The German film director has announced two new books: a memoir and The Twilight World, about a remarkable second world war officerWerner Herzog is writing a book about Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese soldier who took three decades to surrender after the end …
Lina from Lima review – funny, sultry film about a plucky economic migrant
Upending arthouse tropes with musical numbers and lashings of sex, this witty debut about a Peruvian domestic worker refuses to see its heroine as a victimWriter-director María Paz González’s first feature takes a well-worn miserabilist trope out of th…
Extinct review – doughnut-shaped critters are an evolutionary dead end
It’s hard to imagine who will enjoy this convoluted animated tale of furry creatures called ‘flummels’Even if you can get over the inherent weirdness of furry little doughnut-shaped creatures with holes in their middles, there’s a lot to puzzle over wi…
Mellow giallo: has the horror genre lost its ability to shock?
Once banished to the ‘video nasty’ lists, the formerly trashy subgenre – spearheaded by Dario Argento – is now seen as high art, dulling its rougher edges Giallo began as the trashiest of genres. Derived from pulp Italian novels (with yellow covers, he…
Coda review – the trials of a musical teenager in a non-hearing household
This year’s Sundance hit, about the daughter of deaf parents who dreams of becoming a singer, is undeniably feelgood, if a little formulaicWhen Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) sings, she gets a good feeling. Sorting through the daily catch aboard her family’…
Blood, gore and a healthy dose of catharsis: why horror can be good for us
A grisly feast of scary British films is heading our way. Why now? Once seen as ‘video nasties’, many believe they have a positive role to play in a pandemicThe terror begins in the London of 1985 when Enid Baines, a film censor, spots an eerie reflect…
I’m Your Man review – domestic bliss with a humanoid
Dan Stevens plays a precision-tooled robot who could be the answer to a single woman’s prayers in this smart, Berlin-set comedyThe last thing that academic Alma (Maren Eggert) wants, following a messy breakup with a colleague, is a man. But in order to…
On my radar: Shaun Keaveny’s cultural highlights
The 6 Music presenter on Schitt’s Creek, Douglas Stuart’s extraordinary Shuggie Bain and the canal-side pub he longs to visitBorn in Leigh, Greater Manchester, in 1972, radio DJ and presenter Shaun Keaveny began his career at XFM and in 2007 joined 6 M…
Director Ken Loach says he has been expelled from Labour
Leftwing film-maker claims move by party is because he would ‘not disown those already expelled’The veteran leftwing film-maker Ken Loach has said he has been expelled from the Labour party.Loach, whose films are regarded as landmarks of social realism…
Thank God for Bennifer, a much-needed respite | Hadley Freeman
This is about more than just Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez getting back together. It’s a way to kid yourself that the past 20 years haven’t happenedIt’s OK everyone, you can all stop crying into your toast, anxiously waiting to see if I’m back. Becaus…