DVD & Digital

Film review: Better Man

Garry ArnotLeave a comment

The musician biographical drama is a subgenre that has become increasingly saturated of late, with Elton John, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley, and Bob Dylan among others having their stories told on the big screen within the past five years. The latest in the category is Better Man, which tells the rags to riches tale of controversial pop performer Robbie Williams who rose to fame in boyband Take That before embarking on a successful solo career. Directed by Australian visual artist turned filmmaker Michael Gracey, known for his work on the Greatest Showman, there’s a trick that separates this biopic from the rest – the star is portrayed as a CGI-animated monkey.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Queer

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A key figure of the Beat Generation movement, author William S. Burroughs was known for his experimental and often controversial literature. Romantic drama Queer is based on his 1985 novella of the same name and is directed by Luca Guadagnino, a filmmaker that’s no stranger to a taboo topic himself. Set in 1950s Mexico City, the plot follows middle-aged American expat William Lee (Daniel Craig) who lives a lonely existence in and around his local bars. His spirits are lifted when young intellectual Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) arrives in town, but his pursuit of a meaningful connection is mired by his dependency to opioids.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: We Live in Time

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 Folding a ‘weepie’ into the cosy comfort of the British romcom genre, We Live in Time is the latest feature from John Crowley, an Irish director perhaps best known for his work on 2015 period piece Brookyln. His non-linear plot follows the relationship between thriving chef Almut (Florence Pugh) and downtrodden divorcée Tobias (Andrew Garfield) over the course of a decade, cutting between humour and heartache as their lives in modern-day London are rocked by a cancer diagnosis.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Grand Theft Hamlet

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While many of us baked countless loaves of banana bread, learned new musical instruments, or binged our favourite boxsets, some used the COVID lockdowns as an opportunity to explore more off-piste creative endeavours. For British actors Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen, a period of unemployment led them to a very unusual undertaking in 2021 where they attempted to stage a production of Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet within the unhinged virtual world of the Grand Theft Auto Online videogame. Co-written and directed by Crane and his filmmaker wife Pinny Grylls, who joined them on their mission, the documentary Grand Theft Hamlet illustrates their efforts.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Joker: Folie à Deux

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Following on from the awards success and critical acclaim of 2019’s psychological thriller Joker, director Todd Phillips is back with a second chapter on DC Comic’s iconic villain. Joker: Folie à Deux picks up the story two years on, with Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) incarcerated in Arkham Asylum and awaiting trial after his killing spree. At a therapy session, he meets troubled inmate Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga) and the pair form a bond which is explored through fantastical jukebox musical interludes.

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DVD & Digital · EIFF24

Film review: To Kill a Wolf

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Many of our favourite fairy tales date back to pre-17th-century Europe and the stories have been continually revised, reimagined and reinterpreted over hundreds of years. The debut feature of writer and director Kelsey Taylor is a contemporary take on Little Red Riding Hood. Set in the Oregon’s beautiful, wooded wilderness, the drama follows teenager Dani (Maddison Brown) who is discovered sleeping rough in the forest by a bearded man played by Ivan Martin, credited only as The Woodsman. He takes her in, providing food and shelter, and we soon come to learn of the fraught situation she is running away from.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Lee

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With a background that includes fiction pieces, documentaries, commercials, and music videos, cinematographer Ellen Kuras turns her experienced hand to directing with historical drama Lee, marking her feature debut. Based on the 1985 biography The Lives of Lee Miller by Antony Penrose, the plot follows American journalist Lee Miller (Kate Winslet) through various stages of her fascinating life, from her time as a Vogue fashion model to enlisting as a war correspondent during World War II. Through her marriage to British artist Roland (Alexander Skarsgård) and her working relationships with editor Audrey (Andrea Riseborough) and fellow photographer David Scherman (Andy Samberg), the film provides an insight to the woman behind the iconic images she took.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Blue Sun Palace

Garry ArnotLeave a comment

 In recent years we’ve seen a surge in cinema that has tapped into emotional aspects of Asian-American culture and identity, with the likes of Lulu Wang’s poignant comedy The Farewell, Lee Isaac Chung’s family tale Minari, and Celine Song’s complex romance Past Lives. An arthouse entry into this niche space is Blue Sun Palace, a social-realist drama from writer and director Constance Tsang. Taking place within the Chinese community of Queen’s, New York, the story follows Didi (Haipeng Xu), Amy (Ke-Xi Wu), and Cheung (Kang-sheng Lee) as they navigate life, love, and loss.

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