Tom Dawson

Hadewijch

Provocative religious drama from French director Bruno Dumont

24 Jan 2012

(cert tbc)105mins Don’t be put off the fact that it’s taken a couple of years for this provocative examination of contemporary religious martyrdom to gain a cinematic release in the United Kingdom. The film, which explores how extreme faith can…

The Adopted

Quirky, saccharine directorial debut from French actress Melanie Laurent

24 Jan 2012

(15) 100 mins Still only 28-years-old, French actress and musician Melanie Laurent makes her directorial debut with this offbeat family tale, which owes more to her recent performances in US indie Beginners and the sentimental melodrama The Concert…

Profile: Carol Morley

Director of documentary-drama Dreams of a Life

9 Dec 2011

Born 1966, Stockport, England. Background The sister of music critic Paul Morley, film director Carol left school aged 16 to pursue a career as a singer in various post-punk Mancunian bands. Having studied fine art film at Central Saint Martins…

Dreams of A Life

Compelling UK documentary-drama investigation into life of dead woman

7 Dec 2011

(12A) 90min Back in January 2006 a 38-year-old Londoner of Afro-Caribbean descent, Joyce Vincent, was found dead in her Wood Green housing association flat located above a busy shopping centre. Her decomposing corpse had lain there undisturbed for…

We Have A Pope

Light-hearted touches within surprisingly pessimistic vision of Catholic Church system

9 Nov 2011

(tbc) 104mins Although it’s set in the world of heavyweight prize-fighters, it would be cruelly limiting to describe Martin Scorsese’s lacerating study of masculine self-loathing Raging Bull as a film about boxing. Ditto Italian writer-director Nanni…

Romantics Anonymous

Surprise hit at French box-office far more saccharine than bittersweet

9 Nov 2011

(12A) 78mins ‘I don’t have a problem with women,’ confides chocolate factory owner Jean-René (Belgian actor and comedian Benoît Poelvoorde) to his psychoanalyst (Stéphan Wojtowicz). ‘They just terrify me, that’s all.’ In clinical terms le patron is…

The Well Digger’s Daughter

Beautiful landscapes and convincing performances in polished if unadventurous directorial debut

9 Nov 2011

(PG) 107mins A quarter of a century after his acclaimed performances as the shifty hunchback Ugolin in Claude Berri’s Jean de Florette and its sequel Manon des Sources, French actor Daniel Auteuil plays it safe in his directorial debut with this…

Las Acacias

Low-key and sparing Argentinean film illustrates how less can be more

8 Nov 2011

(12A) 86 mins In the renaissance of South American cinema during the last 15 years, the road movie has been embraced by numerous film-makers: think Walter Salles’ Central Station, The Motorcycle Diaries and the forthcoming Jack Kerouac adaptation On…

Interview: Kaya Scodelario on Skins, Wuthering Heights and Now Is Good

Former star Skins takes lead in Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights

21 Oct 2011

You were in line to work with Red Road and Fish Tank director Andrea Arnold on Wuthering Heights, yet you missed your first audition for the role? How come? ‘I was incredibly nervous about doing a period drama. I thought that to play period you had…

Self Made

Gillian Wearing's study of acting blurs the line between fiction and reality

17 Oct 2011

(15) 87min An intriguing debut feature from Young British Artist-turned director Gillian Wearing, which in a manner reminiscent of Clio Barnard’s The Arbor skilfully blurs the boundaries between documentary and fiction filmmaking. Having responded to…

Miss Bala

Impressive crime drama from Mexican director Gerardo Naranjo

12 Oct 2011

(15) 113min Maria Full of Grace meets Heat in this absorbing thriller from Mexican writer/director Gerardo Naranjo (I’m Gonna Explode), whose title translates as ‘Miss Bullet’. Laura (newcomer Stephanie Sigman) is a young working-class woman living…

Page One: Inside the New York Times

Personality-driven documentary about the world-famous publication

14 Sep 2011

(15) 91min These are dark days for the newspaper business. Advertising revenues and circulations are slumping in the face of ‘free’ online competitors, whilst scores of titles have already folded. Andrew Rossi’s fly-on-the-wall documentary charts a…

Mademoiselle Chambon

Moving romantic drama from director Stéphane Brizé, starring Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Kiberlain

