9 h. ago Ridley Scott's 'best ever film' hardly anyone has heard of is now on Amazon Prime

The Last Duel made its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2021 and was directed by Ridley Scott and co-written by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Nicole Holofcener

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10 h. ago ‘He threw body piercing parties and lay on a bed of nails’: the wild life of body modification guru Fakir Musafar

A new documentary explores how the pioneer of the ‘modern primitive’ subculture used painful BDSM practices to access new spiritual planes – outraging conventional societyIn the opening moments of A Body to Live in, a documentary by American film-maker Angelo Madsen, we are confronted with two black-and-white photographs. Taken in 1944 by the teenage Roland Loomis, they show him stripped to his underwear, his waist heavily restricted by a leather belt, a rope wrapped several times around his neck.Loomis later renamed himself Fakir Musafar and became one of the founders of the modern primitive movement – a subculture that revolves around body modification practices including branding, suspension, contortion and binding. A Body to Live in, which premieres internationally at London’s BFI Flare film festival this week, dissects Musafar’s body of work, which explored the tension between masculinity and femininity, pain and pleasure, spirituality and S&M. Continue reading...

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3 d. ago The Cine International Film Festival: the most exciting thing to happen to London cinema in years?

A new film festival is coming to Soho which aims to stimulate the independent sector and support the capital’s future stars

Culture

5 d. ago I Visited London’s ‘Taste Film’ Experience – And It Just Might Be My New Favourite Cinema Experience

I Visited London’s ‘Taste Film’ Experience – And It Just Might Be My New Favourite Cinema Experience  Secret London

Culture

5 d. ago ‘Musicals can be quite sinister’: Tilda Swinton and Joshua Oppenheimer on bonkers bunker singalong The End

Inspired by a Russian tycoon’s survival bunker, the pair’s post-apocalyptic tale takes in environmental collapse, our facades and delusions – and big ol’ show tunesTime is short for the family at the heart of Joshua Oppenheimer’s new film. Mother, Father and their adult son eke out their days in an underground bunker with the walls decorated with priceless old masters, fine wine on the table and half a mile of bedrock above their heads. They gather each evening for formal dinners. They sing upbeat songs to keep the darkness at bay. “We thrive in our happily-ever-after,” they burble. “Together our future is bright.”Time is similarly tight for the writer-director and his star when they beam in via video link from Berlin. It’s the last day of the film festival, a late scramble towards the finish line, and Oppenheimer and Tilda Swinton are each working to a separate stopwatch. Oppenheimer is scheduled to take part in a panel discussion; Swinton is booked on a plane out of town...

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6 d. ago ‘80 years of lies and deception’: is this film proof of alien life on Earth?

The Age of Disclosure, a provocative new documentary that argues for the existence of extraterrestrials, has drawn gasps and criticism at the SXSW film festivalA splashy new documentary that asserts the presence of extraterrestrial life on Earth and alleges a US government effort to hide information on possible alien activity is making waves at SXSW.The Age of Disclosure expounds upon years of congressional activity and testimony surrounding the presence of Unexplained Anomalous Phenomena (or UAP, a rebranding of the stigmatized UFO), in the United States, drawing both buzz and skepticism at the Austin, Texas-based cultural festival. Continue reading...

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7 d. ago ‘It’s supposed to be intense’: inside the experimental film that ‘truly captures’ autism

It stars a roaming shapeshifter – and a cat-faced soldier fighting a zombie in a swamp. We go behind the scenes of The Stimming Pool, the first ever feature film to be made by autistic directors Do you know how many autistic people there are in the UK? The answer is an estimated 700,000. Yet until now, there has never been a single feature-length film directed by autistic people. Or at least not one that has secured a theatrical release in the UK and slots at festivals worldwide.The film is The Stimming Pool, an experimental feature shot over just 12 days that puts on screen the interests, passions and perspectives of its five young autistic creators. They worked alongside Steven Eastwood, professor of film practice at London’s Queen Mary University, funded initially by the Wellcome Trust. “We asked why autistic people are always required to explain or illustrate their experience,” says Eastwood. “What about just having neurodivergent authors behind the cameras, doing the creativity...

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7 d. ago Friendship review – Tim Robinson spirals in a darkly hilarious comedy

SXSW film festival: The star of I Think You Should Leave brings a similar brand of comedy to this strange and genuinely funny film about a friendship breakupFew adult experiences sting as much as a friendship breakup, a rejection in some ways more personal, hurtful and confusing than that of a romantic partner. And few actors are better equipped to mine the weird vulnerabilities, fixations and feelings of a platonic split like the cult comedy king Tim Robinson, co-creator and star of the Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave (ITYSL). Over three seasons, Robinson has built up a devoted in-the-know following for his situational comedy, generationally playing unrepentant characters with no impulse control or allegiance to social scripts, people whose untidy feelings derail otherwise normal situations into absurd tangles.In other words, not the type of people to take rejection well. With Robinson as the unfortunate half of a buddy dump, Friendship, writer-director Andrew DeYoung’...

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7 d. ago Blake Lively fails to shut down Another Simple Favor drama as she shares a VERY telling clue that all is not well with Anna Kendrick and her co

Rumors have been swirling that there is tension between leading stars Blake, 37, and Anna Kendrick, 39, and their appearance at SXSW Film Festival only fueled the fire.

