A sister, a cult member, an alias - Sean Durkin’s psychological thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene is an assured debut as gripping as it is haunting.
Martha Marcy May Marlene
I’ve Got All My Sisters With Me by Mark Wilshin
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
It’s hard not to fondly recall Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides when watching Sean Durkin’s debut feature Martha [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Reviews'
Film Review: Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
February 5th, 2012 No Comments
Tags: 2011 · cinema · dogandwolf · Elizabeth Olsen · film · film review · Hugh Dancy · John Hawkes · London Film Festival · Margaret Atwood · Mark Wilshin · Martha Marcy May Marlene · Reviews · Sean Durkin · Sofia Coppola · The Handmaid's Tale · The Virgin Suicides · USA · Wilshin · Winter's Bone
Film Review: The Nine Muses (2010)
January 20th, 2012 No Comments
Respected Afro-British director John Akomfrah’s haunting film The Nine Muses is an unusual, genre defying, literary based contemplation of migration, memory and the power of elegy.
The Nine Muses
On Distant Shores by Laura Bennett
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
In simple terms John Akomfrah’s The Nine Muses can be summed up as an unlikely trilogy of Homer’s Odyssey, the [...]
Tags: 2010 · Arvo Pärt · cinema · Dante · dogandwolf · film · film review · Homer · James Joyce · John Akomfrah · Laura Bennett · London Film Festival · Odyssey · Reviews · Shakespeare · The Nine Muses · UK
Film Review: Shame (2011)
January 16th, 2012 No Comments
Michael Fassbender is at his leg-tapping best in Steve McQueen’s Shame, a tale of lonely frustration, sexual addiction and grim redemption.
Shame
Sinnerman by Mark Wilshin
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
While Hunger wasn’t so much about the hollow, echoing sensation of life without food as its political and cultural significance in Northern Ireland and beyond, Shame is very much [...]
Tags: 2011 · Carey Mulligan · cinema · dogandwolf · film · film review · Hunger · London Film Festival · Mark Wilshin · Michael Fassbender · Reviews · Shame · Steve McQueen · Wilshin
Eleven in 2011
January 5th, 2012 No Comments
The Dirty Dozen
Hm, the January blues. It’s enough to make you want to curl up inside a darkened room. Which is fortunate, as there were so many great films in 2011, there’s a lot of catching up to do. Most shamefully, I missed out on Lars von Trier’s Melancholia, and perhaps most painfully, Gianni Di Gregorio’s follow-up [...]
Tags: 127 Hours · 20 Sigarette · 2010 · 2011 · 5x2 · Aki Kaurismäki · Andrew Haigh · Andrij Parekh · Aureliano Amadei · Before The Revolution · Bernardo Bertolucci · Biutiful · Black Power Mixtape · Black Swan · Blue Valentine · Cannes · Catherine Deneuve · cinema · Derek Cianfrance · documentary · dogandwolf · film · film review · François Ozon · Gérard Depardieu · Gianni Di Gregorio · Howl · In A Better World · Involuntary · Jessica Chastain · Lars Von Trier · Le Havre · Lionel Shriver · LLGFF · Lubna Azabal · Lynne Ramsay · Mark Wilshin · Markus Schleinzer · Melancholia · Michael · Michel Hazanavicius · Mid-August Lunch · Norwegian Wood · Nuri Bilge Ceylan · Oslo August 31st · Palme d'Or · Paolo Sorrentino · Play · Potiche · Reviews · Ruben Östlund · Satte Farben Vor Schwarz · Sean Penn · Sophie Heldman · Susanne Bier · Take Shelter · Tambien La Lluvia · Terence Davies · Terrence Malick · The Artist · The Deep Blue Sea · The King's Speech · The Salt Of Life · The Skin I Live In · The Tree Of Life · This Must Be The Place · Tilda Swinton · Trollhunter · We Need To Talk About Kevin · We Were Here · Weekend · Wilshin · Wuthering Heights
Film Review: Mysteries Of Lisbon / Mistérios de Lisboa (2010)
January 3rd, 2012 1 Comment
Prolific Franco-Chilean director, Raúl Ruiz’s penultimate film, Mysteries of Lisbon, is a labyrinthine, pan-European, Proustian epic that twists and turns across the generations.
