environment

SFIFF Review: FIRST REFORMED: The ‘Taxi Driver’ Of The Millennial Generation

A trio of staggering performances by Hawke, Seyfried, and Cedric the Entertainer, a gripping story that mines our current sociopolitical landscape for philosophical fodder, and typically formidable writing make First Reformed a mandatory watch for everyone.

AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: An Inconvenient Distribution Strategy, A Powerful Plea
AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: An Inconvenient Distribution Strategy, A Powerful Plea

An Inconvenient Sequel may struggle narratively, but its message about coming together to battle climate change is as important as ever.

PLASTIC PARADISE: It Never Goes Away, So Where Does It Go?
PLASTIC PARADISE: It Never Goes Away, So Where Does It Go?

Plastic Paradise shines a spotlight on the problems that our society has created and its impact on the world in which we live.

Godzilla As Metaphore For Climate Change In SHIN GODZILLA
Godzilla As Metaphore For Climate Change In SHIN GODZILLA

Like all Godzilla films, Shin Godzilla criticises how governments respond to disasters – but in this film, it’s not nuclear, but natural disaster.

SALT AND FIRE: An Enthralling Treatise On The Environment & Truth
SALT AND FIRE: An Enthralling Treatise On The Environment & Truth

Salt and Fire is an alluringly ambiguous environmental thriller by Werner Herzog, featuring purposefully stilted and brilliant performances.

GOLD: McConaughey’s Prospects Fail To Strike Cinematic Riches
GOLD: McConaughey’s Prospects Fail To Strike Cinematic Riches

Gold features a flashy performance by Matthew McConaughey, yet the remainder of the film surrounding him fails to impress.

DEEPWATER HORIZON: An Environmental Blockbuster
DEEPWATER HORIZON: An Apolitical Environmental Blockbuster

Preservation of the environment shouldn’t be a political issue, let alone a controversial one. Yet the right wing governments of the western world are frequently abandoning environmental and climate change issues, even building entire grand-standing platforms on how the entire act of climate change is a mere myth. The masses no longer trust “experts”, no matter how many facts they have on their side about the devastating realities of our changing environment.

The Beginner’s Guide: Hayao Miyazaki, Director

How to summarise Hayao Miyazaki in a few words? Brilliant, magical, ecologist, fantastic, cultural, wise, a true master of his art: animation.

Tomorrowland
TOMORROWLAND: A Cynical Film About Optimism

The central idea to Tomorrowland, Disney’s latest attempt to turn a theme park attraction into a blockbuster spectacle, is flawless. Instead of being pessimistic about the future, why don’t we adopt the same attitudes of previous generations and look at the future with a sense of optimism, awe and wonder? After all, today’s younger generations are being fed miserable visions of the future by pop culture, with every major summer tentpole movie of the past few years having villains who argue that the best way to save both the planet and humanity as a whole is to destroy it.

Interstellar
INTERSTELLAR: A Big, Bold, Superbly Entertaining Sci-Fi

Christopher Nolan has made a solid place for himself in the rank of modern filmmakers. His latest film, Interstellar, further establishes his stance. It is a wondrously beautiful movie, with intense sci-fi sequences, a solid and talented cast, and even some thought-provoking ideas.

Pioneer
PIONEER: 20,000 Lies Under The Sea

According to my personal checklist, the extent to which a film can affect a viewer is a mark of its quality. Pioneer must have done something right, because it absolutely wrecked my sense of calm. A full 24 hours after watching director Erik Skjoldbjærg’s thriller for the first time, I still find myself feeling strangely uneasy – stealing glances over my shoulder, eyeing my friends and family with icy distrust…I even threw out a plate of unattended food on the off chance it had been poisoned by the shady agents of a deep-sea drilling conglomerate.