A Star Is Born: Kirsten Dunst in 1994

by Cláudio Alves

For all its controversies, Alex Garland's Civil War has gifted us with more than just an (a)political provocation. The chosen format limits the film's considerations of conflict journalism, and its overall construction has flaws aplenty. Yet, in the picture's lead, Kirsten Dunst delivers another worthwhile turn as a disillusioned photographer. Exhaustion laces every gesture and actorly choice, and though Garland seems to abandon her for the film's final act, whenever the camera finds Dunst, she delivers. Whether portraying cynical apathy or shell-shocked grief, apprehensive over a younger colleague's fate or breaking down at the eleventh hour, the actress can weave straw into gold and elevate any material.

Considering her latest performance, I couldn't help but reminisce about Dunst's early days and how, thirty years ago, she became a star at just twelve years old…

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Review: Will Smith's Oscar hopeful "Emancipation"

please welcome new contributor Ankit Jhunjhunwala...

Will Smith stars in "Emancipation"

by Ankit Jhunjhunwala

It is arguable that all movies benefit from a theatrical experience - though some do more than others. The benefits are not merely technical (superior audio & video quality) but also behavioral. A paying public in a cinema is a captive audience and usually sticks with a film to the bitter end. At home, on streaming platforms, abandonment is easy and, by all accounts, frequent. This latter practice is likely to hurt Emancipation, which concludes with a sensational Civil War action set piece that is sure to rouse audiences. Only they have to get through 90 minutes of airless tedium to get to it.

Emancipation is a project undoubtedly born out of noble intentions. The infamous Whipped Peter photograph, showing the horrifically lacerated back of a Black man, remains a powerful contemporaneous record of the unimaginable cruelty suffered by Black Americans at the hands of white slave owners...

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What's next for this season's Oscar nominated actresses?

by Nathaniel R

Promotional image from The Good Nurse © Netflix

We already looked at what's next for 2021's most celebrated directors and actors so let's turn our attention to the actresses (our favourite topic on the regular). Whatever will they do for encores? Let's start with the winners...

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Doc Corner: 'Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are)'

By Glenn Dunks

A movie called “Civil War” could really be about so many things. I immediately assumed a film about January’s insurrection had been produced, edited and released in just nine months’ time. What an achievement! It’s a surprise then to discover that Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are) is about the actual civil war. The one about the North versus the South. The one about slavery (depending on who you ask). The one they made Gone With the Wind about. It’s almost quaint in that regard.

No matter what it is or it isn’t about— the contemporary political space may not be the film's focus but its heavily on its mind --  it’s a good movie. Civil War finds interesting crevices within which to explore education and class-driven divides and the way the war's lessons are taught and absorbed by the next generations. Spoiler alert: it’s not entirely comforting...

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Monty @ 100: Friendship, Tragedy and "Raintree County"

by Cláudio Alves

Montgomery Clift's legacy is as defined by tragedy as it is by acting glory. Robert Lewis, his teacher at the famed Actors Studio, would famously describe Monty's downfall as "the longest suicide in Hollywood history". Until now, this centennial celebration has mostly avoided gossip and the dark shadow of doom clouding over the actor's biography. However, as we arrive at his ninth feature, the context of what was happening off-screen is too important to be dismissed…

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