Michel Franco’s New Order is punishing film. Unflinching and unforgiving this is a cautionary tale for societies. Marianne’s (Naian Gonzaléz Norvind) wedding at the spectacular family home is besieged by several unexpected incidents: the registrar is late; social disturbances delay guests en route, and former employee Rolando turns up seeking
Category: LFF 2020
One Man and His Shoes ★★★★ – LFF 2020
Yemi Bamiro explores the rise of Nikes Air Jordan’s and the effects of having a chokehold on supply vs demand in the fascinatingly balanced One Man and His Shoes. A sportsman with once-in-a-generation talent, Michael Jordan was held up as a symbol of Black progress; he had his own phenomenally
Wolfwalkers ★★★★1/2 – LFF 2020
Cartoon Saloon has created another mesmerising picture with Wolfwalkers that proves that hand-drawn animation is not in the past. It’s the mid-17th century and the Irish city of Kilkenny is occupied by Cromwell’s forces. Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) and her father Bill (Sean Bean) arrive from England. His job is to
Siberia ★★★★ – LFF 2020
Abel Ferrara and frequent collaborator Willem Dafoe join forces in Siberia, a film that explores experimental cinema to its fullest. Clint (Willem Dafoe) lives in a snowed-in wooded area of Siberia. Tending to his small desolate bar. Isolated from the rest of mankind until they visit him he gets by
Lovers Rock ★★★★ – LFF 2020
Lovers Rock is the second part of Steve McQueen’s Small Axes series following on from Mangrove. Boy do we have a completely different film this time out. It’s a Saturday sometime in the 80s. Samson preps his sound system for Blues dance while Martha (Amarah-Jae St.Aubyn) shimmies down her drainpipe.
Ammonite ★★★ – LFF 2020
Ammonite succeeds solely by the sheer force of its leads performances and brilliant cinematography, despite an underwhelming script and direction from director Francis Lee. Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) is a self-taught paleontologist who also runs a shop selling what she finds on the nearby beach in Lyme Regis. Her work
After Love ★★★★ – LFF 2020
After Love takes us on a touching journey of loss, with a career turning performance from Joanna Scanlan. A feature debut from Aleem Khan that shows us a talented filmmaker who will be one to watch. When Ahmed Hussain passes away suddenly in his Dover home, his loyal wife Mary
Notturno ★★★1/2 – LFF 2020
Gianfranco Rosi sends us to the borders of Middle Eastern countries where conflict, trauma and rehabilitation are now the norm, in his poignant and important documentary Notturno. A young couple smoke together whilst overlooking the city at night; fragile plastic tents in muddy refugee camps bellow in the wind. Female
The Human Voice ★★★★ – LFF 2020
Pedro Almodóvar’s English language debut allows for Tilda Swinton to own the screen in the gorgeous The Human Voice. Madness and melancholy intersect to thrilling effect as Almodóvar reimagines Jean Cocteau’s short play The Human Voice for an era in which isolation has become a way of life. Laws of
Shirley ★★★ – LFF 2020
Elisabeth Moss is spellbinding in Josephine Decker’s chaotic drama Shirley that has a story that isn’t on the same level as the performances and style. When we first meet Shirley (Elisabeth Moss), soon to become America’s queen of horror fiction. She seems to be a sad, drunken shut-in, married to
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