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Film Review: Girl – “a fully-considered story of a transgender teenager”

Helen Tope reviews Girl, showing in our cinema until Thursday 16 May. Based on the true story of ballerina Nora Monsecour, Girl, by Lukas Dhont, is a fascinating retelling of Monsecour’s struggle. In this fictionalised account, we meet 15-year-old Lara. A ballet dancer in training, Belgian-born Lara has moved with her family to the big city to join a prestigious dance academy. The pressures of joining a new school are compounded by the fact that Lara is transgender, and about to start gender reassignment. Supported by her dad, Mathias, and younger brother, Milo, Lara has been given the ... Continue Reading

Film review: Wild Rose – “Nothing more is required than three chords and the truth.”

Wild Rose, reviewed here by Helen Tope, is showing in our cinema until Saturday 11 May. Rough, tough and just out of prison, Rose-Lynn Harlan dreams of becoming Country music’s next superstar. Raised and living in Glasgow, Rose’s ambition – to travel to Nashville and make it big – seems as far removed from reality as it’s possible to get. Newly-tagged and on parole, Rose lands a cleaning job with a wealthy family, fronted by naive mum Susannah (Sophie Okonedo). Rose is overheard singing by Susannah’s children, and Susannah uses her connections to get Rose a meeting ... Continue Reading

Film Review: “At Eternity’s Gate may tread familiar ground, but it succeeds in its determination to make us look again at Van Gogh’s art.”

Helen Tope reviews At Eternity’s Gate, showing in our cinema until Thursday, including a Bringing in Baby screening on Wednesday. Drawing on the final years of Vincent Van Gogh’s life, artist and director Julian Schnabel returns to the screen with this stylish and thoughtful drama. We meet Vincent as he’s buddying up with Paul Gauguin, following an exhibition in Paris. Van Gogh yearns for the countryside: to quite literally work in a different light. Gauguin and Van Gogh pool their resources and move to Arles, hiring a large yellow house. The idea is ... Continue Reading

Film Review: The Kindergarten Teacher – “In a study of a woman tipping into chaos and unreality, Gyllenhaal gives the performance of her career.”

Helen Tope reviews The Kindergarten Teacher, showing in our cinema until Thursday, including a special Reclaim the Frame screening with intro, Q&A and poetry workshop on Tuesday. Set in a New York school, The Kindergarten Teacher takes us into a gentle world of routine. The children practise their letters, guided by their teacher Lisa Spinelli (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal). The classroom is a safe space; the children’s curriculum joyfully punctured by Lisa’s enthusiasm for creative play. One afternoon, whilst waiting to be collected from school, Lisa’s student Jimmy Roy (Parker Sevak) begins to recite a poem ... Continue Reading

Film Review: RBG – “As a feminist documentary, RBG wins in on every score”

Helen Tope reviews RBG, showing in our cinema until Thursday 21 March. In a career spanning 60 years, Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg – tough, gutsy and unapologetically liberal – has become an icon. In a new documentary, RBG explores the motivation of an 86-year-old woman, still working at the top of the legal profession. At the centre of a movement to enshrine gender equality into law, Bader Ginsburg was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1993. RBG charts her progress, which was by no means assured. Graduating from Columbia in 1959, Bader Ginsburg could not find work ... Continue Reading

Film Review: Mary Queen of Scots – “a character study of two women trying to assert themselves as leaders”

Helen Tope reviews Mary Queen of Scots, showing in our cinema until Thursday 14 March. A power struggle to the bitter end, Mary Queen of Scots depicts the Queen’s extraordinary fall from grace. Set between Mary’s arrival in Scotland in 1561, until her execution in 1587, this film charts her progress from Queen of Scotland, and mother to its heir – to a prisoner of the British Crown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riSROsdT-f0 The great-niece of Henry VIII, and in the eyes of Catholics, a more viable prospect for the British throne than its Protestant ruler, Elizabeth I, ... Continue Reading

Film Preview: All is True – “a beautifully-crafted piece of work, and truly intelligent film-making”

Helen Tope reviews All is True, showing in our cinema from Friday 8 March. Based on the final years of William Shakespeare’s life, All is True is a literary biopic that throws away the rulebook. Gone are the well-worn tropes of struggle and triumph. Here, Shakespeare has reached the high point of his career. He is an established talent, working in London, with a family back in Stratford. On the face of it, Shakespeare has every reason for happiness. But in August 1596, his son, Hamnet, dies from plague. This film explores how Shakespeare deals with this traumatic ... Continue Reading

Film Review: Lizzie – “As a piece of evocative film-making, Lizzie thoroughly succeeds”

Reviewed here by Helen Tope, Lizzie is showing in our cinema until Thursday 21 February. If you’re watching Lizzie, chances are you already know the story. On 4 August 1892, Thomas and Abby Borden were found murdered in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts. Bludgeoned with an axe from their wood-shed, the only other person in the house was their daughter, Lizzie. Arrested and put on trial, the case of Lizzie Borden became notorious in American legal history. Despite evidence presented at the trial, Borden was acquitted and released. Lizzie, starring Chloe Sevigny and Kristen Stewart, looks at the events leading ... Continue Reading

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