The Big Picture MagazineGabriel's earliest cinematic memory was believing a man could fly in Richard Donner's original (and best) Superman. Following numerous failed attempts at pursuing a career as a caped crusader (mild vertigo didn't help), he subsequently settled down into the far safer – but infinitely less exciting – world of editorial design. A brief stint at the Independent newspaper in London sharpened his skills but cemented his desire to escape the big smoke forever, choosing to settle in the west country. He set up the arts and culture magazine 'Decode' in 2003 and currently edits and art directs the Big Picture magazine. When asked by mates what his favourite film is he replies The Big Lebowski while when in the presence of film afficianados he goes all poncy and says Fellini's 8 1/2.
The sad news of Treat Williams’s recent death seems particularly poignant ahead of the Criterion Blu-ray release of Smooth Talk, which saw the actor play one of his more menacing roles as Arnold Friend opposite Laura Dern’s teen-tearaway Connie Wyatt. The film, directed by Joyce Chopra and based on Joyce Carol Oates’s short story […]
In the closing moments of Ari Aster’s latest ‘elevated horror film’, our beleaguered hero Beau Wasserman (Joaquin Phoenix) is sat in a small motorboat – forcefully moored in a giant pool within a darkened stadium full of all the people he has ever known – having to defend his life against none other than his […]
‘I Like to watch.’ So says simpleton Chance the gardener (Peter Sellers) in Hal Ashby’s filmed version of Jerzy Kosiński’s novel ‘Being There’; a story about the improbable rise of a holy fool from lone obscurity to vaunted celebrity through a series of fortuitous ‘chance’ events. Skewering the hollowness of political rhetoric, racial entitlement and […]
As an audio-visual artist with a science PhD and an international reputation as a leading electronic musician, Max Cooper straddles a range of worlds in which he looks to create work that resonates emotionally and sensorially, often focusing on our place in the universe. With the release of his 6th studio album Unspoken Words, he […]
Halina Rice is an electronic music producer and AV artist renowned for her vivid and eclectic style ranging from downtempo soundscapes to beat-driven IDM. Often drawing inspiration from film and working at the intersection of art, music and tech, Rice explores the potential for music to reach beyond boundary conventions placing both the artist and […]
The opening scene of Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist masterpiece Umberto D. is of a bustling city street with commuters and pedestrians going about their daily business, before a group of elderly protesters is seen marching down the main road; angrily waving placards and chanting slogans in full voice. The protesters are a group of Italy’s […]
After nearly 50 years in relative obscurity, Sergio Sollima’s hard-hitting thriller receives the special treatment it deserves as a new 4k restored print arrives courtesy of Eureka Classics. Having failed to make much of an impact upon its initial release outside of Italy—due in part to poorly managed marketing and lazy perceptions of dubbed films […]
I’ve always believed that films should be viewed in one sitting. No pauses, stops or breaks (take that pee before the movie, dummy!). An immersive experience that demands, or, at the very least merits, your full attention for what is a relatively short period of time compared to, say reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace or […]
I recently returned from a short holiday to Spain, where – apart from reminding myself that the sun did in fact exist – I was introduced to the amazing murals of Estapona; a small resort town two hours west of Malaga on the south coast. The huge arts initiative, which invited painters from all over […]