Stop Making Sense, Talking Heads’ 1984 concert film, begins with frontman David Byrne on an empty, undressed stage with a guitar and a boombox performing Psycho Killer, the first song he wrote. The stage is […]
LIFF30 Review: Blue Velvet – not for the faint-hearted
Idyllic suburbia, with its white picket fences, rose gardens and tree-lined streets has its drapes pulled down in Blue Velvet (1986) by David Lynch, a heavily surreal mystery thriller. Kyle Machlachlan plays Jeffrey who, home […]
LIFF30 Review: Chi-raq – a feast for the eyes
Chi-raq (2015) is a triumph of no-holds-barred filmmaking. It is a feast for the eyes and the cinematic imagination, saturated with director Spike Lee’s biting political satire. The film is a hip-hop adaptation and incisive twist […]
LIFF30 Review: Lady Macbeth – leaves us cold
Lady Macbeth follows the young recently married Catherine as she is adopted into the cold, patriarchal and violent environment of her husband’s home. He is often absent and his new wife begins an affair with […]
Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – pure magic
In all honesty, the recent adaptation of JK Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is, if you’ll pardon the pun, pure magic. Eddie Redmayne breathes life into his bumbling and bashful character Newt […]
Review: A Streetcat Named Bob – an emotional rollercoaster
Not your classic rags-to-riches, Roger Spottiswoode‘s latest feature finds hope in all the right places. We sent Anika Vadukul to give us her verdict: The term ‘emotional rollercoaster’ has never been more relevant. Drugs + […]
Review: BalletBoyz – hauntingly beautiful
Screened on Remembrance Sunday, BalletBoyz’ Young Men challenges the necessity of language in depicting the horror of trench warfare. BalletBoyz was launched in 2010 by former Royal Ballet dancers Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, whose […]
May’s mental health missions: rhetoric or reality?
Your friends are all pre-drinking for the night ahead. They’ve been playing ring of fire in the kitchen for the last half hour but you’re still in your room. Perhaps you’re studying your ceiling contemplating […]
Does Shakespeare live in 2016?
The British Council has launched a global programme to bring Shakespeare into the 21st Century, but is Shakespeare Lives in 2016 achieving its goal? The Shakespeare Lives in 2016 campaign aims to bring the Bard […]
Inside Beyonce’s Formation World Tour
Hold up, the Formation World Tour is officially over. That’s right, the reigning queen of the music industry, Beyonce Knowles-Carter, wrapped up her 49-stop stadium tour on the 7th of October, 2016 – marking her […]
How to beat the creative block
It’s nearing the end of term; deadlines are looming and the days are only going to get shorter. If you’re anything like me, then you’ll resent the fact that you spend the vast majority of […]
LIFF30: Zulawski – A Retrospective on some of the director‘s best works
While it has become something of a cultural in-joke that 2016 has seen a swathe of artists and celebrities pass away, one less talked about, but no less essential, filmic artist of the 21st century […]