This review contains only trailer-level spoilers

Euphoniously titled “Visages Villages” in the original French, this film won Varda a Best Documentary Oscar nomination, meaning she is the oldest person ever to have been nominated for an Oscar.

​“Faces Places” (2017) is a documentary following French New Wave director Agnes Varda and photographer JR as they travel the French countryside. They take people’s portraits and create murals on local architecture.

​This review contains only trailer-level spoilers

“I Lost My Body” (2019) is the first feature film by director Jérémy Clapin. It was shown as part of the “Dare” stream at London Film Festival 2019 which was described as “In-your-face, up-front and arresting: films that take you out of your comfort zone”. That certainly is a good description of this film.

​The Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize winner engages all the senses to take you on a melancholic and emotional journey towards a gruesome end.

This review contains only trailer-level spoilers.

François Ozon’s “8 Women” (2002) is a locked-house murder mystery whodunit with over the top caricatures who fling around accusations and burst into song. It’s ultra-theatrical and it’s brilliant.

​Based on Robert Thomas’s 1958 play “Huit Femmes”, the film is set in the 1950s in a snow-bound French manor far from help. As the family gathers for Christmas the patriarch Marcel (Dominique Lamure) is found murdered. Of course nobody can contact the police or get out through the snow. The murderer is amongst them and they need to figure out which one of them it is.

Have you ever seen a film and found something just a bit distasteful about the way the female actor came across but you couldn’t quite point to exactly why it didn’t sit right? And, maybe others have pointed out that the main female character have been treated very well because they ended up saving the day, so what are you complaining about?

There’s more to a film than the simply action that takes place and who is on screen. It’s a visual art form and we’re all trained in the visual language of cinema from the moment we start watching films. By ‘visual language’ we mean the way people are photographed in order to convey meaning beyond what they say or do. Someone shown in the frame as towering above another person is often the one with the power for example.
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We share in the same understanding of how to read these cues even if it’s unconsciously.

An exploration of the history of cinematic sound through case studies and interviews with heavyweight directors and various sound engineers. 

This documentary is an eduction in film sound, the techniques, technologies and innovations involved. We learn about each role in the making of cinematic sound and how all the elements are stitched together. This is a must for all film lovers keen to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes. 

This review contains only trailer-level spoilers
In Greek mythology Cassandra was blessed with seeing true prophesies but she was cursed with never being believed. She foresaw the Greek soldiers hiding in a wooden horse but the Trojans stopped her from hacking it open. She was forced to watch destruction, knowing it could have been avoided if only they'd have listened.
 
Such is the fate of teacher Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer) in "Luce" (2019). She sees the warning signs about one of her students, Luce, but is completely dismissed by his parents and other teachers.

On 30th October the nominations for the 2019 British Independent Film Awards were announced. In total 38 British feature films were nominated and the results will be announced on Sunday 1st December in a ceremony hosted by Aisling Bea. 41% of the nominations were for women and 59% for men – if you count a nomination for a film as a nomination for the director.