From Mad Men to The Handmaid’s Tale, the American star never fails to impress. — There’s a scene in the third episode of The Handmaid’s Tale that encapsulates the show’s strength — and that strength stems from the unique and intoxicating brilliance of Elisabeth Moss. It’s a quiet moment in which June (Moss), her best friend and her husband casually ponder the deterioration of the…

This understated 2004 drama is a perfect entry point for the Japanese director’s work. — I was introduced to Hirokazu Koreeda’s work by an eccentric comparative literature professor who wore a very wide-brimmed hat. He had assigned my class the task of watching Larry Clark’s Kids, which led me to pen a venomous essay about its depiction of parental neglect. When I received the essay…

The common man takes on big business in this slowburn plea to preserve our breathtaking natural landscapes. — A field in Castile stretches out under a grey sky, the scene spoiled by a never-ending string of phone lines. A crooked house sits under a blanket of clouds as a lone Shepherd walks along the road towards his home. He stops at a billboard advertising a housing complex soon…

Bums, guns and red lycra — Baywatch is back and it’s exactly what you’re expecting. — Let’s face it, people tuned in to Baywatch for over a decade because it sold a fantasy. It was a poorly scripted (and relatively sexist) version of the American Dream: white beaches, sandy bums and Pamela Anderson running around in super slow motion. …

Sahar Dolatshahi shines in this understated Iranian drama about familial obligation. — A couple stare out at a metropolitan cityscape from the second floor of a derelict apartment block. “Our hazy Tehran,” one of them says wistfully, “this is the only city that I love.” Smog hangs thick in the air, bright headlights glowing through clouds of grey smoke. …

This remake of the quaint Ealing comedy caper from 1949 fails to justify its existence. — Towards the beginning of this quaint Scottish comedy by Gillies MacKinnon, a mother complains to her son about the “ungodliness” of using telephones on the Sabbath. “Mother,” the son pleads in response, “we must move with the times.” It’s a throwaway line, but it encompasses the film’s eventful downfall, as…

A dour monochrome melodrama is the latest from genre-hopping French workhorse, François Ozon. — A convoluted web of white lies constitutes the framework for François Ozon’s latest offering — a mediation on the grief and devastation war leaves in its wake. Despite a penchant for turning his hand to different genres and styles, this latest from the chameleonic director comes as something of a…

What is it about our generation that makes our brand of pleasure and indulgence so distasteful to that of our parents? — “Let’s face it, the 21st century is not for the fainthearted — we all need a release.” So reads the tagline for the UK’s biggest alternative club night, Guilty Pleasures. As I climb the familiar carpeted stairs of KOKO in Camden, I hear what sounds like karaoke en-masse, overpowered by…

An ambitious trip down memory lane, or comedic ode to 21st Century disillusion? — To premise this review with a disclaimer: I arrive at T2 without the nostalgia that so many viewers bring to this sequel. I have not been waiting 20 years for this film. For many, Trainspotting defined a generation — it was British social pessimism at its very finest; the ultimate…