At this stage in the game it feels like Zhang Yimou, the most celebrated of contemporary Chinese directors, who rose to international prominence with his distinctive brand of visually lush romantic melodrama (1987’s Red Sorghum and 1991’s Raise the Red Lantern are amongst his most memorable early works) only to reinvent himself in the early […]
The House That Jack Built – VIFF 2018 Review
At this stage in his prolific and subversive filmmaking career, confrontational provocateur Lars von Trier’s brand is essentially one of polarization. Antichrist (2009) and Nymphomaniac (2013) are two of the Dane’s most recent examples of artful, dark, and indulgent films that managed to cut crowds right down the middle, and with von Trier’s latest detour […]
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10 Criminally Underrated Horror Movies Perfect For Halloween
October is here, and for many genre fans the month of Halloween provides an excuse to watch much more horror cinema. There is something oddly comforting about wrapping up with a hot drink on a cold, gloomy night and watching something that scares us; whether this be an old favourite or a first-time watch. This […]
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10 Great 21st Century Movies You May Have Missed
The 21st century has offered the moviegoers tremendous new experiences. The last 20 years have been arguably the most productive years of cinema. Betwixt this explosion of new features, we have been blessed with some of the best movies ever made. Sadly, awards and public acclaim are not enough to make every good movie stand […]
Climax – VIFF 2018 Review
Argentinian enfant terrible filmmaker Gaspar Noé (Enter the Void [2009]) may now at long last finally have his masterpiece with Climax, an unimaginably beautiful nightmare mixture of ecstatic dance and horror most extreme. An absolutely mindblowing, and occasionally frustrating experience––this is Noé after all, the New French Extremity provocateur behind such tortuous endurance tests as […]
Parallel – VIFF 2018 Review
“They’re so similar you can barely tell them apart,” says a yawning husband about to turn in, to his wife Marissa (Kathleen Quinlan), regarding two images she’s nitpicking over for a photo spread at the beginning of Isaac Ezban’s latest flashy sci-fi thriller, Parallel. For such a prosaic and off-the-cuff remark it’s an incredibly eerie […]