Unwelcome

Review by Sarah Murnane Unwelcome (Jon Wright, 2023) is the fourth feature film by director Jon Wright. It follows a young couple expecting their first child as they move to the Irish countryside to begin a new life. When arriving in their new home  they are told of an old Irish folk tale of the

Tár

Review by Cat Earley In the initial run-up to Todd Field’s widely-anticipated new film, a coworker of mine casually asks me:  “Have you seen they’re making a movie about Lydia Tár?”  In the flutter of press surrounding Tár (2022, Todd Field) I don’t believe that this coworker was particularly out of step with the general

Halloween Films

By Shane McKevitt With Halloween just around the corner, this is the perfect time to discuss the films I find myself reaching for every time October rolls around.  I’ve avoided obvious examples like Halloween ( John Carpenter, 1978) or Night of the Living Dead (George Romero, 1968) which, although great, have been covered ad nauseum

Flux Gourmet

Review by Sarah Murnane Flux Gourmet (Peter Strickland, 2022) is an independent movie that fails to hit the mark. The film follows a group of artists who join an institute dedicated to culinary performance. The ‘culinary collective’ made up of Billy (Asa Butterfield), Elle (Fatma Mohamed) and Lamina (Ariane Labed) gradually deteriorates in the search to

Crimes of the Future

Review by Cat Earley “Do you mind if I ask you something intimate?” says Kristen Stewart’s character to Viggo Mortensen’s in David Cronenberg’s new Crimes of the Future.  “No, go ahead.” he replies. “That surgery is sex, isn’t it?” She continues, “surgery is the new sex.” “Does there have to be a new sex?” “Yes.

See How They Run

Review by Luke Bradley See How They Run (Tom George, 2022) launches straight into its ‘whodunnit’ narrative. Scored by the narration of Adrien Brody’s hot-shot director Leo Köpernick, he criticises the ‘second-rate murder-mysteries’ of the 1950s. ‘It’s a whodunnit; you see one, you’ve seen them all’, Köpernick laments. Opening with such a brazenly self-referential statement

Funny Pages

Review by Katie McKenna In 2013, author Brett Martin analysed the television renaissance that had just occurred. Over the course of about two decades, tv had transformed from a mass-entertainment medium, something to sit in front of and shut off your brain, to a source of some of the most experimental and moving stories of

The Lad Goodbye

Review by Cat Earley Following their previous flick – the short film Hi, Lad (2020) – Victor Dubyna, Nolan O’Kane, and Kirk Percival of Lad Films released their first feature film, and continuation of their short in what they have self-described as a ‘stoner-noir’. The Lad Goodbye (2022) follows the conventional beats of a classic

Elvis

Review by Cat Earley In an age where biopics show no end in sight, Elvis (Baz Luhrmann, 2022) is one of the more predictable releases of the year. With the legacy of Moulin Rouge! (2001) and The Great Gatsby (2013) behind him, Luhrmann’s take on this increasingly popular film genre is, well, predictably Baz Luhrmann.

Earwig

Review by Brídín Ní Fhearraigh-Joyce Earwig (Lucile Hadžihalilović, 2021) has the strangest film premise you’ve ever heard of. The film opens with a girl, fitted with an ice teeth apparatus that must be replaced daily. She carries two glass apparatuses on the side of her mouth, collecting her drool. She appears to have never been