Film Reviews

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,...

By Miranda Schiller @mirandadadada With their leather jackets, afros and berets, openly carried guns and raised fists, the Black Panthers have certainly left their mark on the iconography of rebellion and resistance of the 1960s and 1970s. Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, they were originally a self-defence organisation raising arms against police brutality on the streets. Footage of policemen beating up black people is at the start of Stanley Nelson’s documentary, and with its disturbing similarity to much...

By Leslie Byron Pitt @Afrofilmviewer Contrary to the beliefs of many militant, western Atheists. The ease of separating one’s self from the durable arms of religion, are not as easy as simply snapping out of it. An estimated 65% of the Chilean population recognise themselves as Catholic creed. It’s been over 90 years the church was separated from state in Chile, yet that is a tear drop in the vast bank that religion runs through. The roots of its legacy...

Reviewed by Miranda Schiller @mirandadadada When writer/director David Thorpe is dumped by his boyfriend and finds himself single and in his forties, he realises something: He hates the way his voice sounds – and the voices of most gay men around him. So he goes on a quest to find out what the stereotypical “gay voice” is, why so many men adopt it, and how to either lose it or accept it. His interviewees range from speech therapists and linguists...

By Stephen Mayne @finalreel  Angry, petulant, charismatic, committed, sulky, lazy, brooding, sexy, raw, difficult, charming, idealistic, thoughtful, devastating, intelligent and difficult again. Millions of words have been written about Marlon Brando and yet he remains an enigma, hidden away beneath moments of flamboyant outrage and unforgettable performances. Attempting to add more words to the picture would likely lead to little in the way of results - unless they come from the man directly. Making use of unguarded recordings mixed in...

By Stephen Mayne @finalreel In the latter half of the twentieth century, the US and the Soviet Union fought a battle for ideological supremacy. A crude and particularly western view of the conflict saw it as a straight fight between the forces of freedom and creative enterprise against a brutally rigid system of oppression. Even taking that bombastic brand of propaganda at face value, the argument doesn’t exactly apply in the world of men’s Ice Hockey. On this frozen field...

By Leslie Byron Pitt @Afrofilmviewer Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation would play well in a dining room disaster triple bill with last year’s dining room sci-fi Coherence (2014) and Hitchcock’s Rope (1948). It’s a deceptive film, which at its surface presents itself as a conventional B movie thriller in its own right. Yet Kusama (Jennifer’s Body) is not one to play along with typical formality. While The Invitation is best viewed with little to no background knowledge about its story, it...

By Leslie Byron Pitt @Afrofilmviewer Despite showing up in films such as A Most Violent Year (2014) and Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), Christopher Abbott is still probably best known for his two year stint as the sensitive Charlie in Lena Dunham’s Girls. Abbott sheds this cleaner cut image he’s most connected with, to become the heavy drinking, aggressive and self-destructive James White in the film that bares the character’s name. We enter James’ life in the eye of a...