ROSE PLAYS JULIE thrives in discomfort. Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s drama opens with a veterinary school lecture on euthanising healthy animals – a common occurrence, often for behavioural reasons – and then spends each following scene contrasting characters’ assumptions and knowledge about their lives and loved ones. Carmen Paddock reviews.
Justine Bateman’s feature film debut is full of ideas but desperately needs to triage them to let the best of them – and Olivia Munn’s excellent performance – breathe.
Too little is established in Jake Gyllenhaal’s main character for the tension to pierce or upend our understanding of him, and the focus on him in THE GUILTY is so intense that any broader metaphors or statements fail to emerge from that dense wildfire smoke.
An awkward narrative transition, combined with a plurality of readings, could indicate a messy and unfocused story, but Riz Ahmed’s performance and the consistent tone created by director Michael Pearce ensure ENCOUNTER remains a captivating experience.
Over Britain’s documentary and film commentary sectors, Mark Cousins exerts something like an inexorable influence. Such recognisability means he’s a favourite of film festivals, such as Sheffield Doc/Fest, where his latest, THE STORY OF LOOKING, premiered as the closing night film.
BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES takes a clever sci-fi concept and fully explores its limits to the edge of complexity while never losing sight of the people at the heart of this time anomaly.
While not devoid of interesting characters or engaging relationships, AGNES is too disjointed to use them fully and not focused enough to explore them. Instead of employing a sudden narrative shift halfway through, AGNES would have been better served by having a little faith in its original premise. Early on, AGNES hits all the marks … Continue reading Agnes
Amando de Ossorio’s TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD is a stylistic nightmare-scape with enough grindhouse elements to balance out the zaniness of Ossorio’s script. An enjoyable and interesting horror movie, it may have more influence on the trends to follow in horror cinema than its chucklesome B-movie qualities would suggest.
Thoughtful, intelligent plot turns are exactly what makes low-budget sci-fi effective, and they are what makes GLASSHOUSE an intriguing, engaging watch.
THE LAST THING MARY SAW is an eerie feature, with a brooding ambience and a fresh approach to the period horror genre. While there are areas of the writing that do not have as much to offer as many horror enthusiasts will expect, there are more elements that work exceptionally well than ones that do not.
