Screen Rats

W hen the film Dogtooth played for the first time to press and public at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, it was clear to everyone in the room that its maker harboured …

C inema, by its design, is obsessed with intimate, present tense emotion. What is happening to a person now, and how are they reacting to it? The cosseted, conventiona…

A s we rapidly approach the end of what has been something of an annus horribilis for the humble blockbuster (Barbenheimer notwithstanding), and following on from mon…

I n Showing Up , the 2022 feature from celebrated independent director Kelly Reichardt, a peculiar relationship between a human and a non-human occurs. Lizzy, a 40-som…

I n the UK, LGBTQ+ hate crimes have been steadily rising over the past five years. Incidents against trans people have increased to 186% and 112% on the basis of sexu…

C hristmastime is often filled with grand expectations and fraught with unrealised desires which makes it the perfect setting for a film about inescapable, twisted fam…

M y first encounter with the work of Aki Kaurismäki was on an awkward date. Which, if you’ve seen any of the filmmaker’s work, is very on brand. It was a press screeni…

W hen you see guys with droopy jaws, immaculate greased side-partings, slightly ill-fitting leather jackets, and a flask of unidentified hooch in their breast pocket, …

U sually when you’re watching a film by the Mexican filmmaker Amat Escalante, you’re constantly asking the question: “I wonder when this character is going to die, and…

T he Eternal Daughter opens on a shot of mist drifting across a wooded section of road. A white taxi cab, fog lights on, glides like a ghost out of the mist towards us…

N ot far into Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Scott Pilgrim, well, takes off. In this new, looser adaptation, created and written by Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski…

Anton Bitel provides a look at six titles heading to streaming and physical media releases this month that you should add to the top of your viewing list.   Ghost…

T he International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is one of the largest events of its kind, bringing together filmmakers, industry experts, journalists and film…