Guido Anselmi, the main character in 8½, has often been described as Fellini’s alter-ego. The director’s eighth production (hence the name of the film) is a dreamy and poetic account of a filmmaker’s creative block, and it is also, arguably, a journey into his personality. This is quite accurate in that most of Fellini’s [...]
Every aspect of Robert Eggers and Jarin Blaschke’s surrealist work ‘The Lighthouse’ pushes limits. From its dark humour to its physical claustrophobia, the film continuously pushes us away and then pulls us back in. Released by A24 studios, ‘The Lighthouse’ depicts a lighthouse keeper (Willem Dafoe) and a seasonal worker (Robert Pattinson) who must [...]
I was watching the BBC’s His Dark Materials (2019) and whilst I mostly enjoyed the story, acting and other aspects of the drama, one question kept coming up; where are the characters’ dæmons? For those unaware of the YA book series by Philip Pullman, the Northern Lights (1995), which the majority of the [...]
Marriage Story, Baumbach’s second treatise on divorce, demonstrates, Baumbach asserted in a recent Guardian interview, that to take sides is folly. The film, to his credit, is admirably diplomatic in its execution. A couple, once in love, now bitterly fight over custody as a woman finds her voice and a man desperately clings to [...]
Widely celebrated as the saviour of German Cinema, the German New Wave ponders division, rhetoric and injustice with remarkable care and sensitivity. Here's a very short retrospective to give you a clue of where to start with this fascinating period in film history.
