Author: Rosalynn Try-Hane

The Eyes Of My Mother is a very stylish and at times stylised film. It’s a disturbing tale of a daughter’s quest to replace the maternal love so brutally taken from her by a serial killer at a young age. The events that take place in the film are horrifying but does this qualify it as a horror, not quite.

The Eyes Of My Mother is the debut feature by writer/director, Nicolas Pesce and he does an admirable job. The decision to shoot the entire film in black and white is what raises it above mediocrity and sets the tone for the film. Also, the principal actress, Kiki Magalhaes is convincing for the most part as the adult although as the film reaches its climax she becomes too self aware. That would be my sole criticism of this film for all its beautiful cinematography and interesting play with the genre, it is just too self aware. Watching the film you sense that Pesce wants you to think isn’t this clever and look how I inverted what usually happens in a horror e.g. near the beginning you think a character will be killed but isn’t. It’s acceptable to employ the misdirection technique but sparingly. In this film it happens far too frequently.

The Eyes of My Mother is following the trends of other recent horror films that place maternal love at the heart of the film – Under The Shadow and Babadook. Those films the mother is very much present whereas in The Eyes Of My Mother it’s the loss of the maternal figure that plays the pivotal role.

Also, I am giving this film an extra gold star as it was mercifully short at 1 hour 13 mins.

The Eyes Of My Mother is out in cinemas Friday 24 March.

Ambulance is a full length documentary film made by Palestinian filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly. Ambulance is shot entirely in Gaza city and it is a frenetic, chaotic and visceral first person/eye witness account of what the people there go through every day. The camera work is shaky but it drags the viewer into this chaotic world  the same way those who are dragged out of the rubble. There are frenetic scenes of people screaming or those who come to help pull victims out of the rubble are actually a hindrance. The film takes place during the last war in July 2014, when drone and Israeli rockets pummelling the city.

It doesn’t really matter where you stand on the issue: is Gaza Occupied, are Israel right to do what they do. Ambulance shows the reality – death, destruction, suffering, hope even in the darkest hours.

This is a vital film as it carries on after the news camera crews have stopped – what happens to those people. How do you carry on living in a situation like that? So many of the individuals remain nameless and faceless and that in itself speaks volume about war and suffering – we cannot know everyone’s names but in this film Jabaly starts a conversation where we start to question the meaning of it all.

Ambulance will be shown as part of the BBC Arabic Film Festival which runs from 24 to 30 March.

Certain Women has a train running through it. A train. Let me explain, the opening scene is of a train making its way through a sparse valley. The spectacular Montana mountain range providing a beautiful yet cold backdrop. The train is not moving particularly quickly but it is moving. Herein lies the metaphor upon which to understand Certain Women, life keeps on going whether you stand still or actively participate in it.

Certain Women is written and directed by Kelly Reichardt, based on story by Maile Meloy tells the story of three women’s lives that are distinct but overlap in a small town in Montana. The film has an all star cast: Laura Dern, Michelle Williams and Kristen Stewart. The women lead ordinary lives and the film follows them leading these lives that occasionally have a flutter, think eyelid flutter blink and you miss it, of excitement.

Certain Women is slow like the train in the opening scene. Nothing happens very quickly and actually nothing much happens at all. All throughout the movie you hope that the dramatic climax is on its way. Just another five minutes and something HAS to happen and no, sorry to disappoint, it’s just more of the same. This is the kind of movie that would benefit from having a director explaining what each scene is supposed to represent. I like slow, narrative driven films but there’s slow paced and then there’s this. It’s sloth like.

Certain Women is released in cinemas across the UK on 3 March 2017.

The Student examines the idea of religious fundamentalism in a teenager who declares the world around him as corrupt and only his ideology can save those who believe without question. In this new film by Kirill Serebrennikov he shows us what happens when adults are stunted by their own liberal, well meaning attitudes and how without leadership and little opposition a student’s ideology becomes so powerful with destructive consequences.

Veniamin is the classic  misfit student in a nameless Russian town who after studying the Scripture is convinced that the world around him is corrupt and only his beliefs are the true beliefs. This leads to conflict with everyone around him and an epic collision with the biology teacher who believes in evolution rather than creationism.

How you engage with the film all depends on whether you can engage with the central character Veniamin. The actor carries the entire film. He dominates every scene he is in and walks that fine line of charisma and insanity. He is entirely convincing as a teenager caught up in his own religious fervour. His mother’s desperation at not being able to control her son is a metaphor for the State and all adults who are out of touch with society’s youth. The Student is based on a play Martyr by Marius von Mayenburg and so on screen some of the scenes do feel stilted but in a way that works in this film. You need those set pieces where you just stare and listen in disgust and awe at the student and his religious fervour.

The film’s central question is how do we stop religious fundamentalism and what can we do to stop our teenagers becoming radicalised.  The film’s other social commentary centres on belief, fear and no one wanting to show authority and although the questions are asked no answers are given. For some the fact that no answers are given may be disappointing, frustrating but in a way that is the point. How in 113 minutes can you answer such fundamental questions that so many governments and countless societies across the world are currently wrestling with. What’s interesting is the way in which the original scripture from the Bible is displayed on screen and how without context you can give anything meaning with terrifying consequences.

The Student should be seen, discussed, thought about and discussed again with friends. Definitely a must see.

The Student is released across cinemas across the UK on Friday 3 March.