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European cinema

From Danny Boyle to Michael Haneke, from Francois Truffaut to Ingmar Bergman, from Soviet Montage to French New Wave to Romanian New Wave, and from Berlin film festival to Cannes to Venice, this is the place to go for features, interviews and reviews about movies both classic and new from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and every other country in Europe.

last updated:

9 September, 2024

Florence Pugh attends the 2023 Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles. Photo: Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

American cinema

Being a young actress in Hollywood is exhausting, Florence Pugh says

British star, 28, says ‘there are lines women have to stay within’ in the film industry but that she refuses to fit into stereotypes.

16 Dec 2024 - 3:30PM

American cinema

15 new Hollywood movies to watch this winter, from Sonic 3 to Snow White

12 Dec 2024 - 5:37AMvideocam

Cinema

Actor Franck Dubosc on his new film at Hong Kong French Film Festival

5 Dec 2024 - 6:15PMvideocam

Fame and celebrity

Who is Sophia Loren’s lookalike teen granddaughter, Lucia Sofia Ponti?

Lucia Sofia Ponti attended Le Bal des Débutantes over the weekend and says that when it came to choosing her dress for the occasion, she took the timeless advice of her iconic Hollywood grandmother.

3 Dec 2024 - 6:00PM

Who is Sophia Loren’s teen granddaughter, Lucia Sofia Ponti? She wore Giorgio Armani to the Débutante Ball, and her mum was in Dawson’s Creek and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Photos: @sashaalexander/Instagram; AFP

Cinema

Richard Curtis on first animated film That Christmas, and Ed Sheeran

Notting Hill and Love Actually filmmaker was shocked how long it took to make an animated movie, but happy Sheeran wrote a song for the film.

30 Nov 2024 - 2:45PMvideocam

Cinema

Robbie Williams on why Better Man film is a ‘healing process’, new music

The singer reflects on why sharing his story came easy, his hopes for the film and how Better Man will affect the roll-out of his new music.

29 Nov 2024 - 6:01PMvideocam

American cinema

Why US sci-fi film Transcendence, starring Johnny Depp, fell flat in China

Despite a cast that included Depp, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy and Rebecca Hall, sci-fi film pitched at China tanked at the box office.

29 Nov 2024 - 4:15AMvideocam

Johnny Depp in a still from Transcendence, the Hollywood sci-fi film that failed to excite audiences in China. Photo: Golden Scene

Christmas

Vandal smashes Ebenezer Scrooge’s tombstone used in ‘A Christmas Carol’ film

Police in Shrewsbury, England investigate how film prop used in 1984 movie was destroyed.

26 Nov 2024 - 3:55PMvideocam

Hong Kong

The Hong Kong French Film Festival returns with classics for its 53rd year

The fest kicks off at City Hall with this year’s Cannes fave L’Amour Ouf and includes Q&A sessions with featured filmmakers and actors.

18 Nov 2024 - 4:11PM

Cinema

Cillian Murphy on what he’s done since Oppenheimer, and his Oscar

Actor produced and stars in Irish historical drama Small Things Like These. He hopes Oscar win helps him tell stories with a point of view.

9 Nov 2024 - 4:15AM

Cillian Murphy with hist best actor Oscar for his role in Oppenheimer. Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Cinema

October 7 widow on her movie at Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival

Shaylee Atary directed Single Light, inspired by a sexual assault she suffered. It is one of 25 films in festival celebrating Jewish culture.

7 Nov 2024 - 7:15AMvideocam

Shaylee Atary’s film Single Light is part of the 2024 Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival. Photo: Yossi Yarom

American cinema

10 holiday classics about Santa Claus in peril to watch before Red One

From a film about the ‘real’ Kris Kringle to a Tim Burton-esque movie to Die Hard with Santa, 10 other times Christmas has been on the line.

6 Nov 2024 - 1:16PMvideocam

American cinema

Review | Weekend in Taipei: Luke Evans, Gwei Lun-mei in dull action quickie

Sung Kang is tame as a tycoon fighting Evans’ drug cop to get at his estranged wife and her son, in a film that has action but lacks panache.

5 Nov 2024 - 5:48PMvideocam

Israel

Why no US release for lauded Palestinian-Israeli documentary?

Team behind film depicting Palestinian life in Israeli-occupied West Bank yet to find a US distributor. They blame politics and US election.

5 Nov 2024 - 3:48PMvideocam

A still from documentary No Other Land, shot by an Israeli-Palestinian collective, depicts life in a Palestinian village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Photo: Antipode Films via AP

Film reviews

Review | Paddington in Peru: third time’s still a charm for beloved series

Movie sees Paddington bear and his adoptive family fly to the rescue of his aunt in South America, where they have some knockabout fun.

