RIDERS OF JUSTICE is underpinned by the innate absurdity of existence and love for the fools navigating this abyss. The film’s weakest sides are its predictable concluding beats, but it is hard to be mad at a film this good-hearted.
Alex Camilleri’s feature directorial debut is a melancholy lament on the decline of traditional ways of life. Without romanticising an often difficult daily life, his story of a Maltese fisherman is naturalistic but beautiful.
There is plenty to commend the technical and performance aspects of JOHN AND THE HOLE. Still, the storytelling choices and structure fill in the intriguing gaps with narrative quicksand, into which the film’s potential slowly sinks.
Garnett brilliantly lends herself to her father likeness, reconstructing scenes and lip-syncing interviews herself as if he were present. She allows Dave to be documented despite his absence. A unique and moving way of reconnection, seeing daughter transform into father.
The impression given in LETTER TO A FRIEND is that what once had a sense of perpetuity has undergone a rapid, recent, and enduring change. An accelerating transformation that has not only scarred a Bethlehem neighbourhood physically but has warped the nature of the very fabric of life.
The erasure methods employed by the hegemonic cultural mainstream have been many, but the means by which LGBTQ people have fought for visibility and the freedom to present as they wish publicly and proudly are far greater. NITRATE KISSES is one such expression of that pride and power.
It’s inevitable that WE’RE STILL HERE will leave you wanting to grab some campaign boards and join in on the wave of activism. Ciéra Cree reviews at Document Human Rights Film Festival.
THE YEAR OF THE DISCOVERY takes some dedication from the viewer due to its length, which perhaps would be better experienced in a theatre for full effect, but its runtime ultimately feels necessary to give space to the almost endless articulations of how the micro of individual life relates to the macro of world-political-economy. We are here now after the discovery, but it doesn’t mean we understand what we’ve found.
A film perfect for the festival circuit, and a wonderful dose of escapism at a time when it’s most needed, this slow rolling, deliberate and thought-provoking journey into the belly of the Hebrides almost mirrors the isolation of the world in 2020.
The bond between a mother and her missing son is pushed to extremes as she descends into the treacherous underbelly of a city spiralling out of control.
