cinema

Film review: Backrooms

In 2022, a photograph within a 4chan messageboard thread inspired teenager Kane Parsons to publish a web series on YouTube that expanded upon the initial prompt to post “disquieting images that just feel off”. Four years later as his creepypasta videos have gone viral, he has fleshed out the idea by directing a feature-length film.

 Sci-fi psychological horror Backrooms follows furniture salesman Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who is recently divorced and struggling with alcoholism. After discovering a strange portal within the basement of his showroom, he confides in his therapist Mary (Renate Reinsve) who is battling demons of her own. When he goes missing, she enters a mysterious dimension to find him.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Sentimental Value

 The works of director Joachim Trier are often tied together by their tender explorations of existential emotions, the last of which, The Worst Person in the World, catapulted him into the hipster cinephile consciousness. This closed the chapter on his acclaimed ‘Oslo trilogy’ but his latest feature dabbles in the same thematic territory. Family drama Sentimental Value centres around theatre actor Nora (Renate Reinsve) who’s appearing in a stage production but suffers a severe panic attack backstage. When her mother passes away, she unites in grief with sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) and reconnects with her estranged filmmaking father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård) who wants her to star in his new movie.

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DVD & Digital · GFF22

DVD review: The Worst Person in the World

This is the third film in what’s being referred to as Joachim Trier’s ‘Oslo Trilogy’, where the acclaimed writer and director shifts his focus to tell a tale from the female perspective. Co-penned with regular screenwriting partner Eskil Vogt, romantic drama The Worst Person in the World spends four years with Julie (Renate Reinsve), a thirtysomething student who finds herself at a crossroads in life. Deciding to embark on a career in photography and a relationship with older man Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie), the film tracks her path to self-discovery in a millennial coming-of-age story.

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