Tag Archives: Drama
Review in Brief: Most Beautiful Island (2017)
MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND is a creepy and tuned-in allegorical suspense thriller. From profound observations of the economic migrant experience, from being “tired of the possibilities”, when you are unlucky to be good-looking in case New York “eats you”. We follow … Continue reading
Review in Brief: Bloody Milk (2017)
It really has been the year for depressing farming dramas hasn’t it? First-time UK filmmakers gave us THE LEVELLING and GOD’S OWN COUNTRY, now comes France’s offering, BLOODY MILK. Director Hubert Charuel must have drawn on some of his own … Continue reading
Review: Marjorie Prime (2017)
MARJORIE PRIME took me by surprise. It’s a very well-acted, thoughtful chamber piece and dialed-back sci-fi has had great form over the last few years, but I wasn’t quite expecting the emotional content to hit me like a train. It’s … Continue reading
Review in Brief: Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)
Yep, it’s definitely an S Craig Zahler film. Much like his Western BONE TOMAHAWK, BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 is intense, drip-feedy in its pacing and almost cartoonishly ultraviolent. Also like Tomahawk it seems to become an entirely different film … Continue reading
Review: The Edge of Seventeen (2016)
THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN is an absolute delight. This is a really funny, sweet, real movie. Of course thirteen year-old Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) curses God for her uncanny resemblance to “Vote for Pedro” as she hits puberty. As she hits … Continue reading
Review in Brief: Loving (2016)
LOVING is glacial in pacing, almost apologetically low-key and the thick-as-treacle accents can be just as tricky to translate as in writer-director Jeff Nichols’ other work. The two grounded performances at its heart (career bests from both Joel Edgerton and … Continue reading
Review in Brief: Hidden Figures (2016)
HIDDEN FIGURES is a gentle take on a crucial story. Why do more people not know the names Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson? All three were key figures in the Space Race and remarkable, nigh-on-miraculous in their … Continue reading
Review in Brief: Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
HACKSAW RIDGE is firmly in Mel Gibson’s wheelhouse. It’s a brutal depiction of an inspiring true story with copious religious symbolism with a lot of Australians in it. From a very earnest beginning, the film becomes pretty horrific in its … Continue reading
Review: God’s Own Country (2017)
I’ve wandered a fair bit around Brontë Country over the years, but I’ve never seen it quite as stunningly presented as in GOD’S OWN COUNTRY. Much like some of the best British films of the past few years, such as … Continue reading
Review in Brief: The Founder (2016)
THE FOUNDER could have easily been a shrine for brand worship, and this story of the birth of McDonald’s must have been signed off by the fast food franchise. The filmmakers largely avoid this by making a very clear (romanticised … Continue reading
SSP Thinks Film 