Film Reviews

By Leslie Byron Pitt @Afrofilmviewer To utilise the vernacular that Dope uses, the soundtrack to Rick Famuyiwa’s fourth film is well…Dope. A quick glimpse of the film credits should have a viewer spy the names of Sean “Puffy” Combs and Pharrell Williams as executive producers. The film is filled with so many nineties hip-hop gems, it’s hard not to nod your head. There’s so much music, that the non-diegetic sound becomes wall-to-wall. It becomes distracting. Almost enough to forgo the...

Review by Ellery Nick @Ellery__Nick Brendon Gleeson plays Thomas Nickerson, last survivor of a doomed whaling voyage. He sets Ben Whishaw on his knee to recount his boyhood adventures and unburden himself of a dark secret. They occupy a spot lit space on the periphery of director Ron Howard’s story, which is set many years in the past. Whishaw is Herman Melville, a yet-to-be famous novelist who is consumed by talk of whales and sets about pumping Nickerson for the...

By Leslie Byron Pitt @Afrofilmviewer It’s often said that you don’t watch porn for its plot. The same can certainly be said for Gaspar Noe’s indulgent Love. For all it’s on screen ejaculation and 3D Penises thrusting out at the audience, Noe cannot hide that this is a tediously overlong piece with an under baked plot. While Love is certainly a more sensitive and personal film in comparison to previous features (I Stand Alone (1998), Irréversible (2002), Enter the Void...

Reviewed by Miranda Schiller @mirandadadada Hector (Peter Mullan) is the story of an elderly homeless man's journey through Britain on his annual pilgrimage to a Christmas shelter. In classic British social realist style, it sheds light on an invisible part of society and the reality of living on the streets.   Director Jake Gavin brings a photographer's eye to his first feature film: Visually well composed and following a natural, flowing rhythm, it concentrates mainly on the daily life of...

By Leslie Pitt @Afrofilmviewer A broad and sometimes worrying documentary, Chemsex, produced by Vice depicts a destructive world of gay sex and illegal drug taking which as muddied the waters of sexual health and well-being within the gay community. Spending a comprehensive amount of time with a varied group of gay men centred in London, William Fairman and Max Gogarty’s documentary delves into the sex lives of these young men, looking at aspects of modern gay life which may provide...

By Ellery Nick @Ellery__Nick Whilst holidaying with his so embarrassing parents, hip hop loving Radical Miracle seeks the teachings of a reclusive loner to help him take down a pair of local toughs. They’ve been making moves on Rad’s dream girl Stacy Summers and fronting at his pal Teddy Fryy. Together they all find friendship, love and courage over an amusement arcade’s ping pong table. Which sounds pretty familiar. Perhaps not ping pong, or hip hop, but we know this...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt @Afrofilmviewer Saeed Taji Farouky and Michael McEvoy’s documentary details the Afghan Army’s dealings with the Taliban once full security responsibility was transferred over to the Afghan government. Their military involvement was of course spurred on by the tragic events of 9/11. From one perspective, it’s easy to believe that once the western troops had withdrawn, the fighting had ceased. Out of sight, out of mind. Tell Spring Not to Come This Year informs us of...

By Leslie Byron Pitt @Afrofilmviewer An obtuse and absurdist piece that will most likely delight Dylan Thomas fans, but leave many cold. For far too often these days, British film is observed for its flouncy period pieces or grubby gangster/hooligan skulduggery. Such unfortunately narrow focus often dismisses British cinema’s strong taste for the strange, the odd and the folksy. From the creepy folk horror of the 70’s, to the contemporary offerings to Ben Wheatley (A Field in England) and Carol...

By Toby Venables @TobyVenables ‘We’d like you to recommend the Top 5 Films for Halloween,’ they said. Great, I said, Top 50 Films for Halloween! I’m all over it! ‘Er, no – that’s top FIVE...’ Ah. That’s more difficult... There are literally thousands of great horror movies out there – so how do you choose your appropriately themed Halloween/Day of the Dead viewing? Do you select according to the style or tone of the piece – terrifying, funny, classic, thought-provoking,...