https://youtu.be/togmdDHG3Pw Written by Charise Castro Smith & Jared Bush Directed by Jared Bush & Byron Howard USA/ 2021/ 102 mins ★★★★★ The sixtieth animated feature to reveal itself from the Walt Disney Vault, Encanto continues the companies’ ongoing exploration of cultures outside of traditional Western fables or European folklore. Turning their eye towards the dense, emerald forests of Columbia, … Continue reading Encanto – Review
Books, Music & Lyrics by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O'Keefe Directed by Andy Fickman ★★★★ Dear Diary; This evening, a glorification of suicide, loss, slut-shaming and high-notes were woven into a musical extravaganza – capitalising on the peak interest of nostalgia, and every second of it was mean-spirited, snappy, and sheer perfection. Heathers, the cinematic classic, … Continue reading Heathers The Musical – Edinburgh Playhouse
https://youtu.be/Lagauhb5GyY Directed by Pablo Larraín Written by Steven Knight Germany,Chile,UK/117mins/2021 ★★★★★ Dance instructor, cleaner, patron, heir apparent and mother; Diana, Princess of Wales, was a woman under the scrutiny of multiple angles and facades. And quite often, it is seemingly forgotten that she was human. A figure of public fascination and an international icon, Diana’s … Continue reading Spencer – Review
https://youtu.be/2UzyQ8QdpAM Written by Jake Johnson & Trent O'Donnell Directed by Trent O'Donnell USA/2021/88mins ★★★ It’s never too late to change or re-affirm a lost connection – even if one of them is recently deceased. Leif never had much of a relationship with his mother, Honey, the two drifting as she sought out her way in … Continue reading Ride the Eagle – Review
https://youtu.be/r6SRiVrUlic Written by Alejandro Amenábar Directed by Alejandro Amenábar & Alejandro Hernández Spain/2019/107mins ★★★★ “Drain the swamp”. “Taking back control”. Or, in the case of Alejandro Amenábar's 2019 release While At War: “Long Live Death”. Amenábar searingly paints a sobering and sturdy (true) story of the tactics utilised at the onset of the Spanish Civil War to quash … Continue reading While At War – Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival
https://youtu.be/FPP_304khFo Written & Directed by Yoav Paz & Doron Paz Germany & Israel/2021/109mins ★★ s millions celebrated the end of World War II, there’s a habit of conjuring this immediate image of the defeat of Hitler as a drawn curtain. In reality, for thousands of survivors of the Holocaust, returning Jewish communities found that, despite … Continue reading Plan A – Review
Written by Ashley Smith Directed by Beth Morton ★★★ Thrown open to the elements, the roots of Scottish Theatre are returning to the open plains of storytelling’s birth among the trees, fields and riverbanks. With the wildernesses of Mull and New Zealand as their backdrop, Mull Theatre and Scottish-based company Sonder Circus have produced a … Continue reading Cailleach – Mull Theatre & Sonder Circus
https://youtu.be/BsfEAAtZRDs Directed by Ian Boldsworth UK/2021/101mins ★★★★ We have a rather unique approach to the paranormal in this country, don’t we? It usually results in a few F-bombs and Scooby-Doo prats falls. Yet, our obsession with the supernatural and what lies beyond the veil is as ancient as it could possibly be. From Psychics to … Continue reading The ParaPod: A Very British Ghost Hunt
Written & Directed by Terrence Turner ★★★★★ One-woman show Dishonour, written and directed by Terrence Turner, presents audiences with an under-discussed issue: female genital mutilation (FGM). The nature in which tradition is shackled to systemic abuse is remarkable, and the discourse surrounding it as complex as imaginable. Dishonour handles these complexities by telling multiple stories; there's the tale … Continue reading Dishonour – Fringe OnDemand
https://youtu.be/F6orCn7Ea_Y Written & Directed by Austin Stark USA/ 2021/ 98 mins ★★ The heart is only tissue, bloody and sinewy, yet the value weighed on this organ is extraordinary. Not only from physical and biological necessity but the esteem with which the symbolism of the heart creates conflicts in the matter of organ donation. And … Continue reading The God Commitee –
