ZooScope

Category: Year: 2018

  • Annihilation. Dir. Alex Garland. Netflix. 2018.

    Annihilation. Dir. Alex Garland. Netflix. 2018.

    “It’s not destroying. It’s creating something new”.  Annihilation, by definition, is something “Completely destroyed; nothingness, non-existence”, Yet Alex Garland’s 2018 film entirely rethinks what it really means to be obliterated. Annihilation follows the perilous journey of Lena (Natalie Portman) and four other female scientists into a mysterious, expanding biome named ‘The Shimmer’, as an attempt to discover…

  • Bird Box. Dir. Susanne Bier. Netflix. 2018.

    Bird Box. Dir. Susanne Bier. Netflix. 2018.

    Susanne Bier’s Bird Box follows Malorie Hayes as she navigates the events and aftermath of an outbreak of creatures, which seem to take on the form of a person’s worst fear, deepest sadness or greatest loss, and thereby drive humans to suicide when the people look at them. However, the monsters themselves are never seen…

  • Can You Ever Forgive Me? Dir. Marielle Heller. Fox Searchlight Pictures. 2018.

    Hellers’ biopic Can You Ever Forgive Me (1) is about struggling writer Lee Israel who, to finance her cat’s vet bills, becomes a master forger of literary letters. Impersonating figures such as Noël Coward and Dorothy Parker, Lee earns herself a pretty penny and, eventually, a criminal record. Protagonist Lee, played by Melissa McCarthy, is…

  • Sorry to Bother You. Dir. Boots Riley. Annapurna Pictures. 2018.

    Boots Riley’s debut feature has been praised for its portrayal of the callous nature of capitalism in modern America. The overarching message throughout is that the efficiency of the labourer is paramount to economic success and is valued more than human life, with this ideology being brought to life with the Equisapians, a half-human/half-horse hybrid,…

  • They Shall Not Grow Old. Dir. Peter Jackson. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.. 2018.

    Not often is a film’s purpose so clearly stated in its title, yet Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old1(TSNGO) is a documentary with meticulous dedication to preserving the stories of those who fought in World War One. Framed by black and white footage of pre-war conscription and the return home from combat, the documentary’s centre is…

  • Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle. Dir. Andy Serkis. Netflix. 2018.

    The film ‘Mowgli’ is a recent adaptation by Andy Serkis of the beloved Kipling story ‘The Jungle Book’. It is a fantasy adventure film and a beautifully aesthetic hybrid of live-action, CGI and motion picture that remains true to the original story in its exploration of the darker elements of the tale that follow the…

  • Isle of Dogs. Dir. Wes Anderson. Fox Searchlight Pictures. 2018.

    Wes Anderson’s 2018 film Isle of Dogs depicts a dual representation of animals. The film’s plot is largely focused on the escapades of dogs, and for the most part these animals are highly anthropomorphised by Anderson’s direction. On the other hand, the majority of the humour in the film is constructed by Anderson occasionally reversing…