This beautiful documentary by Jeff Feuerzeig focuses on the much missed cult singer songwriter and artist Daniel Johnston, a sensitive and thoughtful portrait of a troubled, gifted soul. Although the director takes a linear, somewhat conventional approach to Johnston’s life, he was absolutely unique, whether drawing comics and painting, or creating his beautiful, brittle music.Continue reading “Overlooked Classics: The Devil and Daniel Johnston”
Tag Archives: Film
Film Review: Nope (2022)
When siblings O J and Emerald (Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer) inherit their father’s horse wrangling business following his tragic death, they are also forced to confront bizarre, ectoplasmic alien entities coming from the clouds, threatening earth’s very existence. What to do? Film it, or it didn’t happen, and put it on ‘Oprah’. They are,Continue reading “Film Review: Nope (2022)”
Scream If You Love Nosferatu
Lily-Rose Depp in Nosferatu. Everyone- audiences and critics alike – seemed to adore Robert Eggers’ recent version of Nosferatu, but I must confess it left me bored. It looks beautiful, with a painterly touch homaging the German Expressionism of the 1922 F W Murnau classic. But it feels reductive, style over substance with little newContinue reading “Scream If You Love Nosferatu”
Film Review: Pauline Black: A Two Tone Story
What a brilliant, beautiful and triumphant documentary on The Selecter frontwoman Pauline Black. Directed by Jane Mingay, it’s as unflinching, witty and eloquent as Black herself. It’s not simply a music documentary, it’s also a time capsule of the divided late seventies in Britain, a fascinating insight into the formation of the Thatcher-baiting Black/white movementContinue reading “Film Review: Pauline Black: A Two Tone Story”
Film Review: The Favourite
Ooh, Yorgos Lanthimos and your batshit, genre -defying film oeuvre. Part Peter Greenaway, part Blackadder, The Favourite is another bonkers example of why his work resonates with so many people. Olivia Coleman is Queen Anne, the bratty, capricious monarch whose devotion only extends as far as her collection of rabbits. People mostly deserve contempt, andContinue reading “Film Review: The Favourite”
Film Review: Maisie
There’s a certain kind of Drag on the UK that doesn’t involve death drops and pole dancing. Instead, it falls within the pantomime, vaudeville theatre and cabaret tradition: think singing the songs from A Chorus Line, rather than lip syncing to Lady Gaga. Lee Cooper ‘s warm and low-key film offers the exemplar of thisContinue reading “Film Review: Maisie”
Film Review: A Complete Unknown
Another year, another music biopic about a problematic genius. James Mangold has of course got previous with Walk The Line. A Complete Unknown isn’t much of a departure from the Johnny Cash film, as it’s also a good character study. Here, the truculent rebel is one Bob Dylan, right at the start of his career.Continue reading “Film Review: A Complete Unknown”
Film Review: The Public Image Is Rotten (2017)
Director Tarrbert Fiiller’s documentary on Public Image Ltd. is downbeat, insightful and strangely touching, poking at the open wounds involved when working alongside the inimitable John Lydon. With rare access to interviews with the imp himself, plus ex-band members like Keith Levene, Allan Dias and Martin Atkins, it’s more intimate and candid than your average,Continue reading “Film Review: The Public Image Is Rotten (2017)”
Three Film Satires For the Second Trump Administration
President Donald J Trump’s second swing into politics has already seen deportations, trade wars and a complete lack of remorse for a plane and helicopter crash that could have been prevented. Then there is the farcical inauguration itself, with more than a tilt towards oligarchy: tech billionaires placed front and centre, right in front ofContinue reading “Three Film Satires For the Second Trump Administration”
So Long, Marianne
Marianne Faithfull has passed away, aged 78. She had long battled various health conditions, and was a battler right up until the end. They broke the mould when they made Marianne, a member of the Austrian aristocracy whose career was as complex as she was. Few singers can boast both a career in their teensContinue reading “So Long, Marianne”
Hit The North 