The Congress Review
The split between live-action and animation in Ari Folman’s The Congress, his follow-up to Waltz With Bashir, is a bold choice but one that seems a little hard to understand. It appears motivated by the desire to show the contrast between two worlds, but this a point made that is so simplistic that one reaches for … Read more
Good Vibrations Review
Music biopics so often get it drastically wrong, from over enthusiastic hagiography to a complete lack of understanding of the subject of the film, the missteps often quickly mount up. Significant blunders in these films are far more common than redeeming qualities but, thankfully, Good Vibrations is one of the better ones. Focusing not on … Read more
In the House Review
Based on The Boy in the Back Row by Spanish playwright Juan Mayorga, Francois Ozon’s latest is something of a return to form for the former enfant terrible and a deliciously witty story about storytelling. Weary literature teacher Germain (Fabrice Luchini) finds a diamond in the rough in Claude (Ernst Umhauer), who shows real flair … Read more
Reality Review
Taking its name from the descriptor for a particular type of television programme, the name itself was already something of a misnomer before director Matteo Garrone got his hands on it, Reality tells the tale of a working class Neapolitan fishmonger who sees a chance for stardom and throws himself into making it happen. Opening … Read more