It’s September 22nd which means it’s finally autumn! It’s time for cosy films, warm blankets, and hot drinks as those vibrant green leaves turn to hues of orange, brown, and yellow! The films below are my favourite to watch this time of year. Most of them won’t come as a surprise, they’re always on these…
drama
Review: Fitting In
Molly McGlynn’s Fitting In is both a coming-of-age drama and a teen sex comedy. 16-year-old Lindy (Maddie Ziegler) has just moved to a new city with her therapist mother, Rita (Emily Hampshire), but things are going well for her: she already has a best friend called Vivian (Djouliet Amara), a crush on schoolmate Adam (D’Pharaoh…
Review: Hoard
Luna Carmoon’s feature debut, Hoard, opens in 1984 on Cynthia (Hayley Squires): a young single mother with long dark hair, donned in a fur coat and a black jewelled cap. She is bin-dipping with her seven-year-old daughter, Maria (Lily-Beau Leach), putting their findings in an old shopping trolley. One would think they were homeless, but…
Review: Black Dog
Written and directed by young actor George Jaques in his debut feature, Black Dog is about two teenage boys from contrasting London backgrounds who embark on a road trip together up North, all the way to Scotland. Nathan (Jamie Flatters), who has almost aged out of foster care, wants to locate his biological sister, whereas…
Review: Ganymede
Ganymede opens to a calming lake, but the score is tense as a single tear drops down the face of a man, smoking alone on a pier, before he jumps in, never to return. The man’s identity becomes clear later, but in the present day, we’re introduced to two very different teenagers who become drawn…
Review: ‘The Requin’ Loses Human Story of Survival Message to Laughably Bad CG Sharks
I’m not a fan of Shark films. There’s nothing particularly wrong with them — they’re just not for me. I find them quite boring and predictable, the sort of qualities I much prefer to be in my beloved slasher flicks. I watched The Requin (which means “shark” in French) purely because of Alicia Silverstone, but she delivered what…
Review: ‘The Fallout’ is an Intimate Character Study of Life After Trauma
The opening of Megan Park’s feature-length directorial debut, The Fallout, which follows the aftermath of a school shooting, felt reminiscent of 2018’s Vox Lux, in that abrupt gunfire suddenly destroys what began as a normal day. Unlike Vox Lux, however, we don’t see anything, we just hear it. It’s an inciting incident that won’t sit well with everyone,…
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,…
Review: Eilsabeth Moss’ Shirley Jackson Walks a Tightrope Between Chaos and Control in ‘Shirley’
This review was adapted into an essay for HorrorWood and published with them on September 18, 2020. Josephine Decker, director of experimental drama Madeline’s Madeleine, explores the life of American horror writer Shirley Jackson in her newest film, Shirley. Jackson, who has written six novels, two memoirs and over 200 short stories, is perhaps best known for ‘We…
‘Starfish’ Review: A Visually Stunning Debut Exploring Grief
“For the end of the world, press play.” A.T. White’s debut feature Starfish follows Aubrey (Virginia Gardner), whose reality begins fraying at the edges as she struggles with the death of her best friend, Grace (Christina Masterson). The film opens at Grace’s funeral and her gravestone reads ‘Always Right,‘ which is the first insight we get into…