A Dangerous Method Directed by David Cronenberg Starring Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassell When judged against his peers over recent years Canadian horror maestro David Cronenberg is the film maker who has undergone the most compelling metamorphosis. Where George Romero has suffered in a shambling quagmire offering increasingly putrid returns, where Wes …
The Monk (Le Moine) Directed by Dominik Moll Written by Dominik Moll and Anne-Louise Trividic, from the novel by Matthew Lewis France, 2011 Dominik Moll’s The Monk is so redolent with Gothic gloom, overweening piety and suppressed lust that it’s almost in danger of self-combusting. It’s held together by a towering performance from Vincent Cassel, …
We Need To Talk About Kevin Directed by Lynne Ramsay Written by Lynne Ramsay and Rory Kinnear UK / USA, 2011 Lynne Ramsay returns to the big screen after almost a decade long hiatus, and talk about returning with a bang. This explosive adaption of Lionel Shriver’s best-selling novel We Need To Talk About Kevin is a taboo busting tale which has …
The lady from the BBC World Service was very persistent. Nanni Moretti had just spent more than an hour talking to us about his new film, We Have a Pope/Habemus Papam, and he was late for a Gala Screening. Now she wanted him to autograph her DVD of Dear Diary and a T-shirt for her …
The Somnambulists Directed by Richard Jobson UK, 2011 The title of Richard Jobson’s second film, one part political screed and one part disturbing documentary on the terrible Iraq debacle serves twin purposes – to witness the hypnotised fashion in which a sleep-walking population was seduced into supporting the war by a complacent media, and to honour …
Masterclass: Barry Ackroyd “The most peaceful place you can be on a film set is when you put your eye to the camera.” On Monday night at the BFI, British cinematographer Barry Ackroyd talked to Screen International Editor Mike Goodridge about his 30 years in film and TV. It’s a shame there wasn’t a full …
Shame Directed by Steve McQueen Written by Steve McQueen UK, 2011 New York city hasn’t looked so beautifully cold and ironically isolating for quite some time as it does in Shame, Steve McQueen’s second collaboration with everyone’s favourite actor Michael Fassbender, the recipient of the best actor gong at Venice for his brave and penetrating performance of a …
50/50 Directed by Jonathan Levine Written by Will Reiser USA, 2011 Will Seth Rogen ever grow up? His contribution to Jonathan Levine’s comedy drama 50/50 is peppered with expletives and those trademark looks of disbelief at the failure of women to fall at his grubby sneakered feet. But it’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt who is the star …
Rampart Directed by Oren Moverman Written by James Ellroy and Oren Moverman Starring Woody Harrelson, Cynthia Nixon, Robin Wright, Sigourney Weaver, Anne Heche & Steve Buscemi Two years ago debut director Oren Moverman directed Woody Harrelson to his second Oscar nomination with The Messenger, an under-seen and unappreciated home-front military drama, with next years Rampart, …
The Skin I Live In Written by Pedro Almodóvar Directed by Pedro Almodóvar Spain, 2011 The hallowed caverns of cinema history are littered with the skeletal remains of mad scientists, those power-crazed maniacs whose unholy experiments are frequently an affront to god and to the more tangible realm of medical ethics. These sneering antagonists are …
360 Directed by Fernando Mierelles Written by Peter Morgan It’s not difficult to see why the organisers of the 55th London Film Festival selected the new film by Fernando Mierelles, the spherically titled 360, as the opening night gala film. As well as being written by British scribe Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon, Hereafter) and …
Poupoupidou (Nobody Else But You) Director: Gérald Hustache-Mathieu Screenplay by Juliette Sales and Gérald Hustache-Mathieu In French with English subtitles How much do you really know about cinema’s most famous blonde? Director Gérald Hustache-Mathieu’s Poupoupidou isn’t a biopic of Marilyn Monroe, but certain details about the life and death of Martine Lingevin, aka Candice Lecoeur, …
Junkhearts Directed by Tinge Krishnan Written by Simon Frank Starring; Eddie Marsan, Tom Sturridge, Romola Garri, Candese Reid Despite the London Film Festival’s global reach and cosmopolitan constitution, it also dedicates particular attention to indigenous product, providing a valuable outlet to low budget domestic British cinema to gain the attention it occasionaly deserves, with an opportunity to be seen on the big …