East Asian horror cinema has made its presence known in the West for a long time now, with Japanese and South Korean films trailblazing our screens and leaving a welcomed impression. Whilst we’ve only had a mere peak behind the curtain of good – and bad – horror films from that part of the world, … Continue reading Incantation (Kevin Ko, 2022) – religious taboos and broken rules.
Author: onesmallscreen
Òran na h-Eala (Steve Exeter, 2022) – the pressure of creativity.
The soft glow cast over the opening shot that continues to illuminate Shannon Davidson’s Moira Shearer throughout this short is as much a nod to old film as it is to the dreamy ballerina’s personality. This ambiance beautifully contrasts against other sequences that delve into the pressure that Shearer faced when Michael Powell and Emeric … Continue reading Òran na h-Eala (Steve Exeter, 2022) – the pressure of creativity.
The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal, 2021) – narcissistic mothers and neglected narrative.
Actor Maggie Gyllenhaal’s (The Dark Knight) directorial debut brings Elena Ferrante’s novel The Lost Daughter to the big screen. Colman’s character Leda, a divorced professor of nearly-50, holidays in a remote Greece island as her adult daughters visit their father in Canada. Her idyllic peace is shaken when a large New York family, loud and … Continue reading The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal, 2021) – narcissistic mothers and neglected narrative.
Birthday Boy (Leo LeBeau, 2021) – a compelling tale of a crucial perspective.
Teenager Alex (Sebastian Emmerson) seeks refuge in an online game on his birthday when the bullying at the all-girls school he attends becomes too much. This short film was created by an entirely LGBTQ+ crew and features a transgender actor as the also transgender lead character Alex, making for an authentic tale about gender issues … Continue reading Birthday Boy (Leo LeBeau, 2021) – a compelling tale of a crucial perspective.
Other People (Chris Kelly, 2016)
David, an almost-30 mostly-failed comedy writer, moves back to his Sacramento hometown to live with his parents after possibly the worst year of his life. Just broken up with his boyfriend of 5 years, David (Jesse Plemons) now resides in his old childhood bedroom in the house of his homophobic father (Bradley Whitford) and cancer-ridden … Continue reading Other People (Chris Kelly, 2016)
Goodnight Mommy (Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz, 2014) – an empty narrative in a beautiful landscape.
An Austrian psychological thriller, reminiscent of other European works such as The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodóvar, 2011) and Eyes Without a Face (Georges Franju, 1960), Goodnight Mommy is a recognisable narrative that seems to draw influence from well-known Korean horror A Tale of Two Sisters (Jee-woon Kim, 2003). The film is elevated through … Continue reading Goodnight Mommy (Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz, 2014) – an empty narrative in a beautiful landscape.
Adaption. (Spike Jonze, 2002) – convolution masked as clever self-reference.
Jonze and Kaufman’s second collaboration after the well-received Being John Malkovich (1999), the duo take another dive into the mind of real person in Adaption.. This time, the focus is on the film’s own writer Charlie Kaufman, played by Nicolas Cage, and his attempt to adapt a non-fiction book about orchids into a successful screenplay. … Continue reading Adaption. (Spike Jonze, 2002) – convolution masked as clever self-reference.
Monster (Patty Jenkins, 2003) – Theron’s brilliant transformation that captures the true nature of human desire.
To go into Monster with assumptions and expectations of the following 1 hour and 44 minutes is a pointless feat; no matter what you know about the story, of Aileen Wuornos, or of the killing spree that led her to notorious fame as a serial killer when she was finally arrested in 1991, nothing will … Continue reading Monster (Patty Jenkins, 2003) – Theron’s brilliant transformation that captures the true nature of human desire.
Baby Driver (Edgar Wright, 2017) – tunes, tension, and terrible female characters.
Ansel Elgort stars alongside Kevin Spacey, Lily James, and Jamie Foxx in this car-chase heavy, cliché-ridden film that features its lead Elgort as the titular Baby, a young man suffering from tinnitus after a traumatising childhood incident involving a car. He’s constantly plugged in to his array of classic iPods, the music seeping into the … Continue reading Baby Driver (Edgar Wright, 2017) – tunes, tension, and terrible female characters.
Blue Ruin (Jeremy Saulnier, 2013) – a quiet take on the revenge genre.
Jeremy Saulnier’s film Green Room (2015) impressed many with its unique twist on the horror genre. Macon Blair, the star of Saulnier’s previous film Blue Ruin,had a directorial debut with the 2017 drama I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore. The combination of Blair’s vast creative abilities and Saulnier’s directingled me to believe … Continue reading Blue Ruin (Jeremy Saulnier, 2013) – a quiet take on the revenge genre.
one small screen 