• Monos

    November 14, 2019 - By 

    Every so often, a movie comes along that completely rips up the rule book of filmmaking. Alejandro Landes’ (2011’s Porfirio) does so right from the beginning of Monos, with its unforgettable and surreal opening sequence of young protagonists playing football with blindfolds in some undisclosed, ethereal landscape in a Latin American mountain range, surrounded by clouds, as some sort of awareness drill,. The viewer’s attention is shoved, almost in a voyeuristic manner, into their bizarre, hedonistic, militaristic, yet juvenile world. The story progresses at a relentless pace into its premise and finale, leaving the viewer in awe at this wonderfully relevant, strangely realistic, yet ruthlessly brutal…

  • Ad Astra

    September 27, 2019 - By 

    Science fiction has undoubtedly been a bit lacking in quantity and quality in recent years, and so you could be forgiven for getting excited after watching the trailer for Ad Astra, the latest from The Lost City of Z‘s James Gray, which translates from Latin as ‘To The Stars’. And it is indeed very impressive on the visuals and production front, especially with the stunning opener and its ‘space antenna’ scene. But once we get into the thick of the film’s story, with its space noir, whodunnit feel, it turns rather predictable, possibly hollow and scientifically ridiculous. An all-star cast couldn’t save this…

  • Docs Ireland: Diego Maradona

    June 21, 2019 - By 

    There are few football players on the planet that are more famous, or come with more infamy, than Argentina’s Diego Armando Maradona. When you throw this turbulent story into the hands of director Asif Kapadia and the team behind documentary classics Senna and Amy, you know you’re going to be in for an entertaining show. Diego Maradona achieves this right out of the gate, opening with blaring Italo-disco music and early-career party scenes. Primarily, the film gives us the two sides of Maradona; the unassuming and kind Diego; and the other, the wild, aggressive and philandering Maradona. In the early stages, you get a glimpse…

  • Woman at War

    May 3, 2019 - By 

    I don’t know if it’s the diet or something in their water supply, but Iceland seems incapable of creating bad films. And with Benedikt Erlingsson’s latest, after the wonderful Of Horses And Men, we may just have the finest film to come out of the island; one that is deftly timed, hugely relevant and, above all else, hugely entertaining. Woman At War follows the daily routine and double-life of Halla, a 50 year-old who is a choir master by day, and a dare-devil, militant environmental activist by night, waging a near one-woman war with Iceland’s aluminium industry, which she deems…

  • The Aftermath

    March 6, 2019 - By 

    To imagine the level of destruction and ruthless vengeance that was wrought upon Germany in the later stages of WW2, as it was facing defeat, is a hard thing to do. But this is one thing that director James Kent (Testament Of Youth) achieves exceptionally well, with the help of Ridley Scott in the producer’s chair. And while the performances from the three leads are all impressive, in particular with Kiera Knightley and Alexander Skarsgård, The Aftermath comes across as a predictable, paper-thin adaptation of the Rhidian Brook novel of the same name. The Aftermath tells the story of a…

  • Burning

    February 6, 2019 - By 

    True complexity and originality in film is something that is hard to come by these days. Managing to make a film that is entertaining at the same time is something that few achieve but South Korean writer-director Chang-Dong Lee (Secret Sunshine) has made a career out of it, though this is his first film since 2011’s fantastic Poetry. His latest, Burning, based on a short story called Barn Burning by Haruki Murakami — though I suspect William Faulkner’s novella of the same name is something to do with it as well — follows Jong-su, a part-time delivery man, and kicks…

  • Shoplifters

    November 28, 2018 - By 

    When talking about great film-making legacies, there are few people alive that can rival Japanese writer-director Hirokazu Koreeda (The Third Murder, After The Storm) for consistency, quality and diversity. With his latest, Koreeda might just have intricately pieced together his finest movie to date, which is a feat in itself, given the stunning body of work that he has already got under his belt. As with all his films, Shoplifters is a gradual, deeply emotive, wonderfully humorous and highly intelligent tale that shows a side of Japan that is rarely seen with an empathetic eye. Shoplifters tells the story of…

  • London Korean Film Festival Comes To QFT This Weekend

    November 15, 2018 - By 

    The London Korean Film Festival 2018 is coming to Belfast this week from the 16th till the 18th of November, taking highlights from its programme to Queens Film Theatre, with a selection that focuses on female directors from South Korea. Micro Habitat (dir. Jeon Go-Woon; 16th, 6.30pm) Mi-so (Lee Som), like many thirty-somethings, finds herself unprepared for the harsh economic realities of adulthood. Working as a housekeeper with low wages and zero job security, she struggles to pay the exorbitant rent on her cramped apartment. Mi-so’s spirited youth playing in a band seems a distant memory. The only modest pleasures…

  • Peterloo

    November 13, 2018 - By 

    The true story of the Peterloo Massacre is a shocking chapter in England’s history that needs to be told. In theory, writer/director Mike Leigh (Life Is Sweet, Mr Turner) should be the man for the job, given his track record of making classic films that delve into the everyday lives of the English working class. But while Leigh does manage to capture the look and feel of the time period in a very realistic and credible manner, the viewer may feel that he is a bit heavy-handed in getting his message across, creating a tone that off-sets the seriousness of…

  • Climax

    September 27, 2018 - By 

    There are not many films out there that leave you exasperated, yet exhilarated by the time the finale has played out. But then there are films by Gaspar Noé, the undisputed victor for the title of ‘l’enfant terrible’ of the filmmaking world, who has a writing and directing back catalogue that has to be approached with caution by even the hardiest of filmgoers. His latest, Climax, while not as harsh as some of his previous – for example, the notorious Irreversible’– is a film that will undoubtedly shock many. Thankfully, because there is so much to appreciate and marvel in…