4 Nov 2024 - 5:00PMvideocam

A still from Paddington in Peru, the third film in a series that mixes live action with computer-generated imagery. Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer and Julie Walters star, with Ben Whishaw voicing Paddington. Dougal Wilson directs.

TV shows and streaming video

The name’s Bond, James Bond. Yes, for real. And it’s no joke

A new film, Our Name is Bond, reveals the trials and tribulations as well as the upsides of sharing a name with the world’s most famous spy.

27 Oct 2024 - 7:15PMvideocam

American cinema

Explainer | How 2004 horror movie Saw launched the torture porn subgenre

James Wan’s low-budget horror film Saw spawned a US$1 billion franchise and inspired numerous ultra-violent films.

8 Nov 2024 - 7:59AMvideocam

Asian cinema

‘Time has come’ for Indian women directors with 3 set to vie for Oscars

Director of wife-swapping comedy Laapataa Ladies (Lost Ladies), Indian Oscars entry, hails ‘special moment’ for South Asian women filmmakers.

21 Oct 2024 - 7:15AMvideocam

A still from Laapataa Ladies (Lost Ladies), directed by Kiran Rao, India’s entry for the 2025 best international film Oscar. With films by two other South Asian women filmmakers in the running, Rao says “our time has come”.

TV shows and streaming video

Why Slow Horses’ Kristin Scott Thomas no longer finds TV acting boring

Thomas, who has appeared in films from The English Patient to Random Hearts, talks about working with Gary Oldman and acting at 60 years old.

13 Oct 2024 - 6:15PMvideocam

Cinema

Illegal immigrant turned film star dramatises migration issue in France

Abou Sangare, who stars in Souleymane’s Story as an asylum seeker and delivery driver in Paris, has a deportation order hanging over him.

12 Oct 2024 - 5:15PMvideocam

American cinema

Review | Blitz, a Dickensian wartime drama, blends the intimate with the epic

Steve McQueen’s Blitz places a young black boy at the centre of this second world war-set film as he makes his way back to his mother.

10 Oct 2024 - 2:40AMvideocam

Saoirse Ronan as Rita in a still from Blitz. Photo: Apple TV+

American cinema

Why Wim Wenders’ classic Paris, Texas still mesmerises 40 years on

Director Wim Wenders recalls the shoot for his 1984 American masterpiece, which is being re-released in cinemas in 4K in October 2024.

1 Oct 2024 - 7:15PMvideocam

Nastassja Kinski as Jane in a still from Paris, Texas, directed by Wim Wenders.

American cinema

Review | Modi – Three Days on the Wing of Madness: Johnny Depp-directed biopic

Starring Riccardo Scamarcio as painter Amedeo Modigliani, Modi – Three Days on the Wing of Madness sees Johnny Depp try out directing again.

25 Sep 2024 - 5:45PM

Cinema

What is Emmanuelle, the new French erotic film set in Hong Kong?

The latest instalment of the series stars Noémie Merlant, Naomi Watts and Will Sharpe – as well as regional talents Anthony Wong Chau-sang and Chacha Huang

25 Sep 2024 - 4:00AM

Film reviews

Review | Emmanuelle: Hong Kong-set erotic drama a chic reboot of soft-core classic

Noémie Merlant is inscrutable as Emmanuelle in this Hong Kong-set update of the cult 1974 erotic film that’s more tasteful than titillating.

21 Sep 2024 - 12:37AMvideocam

Noémie Merlant in a still from Emmanuelle.

Cinema

‘It’s got tougher,’ says Hard Truths’ Mike Leigh of his organic filmmaking

At Toronto International Film Festival, British director, 81, reflects on his career, introduces new film and defends his way of filmmaking.

11 Sep 2024 - 8:39AMvideocam

Mike Leigh, 81, writer and director of the film Hard Truths, at the Toronto International Film Festival. The veteran British director bemoans the difficulty of securing funds to make films his way without a pre-defined story or script. Photo: AP

American cinema

10 of the best movies from the 2024 Venice Film Festival

Here is our pick of the best movies from the 2024 Venice Film Festival, including Golden Lion winner The Room Next Door.

11 Sep 2024 - 5:19PMvideocam

American cinema

Review | Queer: Daniel Craig shines in Luca Guadagnino’s steamy drama

Premiering at the 2024 Venice Film Festival and starring Daniel Craig as a homosexual drug addict, Luca Guadagnino’s Queer is a faithful dive into the universe of author William Burroughs.

4 Sep 2024 - 10:23AMvideocam

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