I think, with a little more time and a few more twists, The Party could’ve come together as a truly splendid chamber farce. The cast is there. Sally Potter is one of Britain’s more underrated filmmakers working […]
Tag: 2017
Thoroughbreds (Finley, 2017)
Like a two-day-old helium balloon, you can see Thoroughbreds slowly deflating with each passing act. It begins promisingly enough, centering on the affectless Amanda (a fantastic Olivia Cooke) as she rekindles her relationship with childhood friend Lily […]
You Were Never Really Here (Ramsay, 2017)
The quality of this film that I admired from the start was the heightened soundscape, which I assume is meant to mirror the sensitivity of Joaquin Phoenix’s Joe. Conversations and footsteps here have a sharpness […]
Let the Sunshine In (Denis, 2017)
It’s only words, and words are all I have to take your heart away.—The Bee Gees Claire Denis continues to be nothing less than fascinating with her first film in four years, a far cry from […]
Where is Kyra? (Dosunmu, 2017)
Another mark in the “win” column, Bradford Young. You really are one of the best DPs in the business right now. You understand the stories you’re hired to tell with your visual acumen. You have […]
Let the Corpses Tan (Cattet & Forzani, 2017)
Let the Corpses Tan, the latest from Belgian team Cattet & Forzani, is a deliriously degenerate mash-up of spaghetti western, giallo and poliziotteschi that does more than arrest the eye: it positively holds it captive. […]
Life and Nothing More (Esparza, 2017)
I’m excited for more people to see Life and Nothing More when it eventually makes the rounds, because I want to see sentences like “Regina Williams is a star in the making,” “Regina Williams gives one of […]
The Endless (Moorhead & Benson, 2017)
My somewhat low rating here does not mean that I don’t respect Benson and Moorhead’s ambition. Creating a legible sci-fi tale involving temporal loops and sinister, omniscient forces is not an easy feat, and they […]
Double Lover (Ozon, 2017)
Sorry to rain on any parades, but I’m of the opinion that Double Lover’s trashiness is not of the commendable type. Firstly because the starring role becomes a cipher for a lot of misogynistic impulses, to […]
Hannah (Pallaoro, 2017)
Andrea Pallaoro’s Hannah is all show and no tell, and that has both benefits and drawbacks. In terms of the latter, it makes it harder for us to really connect with the true predicament of Charlotte Rampling’s […]
Summer 1993 (Simón, 2017)
The impressionistic touches in Summer 1993 are wonderful to behold, and you always know they’re coming from a deep place because of how authentic they feel. The scene in which Frida dresses up and playacts the role […]
Claire’s Camera (Hong, 2017)
Ah, yet another deceptive bonbon from our favourite South Korean auteur. And an odd one, at that, since the soju-drinking is kept to a minimum, and we’re planted in France this time around—more specifically, in […]
Beast (Pearce, 2017)
I liked the idea of Beast more than the execution, which is on the over-stylised side for my taste. All the moody lighting and portentous music distracts from the visceral darkness of the story, and the way […]
The Wife (Runge, 2017)
Stories about declining marriages have been told for eons, and it’s no different in film. It seems like every week we get a new take on the “marriage in crisis” genre, and The Wife is one more […]
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) [Baumbach, 2017]
Even though The Meyerowitz Stories lacks the magic of Frances Ha or the emotional import of The Squid and the Whale, it still manages to justify its existence by veering off the beaten path—even if just slightly.
The Lonely Film Critic 