Director – Francesco Sossai – 2025 – Italy – Cert. 15 – 100m **** Two older men travel around Italy by car, constantly stopping for “a last one for the road”, joined by a young architecture student – out in UK cinemas on Friday, July 10th Night. Two men passed out in a car. A voiceover […]
Director – Hayao Miyazaki – 1997 – Japan – Cert. PG – 134m ***** Groundbreaking, mythological, Japanese, animated epic – plays in the Annecy International Animation Festival 2026 which runs from Sunday, 21st June to Saturday 27th June Originally reviewed for What’s On in London when the film appeared in the Barbican’s 2001 Studio Ghibli […]
Director – Ali Ray – 2020, 2026 – UK – Cert. U – 93m, 101m ***** The tragic yet resonant life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and her transformation into a modern, cultural icon – out in UK cinemas from Tuesday, May 19th As dour piano chords play, a title announces that Frida Kahlo held only […]
Director – Óliver Laxe – 2025 – Spain, France – Cert. 15 – 115m ***** Young son in tow, a man goes in search of his daughter who has gone missing at raves in the North African desert – 2025 Cannes Jury Prize Winner is out in UK cinemas on Friday, February 27th Luis (Sergi […]
Director – Kenji Kamiyama – 2024 – US – Cert. 12a – 134m **** A story of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, set around 200 years before The Lord of the Rings – English language anime is out in UK cinemas on Friday, December 13th This narrative is based on one of the appendices in J.R.R. Tolkien’s […]
Director – Martin Rosen – 1978 – UK – Cert. PG – 92m ***** When a young rabbit visionary foresees doom for those who remain, some of the rabbits leave their warren in search of a safer home, encountering many life-threatening perils along the way – new 4K restoration of animated feature is out in […]
***** Exhibition shows at BFI Southbank from Monday, 12th August to Tuesday 1st October 2024 (free to visit, but booking essential – click here) accompanied by the Stop Motion animation season including all five LAIKA feature films and much, much more In the best part of two decades, US-based Laika Studios – named after the […]
Directors – Alois di Leo, Sergio Machado – 2024 – Brazil, India – Cert. U – 96m ** Two musical performing mice attempt to board Noah’s Ark, where a despotic lion and his thuggish entourage attempt to lord it over the other animals in a singing contest –animated feature is out in UK cinemas on […]
Director – Tomm Moore – 2014 – Ireland – Cert. PG – 93m ***** A family is torn apart after the mother returns to the sea as a selkie – reviewed for Third Way, July 2015 Tomm Moore picked up an Oscar nomination for his medieval Irish animated fantasy The Secret Of Kells (2009). Like […]
Director – Wuershan – 2023 – China – Cert. 15 – 148m **** A king’s infatuation with a beautiful woman possessed by a vixen demon threatens to bring down a terrible curse upon his kingdom – first part of epic, period, mythological adventure trilogy is out on Blu-ray and DVD from Monday, June 24th This […]