Cemetery Of Splendour (2015)

What I most want from an art movie is to be taken to somewhere else. Another part of the world, yes, but also taken to another way of seeing. Cemetery Of Splendour (2015; Rak Ti Khon Kaen) is only my second film that I’ve watched from Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul (after Uncle Boonmee Who Can […]

Buzzard (2014)

Heavy metal music blaring and a freak out over a busted Nintendo power glove, this is the first scene of dark indie comedy, Buzzard (2014), one of the several collaborations between Michigan based director Joel Potrykus and star Joshua Burge. I loved their last film together from 2018, the surreal Relaxer, and I was keen […]

Sweet Virginia (2017)

I sometimes still think about Sweet Virginia (2017) which I watched one grey afternoon on Netflix several years ago. I think it’s a good neo-noir thriller, not a great one; it flirts close to the nihilistic edge of something like No Country For Old Men, but sort of flinches, which is both a good and […]

The Drop (2014)

I don’t think Tom Hardy can ever play a normal guy – he’s one of those actors who always has to do something, some bit of business to make it interesting for him. On the surface, he seems to be playing an ordinary joe in The Drop (2014), a Noo Yawk neo-noir in the downbeat […]

Lost River (2014)

Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut, Lost River (2014), has always sat there beckoning me. When it came out, it received mixed to poor reviews and sort of disappeared. Yet it also looks like a Nicolas Winding Refn movie, who I am a fan of. After years of putting it off, I finally dove in. For the […]