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The story goes that Elliott Gould screened The Silent Partner for Alfred Hitchcock after it was finished. Hitchcock apparently liked it, as well he might, since it’s about 75 per cent Hitchcock by look and theme. There’s a blonde, a bit of mistaken identity, a nobody who finds he’s a somebody when tested, and even … Read more
Midlife males fall apart in Good One, writer/director India Donaldson’s debut feature, which looks at masculine fragility through the eyes of a teenage female who’s gone walking in the woods with her dad and his old friend for three days. Sam and dad Chris are on the three-day hike in the Catskills with Matt. Matt’s … Read more
If it’s highly controlled yet mad gothic you’re after – plus a wackadoodle title – Horrors of Malformed Men, a Japanese cult item from 1969, should do it for you. Director Teruo Ishii wastes no time setting out his stall. The opening shot is of a woman’s bare breast, followed half a second later by … Read more
Masculinity on the downswing meets white supremacism on the up in The Order, a typically unsettling film by Justin Kurzel, who’s never quite topped his devastating debut, Snowtown, though this comes pretty close. The casting is unusual for something set in redneck USA. Nice, pretty Nicholas Hoult as Bob Mathews, head of a white-power outfit … Read more
It’s one of the great movie titles, so it may be no surprise to learn that Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia‘s title came first. Co-writer Frank Kowalski came up with the Bring Me the Head bit, and co-writer/director Sam Peckinpah took it from there, helping flesh out a story that would both justify … Read more
David Dastmalchian’s wonky presence slots right in to Late Night with the Devil, a horror movie with a difference, though if I say “found footage” and The Exorcist you might wonder where exactly the difference is. A preamble explains that what we’re about to see is a lost recording of a live, late-night TV chat … Read more
Golem is the first of Polish director Piotr Szulkin’s Apocalypse Tetralogy – as it’s sometimes called – and is also often credited as being one of the inspirations for Blade Runner. Before Ridley Scott fans start rubbing their hands together with glee, Szulkin is far less interested in entertainment than Scott. His film is bleaker, more … Read more
Every Little Thing is a documentary about a hummingbird sanctuary. A funny sort of documentary if you’re interested in the birds themselves and want to know how much they weigh, or how long they live, what they feed on or how big their eggs are – tiny, presumably, since the birds are only as big … Read more
1941’s High Sierra was the last time Humphrey Bogart took second billing to anybody. It’s clearly his film yet Ida Lupino got top billing, playing a gangster’s moll. Neither the star nor the moll has very much to do and it’s pretty clear that Lupino’s part has been pumped up a bit to justify her … Read more
Aubrey Plaza in a film called My Old Ass looks like a case of someone getting their defence in early, but is in fact a canny repositioning of Plaza – more mouth, less sex – and another demonstration of her ability to light up a film with dark snark in a supporting role. The film … Read more
If you already know Václav Vorlíček’s Three Wishes for Cinderella it’ll most likey be because you grew up on it. It’s a tradition in some European countries to watch it at Christmas. A Czech/East German co-production made in the days of the Iron Curtain, its appeal is obvious as soon as it gets going. It … Read more
Sci-fi or is it? Omni Loop certainly doesn’t look or feel like a sci-fi movie. In fact it’s all about human foibles, regrets, the life lived rather than the life that could have been lived. But its ostensible story – a woman reliving the last week of her life over and over again thanks to a … Read more
