The Yards (2000)

The Yards (2000) has been one of those movies that has always sat there on my “Must watch” lists, and I’ve never felt strongly compelled to watch it, thinking to myself, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get around to it.” After seeing Armageddon Time and watching Two Lovers for the first time, I was more inclined to […]

Piercing (2018)

Sanctuary, a film about the power balance in a BDSM arrangement, stars Christopher Abbott and Margaret Qualley, in a hotel-set two-hander with dark psycho-sexual themes. It almost felt like Abbott had made this movie before, or was making a habit of using his deep black eyes and dramatic intensity to be in a ruinous pairing […]

I Do Not Care If We Go Down In History As Barbarians (2018)

I was a fan of Romanian director Radu Jude’s Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, and was reading recent interviews with him about his next film doing the festival rounds. This compelled me to track down some of his earlier films, and the only one available on SBS On Demand is I Do Not Care […]

In Front Of Your Face (2021)

I could imagine the further you delve into prolific Korean director Hong Sang-soo, a feeling of sameness might set in, or more just seeing the recurring themes, structures and approaches more clearer. A week between seeing Grass and In Front Of Your Face (2021), both currently streaming on SBS On Demand with half a dozen […]

The Guardian (1990)

Director William Friedkin made plenty of great films but his auteur status will always be equated to The French Connection and The Exorcist, two enduring classics of the 1970s that redefined their respective genres. As his career went on, Friedkin would revisit the terrain with tethered films, returning to The French Connection vibe in the […]