Screen Rats

T he world of clothes is famously cutthroat and increasingly careless – the devil could currently wear most brands quite happily, given the environmental and humanitar…

In a new series , we’re celebrating the films we loved that aren’t likely to dominate the awards race. Over the new few weeks, our writers make passionate arguments fo…

T he conquering of the decennial Sight & Sound Greatest Films Poll by Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is a cultural moment w…

W estern acclaim for East Asian actors can often be eclipsed by a love for the directors whose movies they star in. Take Song Kang-ho – the immensely popular South Kor…

A nger is not something that can be faked in cinema. Few films harness anger into an energy; fewer are legitimate reckonings. Carl Franklin’s 1992 thriller, One False …

In a new series , we’re celebrating the films we loved that aren’t likely to dominate the awards race. Over the new few weeks, our writers make passionate arguments fo…

O ne fateful day in 1985, a black bear in the American state of Georgia ingested a duffel bag full of cocaine that had been thrown out of a plane by drug smuggler Andr…

T he specter of the 3.11 earthquake and tsunami hangs over Japanese cinema, with many of the biggest hits and creators influenced by the disaster. Just as Nobuhiko Oba…

O ne of the most anticipated titles from the 2023 Berlinale’s competition slate comes from German auteur Christian Petzold who reunites with actress Paula Beer, follow…

2 0,000 Species of Bees, the debut feature from Basque filmmaker Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, begins with a border crossing. In narrative terms, it marks the return h…

I n a Park Chan-wook film, anything can be turned into a fetish: the snap of a leather belt; the strings from a grand piano; the heels on a pair of stilettos. All thes…

T he puppet has long embodied ideas of life and death, the visible and the invisible, body and soul. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, a group of prisoners trapped in a…

T here are two documentaries about iconic female musicians playing at this year’s Berlinale. First up, Joan Baez I Am A Noise, and then Love to Love You, Donna Summer,…

A ustere; elliptical; challenging; rigid. These are all terms that describe the cinema of German writer-director Angela Schanelec. Her latest feature, Music, is a puzz…

S aim Sadiq’s Joyland begins with a game of tag: a man draped with a white bedsheet listens for his nieces’ suppressed giggles, his wandering arms outstretched as he a…

I n 2007, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez joined forces for the retro throwback packaged as Grindhouse, a double feature (Tarantino directed motor-thriller De…

“E very day, on every street, in every city,” grimly intones the narrator, “women are insulted, abused, threatened.” The voice is Abel Ferrara’s, and this is the trail…

M ichael Powell strived throughout his career towards a concept he called “composed cinema”: the bringing together of performance, music, and image into film as a sing…