Andrea Arnold’s films are renowned for their nuanced focus upon human behaviour. However, as Michael Lawrence recognises in his analysis of her 2011 adaptation of Wuthering Heights, Arnold ‘privileges the…
read moreThe animated film Ernest and Celestine[1] (2012) uses animals to offer a socio-political examination of French society. A predator-prey construct is conveyed through the division of social classes in the species contrast between…
read moreThe release of Mon Oncle (Gaumont, France) in 1958 saw the return of Monsieur Hulot to cinema screens, following the successful Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot five years previously. The…
read moreWhite God (dir. Kornél Mundruczó, 2014) depicts the story of Hagen [Bodie and Luke], a mixed-breed dog, and his relationship with Lili [Zsófia Psotta], a young girl who is sent to…
read more‘Of Mice and Men’ (1992) is a film adaptation of the novel by John Steinbeck, which is set in 1930s America during the Great Depression. The film follows the lives…
read moreBenedikt Erlingsson’s directorial debut Of Horses and Men (2013) is best described as a series of interlocking fables, focusing on six sets of neighbours living in an isolated Icelandic valley.…
read moreTwelve Monkeys begins: human beings whoop and rattle in cages, buried deep underground. Wild animals roam free in the streets; in the churches, on top of this underground prison. But who…
read moreMon Oncle (1958), as many of Jacques Tati’s films, focuses on the character of Monsieur Hulot, a bumbling but lovable man who fights a constant battle against the modern architecture…
read moreOne of the most enigmatic scenes in Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine, an exploration of social tensions and police brutality in the banlieues (council estates) of Paris in the 1990s, occurs…
read moreThe scene which I believe most questions anthropocentric notions of human superiority in ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ is the moment when Caesar verbally expresses his frustrations, in…
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