In these days of endless sequels, prequels, re-boots and re-imaginings, it often feels odd to encounter something out of left field. But you can always trust French cinema to deliver something out of the ordinary – and director Bertrand Bonello delivers just that with The Beast. Bonello and his screenwriting partners Guillaume Bréaud and Benjamin…
Sam Mendes is a terrific director. American Beauty, Revolutionary Road and the Bond films Skyfall and Spectre all appear on his resume. But he exceeds even those lofty heights with his latest film, 1917. This 2-hour visual and emotional extravaganza cements Mendes’ reputation, and provides a stunning new perspective on the war movie. Much as…
Much like Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Australian director Claire McCarthy’s Ophelia concentrates on a relatively minor character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. But unlike Stoppard’s absurdist play, this film is basically a re-telling of Hamlet from Ophelia’s perspective – with a few twists thrown in. McCarthy directs from Semi Chellas’ screenplay, adapting Lisa Klein’s…
Where Hands Touch sheds light on how Germans treated bi-racial people during WWII. The Nazis contempt for Jews is well known (and again features in this film) but the focus is on a bi-racial teen and her increasing victimisation. It’s 1944. In the Rhineland, Lenya (Amandla Stenberg) is coming of age. She’s the teenage daughter…
