My Favourite Films of 2021

A hastily cobbled together list: partly because I'm later than usual (I usually get it out of the way on New Year's day), but also because it's a snapshot of changing opinions and if I wait more than a few days I'll need to update it. Better to just get it down and move on. …

My Favourite Films of 2020

In this strange and frightening year, the importance of art and the sharing of the experience of art has become even more significant. So, although my cinema viewing has plummeted, watching films however I can and meeting people virtually to talk about them, has been both nourishment for the mind and a way of maintaining …

Film: Further Beyond – A Journey Well Worth Taking

With HELEN and MISTER JOHN, directors Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy proved themselves adept at thoughtful and intelligent fiction features. Mark Kermode waxed lyrical about HELEN in this video review: It's one of those little gems that really makes you think cinema can still be exciting and exceptional in ways that are frankly inexplicable. Their latest …

Mania Akbari and some special Cambridge screenings

There is a scene in the film ONE.TWO.ONE which is so brilliant in its conception and execution that it takes my breath away. I wish that every film student would carefully examine its construction and try to understand how an apparently simple static camera shot can be so richly textured, so simple yet full of elegance and poetry. Mark Cousins …

Sleep Furiously and the Cambridge Film Festival…

In my last post I mentioned the fast approaching Cambridge Film Festival, one of the highlights of my year. Among the many reasons I love the festival so much is that it affords the opportunity for discovering some real cinematic gems. I can still vividly remember being mesmerised by Guy Maddin's DRACULA: PAGES FROM A …

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie…

Bunuel's classic 1972 film has been re-released, and comes to the Arts Picturehouse in Cambridge this week. Having recently re-watched it on DVD, I found it as strange and compelling as ever; it doesn't seem to lose its potency, if anything I find it more intriguing as I get older. Even though on the surface …

Bal (Honey) – ‘poetic film-making’

Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan is much on my mind of late, or rather his brilliant film Once Upon A Time In Anatolia. The contemplative manner of Anatolia reminds me of another Turkish director, Semih Kaplanoglu, and his film Bal (Honey). I saw it last year at the Belfast Film Festival and was impressed with …