“Art is free, shameless, irresponsible: the movement is intense, almost feverish; it resembles, it seems to me, a snakeskin full of ants… filled with meddlesome life” (Bergman, The Snakeskin). Travelling to an island in the Swedish archipelago from Stockholm Central Station requires a train and two buses. Or a train, a ferry and a bus.… Continue reading I want to go on like this — Sommaren with Monika by Ingmar Bergman
From CEOs basking in their wealth while their employees drown in overtime, to conspiracy theorists turned serial killers, Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia shines a spotlight on the ugly side of humanity. If an alien were to come to Earth and watch it, there’s a high chance they’d be on the next spaceship home. “Bugonia” was an… Continue reading Bugonia review — Lanthimos’s latest film asks, is humanity a bubble?
Die, My Love (2025) is directed by the brilliant filmmaker Lynne Ramsey, who has a fearless way of exploring motherhood on screen. She doesn’t show us the happy, gentle, and joyful version of being a mother. Instead, she forces the audience to see the messy, uncomfortable reality- the postpartum depression, the internal chaos, the moments women rarely… Continue reading The Uncanny Side of Motherhood in Die, My Love
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s magnum opus, Frankenstein, has greatly influenced the arts over the past centuries. Spanning novels, characters inspired by the creature, and film adaptations that provide space for their own interpretation with artistic uniqueness and pioneering elements from the classic story. Among them is Guillermo del Toro’s version, released this year, which amassed 29.1M… Continue reading Parental Trauma Themes and Biblical Allusions in Frankenstein
It’s a hard thing, realising people aren’t who you want them to be. Such a poignant, sincere line was first heard in the trailer for Scott Cooper’s new Bruce Springsteen biopic, which sees The Bear star Jeremy Allen White tasked with embodying ‘The Boss’. Yet, it wasn’t until I was sat captivated in the cinema that I heard the line afresh, stricken by how one compelling piece of… Continue reading The Man Beneath the Surface: Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere Review
I watched One Battle After Another in the same week that I rewatched Longlegs and Weapons. Following the double bill of cultish mind control and paranormal fascination, I oddly found myself much more disturbed and sweaty watching the plot of Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film unfold. A loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, the story follows Bob, a washed-up revolutionary hiding with… Continue reading One Battle After Another – Mankind is Scarier Than Any Ghost
Tourette’s syndrome was discovered in the 1980s and wasn’t something that people would discuss casually. Most people didn’t even know what it was during that time. However, forJohn Davidson, growing up in a small Scottish village meant living with a condition no one could name or understand. The new 2025 film I Swear, directed by Kirk Jones, takes us back to that time, telling us about… Continue reading “I swear” the movie that made Britain listen
Alice Lowe’s Timestalker is an inventive, genre-bending dark comedy that traverses time, love and existential questions with her signature sharp wit and emotional depth. Following her critically acclaimed debut feature Prevenge (2016), Lowe returns with a more ambitious and stylistically experimental project. In Timestalker, she once again demonstrates her unique voice, blending comedy with moments… Continue reading Timestalker: Alice Lowe’s darkly hilarious journey through love and time
If there weren’t enough grim dystopian realities in film and TV, this 2025 adaption of Stephen King’s novel ‘The Long Walk’ has another one for us to think about. Set in an alternative, post-war 1970s America, the film follows 50 young men competing in an annual contest with one simple goal: walk until there’s only… Continue reading The Long Walk: an intimate journey with the walking dead
Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, which marks its 50th anniversary this year, struggled at the box office when it was released. It remains one of the director’s most under-appreciated films. Unlike 2001: A Space Odyssey or The Shining, which have been endlessly dissected in books and essays, Barry Lyndon has received relatively little scholarly attention –… Continue reading Barry Lyndon at 50: why Kubrick’s most overlooked masterpiece deserves another viewing