Events

7 d. ago BFI Flare 2025: The best films to see at London's longstanding LGBTQIA+ film festival

Queer horror shorts, poignant romances, must-see documentaries and uplifting tales of body positivity and community: the 39th edition of BFI Flare has it all

Culture

7 d. ago Blake Lively gives bizarre response to the chaotic SXSW premiere of Another Simple Favor

Blake Lively claims she felt 'the love' at her Another Simple Favor premiere during the South By Southwest Film Festival in Texas over the weekend, despite the chaotic reception.

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8 d. ago The Rivals of Amziah King review – Matthew McConaughey returns with unwieldy misstep

SXSW film festival: The Oscar winner’s first film role for six years shows his undeniable magnetism but squanders it on a baggy mix of tones and genresIn the past six years, the Academy award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, the reigning prince of Austin, Texas, has kept busy. He raised his three kids in the city, written and released a bestselling memoir on “easy-livin’” (“because life is a verb”), taught in the film department at the University of Texas at Austin, pleaded for gun control at the White House after the horrific school shooting in his home town of Uvalde and “seriously considered” running for governor of Texas. But he has not acted on screen – relegating his last two film roles, underwhelming romps in Harmony Korine’s The Beach Bum and Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, to the distant memory of a pre-pandemic 2019. With the end of the 2010s, the energy of the McConnaissance went elsewhere.That is, until Monday, when McConaughey returned to red carpet promotional duties fo...

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8 d. ago Wade Robson claims Michael Jackson sexually abused him from the age of seven: He's now taking his estate to court despite death threats from the superstar's fans

The last thing choreographer Wade Robson did as he left for a premiere at America's Sundance Film Festival six years ago was to write a note to his wife and son.

Events

9 d. ago Drop review – a standout from White Lotus excels in tight first date thriller

SXSW film festival: Meghann Fahy lands a killer star vehicle with a fun, seat-edge piece of pulp entertainment, playing a woman tasked with killing her dateI have a special place in my heart for a movie that knows what it is, doesn’t mislead and delivers accordingly in a tight 90 minutes. Drop, as indicated by title and trailer, is a one-room thriller for the digital natives: what would happen if your phone was barraged by mysterious AirDropped memes telling you to kill your date, or your family dies? It’s a simple premise familiar to anyone who has received an unwanted dick pic on the subway, and one that writer/director Christopher Landon drills into with fresh and invigorating precision.And one elevated by two well-cast leads in Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar, who both keep their cards just close enough to their chests. Sklenar, recently in It Ends With Us, once again convincingly plays the nice, understanding guy to a woman who has survived domestic abuse; sweet and self-effac...

Events

9 d. ago Holland review – twisty Nicole Kidman thriller is a disappointing mess

SXSW film festival: Fresh director Mimi Cave delivers an underwhelming follow-up that can’t make the most of its hard-working leading starNicole Kidman is, in general, providing a public service with her seemingly inexhaustible energy. She’s been working consistently with female directors – 19 in the last eight years – while also attempting to rescue the tight domestic thrillers of yore and consistently probing the gap between women’s placid public facades and private turmoil. The quality of Kidman’s performances – and she is almost always delivering something a little weird, a little off and very magnetic – does not indicate the quality of the project, which can range from the provocative (if underwhelming) Babygirl to her personal beach-read cinematic universe of mediocre TV roles.Holland, Kidman’s latest film as a star and producer (under her Blossom Films banner), finds Kidman in a familiar groove: a suburban housewife with secrets and suspicions, beset by paranoia and straining...

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9 d. ago Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick's Another Simple Favor director responds to rumors of tension between co

Director Paul Feig tried to shut down any claims of tension between stars Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick at SXSW Film Festival.

Events

1 week ago Another Simple Favor director addresses rumors Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively were feuding at their movie premiere

The movie director and two actors attended the SXSW Film & TV Festival on Friday

Politics

1 week ago Rare 1930s footage of pioneering Scottish female pilot to be set to live music at silent film festival

Winnie Drinkwater was the world’s first commercial airline pilot

Culture

1 week ago Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick continue to keep their distance amid rumored feud at film festival

Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick have continued to keep their distance while promoting their sequel Another Simple Favor during the SXSW Film Festival in Austin on Saturday.

Culture

1 week ago Another Simple Favor review – supremely silly sequel serves more absurd twists

SXSW film festival: Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively return in Amazon’s ridiculous yet glossily enjoyable follow-up to 2018’s fan favoriteOn paper, there are plenty of reasons to make a follow-up to A Simple Favor, Paul Feig’s 2018 comic mystery film starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively as two delusive, scheming suburban moms. Though it gestured at being a serious thriller – a sort of Gone Girl for cable channel – the film, based on the 2017 novel by Darcey Bell, ultimately devolved into ridiculousness, untethered from logic yet with plenty of road for more twists. Lively’s Emily Nelson, an archly manipulative psychopath straight out of a Justin Baldoni lawsuit, remains her best work since Gossip Girl. And most pertinent to Amazon MGM studios, the film found post-theatrical success on streaming, becoming a modern camp classic during the pandemic.But Feig, by his own admission at the SXSW film festival on Friday evening, is wary of sequels, and for good reason – rarely does lightnin...

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