Un Prophete Review
Audiard is renowned for his slow working practices, taking a long time to prepare for each new film. In this case there have been five years between The Heart My Beat Skipped and Un Prophete. In this time Audiard has researched the French prison system and meticulously planned this somewhat epic crime film. Un Prophete … Read more
Il Mercenario Review
It is quite incredible to think that Sergio Corbucci made Il Mercenario in the same year as the fantastic Il Grande Silenzio, both such superb Italian Westerns but both so very different. Il Grande Silenzio stands out in part for its setting, the wintry ground thick with snow, but also for its bleak and sombre tone. Il Mercenario’s setting, however, is much … Read more
Switchblade Sisters Review
I’m a big fan of Jack Hill. I adore Spider Baby and also have a fondness for his run of four consecutive Pam Grier films, The Big Doll House, The Big Bird Cage, Coffy and Foxy Brown. Another favourite is Switchblade Sisters, perhaps the definitive American girl gang film. Switchblade Sisters does not disappoint both … Read more
Guilty of Romance Review
The third in Shion Sono’s thematically linked ‘Hate Trilogy’ (following Love Exposure and Cold Fish), Guilty of Romance centres on a female protagonist, Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka), who goes on an intense journey of liberation and destruction through sexual transgression. Izumi’s transformative adventure is set against the backdrop of a criminal investigation into the murder of … Read more