RICHARD’S BLOG

Category: Film Review

  • REVIEW:  Along Came Love ★★★★☆

    Along Came Love (Temps d’aimer) is a French period drama set in the 1950s and 60s about repressed desires, forbidden love and the effects of living with the resulting shame. The film was directed by Katell Quillévéré, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Gilles Taurand. It premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival (where it…

  • REVIEW:  The Salt Path ★★☆☆☆

    The Salt Path, released in the UK last Friday, is an adaptation of Raynor Winn’s memoir of her long-distance walk with her husband Moth along the northern section of the Southwest Coast Path. It is directed by Marianne Elliot (her first feature-length film), from a script by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, so it has a solid theatrical pedigree…

  • REVIEW:  Darling     ★★★★☆

    Darling is an incisive and biting social satire of London’s jet set culture in the swinging sixties – so says the BFI’s information sheet, and who am I to argue with that. Made in 1965, directed by John Schlesinger from a script by novelist Frederick Raphael, a new 4K restoration was re-released in the UK…

  • REVIEW:  Hallow Road ★☆☆☆☆

    Hallow Road is a 2025 British horror/thriller drama, directed by British/Iranian filmmaker Babak Anvari. It had its world premiere at some Texan Film Festival that I had never heard of, and was released in the UK last Friday. I caught it this morning at the Everyman in Harrogate. The set-up to the film is that a married couple…

  • REVIEW:  Good One ★★★★☆

    Good One is a 2024 American drama, the directorial debut of India Donaldson, who also wrote and produced the film. It had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and was released in the UK yesterday. Since I was already at the Pictureville Cinema, Bradford for The Marching Band, it seemed churlish not to do the double-bill.…

  • REVIEW:  The Marching Band ★★★★☆

    The Marching Band (En Fanfare) is a 2024 French drama directed by Emmanuel Courcol, who also co-wrote the screenplay. It premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and was released in the UK yesterday, so I went down to the Pictureville cinema at the National Media Museum in Bradford to take a look. When internationally renowned orchestra conductor, Thibaut (Benjamin…

  • REVIEW:  Parthenope    ★★★☆☆

    Paulo Sorrentino’s latest film, Parthenope (pronounced parth-en-o-pay), got its UK release yesterday. So with much excitement – I am a big fan of Sorrentino’s work – I set off to the Harrogate Everyman. There were only three of us in the cinema, although I guess that shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise at…

  • REVIEW:  Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story ★★★★★

    I am not entirely certain of this, but I suspect this may be the first documentary film I have ever seen in a cinema. It is certainly the first I have reviewed. And what a terrific documentary to choose. Directed by Sinéad O’Shea, it tells the story of Edna O’Brien, one of Ireland’s most controversial…

  • REVIEW:  Holy Cow ★★★★☆

    This is the debut feature film of French film-maker Louise Courvoisier. It received its World Premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at last year’s Cannes Festival and had its UK release last week. It is a drama about cheese-making – specifically Comté cheese from eastern France. Except, of course, that is not what it is really…

  • REVIEW:  The Return ★★★★☆

    The Return is a 2024 film adaptation of the second half of Homer’s Odyssey, directed by Uberto Pasolini, from a script by Edward Bond and John Collee. Gone is all the fantasy: no sea monsters; no Gods. This film is Odysseus’s return. It begins with his broken body washed up on the shores of Ithica,…