In a stunning contrast between the beautiful and the macabre, the opening shot of The Neon Demon is emblematic of Nicolas Winding Refn’s whole oeuvre. His fascination with the lurid is only matched by his penchant for creating strikingly beautiful…
Movie Review: Independence Day: Resurgence
Since Independence Day became a massive commercial hit Roland Emmerich seems to have consistently invented new ways to fetishize the end of the world. Indeed he does a good enough job capturing an apocalyptic spectacle of carnage and destruction but,…
10 Minimalist Horror Movies
Minimalist horror is a funny little trend in the genre, using as little environment and setting as possible, terrifying us into believing that anything can happen even in the most innocent of scenarios. Does this method always work? Probably not,…
Movie Review: ‘The Boy and the Beast’
Mamoru Hosoda is one of the few anime directors making films that connect widely with an international audience; this is especially true since Studio Ghibli’s departure. How else can I describe The Boy and the Beast other than anime reclaiming…
Movie Review: ‘Sunset Song’
The title Sunset Song is ironic, considering that the film’s heroine is only just entering adulthood, wouldn’t sunrise be a more suitable prefix? This sweeping epic of a woman’s challenging and liberating journey through rural patriarchy bears a premise reminiscent of…
Movie Review: ‘A Bigger Splash’
Celebrities must cherish their privacy, something the majority of us take for granted. The film opens in a cutaway shot, a singer greets a roaring crowd, thousands of eyes on her, switch to the same singer in a quiet romantic…
Movie Review: ‘Rams’
Rams is not as strange as its Un Certain Regard win suggests. It’s a disappointment in many ways, an ambivalent film which seems too afraid to take its ideas a step further. It’s an intimate drama without the emotional weight…
