Reviews & features: Allan Hunter
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- Allan Hunter
The Source
18 May 2012
A sincere story of the struggle for female emancipation in an African village
You could easily dismiss The Source as a simplistic, sentimental fare but the latest film from director Radu Mihaileanu (The Concert, Live And Become etc.) is told with such warmth and sincerity that it is hard to resist. The struggle for female…
Even The Rain
18 May 2012
Well-intentioned, if heavy-handed, political drama from writer Paul Laverty
The sting of injustice and oppression echoes down the centuries in Even The Rain, an ambitious, well-intentioned political drama from writer Paul Laverty and his partner, director Iciar Bolain. Inspired by true events, the film is set in…
Beloved
10 May 2012
A sprawling, messy epic on unrequited love from French director Christophe Honoré
Christophe Honoré's Love Songs (2007) established a talent for musical melodrama that eschewed all the traditional razzle-dazzle trappings of Hollywood. Characters break into song as they casually stroll down a city street and the often banal…
Juan Of The Dead
4 May 2012
Cuban zombie comedy features cheerful mixture of political comment and splatter
Another zombie film. Really? It sounds like the last thing anyone would want to encourage but Juan Of The Dead overcomes any zombie fatigue with a cheerfully anarchic mixture of splatter and political comment. If that just brought the early films of…
Clone
4 May 2012
Stilted science fiction psychodrama starring Matt Smith and Eva Green
Originally entitled Womb, 2010 film Clone proves to be a painfully earnest slice of sci-fi psychodrama that attempts to meld burning questions of genetic ethics with the starkness of a Greek tragedy. The clipped, stilted script often appears to have…
Monsieur Lazhar
17 Apr 2012
A classroom drama with unexpected charm, quiet dignity and emotional integrity
(12A) 94min Inspirational schoolteachers have been a cinematic staple from Goodbye Mr. Chips to Laurent Cantet’s Cannes prize-winner The Class. Monsieur Lazhar successfully avoids treacly sentimental as it charts how a teacher and a group of…
This Must Be the Place
19 Mar 2012
Bracing aesthetic and gentle humanity despite risking absurdity at times
(15) 119min There is a strong sense of the baroque running through the films of Paolo Sorrentino, not least his bravura portrait of former Italian Prime Minister Andreotti in Il Divo. His first English language venture This Must Be The Place neither…
Headhunters
19 Mar 2012
Jo Nesbo adaptation is breathlessly, outrageously entertaining
(15) 101min The twisty, tangled, page-turning bestsellers of Norwegian author Jo Nesbo seem tailor-made for the screen. The narratives move with all the momentum of a runaway train and there are enough flawed individuals and crumbling moral…
Oscars 2012 - predictions
25 Jan 2012
Some of The List's film critics give their predictions on who'll win what at the Oscars
Best Picture. The Artist; simplicity is the reason that is soars above the other Oscar bait. The Artist probably will win, as it has won pretty much everything else going. It deserves it - when was the last time a film came along that made everyone fall…
The Woman In Black
23 Jan 2012
Daniel Radcliffe's first post-Potter film lacks the requisite scares for a classic ghost story
(12A) 95mins Susan Hill’s Victorian ghost story has been terrifying theatre audiences for the best part of twenty-five years, second only to The Mousetrap as the longest running show in the history of London’s West End. It has already been…
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
23 Jan 2012
This Tom Hanks-starring adaptation of the 9/11-themed bestseller lacks poignancy
(12A) 129mins Are the memories of the 9/11 attacks now distant enough to justify their use at the heart of a personal tale of loss and grief? Stephen Daldry’s beautifully crafted adaptation of the Jonathan Safran Foer bestseller leaves the question…
The Woman In The Fifth
23 Jan 2012
Elegant but baffling Paris-set drama starring Ethan Hawke and Kristin Scott Thomas
(15) 85mins Hollywood studios are often derided for making simplistic dramas that feel obliged to spell everything out. The Woman In The Fifth errs in the opposite direction, leaving bewildered viewers scratching their heads and trying to figure out…
Intruders
5 Jan 2012
Derivative, moderately engaging paranormal horror starring Clive Owen
(15) 110min Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo has never quite delivered on the promise of his clever debut feature Intacto. Retro chiller Intruders is cleverly constructed and suspenseful but fades when pitted against superior genre fare like…
The Artist
8 Dec 2011
Delightful celebration of the bygone age of silent cinema, starring Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo
(PG) 100min The Artist has in-built appeal for movie buffs who believe that the arrival of talking pictures was one of the worst things that ever happened to an art form that had found a universal language in the visual poetry of the late silent era.
