10 must-see shorts from the Toronto International Film Festival 2020 This year’s Short Cuts programme brought together bite-size perspectives from around the world. The chaotic nature of major film festivals mean that it’s inevitable you won’t get to see everything you have on your radar. A surprising amount of time is dedicated to standing in Read More
On Location: The houses in Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita
Even by the daring standards of early 1960s American cinema, it must still have seemed a gamble to adapt Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial 1955 novel, Lolita. The book was banned from crossing the border into Britain after initial praise from Graham Greene as well as in more liberal France too. Its publication in America had been Read More
Mangrove – first-look review
Mangrove – first-look review Steve McQueen’s film about the Mangrove Nine trial is a masterful evocation of political determination. ‘Black Ownership’ read the sign in the window of Frank Crichlow’s Mangrove restaurant. Notting Hill in 1968 was a sanctuary for West Indian people, invited to help rebuild Britain after the war, a place to call Read More
Riz Ahmed bangs the drums in The Sound of Metal trailer
With a much paltrier slate of movies to choose from this year, it would appear that awards selection committees will eventually have to formulate a lineup of nominees a bit farther from a cinema mainstream all but nonexistent in its current form. In light of this, Riz Ahmed may be in luck, as he delivers Read More
Could you design a postcard inspired by Hilma af Klint?
“Art history has to be rewritten.” This is the quote that piqued director Halina Dyrschka’s desire to create her debut feature film, Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint. Its subject is the pioneering abstract female artist, Hilma af Klint, whose name does not appear prominently in art history books, or on the walls of the Read More
A new animated short explores sexual envy from a female perspective
A new animated short explores sexual envy from a female perspective Hungarian animator Nadja Andrasev reveals how personal experience informed her sensual new film Symbiosis. One of the first film festivals to take place in cinemas in the pandemic era was Portugal’s arthouse fiesta, IndieLisboa. I attended for five days searching for a film that Read More
23 Walks
A couple in twilight years become acquainted over a series of dog walks in Paul Morrison’s cheery drama. The formula of the ‘grey pound’ is well-established. Get some familiar (white British) faces, stir in enough saccharine to keep the oldies awake, and add some relatable geriatric humour. What’s often surprising about these films is just Read More
Ryan Gosling set to star in drama about the life of a stuntman
In the years since he broke out as the co-director of megahit John Wick, action-veteran-turned-filmmaker David Leitch has been keeping busy. He returned to silver screens in 2017 with the hard-hitting Charlize Theron vehicle Atomic Blonde, then cranked out a sequel to Deadpool in 2018, and then spun off the Fast ‘n’ Furious franchise into Read More
10 years on, The Social Network is sharper than ever
With a sublime balance of David Fincher’s incisive, economical directing and Aaron Sorkin’s razor-sharp writing, The Social Network is a Greek tragedy dressed in a hoodie and flip flops. While most tragedies end with the protagonist’s demise, however, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is a strange case. He’s both the tech genius with Silicon Valley at Read More
The 100 Best Films of the 2000s: 25-1
The 100 Best Films of the 2000s: 25-1 A.I., American Psycho and Bamboozled all make the final part of our list – but what will come out on top? After you’ve read this part, check out numbers 100-76, 75-51 and 50-26. 25. Hunger (Steve McQueen, 2008) Hunger is both off-putting and arresting in its powerful Read More
Little Girl
Sébastien Lifschitz’s sensitive portrait of eight-year-old Sasha will change attitudes towards gender dysphoria. Representations of gender dysphoria are proliferating. There will continue to be missteps but it’s heartening to see more sensitive portrayals. Sébastien Lifschitz has been in the latter camp since his 2004 narrative drama Wild Side, about a trans* sex worker played by Read More
Two cinematic tributes to Ruth Bader Ginsburg are set for re-release
The recent death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court justice and lifelong crusader for the rights of women and other marginalized groups, sent shockwaves through American society on both sides of the political aisle. Everyone’s at a loss as to how such an illustrious career and life can be properly commemorated, especially with the ongoing Read More
Miss Juneteenth
Channing Godfrey Peoples’ feature debut is a stunning love letter to Southern Black culture. What is a ‘phenomenal woman’? In a towering performance, actor Nicole Beharie plays a former beauty queen preparing her rebellious daughter for the Miss Juneteenth pageant. This powerful directorial debut from Channing Godfrey Peoples explores themes of Black motherhood, womanhood and Read More
Channing Godfrey Peoples: ‘I’ve always been fascinated with lineage’
Channing Godfrey Peoples: ‘I’ve always been fascinated with lineage’ Don’t be fooled by the surface-level frivolity of Miss Juneteenth says its canny, thoughtful director. Miss Juneteenth is the debut feature from writer/director Channing Godfrey Peoples. It focuses on the deferred dreams of former pageant queen Turquoise Jones (Nicole Beharie) and her plan to convince her Read More
The story of Hayao Miyazaki’s forgotten Sherlock Holmes series
