Cannes 2019 - The Dead Don't Die by Jim Jarmusch

Jim Jarmusch truly is an unmistakably independent director, at a time when the term seems to have been packaged and monetised by certain film studios that offer the same aesthetic and crowd pleasing social themes. It is hard to think of any director with such an incredible run from his early career in the 80's until now and such a unique, timeless style, evidently free from any studio interference yet never self-indulgent. Having recently tackled vampires recently in Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), this time he turns his focus on zombies with horror-comedy The Dead Don't Die.

In The Dead Don't Die, the small town of Centerville, USA is under siege by a hordes of living dead, and it is down to its small police force to try to save the population, with a bit of help from mysterious newcomer Zelda (Tilda Swinton).

Birds of Passage by Cristina Gallego & Ciro Guerra

Corruption can take many forms. From Milton’s Paradise Lost to Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, characters are corrupted, losing parts of themselves along the way as they continue to descend into the depths of their own darkness. This kind of corruption runs through the veins of Birds of Passage, a film about the drug trade that shows the destructive nature that evil can have on individuals and communities.

Vox Lux by Brady Corbet - review

The transitional months between 2018 and 2019 have seen a significant number of formidable female-led musical films, and Brady Corbet’s much touted follow-up to his feature directorial debut The Childhood of a Leader has already earned a great number of fans over in the States. Finally, Vox Lux makes its way into British cinemas and on demand.

Vox Lux, unlike Corbet’s debut, is set much closer to modern times, and begins with a young man carrying out a school shooting. From there, we follow Celeste, a survivor of this shooting, who decides to perform an original song at a local memorial to articulate her response to the atrocity. With a sense of what feels almost like inevitability, Celeste’s performance becomes a national sensation, and she’s set on an inexorable path of musical megastardom.

Under The Silver Lake by - review

“There’s nothing to solve you know. It’s silly wasting your energy on something that doesn’t matter.” a girl casually says to Andrew Garfield’s Sam after he suggests there’s a hidden message in a song that will help him find a missing woman. He doesn’t listen to her lol. David Robert Mitchell’s Under the Silver Lake is an odyssey of pop culture that dives headfirst into Hollywood’s secrets, but it’s not really about that.

Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich by Sonny Laguna & Tommy Wiklund

You already know if Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich is your thing. One must appreciate such a specific title that’ll either make you shake your head or become giddy with anticipation for Nazi doll murder. It’s exactly as you’d expect, a sleazy film full of Nazi dolls that go on a -- and I CANNOT stress this enough -- ridiculously goofy and grisly murder spree.

3 Faces by Jafar Panahi - Review

For a filmmaker placed under as many limitations as Jafar Panahi is, he’s a surprisingly prolific director. Less than halfway through a 20 year ban on making films, a ban imposed on him by the Iranian government, he’s now made four features; his latest, 3 Faces, is arguably his most audacious when it comes to the film’s production.

Where Panahi’s previous films have seen him confined to his house in This Is Not A Film and a car in Taxi, 3 Faces sees him and co-star Behnaz Jafari - both playing versions of themselves - on a road trip through Iran’s rural expanses to find Marziyeh, a young woman who, after being denied by her family the opportunity to become an actress, has reached out desperately to Jafari in a video message, which appears to show her committing suicide after several calls for help. Burdened with the feeling that they are somehow responsible for the young girl’s apparent demise, both Panahi and Jafari set off to a quiet village in search for the truth.

Girl by Lukas Dhont - Review

When talking about Girl, it’s hard to separate the film from the controversy it has provoked since its release. The first-time feature from director Lukas Dhont has caused many critics to take issue with it for a number of reasons; these have mainly centred around the film’s presentation of its transgender protagonist and the apparent lack of any trans people in the film itself. Girl’s story and main character are inspired by dancer Nora Monsecour - who, according to interviews, also had some creative input in the film’s making - but here the central character Lara is played by Victor Polster, a cisgender male. These are substantial, valid concerns and worth highlighting, especially at a time when the industry is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of representation on all levels.