Academy Award nominee Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air) makes her directorial debut with Woman of the Hour, a period crime drama centred around a game show where one of the contestants is an unidentified serial killer. Kendrick stars as Sheryl, a down-and-out actor who hasn’t secured her bearings since moving to Los Angeles to fulfil her dreams of an acting career. When offered a role as a “bachelorette avidly searching for true love”, and after…
Wildcat is an assuredly-made drama from director Ethan Hawke (Blaze) and his sensational star Maya Hawke (Do Revenge, Asteroid City). The unconventional period biopic marks the first feature-length father-and-daughter collaboration between the Hawkes, and audiences will surely hope it isn’t the last.
The Promised Land presents itself as an epic period drama about a former soldier, Captain Ludvig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen of Casino Royale and Another Round), dedicating his remaining lifetime to mend a troubled Danish heath and build a settlement. The challenges he faces include the environmental barrenness of the land, outsiders who doubt Kahlen’s ambitions, and the breaching interruptions by selfish and wealthy Frederik de Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg).
Call me a wet noodle, a buzzkill, or a “namby-pamby” (a term I learned from this movie), but I did not fall under the romantic spell of Mr. Malcolm’s List. In fact, I thought Mr. Malcolm’s List was pretty cheesy. Then again, the love-struck emotions in Emma Holly Jones’ period piece are supposed to hit those levels of mushy sentimentality. It’s just a matter of reigning them in before they spill over to become just…
Terence Davies’ latest period biopic Benediction is comparable to his last feature, A Quiet Passion, though this movie is much better and says a lot more about its subject.
Mothering Sunday is, at least, commendable for the swings it takes. Instead of following a typical period drama formula, director Eva Husson (Bang Gang [A Modern Love Story]) and screenwriter Alice Birch (Lady Macbeth) explore a titillating affair through several time-jumping perspectives. At first, it’s frustrating to keep up with the pace that’s further developing the romance between housemaid Jane Fairchild (Assassination Nation’s Odessa Young) and elite gentleman Paul Sheringham (Josh O’Connor of God’s Own…
12 Mighty Orphans may be a formulaic sports movie telling a familiar underdog story, but the movie follows the template well and elevates the narrative with good performances and on-screen chemistry.
The World to Come, the second feature from Norwegian filmmaker Mona Fastvold (The Sleepwalker), is a plodding meditation on love and grief that is salvaged from mediocrity by the palpable chemistry between its lead actors. Still, the film doesn’t offer much that is fresh of exciting and rehashes some tired lesbian period piece tropes.
Audiences have been spoiled with unique period films – Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Oscar winner The Favourite, and Greta Gerwig’s take on Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. We’ve been shown that these rustic movies can exist outside of a formula, which makes Autumn de Wilde’s Emma a bit of a retrograded step. But, the conventional choices can be explained.
