Andrey Zvyagintsev’s 2017 film is an intelligent, potent and bleak microcosm about Russian and Ukrainian relations — I have been intending to get around to the work of Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev for years now. The online friend with whom I explored many great films in the mid 2010s was a huge fan of his work, and we once even tried to stream Zvyagintsev’s 2014 film Leviathan…

A short guide on formatting for Counter Arts’ film section specifically — The energy in the Counter Arts’ Film section, since we properly started it on August 1st this year, has been astounding. Sadie Seroxcat and I had been discussing the idea of my overlooking a film section for some time, and I had been putting it off due to my particularly…

German director Christian Petzold’s newest film is terrific, moving from painfully relatable comedy to blindsiding tragedy — Christian Petzold has had the attention of film fans more widely since the success of his 2014 film, Phoenix. Gradually, he has earned the reputation as a modern auteur, recognised for his distinctive cinematographic style and his usual focus on quite tragic romances. Phoenix, Transit and Undine proved Petzold as…

A poem — Not truly known by any soul. The secret is kept. Creature of multiple faces, a kaleidoscopic personality, a mess of all things grey. Overwhelmingly empty, hollow at the centre lost inside the black tangle of electricity-pumping wires, razor fences and long black hairs. The car with blacked out windows sped up…

Jim Jarmusch’s second film shows much more promise than his first — I had seen Stranger Than Paradise before, around six or seven years ago, but remembered nothing about it. Having seen it again now, it’s easy to understand why such a low-key, quite dreary film would easily be lost in memory. Thankfully this time that dreariness is a compliment rather than…

Wrap up in your favourite blanket, because we’re talking Winter this month! — Last month, we got European and discussed the cinema of France. A lot of highly influential filmmaking, and a lot of high brow work, was discussed! …

John Carney’s latest promises the same laughs and sobs as his previous films, but its oversimplification of social issues is jarring — John Carney is a significantly underrated director. Though Begin Again, his most popular (and only American) film, lacks the flavouring that made both Once and Sing Street wonderful, personal indie darlings, Carney is consistently impressive. His work, always focused on music and the bonds that it can create between complex…

Ken Loach’s final film is formally minimal but emotionally potent — Ken Loach was not supposed to make this film. In fact, he was not supposed to make any of his three most recent films — I, Daniel Blake (2016), Sorry We Missed You (2019) or The Old Oak (2023). He was supposed to be hanging up his directorial hat after…

My Jim Jarmusch retrospective opens with a bleak beginning — Jim Jarmusch’s first film is… bad. There’s no avoiding that fact or getting around it, unfortunately, even during its most endearing and interesting moments. Permanent Vacation is Jarmusch’s tiny budget debut feature, following Allie (Chris Parker) as he wanders the dilapidated, decrepit…