The Lure (2015)

In 1980s Poland, two mermaids hear their own siren song: a fair haired boy playing an indie ballad on the shoreline. Leaving the water for the world of humans, the mermaids eventually front their very own synth pop band. Welcome to the horror-musical-fantasy world of The Lure (2015; Córki dancingu), which revolves around a nightclub […]

Galveston (2018)

I’m an easy mark for a neo-noir thriller and Galveston (2018) intrigued me because it was directed by Melanie Laurent. Best known as Shosanna in Inglorious Basterds, Laurent has directed several films in France and this is her only English-language American film (so far), an adaptation of a novel by Nic Pizzolatto, the creator of […]

After The Storm (2016)

One evening, I was looking for something soothing and gentle for a movie, and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s After The Storm (2016; Umi yori mo Mada Fukaku) worked its charms on me. I’ve only seen Kore-eda’s Shoplifters and that had me bawling at the end, with its displays of human kindness and compassion in an unjust world. […]

Let The Corpses Tan (2017)

A leather glove tightened. Sweat dripping down a lined face. The snap of a firearm being loaded. The glow emanating from a gold bar. Let The Corpses Tan (2017; Laissez bronzer les cadavres) luxuriates in these details, fetishing them in close up and heightened sound design. As filmmakers, Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani have a […]

First Love (2019)

First Love (2019; Hatsukoi) combines a couple of my favourite sub-genres: One Wild Night and Multiple Parties Want One Thing. Directed by the prolific Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike (13 Assassins, Blade Of The Immortal), we follow a young boxer Leo (Masataka Kubota) who goes from shiftless to despondent when he receives some bad news after […]