Isabel Stevens
Tomatometer-approved critic
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
97%
“Sciamma dodges any hint of melodrama, opting to treat emotions delicately and faithfully for a time that suppressed them into glances and gestures rather than pouring them out into words.” –
Sight & Sound
Aug 29, 2019
Full Review
Parasite (2019)
99%
“Ever the sui generis genre-switcher, Bong this time has his class struggle play out in a con-family comedy. And it's a riot.” –
Sight & Sound
May 23, 2019
Full Review
Music From the Big House (2010)
50%
3/5
“When the camera does stray beyond the stage, the cramped, grim conditions are laid bare, the film's lyrical black and white cinematography arrestingly capturing the bleak prison landscape.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Amnesty (2011)
3/5
“Director and writer Bujar Alimani who refreshingly favours an understated approach in this subtle romance.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Black Pond (2011)
100%
3/5
“Black Pond is an adventurous offering from first-time directors on a small budget.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Leaving Baghdad (2010)
3/5
“These scenes make for both shocking and uncomfortable viewing, but where the film really excels is in the grim but real picture it paints of illegal immigration.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Tom Thumb and Little Red Riding Hood (1962)
2/5
“A gruesome, cheap-thrill-seeking fantasy, Ferozz Wild Riding Hood strives to be a wild and surreal dark fairytale, but ends resembling a soft-porn panto.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
When China Met Africa (2010)
89%
3/5
“The film's cinematography is undoubtedly its strength.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Hell and Back Again (2011)
100%
4/5
“An incredibly brave piece of filmmaking, worth watching for the brutal insight it offers onto life on the frontline.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Bonsai (2011)
84%
4/5
“A script full of quirky deadpan moments never allows the film to become too ponderous. The intriguing, oddball protagonists are the biggest draw.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Oslo, August 31st (2011)
97%
4/5
“This is undoubtedly a bleak film, but it never verges into grim - it's more of a melancholic Before Sunrise-esque city tour.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
The Yellow Sea (2010)
88%
4/5
“The Yellow Sea is a genre film that has more to offer than just a high body count.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
This Our Still Life (2011)
88%
4/5
“Hardly critic-friendly or crowd-pleasing. Instead This Our Still Life is risk-filled, innovative and larger than life.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Hadewijch (2009)
73%
“Hadewijch is a thoughtful piece of raw, austere filmmaking.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Parked (2011)
64%
2/5
“All of the actors put in perfectly acceptable performances but none can do much about the brittle plot-fodder stereotypes they are forced to work with.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Mysteries of Lisbon (2010)
86%
5/5
“This is a film to lose yourself in. Despite its extremely long running time, it is an utterly intriguing and beautifully-shot labyrinth.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
The Nine Muses (2010)
71%
4/5
“The Nine Muses is a beautiful, elegiac cinematic poem that demonstrates a highly inventive and singular approach to the treatment archive footage.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Surviving Life (Theory and Practice) (2010)
92%
4/5
“While the film may lack money, it's by no means short on imagination.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
A Useful Life (2010)
94%
5/5
“A charming ode to the big screen.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
We Have a Pope (2012)
66%
4/5
“Pitching him as an existentialist fugitive who drifts round department stores and into bars trying to reconnect with the world again, Piccoli's performance takes the film to a very sombre place.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Girl Model (2011)
92%
3/5
“There is no glamour in this film; a low-key observational approach, keeps judgement and hard-hitting shock tactics at arms length.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Patience (After Sebald) (2012)
90%
4/5
“How do you unpick a literary work with a film camera? Ideally with plenty of imagination, which is what Gee has done here.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Carancho (2010)
88%
3/5
“Visually and viscerally, the film makes for a chilling and sobering 107 minutes.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Bill Cunningham New York (2010)
99%
4/5
“Press mainly sits back and watches, but occasionally probes the contradiction that is Bill Cunningham - and the results are fascinating.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
Khodorkovsky (2011)
90%
3/5
“Frank and revealing.” –
ViewLondon
Aug 27, 2018
Full Review
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