The Deep Blue Sea
9 Nov 2011
Unashamedly old-fashioned film luscious proof of genius of Davies and Rattigan
(12A) 98mins The combination of Terence Davies and Terence Rattigan is a match made in heaven. Rattigan’s centenary year has brought renewed appreciation of his gifts as an astute chronicler of loneliness and longing, whilst Davies is a past master…
Weekend
20 Oct 2011
Poignant and captivating story of unexpected love cut short
(18) 96min A casual one night stand unexpectedly blossoms into a much more meaningful connection in Weekend, a tender heartbreaker from writer/director Andrew Haigh that is easily one of the most impressive British independent features of the…
Restless
17 Oct 2011
Sweet romantic drama from Gus Van Sant, starring Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper
(12A) 95min Gus Van Sant’s unpredictable career has run the gamut from mainstream sentimentality (Good Will Hunting, Finding Forrester) to experimental arthouse angst (Gerry, Last Days). Restless falls softly between these extremes as it offers a…
We Need to Talk About Kevin
12 Oct 2011
Faithful adaptation of Lionel Shriver's bestselling story of motherhood and teen violence
(15) 112min Lynne Ramsay admirers can breathe a sigh of relief. Her first feature since Morvern Callar in 2002 confirms that she has lost none of her skill as a compelling storyteller or visual stylist. Her smart, thought-provoking adaptation of the…
Anonymous
12 Oct 2011
Surprisingly adept Shakespeare-themed historical romp from blockbuster director Roland Emmerich
(12A) 129min Director Roland Emmerich is long established as the king of the apocalyptic blockbuster with a career defined by gung-ho event movies Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. It is quite a surprise to witness him diving…
Midnight in Paris
14 Sep 2011
Another warm and witty all-star comedy from Woody Allen
(12A) 94min Midnight in Paris is one of the warmest and wittiest Woody Allen films in recent memory. The jaunty manner and literary bent are reminiscent of Vicky Cristina Barcelona as Allen invests what could be a New Yorker short story with a…
Hell and Back Again
14 Sep 2011
Moving but occasionally muddled documentary about the war in Afghanistan
(15) 86min Constant television coverage of the Vietnam War so shocked American households that it is said to have helped turn the tide of public opinion against the conflict. The war in Afghanistan has received saturation coverage across all media…
Sleeping Beauty
14 Sep 2011
Julia Leigh's modern retelling of the classic fairy tale falls short of its feminist ideals
(18) 101min You could easily mistake Sleeping Beauty for a piece of male wish fulfilment. Australian novelist Julia Leigh’s first film as a writer and director may purport to be a feminist re-interpretation of traditional fairytale elements but the…
The Skin I Live In (La Piel Que Habito)
19 Aug 2011
Almodovar's adaptation is measured, playful and spellbinding
(15) 120min The Skin I Live In has all the elements of a campy Vincent Price B-movie. There is a meddlesome scientist driven mad by grief, a grisly revenge plot and a hapless victim, not to mention multiple murder, kidnap and rape. In the hands of…
Poetry
21 Jul 2011
A deeply moving portrayal of an elderly woman's struggles in rural South Korea
(12A) 139min The quest to write a single poem becomes a heroic act in Poetry, a poignant, intricately plotted melodrama from Secret Sunshine director Lee Chang-dong. Poetry won the Best Screenplay at Cannes but it is the central performance from…
Beginners
13 Jul 2011
Whimsical, autobiographical drama from Mike Mills, starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer
(15) 104min You cannot accuse Beginners of lacking ambition. Directed by Thumbsucker's Mike Mills, this wistful, intensely autobiographical drama combines a love story, a reflection on the ties that bind the generations and a history lesson on the…
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