Film and Culture Writer based in the UK. Festivals Editor for Screen Queens.
Berlinale Review: Soda Jerk’s ‘Hello Dankness’
How do you sum up the political, social and cultural upheaval of the Donald Trump years? Soda Jerk, an Adelaide-based artist duo, answered this question with a collage film comprised of audio clips and spliced moments from film and TV.
Till the End of the Night review – well-acted but distracted exploration of love and identity
Christoph Hochhäusler’s queer crime drama has electric chemistry to boot, but loses itself in an overly complicated and winding plot
Berlinale Review: Anthony Lapia’s ‘After’
Anthony Lapia’s stark, confident debut feature After is about inhibition in nighttime spaces, the singular moments that bind strangers together and the endless possibilities found in the collective experience of clubbing.
Silver Haze review – dynamic but frustrating study of childhood trauma
Sacha Polak's semi-improvised and well-acted new film explores the destructive power of anger, but bites off more than it can chew.
The Beast in the Jungle review – euphoric and melancholic reimagining of Henry James
The writer's 1903 novella is transposed to a Paris nightclub in Patric Chiha’s lushly-drawn but somewhat emotionally bereft new film.
LFF ’22: An Interview with Ioseb ‘Soso’ Bliadze, and Taki Mumladze about ‘A Room of My Own’, shooting during the pandemic, and Georgian Cinema
A Room of My Own is the latest in a series of Georgian films that dig deep into the societal issues, perceptions and attitudes of the country – and this year has received great acclaim on the festival circuit.
Misidentification Murder Mystery
The marketing of Halina Reijn’s second film deliberately pokes at the hornets’ nest of Gen Z representation. Billed as a ‘biting’ or ‘searing’ satire of a permanently online generation, the campaign for Bodies Bodies Bodies also places a heavy focus on buzzwords; ‘gaslighting’, ‘trigger’, ‘toxic’, and ‘silencing’ are all mentioned in quick succession in one trailer, while a tagline states that ‘this is not a safe space.’
In Praise of Eastern Promises
As David Cronenberg's gangster flick turns 15, it remains a refreshing depiction of London's underbelly.
GAIFF Correspondence Piece
A response to my time at the GAIFF
The quiet revolutionary power of friendship
A festival review of Ioseb Bliadze's 'A Room of My Own' from GAIFF.
Time is of the essence
Festival review of Cyril Schäublin's 'Unrest' from GAIFF.
Sundance London ’22: ‘Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’ Digs Into The Best And Worst Of It’s Characters
Sophie Hyde’s follow-up to 2019’s Animals, Good Luck to You Leo Grande is an intimate, painfully frank, and often funny examination of female desire and exploration, with two staggeringly honest central performances from Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack.
Sundance London ’22: ‘Brian and Charles’ Is Not Your Usual Robot Story
At the heart of Brian and Charles, year’s Sundance London Audience Award winner, is a simple question of companionship, the lengths people will go to alleviate loneliness, and a robot who is half washing machine.
Tim Roth’s Holiday Goes Askew in ‘Sundown’
There is a moment in Michel Franco’s latest film that captures both the appeal and the weakness of Sundown in an instant. A man pulls up to a packed beach on a jet ski, pulls out a gun and assassinates another man, who up until that moment has been enjoying a day in the sun. While people gather around in the aftermath, Neil (Tim Roth) the films’ protagonist, simply takes the hand of the young woman sitting next to him and walks away without so much as a backwards glance.
‘Marry Me’ Fumbles The Romantic Comedy Revival
It’s no surprise the amount of hype that surrounded the run-up to the premiere of Marry Me. The early 00s heyday of mainstream romantic comedies that wholly embrace their place in the genre (27 Dresses, What’s Your Number, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) has long gone, and there’s been a significant void that hasn’t been filled.