THE IRAQ WAR of 2003 saw the United States on a mission to destroy weapons of mass destruction. It saw the violent death of many thousands of civilians and the start of a bitter insurgency. But it was also a war that from its very kernel was based […]
CENTURIES OF ITALIAN vendetta and the true story of Tommaso Buscetta, a lynchpin of the Sicilian mafia, who famously called upon the law in his bid to turn informant, falls under the loupe of director Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor. This is a work nothing short of brilliant. It […]
THE CENTRE CANNOT hold when things begin to fall apart. This is what lapsed Muslim slam poet ‘Zed’ (Riz Ahmed) discovers on the cusp of the realisation of his international stardom. And thus unfolds a complex yarn of demons and angels, illness-induced fantasies and historical ghosts wrapped in […]
WHEN A GREAT classic is slipped between the covers of a festival of contemporary film, you may approach it with the eye of a novel ready to embrace its nuances and romances. But you also may wish to switch gear to reflect on its epic greatness and philosophic […]
WHEN YOU ARE pushed so far from your comfort levels that a voice from your belly cries out with everything you’re worth and reforms you, it’s a kind of rebirth. You may have witnessed this in John Logan’s searing play Red about Mark Rothko. You will rediscover this […]
HE COMES INTO the 60th birthday party of his sister Solange, like a violent bull in a proverbial China shop, armed with a gift everyone knows he could not afford. The guests fear and hate him. He has an aggressive almost non-verbal approach which prickles your empathy. This […]
THE STORY (SO far) of Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg is biblical in its hugeness and in the power that the voice of a youngster can have on how the world turns. On paper, Nathan Grossman’s I am Greta could be the biggest jewel in the crown of this […]
WHAT DO YOU tell your small daughter when you are a brilliant engineer and astronaut, and the opportunity of a lifetime comes your way? Of course, being the mother (not father) to said eight-year-old, throws the whole monster of generations of sexism to the fore. This is what […]
Combining a rich, yet candidly legible ensemble of platitudes and values, nostalgia and truths, without slipping into a pond of maudlin and with several hilarious and jolting bends in the tale, Bernabé Rico’s One Careful Owner is a complete delight, which will bring on the tears of tonic […]
It is 1948 and Lithuania is caught between the tail end of Hitler’s cruelty and the as yet unrevealed horror Stalin’s slippery promises. Unte (Marius Povlias Elijas Martynenko), with his sultry, almost androgynous yet somewhat mongoloid features is the ponderously gentle central protagonist. He’s a son, yet not […]
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