Certain Women by Kelly Reichardt - Review

The opening image of director Kelly Reichardt’s new film is mountains looming over the barren landscape of Montana and then the sound and light of a train enters frame to slowly take command of the screen. It signals an entrance, or rather, an intrusion into a quiet and forgotten world. 

Certain Women is about observing the most intimate, and insignificantly significant moments in the mundane everyday. The audience is an intruding voyeur as Reichardt shows us a window into three lonely and belittled Montana women’s lives that aren't seen or heard by anyone else.

Moonlight by Barry Jenkins - Review

The most critically acclaimed film of the year is a triptych tale about a black boy who grows up in Miami. Writer-director Barry Jenkins sets his coming of age tale in a dangerous world with fragility overwhelmed by the threats of a poisoned environment. The result is a film of sensitivity that feels suppressed by hate and gives a sense that our lead character, Chiron, is missing his life. We see his world in brief chapters as a young boy (Alex Hibbert), a teenager (Ashton Sanders), and a man (Trevante Rhodes). As a kid and teen he grapples with being gay in an environment of hyper masculinity.

Nocturnal Animals by Tom Ford - Review

Adapted from Austin Wright 1993 novel Tony and Susan, Nocturnal Animals marks the return of Tom Ford in his directorial guise after a seven year absence. Ford’s second foray into directing sees him taking on an oeuvre which at times seems almost unfilmable. The film is a dense piece with a triple stranded narrative, which owes as much to Hitchcock as it does to the 1950s melodramas of Douglas Sirk. It is a visually stunning tale of getting your own back, and doing so with class and without any regrets.