Although the vast majority of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories are now in the public domain, a small handful written in the mid 1920s remain under copyright, creating legal dramas that continue to give filmmakers headaches. In 2015, director Bill Condon was sued alongside distributors Miramax and Roadside Attractions for Mr Holmes, with the Read More
The 100 Best Films of the 2000s: 50-26
The 100 Best Films of the 2000s: 50-26 Our noughties ranking reaches the midway point, as Amélie, Oldboy and Spider-Man 2 all make the cut. After you’ve read this part, check out numbers 100-76 and 75-51. 50. The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006) Purists will tell you that Martin Scorsese’s loose remake of Andrew Lau and Read More
On the Rocks
Rashida Jones and Bill Murray star in Sofia Coppola’s New York caper about a woman who suspects her husband is having an affair. Sofia Coppola has never been shy about who she makes films for; she’s always said that her primary audience is young women. Yet her films have tended to present a very narrow Read More
Studio Ghibli has released 400 free images from its film library
We’ve never been shy about our slavish, staff-wide devotion to the works of Studio Ghibli and its associated artists here at Little White Lies HQ, where the Japanese animation giant’s every new announcement is cause for celebration. And so our dear readers can only imagine the triumphant cheers that sounded out upon today’s announcement that Read More
The 100 Best Films of the 2000s: 75-51
The 100 Best Films of the 2000s: 75-51 Our countdown of the finest cinematic offerings from 2000 to 2009 continues. How many have you seen? After you’ve read this part, check out numbers 100-76. 75. Chicken Run (Peter Lord and Nick Park, 2000) Aardman Animations are one of the UK’s greatest contributions to the world Read More
Monsoon
Henry Golding embarks on a personal journey to his ancestral homeland in Hong Khaou’s soothing drama. Kit (Henry Golding) returns to Ho Chi Minh City after 30 years, having fled with his family during the Vietnam war. Despite his heritage, he is now almost a tourist in the city, easily lost in the pandemonium of Read More
Discover this anarchic ’90s portrait of youthful despair
“The world is moving much too fast. So fast, that when you finally get to fit in with it, it’s become another brand new world!” So says Mid-Autumn (Sam Lee), the young skinny high school dropout who is both hero and anti-hero of Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong. In a sense, Mid-Autumn’s words capture Read More
The 100 Best Films of the 2000s: 100-76
The 100 Best Films of the 2000s: 100-76 Part one of our bumper survey of the noughties, featuring Avatar, Borat! and Requiem for a Dream. Regular visitors to these pages will know that we often celebrate and reappraise older films: they might be modern classics, under-the-radar gems or works which, for whatever reason, have gained Read More
Tricia Tuttle on what to expect from the 64th BFI London Film Festival
Tricia Tuttle on what to expect from the 64th BFI London Film Festival The Festival Director speak about putting together the most accessible, expansive LFF programme yet. This year has presented an unprecedented challenge to organisers of film festivals around the world, with many major events – from Cannes to Toronto – being either cancelled Read More
Know The Score: El-P on 2002’s Solaris
Know The Score: El-P on 2002’s Solaris The producer and rapper reveals the soul-cleansing moment he discovered Cliff Martinez’s soundtrack. Pioneering rapper and producer El-P’s music has always felt cinematic. A big portion of the artist’s solo material is rooted in post-apocalyptic themes that explore the hollowness of late capitalism, with songs like ‘Dead Disnee’ Read More
How Takeshi Kitano went from comedian to crime auteur
It took until 1997 for Japanese audiences to take Takeshi Kitano seriously as a filmmaker. As one of the country’s most prolific television personalities, a stand-up comedian with a penchant for wacky gameshows (Takeshi’s Castle, anyone?), they had little reason to believe that he was capable of anything more than mindless laughs. It wasn’t until Read More
In praise of Robert Redford’s Ordinary People
In a year of Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull and David Lynch’s The Elephant Man, the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director went to Robert Redford’s Ordinary People, an intimate look into a WASP family slowly disintegrating under the heavy blanket of loss. Forty years after its initial release, there is still much to Read More
Lovers Rock – first look review
Lovers Rock – first look review The first instalment in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series is a soulful love letter to the West Indian dance scene in West London. There is absolutely no doubt that Steve McQueen is one of the finest British filmmakers we’ve ever had: from his haunting Bobby Sands biopic Hunger to Read More
Lee Isaac Chung will direct a live-action remake of Your Name
Lee Isaac Chung is an all-American success story: born to Korean immigrants on a small farm in rural Arkansas, he studied his way to Yale and swerved away from medical school to get his MFA. Then came a debut feature praised at Cannes, a personal drama that won the top prize at this past January’s Read More
Barking Dogs Never Bite
Bong Joon-ho’s wryly funny social commentary is released for the first time in the UK courtesy of Curzon. “What a nice day!” says Ko Yoon-ju (Lee Sung-jae), looking out his apartment window at the beginning of Barking Dogs Never Bite. “I’d like to go hiking and take a nap on the mountain.” A lazy, broke Read More
David Squires on… The fate of Cast Away’s Wilson
Published 18 Sep 2020 Share this