Cyclic Law, based in France, occupies an important space as a purveyor of dark ambient and experimental music. And this label’s releases are genuinely experimental, too, rather than simply sounding eclectic in ways which themselves soon become pretty predictable. There’s often a sense of mystery to what CL releases, if that’s not overstating it. And […]
Somewhere, in a very dour-looking Yorkshire, a group of young people are being taken on a bus trip to a place called ‘Wonderland’ (which, again, looks pretty dour – but that’s not beyond the realms of the imagination in Britain). They seem happy enough; however, there’s something not quite right about this whole set-up. They’re […]
By Guest Contributor Darren Gaskell The fabulously monikered Levi Danube (Justin Benson) moves into a ramshackle Los Angeles apartment and, via nothing more or less than a shared interest in smoking, strikes up a rapport with fellow block dweller John Daniels (Aaron Moorhead). Both appear to be searching for some kind of direction in life […]
It must be tough to be a priest in the modern age, preaching changeless values against a backdrop of falling church attendance and endemic levels of scepticism – but such is the lot of Father David (Joe Begos frequent flyer, Graham Skipper). He delivers worthy sermons to all-but empty pews, and knows that even a […]
A run of cable TV-style advertisements opens Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022), and amongst them is an ad for something called a RoboSanta+, a kind of seasonal cross between a decorative item – and a top-level piece of mall security. And why not?! It’s no detriment to the film that it’s completely clear this bit of […]
‘How long do you think we’ve been here?’ This early line in Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes (2021) perhaps puts us in mind of a classic haunted house story: like The Haunting of Hill House, with its dreaming walls and watchful ghosts, the film is centred on a beautiful, if tumbledown castle, and the people […]
On The Edge sees filmmakers Jen and Sylvia Soska back at the helm: here, writing, directing and producing an original feature once again. You may, if you look around, see it being vaunted as a ‘psychosexual’ piece of work, a film targeted at an 18+ audience and, through its use of nudity, BDSM and kink, […]
When a couple has been together for a “stupid amount of time”, as in the case of Dan (Max Woertendyke) and Jen (Dana Berger), then breaking up is a difficult thing: years of shared history blur into bad feelings, anger obscures rational solutions and it can feel as if you’re going around in circles. In […]
It’s the longest day of the year in the small hamlet of Pangnirtung, part of the Canadian Nunavut territory – close to the Arctic Circle. The adults of the village are excited for the special yearly barn dance, but there’s not a hell of a lot for the teens and pre-teens of Pang to do. […]
By guest contributor Darren Gaskell Enthusiastic food fanatic Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) invites Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) on a trip to a once in a lifetime dining experience on a remote island at an exclusive restaurant called Hawthorne, where superstar head chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a multi-stage menu full of surprises and an overarching theme […]
As The Retaliators opens, a voiceover speaking about justice in an unfair world sets out some of the film’s themes. It also, by the by, introduces us to the film’s approach to its themes: things move around from one thing to another, first a dour drama, then a glimpse at organised crime and finally an […]