Pitched between hysterical mayhem and an eerie calm, Beau Is Afraid makes Get Out look like The Wiggles. This almost three hour epic is trippy indeed, with all the logic of a fever dream.Although written and directed by Ari Aster it’s like a Kafka compendium created by Paul Thomas Anderson, with a soupcon of DavidContinue reading “Film Review: Beau Is Afraid”
Category Archives: Film
Overlooked Classics: Night On Earth (1991)
Among Jim Jarmusch’s many films, I feel two are often overlooked, Ghost Dog (Way Of The Samurai) and Night On Earth. The former, I’ll get to later, but I often wonder why this is the case. Night On Earth has all of the JarmuschIan qualities you’d expect: deadpan humour; strangers thrown together by circumstances outContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Night On Earth (1991)”
Film Review: #Unfit
Directed by Dan Partland, #Unfit :The Psychology of Donald Trump is a compelling, thoroughly absorbing and sobering documentary from 2020, which posits that the Orange Menace may in fact be, as many have long suspected, a malignant narcissist, who is not merely unfit for office, but a global threat. It does allude to The GoldwaterContinue reading “Film Review: #Unfit”
Film Review: Hail, Satan?
There is a HELL of a lot to unpack in Penny Lane’s brilliant documentary Hail, Satan? as it seems quite jocular at first, even rather silly. As it develops though, it seems that tone is a trick to wrong -foot any audience expectations, and a more thoughtful film emerges.Essentially, it’s all a battle of willsContinue reading “Film Review: Hail, Satan?”
Film Review: Mad To Be Normal
This film, starring David Tennant as psychiatrist RD Laing, has a play-like quality, in that it’s pretty static and dialogue -driven, with a gloomy, cigarette stained sepia tone, and a consistently murky atmosphere. But whereas Ian Pattison’s play on the man, Divided, had plenty of light and shade, Mad To Be Normal feels pretty oneContinue reading “Film Review: Mad To Be Normal”
Film Review: Boom For Real
Anyone who’s ever seen Julian Schnabel’s good but flawed film Basquiat knows where this documentary gets its name from: a news report that artist Jean – Michel Basquiat sampled this anguished line from, and turned into an artwork. Sara Driver’s documentary, from 2018, subtitled The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat , takes a muchContinue reading “Film Review: Boom For Real”
Film Review: Meet Me In The Bathroom
Of course, the title’s a drugs reference as well as a song, but this vivid and compelling film by Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, based on Lizzy Goodman’s book, focuses on the dizzying rise of early 2000s bands The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs Interpol, and many others, with rare footage of wild early club gigsContinue reading “Film Review: Meet Me In The Bathroom”
Worst. Music. Documentary. Ever.
What a howler music documentary Madonna: The Name Of The Game, from 1993, is. Presented by Troy McClure alike (albeit with Ned Flanders’ stylist) Mark Bego, it’s got all the insight of a tabloid article, and the production values of an Alan Partridge corporate video. And nothing says Madonna like an ABBA hit for aContinue reading “Worst. Music. Documentary. Ever.”
Jane Birkin’s Legacy
Jane Birkin ‘s death was announced a couple of days ago. It’s obviously really sad, as it is when anyone passes away, especially one who impacted upon popular culture in a myriad of ways. Every column and obituary piece upon her passing has defined her as “a style icon”. That’s fine, but she was aContinue reading “Jane Birkin’s Legacy”
Harry’s Last Hurrah: Lucky
When Harry Dean Stanton, cinema’s perennial drifter, finally drifted off this earth in 2017, aged ninety one, there were few eulogies, no mariachi bands lamenting his passing, and not many column inches. In death it seemed he was still Hollywood’s outsider, tagged with the reductive label “character actor” . With his craggy, lean face andContinue reading “Harry’s Last Hurrah: Lucky”
Hit The North 