2010s

The Himalayan region of Nepal is one of the most fragile environments in the world and is characterized by extreme uncertainty and great complexity. The adverse impacts of climate change are further worsening the situation of local system/societies by increasing their vulnerability. Through a visual representation of how some communities from Lo Mustang region of Nepal perceive climate change, this film explores their cultural models and their attempts at adaptation, both individual and collective.Read More »

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When it comes to impenetrable arthouse fare, Thai indie auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul is widely regarded as something of a master. Two years ago, he arrived in London triumphantly with his Palme d’Or for the majestic Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) and has returned this year with the not-quite-feature-length oddity, Mekong Hotel (2012), which rightly features in the LFF’s ‘Experimenta’ stream. Weerasethakul’s latest lingers instead on a series of moments all taking place around the titular hostelry sat on the bank of the enormous river which separates Thailand from Laos.Read More »

A 14-year-old farm boy’s life is suddenly upended when a video of him brutally attacking a classmate goes viral.Read More »

In this tragicomic road movie, unsuccessful young journalist Sebastian Zöllner (Daniel Brühl) is writing an article on the legendary but almost forgotten painter Manuel Kaminski. As Zöllner misuses the reclusive Kaminski under the guise of helping him reconnect with his lost love, Zöllner’s ulterior motive becomes obvious – the sooner Kaminski dies, the sooner he can cash in on the article and become famous. But misuse can be a two-way street – the elderly Kaminski doesn’t mind having someone pay his way to travel throughout Europe, thus escaping the control of his overbearing daughter Miriam. Based on world-renowned Austrian author Daniel Kehlmann’s novel of the same name, this art industry satire highlights the emptiness of blatant self-promotion while taking the audience on a true adventure.Read More »

A mother and her three children find their fate thrown into chaos by an incident that happened one night. The family members each go their separate ways but reunite after 15 years and struggle to restore their family bonds.Read More »

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Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy doesn’t defy you to understand it, and yet it feels almost inappropriate, tasteless even, to do so—as if you were eavesdropping on a private conversation. This resplendently heady yet nimble essay film is effervescently structured around a man and woman’s thoughts about art, life, landscape, and love. The man, James Miller (William Shimell), is an author, in Tuscany to tout his new book, Certified Copy; his female companion and guide, “She” (Juliette Bionche), a fan, maybe even his wife, sells art both real and forged from an underground storefront that suggests a portal into Italy’s ancient past. Their flair for self-reflection matches the film’s own: From coyness to resentment, the voluptuously see-sawing tenor of their conversations becomes a commentary on the entwined relationship between art and life—how a painting or movie, like a kiss or a touch, can either woo us or repulse us depending on the perspective.Read More »

Body horror transitions smoothly into pink film (Japanese soft porn) in this story about the young photographer Maya, who is upset by eyes. She pushes her camera into the face of every passer-by. She hounds her victims and penetrates the window into their soul. Neurologist Sata diagnosis her as suffering from an unusual form of phantom pain, the result of her being kidnapped at a young age, an ordeal that ended with her skewering the eye of the kidnapper. Sata asks if he can make a documentary about her. The hunter becomes prey. At the same time, an eye thief roams the city and it turns out that Maya’s former tormentor has not forgotten her.Read More »

A family of German Communists caught on the wrong side of history.Read More »

The Telegraph: “I trudged to this production with all the enthusiasm of a schoolboy making his way to a double maths lesson on a dank Monday morning.

One of the peculiarities of my job is that you are sometimes required to see the same play twice in close proximity, and it was only last week that I endured Stephen Unwin’s punishingly dour production of Ghosts (1881) at the Rose Theatre in Kingston. The idea of a second dose of a work that is grim even by Ibsen’s demanding standards felt almost unendurable.Read More »