Lucky charm 7.5/10 I have to admit my hopes for Happy-Go-Lucky were not particularly high, so unmoved was I by Mike Leigh’s portentious 2004 period piece ‘Vera Drake’. And for the first twenty minutes or so I felt vindicated, as the jokes come thick and fast and very very flat. Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is a [...]
Film Review: Happy-Go-Lucky – Mike Leigh
September 7th, 2008 · 8 Comments · Film
Tags:Alexis Zegerman·Andrea Riseborough·Camden Town·Douglas Sirk·Finsbury Park·London·Mike Leigh·Regent's Park·Sally Hawkins·Samuel Roukin·Women's Films
Far From Heaven – Todd Haynes
May 19th, 2008 · No Comments · Film
Smoke and mirrors 9/10 Todd Haynes’ 2002 film ‘Far From Heaven‘ was a masterpiece of subtle subversion that paid homage to the richly coloured 1950s film style (and specifically the ‘women’s pictures’ of Douglas Sirk and his contemporaries). What could have been hollow pastiche is in fact a thoughtful and moving examination of US social [...]
Tags:1950s·America·black·civil rights·Dennis Haysbert·Dennis Quaid·Douglas Sirk·gay·hypocrisy·Julianne Moore·melodrama·Patricia Clarkson·Race·sex·technicolour·Todd Haynes·USA·Viola Davis