Film

By Emma Silverthorn @HouseOf_Gazelle Director Bryn Higgins and writer Joe Fisher’s tale, (adapted from Ray Robinson’s novel of the same name), of a young woman’s struggle with epilepsy and a less than salubrious background is in many ways admirable. It is beautifully shot, features some interesting relationship dynamics and focuses on an neurological disorder that rarely receives creative coverage however the occasionally hackneyed script and not entirely convincing performance from lead Agyness Deyn lets the film down somewhat. More convincing...

By James Mackney @JimMackney Open Bethlehem is as much Leila Sansour’s film as it is Bethlehem’s. It chronicles Leila’s mission to ensure that Bethlehem is a free and open city and not one at the whim of Israeli pressure. Leila herself left Palestine and Bethlehem at age 18 and returned several years later to film this documentary however the documentary states that her family is depleting around her. They are feeling the pressures of the regime that is keeping Palestine...

By Sam Inglis @24FPSUK 24fps.org.uk School of Babel is inescapably political. It doesn’t feel like it is hectoring you with its viewpoint, but it is impossible to watch it without viewing it through the prism of the controversial discussion around immigration, multiculturalism and integration and you won't be in doubt what the film's view is by the end. The film takes place almost entirely in the reception class of a French junior high school, with pupils aged between 11 and...

By Emma Silverthorn @Houseof_Gazelle Simulating the lifestyle of a bonobo ape has its attractions. The bonobo, our closest living relative, are compassionate, free-loving animals who very rarely experience conflict; when problems do arise amongst them the bonobo’s quickly diffuse them with bouts of promiscuous sexual activity. The species is a vision of sixties counterculture utopia and the ripe inspiration for Matthew Hammet Knott’s first feature length film. In the Dorset countryside, magnetic Anita (wonderfully played by Josie Lawrence) has formed...

By Anna Power @powersfilms After last year’s “Let’s put a roof on this house” Labor Day debacle, Jason Reitman’s back with Men, Women and Children, following in the footsteps of Spike Jonze’ fascinating futuristic film Her, Reitman seeks to explore our very ‘new’ relationship with technology and its impact on how we relate both to ourselves and each other in its wake. It’s a brave new world, with big brother watching us and us watching each other. Never before has...

By Emma Siverthorn @HouseOf_Gazelle From its opaque start through to its ambiguous denouncement Robin Campillo's Eastern Boys is a brilliantly complex exploration of power dynamics. In the opening scenes, the Eastern Boys, (hailing from the Ukraine, Russia and Romania), roam the Gare Du Nord, their purpose and intention unclear but their sense of pack protection obvious. Yet as the film progresses this sense of immigrant solidarity quickly darkens and shifts to something more akin to captivity than camaraderie. The leader...

By Philip Benton @paolobento My experience of watching foreign language films is limited to the German thriller ‘The Lives of Others’ and the Italian gangster movie ‘Gomorrah’, so when I had the opportunity to see and review a quirky French comedy about a boy growing up thinking he was a girl, I was intrigued to say the least. ‘Les garçons et Guillaume, à table!’, as it was known upon release in France in 2013 (I think the English title is...

By Anna Power  TLE Film Editor  @TLE_Film  The British Independent Film Awards are upon us and we're livestreaming them here from 8pm tonight! It's been an outstanding year for British and Irish Independent Film from giants like Mike Leigh's Mr Turner and The Imitation Game, to Abrahamson's Frank and McDonagh's Calvary and first time feature director Yann Demange's '71 to name a few. We hope you'll join us and the dazzling array of talent from the best of British film...

By Stephen Mayne @finalreel    What do you do when your highly complex, specific skillset is no longer needed? As the heyday of British manufacturing disappears far into the distance, it’s a question many are left facing. The answer in Kevin Macdonald’s claustrophobic submarine thriller is not likely to bring much comfort either. Black Sea opens with Jude Law’s Robinson receiving his marching orders from Agora, the heartless employer that offers a derisory parting package before telling him to clear...