“Considering how little ‘Winter’s War’ really has to do with its predecessor and subject, they might as well just make her the lead for a third film.”
Jacques Tardi Adaptation ‘April and the Extraordinary World’ Offers a Thrilling Alternate History
“The extraordinary world of April and the Extraordinary World is no simple one, and it’s welcome that its worldview veers away from the simplistic.”
With ‘The Mermaid’, Stephen Chow Fully Utilizes the Camera as Comedic Tool
“Stephen Chow’s invigorating, irreverent, slapstick, but occasionally serious, comedy The Mermaid is an odd beast to pin down.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: John Carney’s ‘Sing Street’
“As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Stephen Ringer’s ‘Weepah Way for Now’
“It’s a touching depiction of a bond between sisters, but it doesn’t really create such a bond with viewers.”
A Serious Investigation: The Coen Brothers’ ‘Raising Arizona’ (1987)
Leading up to the release of Hail, Caesar!, Vague Visages explores the work of Joel and Ethan Coen.
BFI Southbank’s Jean-Luc Godard Retrospective: Highlights from Anna Karina’s ‘Bande à part’ Q&A
BFI Southbank: Anna Karina on Jean-Luc Godard and “Bande à part”
‘Whisper of the Heart’ and the Tragedy of Yoshifumi Kondō
“What would the world of animation be like if Yoshifumi Kondō had lived to make another film?”
Josh Slater-Williams’ Top 10 Films of 2015
Josh Slater-Williams (@jslaterwilliams) is a freelance writer based in England. Alongside writing for Vague Visages, he is a regular contributor to independent British magazine The Skinny and has written for Little White Lies magazine, VODzilla.co, The Film Stage, and PopOptiq.
Eye on Iñárritu: ‘Babel’ or (‘Crash’ with Delusions of Global Grandeur)
“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.”
Some Great Directorial Debuts You May Have Missed in 2015
Here’s Josh Slater-Williams on four underrated gems of the past year.
With ‘Carol,’ Todd Haynes Conveys Love Like Few Other Filmmakers
“As premature as it might be to say in a review for an initial theatrical run, Carol more than earns the right of comparison to Brief Encounter in terms of quality. Frankly, it’s one of the new great romantic films.”
Justin Kurzel’s ‘Macbeth’ Is a Solid Enough Take on ‘The Scottish Play’
“Like its eponymous character, Justin Kurzel’s adaptation of Macbeth is a film pulled in myriad directions for a sense of purpose.”
London Film Festival 2015 Review: Johnnie To’s ‘Office’
“Office makes you wonder if more thriller-leaning filmmakers should make a foray into the musical genre. Michael Mann’s Gypsy, anyone?”
London Film Festival 2015 Review: Bao Nguyen’s ‘Live from New York!’
“The documentary suggests that the makers of Saturday Night Live, in all likelihood, probably don’t have contempt for their audience. It’s harder to say that’s the case for the team behind Live from New York!”
VOD Review: ‘The Overnight’ Is a Sincere Sex Farce
“The Buñuelian meets the Duplassian in The Overnight, a chamber comedy of social and sexual manners from director Patrick Brice (2014’s Creep).”