14 Sep 2011

(12A) 101min Mademoiselle Chambon is another bitter-sweet and elegantly orchestrated chamber drama from Stéphane Brizé, the French writer-director of Not Here to be Loved, which plays like a Gallic variation of Brief Encounter. Jean (Vincent Lindon…

Attenberg

Clinical emotional awakening both intrigues and mystifies

19 Aug 2011

(18) 95min Unfolding in a strangely deserted seaside Greek industrial town, Attenberg charts the gradual emotional awakening of a withdrawn young woman Marina (impressive newcomer Ariane Labed), whose dying architect father Spyros (Vangelis Mourikis…

In a Better World (Hævnen)

Oscar-winning, powerfully acted work that loses its way

15 Aug 2011

(15) 117min The winner of the 2011 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, the digitally shot In a Better World is another of director Suzanne Bier’s emotionally intense male melodramas, scripted by her regular collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen. It…

Beautiful Lies (De Vrais Mensonges)

9 Aug 2011

(12a) 104min Despite the efforts of a fine French cast – which includes Nathalie Baye, Sami Bouajila and Audrey Tautou – this visually unremarkable romantic comedy from writer/director Pierre Salvadori (Wild Target, Priceless), in which mother and…

The Interrupters

Intimate documentary exploring gun crime in the US

4 Aug 2011

(12A) 125min Best known for his epic account of teenaged African-American basketball hopefuls Hoop Dreams, director Steve James returns in collaboration with the writer Alex Kotlowitz to inner-city Chicago for this sprawling documentary, which…

Sarah’s Key (Elle s’appelait Sarah)

Wartime drama based on deportation of 13,000 Parisian Jews

29 Jul 2011

(15) 111min Like the recently released The Round-Up, this respectful adaptation of Tatiana de Rosnay’s best-selling novel revisits one of the most shameful episodes of 20th-century French history, namely the Vel d’Hiv raid on July 16 1942. Some…

The Referees (Les Arbitres)

Revealing study about the much-maligned professional whistle-blowers

28 Jul 2011

(15) 77min Following on from Fire in Babylon and Senna, The Referees is another impressive sports-related documentary. Belgian filmmaker Yves Hinant and his co-directors Eric Cardot and Lehericey Delphine were given full access by UEFA to the…

The Princess of Montpensier - Bertrand Tavernier interview

The cineaste speaks on his inspiration for returning to the past

1 Jul 2011

In a career spanning four decades and some 27 films, the French director Bertrand Tavernier has often been drawn to historical subjects: think for example of his 17th century swashbuckler D’Artagnan’s Daughter, or his dramas set in the aftermath of…

The Princess Of Montpensier (La Princesse De Montpensier)

Romantic thriller a refreshingly modern take on religion and oppression

17 Jun 2011

(12A) 139min Although it’s set against the backdrop of the 16th-century French wars between Catholics and Protestants, veteran writer/director Bertrand Tavernier’s self-styled ‘romantic thriller’ feels refreshingly modern in its treatment of…

Vidal Sassoon

Documentary provides a brief look at th style icon, but ultimately lacks depth

20 Apr 2011

(PG) 93min Some bold claims are made about the subject of this documentary, the hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, in the opening sequence alone. ‘It’s impossible to overestimate his importance,’ declares one off-screen voice, while he’s also compared to…

Life, Above All

Director Oliver Schmitz succeeds in making this more than just another 'issues movie'

20 Apr 2011

(tbc) 100min Set in the South African township of Elandsdoorn outside Johannesburg, this forceful coming-of-age drama concerns a 12-year-old girl, Chanda, (Khomotso Manyaka), whom we first meet helping arrange the funeral of her baby sister. Her…

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

Luc Besson brings Jacques Tardi's adventure comics to the screen

24 Mar 2011

(12A) 107min The ‘cinéma du look’ pioneer Luc Besson returns with this old-fashioned adventure-cum-fantasy yarn, adapted from Jacques Tardi’s long-running comic book series. Although set on the eve of World War One, its intrepid titular heroine…

Polish director, writer and actor Jerzy Skolimowski on new film Essential Killing

Vincent Gallo-starring film tells tale of fugitive on the run from the CIA

18 Mar 2011

‘I live in a remote area of the Masurian forest in Poland and one night I was driving back home on a very slippery road. My car skidded and I very nearly went over the edge, which would have killed me. I felt a real shock and I realised I was near this…