Mysteries of Lisbon
The Art of Memory by Laura Bennett
His final fully-complete film finished not long before his death, aged 70, in August 2011, Mysteries of Lisbon is Ruiz’s swansong and crowns a supremely accomplished legacy. A [...]
Tags: 2010 · Camilo Castelo Branco · cinema · dogandwolf · film · film review · Laura Bennett · London Film Festival · Mistérios de Lisboa · Mysteries Of Lisbon · Portugal · Proust · Raúl Ruiz · Reviews · Time Regained
Film Review: The Artist / L’Artiste (2011)
December 29th, 2011 No Comments
With dazzling performances from Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo, Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist is a vibrant homage to silent films and the talkies’ falling stars.
The Artist
Modern Talking by Mark Wilshin
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
There’s no getting round it, The Artist is a silent movie. And as we enter the third age of 3D, let alone talkies, the [...]
Tags: 2011 · Audrey Hepburn · Bérénice Bejo · Bernard Herrmann · Breakfast At Tiffany's · cinema · Citizen Kane · dogandwolf · Douglas Sirk · film · film review · France · Fred Astaire · Ginger Rogers · Jean Dujardin · Kelly Reichardt · L'Artiste · Las Acacias · London Film Festival · Mark Wilshin · Meek's Cutoff · Michel Hazanavicius · Pablo Giorgelli · Reviews · Sylvain Chomet · The Artist · The Illusionist · Vertigo · Wilshin
Film Review: Las Acacias (2011)
December 7th, 2011 No Comments
A slowly elegant meditation on intimacy and friendship, Pablo Giorgelli’s Las Acacias will have you screaming from the back seat with glee,”Are we nearly there yet?”
Las Acacias
Rolling Family by Mark Wilshin
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
The South American road movie follows its own path. Unlike its counterpart north of the border, it’s down to earth and minimalist [...]
Tags: 2011 · Argentina · Bombón El Perro · Carlos Sorín · cinema · dogandwolf · Familia Rodante · film · film review · Historias Mínimas · Jack Kerouac · Kelly Reichardt · Las Acacias · London Film Festival · Lucrecia Martel · Mark Wilshin · Old Joy · On The Road · Pablo Giorgelli · Pablo Trapero · Reviews · The Headless Woman · The Motorcycle Diaries · Walter Salles · Wilshin
Film Review: We Have A Pope / Habemus Papam (2011)
December 2nd, 2011 No Comments
Our man in the Vatican, Nanni Moretti’s We Have A Pope delights both in the vibrant ritual of the papal conclave and rattling its cardinals’ chasubles.
We Have A Pope
The Vatican Cellars by Mark Wilshin
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
While the recent history of the Holy See may have been blighted by silence on child abuse [...]
Tags: 2011 · Aprile · Caravaggio · Chekhov · cinema · dogandwolf · film · film review · Habemus Papam · Il Caimano · Italy · Jerzy Stuhr · London Film Festival · Mark Wilshin · Michel Piccoli · Nanni Moretti · Reviews · The Seagull · The Son's Room · We Have A Pope · Wilshin
Film Review: Take Shelter (2011)
November 30th, 2011 No Comments
With thunderous performances by Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon, Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter is a mind blowing twister of mental illness, austerity America and the apocalypse.
Take Shelter
A Mighty Storm by Mark Wilshin
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
A storm is coming. Or is it? A storm is coming. Or is it a dream?
You might have thought that a lack of [...]
Tags: 2011 · Adam Stone · cinema · dogandwolf · film · film review · Jeff Nichols · Jessica Chastain · London Film Festival · Mark Wilshin · Michael Shannon · Reviews · Take Shelter · USA · Wilshin
Film Review: Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
Film Review: Patience (After Sebald) (2012)
Film Review: The Nine Muses (2010)
Film Review: Shame (2011)
Eleven in 2011
Film Review: Mysteries Of Lisbon / Mistérios de Lisboa (2010)
Film Review: The Artist / L'Artiste (2011)
Film Review: Las Acacias (2011)
Film Review: We Have A Pope / Habemus Papam (2011)
Film Review: Take Shelter (2011)