Articles by John Bleasdale
1 - 10 of 16
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Pinocchio review: Matteo Garrone carves a classic tale into something new
Geppetto and his put-upon puppet explore their father-son dynamic in this revitalised telling of the Italian favourite, enhanced by magical social realism and seriously impressive prosthetics, writes John Bleasdale.
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
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Waiting for the Barbarians review: a vital portrait of an empire in decline
Morality, and society itself, crumbles in Ciro Guerra’s English-language debut, a stunningly shot, allegorical film featuring a powerful lead performance by Mark Rylance, writes John Bleasdale.
Friday, September 6, 2019
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The Perfect Candidate review: a political fable fuelled by optimism
Haifaa Al-Mansour’s winning story of a small-town doctor who finds herself standing for election relishes progressiveness and pizzazz in contemporary Saudi Arabia, writes John Bleasdale.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
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Echo review: a mosaic of an Icelandic Christmas
Rúnar Rúnarsson’s collage film captures the celebrations, vexations and conflagrations of the festive season in 56 deft vignettes, writes John Bleasdale.
Thursday, August 15, 2019
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The Traitor first look: Marco Bellocchio’s murky tale of a mafia informant
This true story of Italian gangster Tommaso Buscetta, and how he broke the code of silence, is both too generically familiar and too complex, especially for non-Italian audiences, writes John Bleasdale.
Thursday, May 30, 2019
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Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo first look: a downer on the dance floor
With its interminable leering shots of underdressed teens and degenerate sexual politics stretched across three-and-a-half hours of nightclub action, Abdellatif Kechiche’s series ‘interlude’ is a despair-inducing grind, writes John Bleasdale.
Thursday, May 30, 2019
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Red 11 first look: Robert Rodriguez goes lo with a tongue-in-cheek instructional horror
Robert Rodriguez revisits his ultra-low-budget roots in down and dirty filmmaking with a knockabout horror-thriller set in a medical research facility, writes John Bleasdale.
Sunday, May 26, 2019
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The Orphanage first look: Quodrat comes of age in late Soviet-era Afghanistan
The Soviet occupation collapses and the Mujahideen arise as teenage Quodrat and his fellow street kids flourish in a state-run orphanage in the second part of Shahrbanoo Sadat’s planned five-part history of her country, writes John Bleasdale.
Saturday, May 25, 2019
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What should have won the 2019 Cannes Palme d’Or?
It wasn’t to be the second year a female director won Cannes’s top prize, but our contributors certainly fancied it as much as Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. Isabel Stevens introduces thoughts from ten of our contributors.
Saturday, May 25, 2019
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The Unknown Saint first look: a lean, timeless desert caper
Alaa Eddine Aljem’s deadpan debut plants an empty shrine over loot buried in the sands of southern Morocco, and watches a community of sun-beaten oddballs pay reverence, finds John Bleasdale.
Sunday, May 19, 2019
1 - 10 of 16
Sight & Sound magazine
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Reviews, interviews and features from the international film magazine.
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