The Big Picture Magazine
It may have been released back when computers were still the size of refrigerators, but the dire warnings expounded by this cautionary slice of Nixon-era paranoia have only become louder. Professor Stephen Hawking’s apocalyptic exhortation that artificial intelligence could possibly spell the end of mankind if allowed to evolve unchecked will come as little surprise […]
Making a change can be difficult at the best of times, but doing so as a way of beginning again following the tragic loss of a loved one is a challenge that almost breaks the Sullivans, the wounded family at the centre of Jim Sheridan’s achingly moving In America. The clan – dad Johnny (Paddy […]
The Coens’ A Serious Man is rooted visually in the nostalgic memory of the brothers’ lives and thematically in the idea of chaos; there is a fondness for symbols from the filmmakers’ collective memory but also a real cynicism towards religion and the mysticism of meaning. The film is beautifully, tightly wound, building around the […]
The best parents loosen the ties to allow for a little self discovery, but where’s the line? Overly strict parenting makes a casualty of confidence, whereas complete freedom comes with a price of its own. This balance tips too much towards the latter for Minnie (Bel Powley), The Diary of a Teenage Girl‘s protagonist. Adapted […]
It’s a trait that has remained constant throughout much of his career, but the dangerous consequences of obsession were never more strikingly explored than in Darren Aronofsky’s distinctive debut. The high contrast provided by the jarring black and white reversal film stock on which Aronofsky filmed Pi (1998) is emblematic of the madness/genius see-saw its […]
Between the early 1950s and 1980s, a film company called The Children’s Film Foundation captured what being a child was all about. Their short films – usually running at under an hour – were aimed at younger audiences, primarily featuring children in the main roles with adults reduced to mere support. The resultant films provided […]
Simply scrolling onto The Congress’ official website gives a very accurate depiction of Ari Folman’s feature. One is presented with an outlandish, gyrating mosaic of film clips; enough to make anyone recoil at its unrelenting visual assault. The colours are all too vibrant and little sense can be made of the story being told. The […]
There were the trails. Then there were the rails. Then there was the road. In David Gordon Green’s Prince Avalanche there is the road. This is the road movie – literally. Two men restore, rebuild, and re-imagine the road following a sweeping, tragic natural disaster. Across the course of the film, they travel eight miles physically and, like in all […]
LU.MIERE. read the emblazoned jackets of two moviemakers, cranking their Cinematograph outside the Giza pyramids, circa 1895. Suddenly a Mummy rushes over the dunes, grabs the tripod-mounted camera and smashes it into the sands. An intertitle reads, “Censorship Already!!” The year is actually 1995, and the Lumières are played by two actors under the direction […]