Cannes: Macbeth review
It’s the curse of any film based on well known material that the audience might spend a significant amount of their viewing time considering the ways in which the source has been adapted. Anyone familiar with the ‘Scottish Play’ will go through director Justin Kurzel and screenwriters Jacob Koskoff, Michael Lesslie and Todd Louiso’s version of Macbeth noticing the changes … Read more
Cannes: The Assassin review
Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin is set during the Tang Dynasty of China, the period from 618 AD to 690 AD and then from 705 AD to 907 AD. The break in the dynasty was the result of the seizing of the throne by Empress Wu Zeitan, China’s only Chinese empress regnant. Whilst the interruption of the dynasty … Read more
Cannes: Hithcock/Truffaut review
It seems fitting that Kent Jones’ Hitchcock/Truffaut documentary premièred in France, the country whose cineaste culture first embraced Alfred Hitchcock as an artist and not simply an entertainer. Pivotal to this reputation spreading around the world and onto future generations, was Francois Truffaut’s book, Hitchock/Truffaut, a key text for film students, filmmakers and cinephiles in general. The book takes the form … Read more
Cannes: Youth review
Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth is a gorgeous bauble of a movie: shining, beguiling, hollow. The film takes place in a luxury Swiss resort in the foothills of the Alps. Staying in this magnificent hotel, which is so extravagant it almost made me gag, are Fred (Michael Caine) and Mick (Harvey Keitel). These two old friends are well … Read more