“With the emotional power of Normal People and the reflective haze of The Girls, a magnetic novel that moves between present-day Los Angeles and a British boarding school in the 1990s, exploring the destructive relationships between teenage girls.” I was really excited about this book, especially due to the above description, but it was nothing like that. Ellie Eaton…
What is the Real Message Behind ‘I Care A Lot’?
Contains Spoilers for I Care A Lot. J. Blakeson’s third feature film, I Care a Lot, follows the life and crimes of Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) — a sociopathic con artist who makes her living ripping off old people. It’s an intriguing focus for a film, but one that makes us ask “what’s the real message…
Review: Happiest Season
Christmas is a time for love, family, warmth… and this Letterboxd list of Christmas films featuring heterosexual couples wearing red and green. While the list plays for laughs, it highlights how manufactured straight Christmas films are and how inundated audiences have become with them. LGBT stories that take place over the holidays are few and far between,…
LFF Review: Wildfire
In memory of Nika McGuigan. Set on the fractious Irish border, Cathy Brady establishes the tone of her feature-length debut, Wildfire, by opening with archival footage of the conflict and terrorism linked to The Troubles, and more recently, the divide caused by Brexit. The social and political unrest simmers in the background of the film’s main story,…
LFF Review: A Love Story
In Jennifer Sheridan’s original debut feature, Rose: A Love Story, husband Sam (screenwriter Matt Stokoe) and wife Rose (Sophie Rundle) live a secluded life together in England’s snowy woods. Sam spends his days in the freezing cold gathering wood, setting rabbit traps, and looking after them both, whereas Rose stays inside writing novels, on a typewriter…
Review: The Haunting of Bly Manor
Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House, based on Shirley Jackson’s novel of the same name, was an absolute masterclass in emotive storytelling, story adaptation, and filmmaking. This time, Flanagan continues to reinvent great stories of the past as the second installment of The Haunting explores Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw”. The Haunting of Bly…
Review: Ratched
We were first introduced to the terrifying and tyrannical Nurse Mildred Ratched in Ken Kesey’s book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest — but her character was brought to life by Louise Fletcher in Miloš Forman’s film adaptation, which earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1976. Nurse Ratched manipulated her patients in…
Killing Eve: the Transformation of Eve Polastri
Also featured on Medium. Since the beginning, we’ve always wondered whether Killing Eve — the title — means that Villanelle (Jodie Comer) will eventually kill Eve (Sandra Oh) as part of their intoxicating game of cat and mouse. But what if the title isn’t literal and instead possesses a deeper meaning? At its core, Killing Eve is really about…
Review: Dead Dicks
After receiving a series of panicked messages from her older brother Richie (Heston Horwin), young nursing student Becca (Jillian Harris) rushes over to his apartment to check on him. When she gets there, her worst fears come true: she finds Richie’s dead body after a successful suicide attempt. While she’s in distress, Richie suddenly appears,…
20 Years of Cheers: The Legacy of Bring It On
At its surface, Bring It On is a fun teen rom-com about cheerleading that perfectly sets up its tongue-in-cheek tone with its opening dream sequence. Featuring the “I’m sexy, I’m cute, I’m popular to boot” cheer, it pokes fun at how people typically view cheerleading as nothing more than a bitchy popularity contest, but the film also shines…