Review based on BFI Screening from Film Africa 2020 Festival At the very end, Maia Lekow and Chris King's documentary, The Letter, finally makes sense. It is not that it is nonsensical beforehand, it is that the overall purpose is unclear. The film ends with pictures of headlines of similar stories: rural Kenyan villages where … Continue reading The Letter (Review) (Film Africa 2020)
Barakat (Review) (Film Africa 2020)
Review based on BFI Screening from Film Africa 2020 Festival There is a lot of drama and divide in Amy Jephta's Barakat. However, it is a film that ultimately pushes positivity and togetherness, in a pleasing way, even if it does merely give easy answers to complex issues. This is a comedic drama set in … Continue reading Barakat (Review) (Film Africa 2020)
Finding Sally (Review) (Film Africa 2020)
Review based on BFI Screening from Film Africa 2020 Festival At the heart Tamara Dawit's documentary is the realisation that histories and identities are complex, and that the status of the present and the future relies on understanding, and interrogating, the past. In Finding Sally, Canadian born Tamara Mariam Dawit arrives in Ethiopia - the … Continue reading Finding Sally (Review) (Film Africa 2020)
Le Loup d’Or de Balolé (Review) (Film Africa 2020)
Review based on BFI Screening from Film Africa 2020 Festival One of the greatest strengths of film is as a vessel for empathy. This documentary, set in a granite quarry in Ouagadougou (the capital of Burkina Faso) focuses on the unseen, the unrepresented and the maligned. It confronts you with the humanity of people so … Continue reading Le Loup d’Or de Balolé (Review) (Film Africa 2020)
In Search… (Review) (Film Africa 2020)
Review based on BFI Screening from Film Africa 2020 Festival Many documentaries take on important subjects, but not all of these end up as great documentaries. Fortunately, In Search... gets both sides of the equation right. This Kenyan documentary focuses on an inspiring young woman who decides to undergo reconstructive surgery after having been the … Continue reading In Search… (Review) (Film Africa 2020)
The Ghost and the House of Truth (Review) (Film Africa 2020)
Review Based on BFI Screening from Film Africa 2020 Festival Akin Omotoso's feature is an interesting instalment in a growing movement in Nigerian cinema. The film exists as part of what is being classified as the Nigerian New Wave, a number of independent films that are pushing beyond what has become the norm for Nollywood … Continue reading The Ghost and the House of Truth (Review) (Film Africa 2020)
Have You Seen… Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)?
Welcome to 'Have You Seen....' a regular column exploring an interesting film that is worthy of greater attention - for good or for ill. The focus is on the underseen, the undersung or the underrated - or just those films you just need to write about. The focus is analysis more than evaluation so, expect … Continue reading Have You Seen… Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)?
On the Rocks (Review)
For a film about malaise and disappointment, it is perhaps appropriate that On the Rocks feels so flat. This comedy inflected drama is about a married mother of two, Laura (Rashida Jones) investigating her husband's (Marlon Wayans) suspected infidelities at the behest of, and with the help (arguably) of, her father (Bill Murray). The film … Continue reading On the Rocks (Review)
Ghost Strata (Review)
Ben Rivers' experimental film begins with the filmmaker being given a tarot reading. This moment is looped back to at the end and foregrounds the film's major themes. On its most basic level, this a filmic scrapbook that chronicles the passing of time: there are twelve chapters, one per month, and each is made up … Continue reading Ghost Strata (Review)
Dick Johnson is Dead (Review)
This documentary about a man (the father of the filmmaker, Kirsten Johson) during the onset of dementia - and beyond - is a powerful, and wonderfully eclectic, work that showcases cinema's ability to both reveal and heal. Despite its heavy subject matter - it is literally a daughter chronicling her dying father - Dick Johnson … Continue reading Dick Johnson is Dead (Review)
Assorted Opinions 