Film

This week we throw ourselves into the sweaty fray of Laurent Cantet’s school set docudrama, The Class (original French language title, Entre Les Murs).  Based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by François Bégaudeau, who also co-wrote the script and stars, Cantet brings to life, with startling realism and pulsing energy, the story of a French Language and Literature teacher for a group of 14 to 15 year old banlieue kids in a public school. Never before has...

Those who aren’t particularly au fait with the work of Cecil Beaton, the Oscar-winning set and costume designer behind My Fair Lady and Gigi, are likely to find plenty of little nuggets to mine from this attentive if airy documentary from Lisa Immordino Vreeland. It opens with an exert from a TV interview that Beaton recorded in later life – born in 1904, he died in 1980. During the interview he’s asked how he would describe himself, to which he...

As malignant intolerance and nationalism spreads through Europe and America, there is a powerful urgency in Annalisa Piras’ concise 60 minute documentary, Europe at Sea, that should make it mandatory viewing. Although it is a political document addressing the European Union’s approach to global and European issues, its message is uniquely human; “No country in the world of today is a big one.” The documentary centres on Federica Mogherini, who at 43 is the youngest person to head the Foreign...

Most Beautiful Island wants you to understand how hard life is for Luciana (played by writer/director Ana Asensio), an immigrant living in New York. The film piles on scene after scene of Luciana not being good enough; she is late for her baby sitting job, has to suffer through the indignity of wearing a chicken costume when working as a mascot for a fried chicken shop, and she never has any money. These day-to-day headaches for Luciana help contextualize her...

By Anna Power Based on the novel of the same name by RJ Palacio, Wonder follows the life of August Pullman, affectionately known as Auggie (Jacob Tremblay) as he embarks on his first year of school, having been home schooled due to extensive reconstructive surgery for several years of his infancy. Now a pre-teen and with lifelong facial deformity, August must face his fears and go out into the world. Like a young Rocky Dennis from Bogdanovich’s Mask, these tentative...

Serving as the kindling to start this year’s Christmas fire comes, from director Bharat Nalluri by way of Les Standiford’s non-fiction book of the same name, the charming, if somewhat slight, Man Who Invented Christmas; a chronicle of the story behind Charles Dickens’ beloved novel, 'A Christmas Carol'. Finding fresh life in a tale that has been done to death on the screen, Nalluri avoids a straight retelling, and opts instead to pivot the narrative around the story’s conception. Charles...

The days are growing shorter, the nights are drawing in, and the temperature is plummeting. Horror films are an acquired taste, some people love them and some people despise them. I am firmly in the former camp, and happy to be a fully-fledged, card-holding horror fan. This list looks at what I consider to be my favourite horror films of all time, perfect a chilly winter’s night. Of course, as with any Top 5 list it is subjective: I am...

By Michael McNulty Based on a short story written for Playboy by fantasy-horror and sci-fi writer Richard Matheson – perhaps more widely known for his work on The Twilight Zone, and for authoring I Am Legend – Duel began its trajectory towards life as an ABC TV movie of the week when it was picked up by Universal. Steven Spielberg, then in mid-20s and working as a television director, was attached after impressing the film’s executive producer with a rough...

“Male chauvinist pig versus hairy-legged feminist”, that’s how former world champion tennis player Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) pitches the titular exhibition bout between himself and twelve-time Grand Slam champion Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) in this disappointingly conceited biographical dramatisation from Little Miss Sunshine directors Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris. As with Janus Metz’s plodding Wimbledon drama Borg vs. McEnroe, the action is pivoted around what happened off of the court. From Riggs’ point of view that involves playing up...