Shoplifters (2018)

Shoplifters (2018; Manbiki Kazoku) is the first that I’ve seen of writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s many critically-acclaimed films. It’s about a struggling family that make ends meet by shoplifting and who take in a young girl from an abusive home. Observational, funny and warm, there were moments that just had me tearing up instantly. At first, […]

Little Sister (2016)

Writer-director Zach Clark’s (White Reindeer, Vacation, Modern Love Is Automatic) film Little Sister (2016) is available to stream on Netflix. Small, stylish, empathetic and intriguing, it’s about an ex-goth turned nun (Addison Timlin) returning to her family in North Carolina after her brother (Keith Poulson) returns from the war a scarred shut-in. The sequence where […]

High Flying Bird (2019)

Director Steven Soderbergh’s film for Netflix, High Flying Bird (2019), is a collaboration between Soderbergh, playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney (writer of Moonlight) and actor Andre Holland (also of Moonlight and The Knick) who plays an agent trying to make some moves during an NBA lockout where the salaries of young black players are drying up […]

Blackhat (2015)

After rewatching Michael Mann’s big screen version of Miami Vice on Netflix – a film that I was underwhelmed by when I first saw it but now simply love rewatching (particularly Colin Farrell’s look and the Mogwai soundrops) – I realised that I was keen for more 2000s era Michael Mann (even with his use […]

Heaven Knows What (2014)

After rewatching the Safdie Brothers’ excellent film Good Time on Netflix (this is now my go-to Netflix recommendation now that King Of Comedy is no longer on there), I realised I’d not seen any of their earlier movies. Some of their low budget dramas are hard to find, like Daddy Longlegs, but Heaven Knows What […]