Sight and Sound

[FEATURES] Back to the old house Richard Billingham’s autobiographical Ray&Liz is a finely textured, unsentimental portrait of working-class life in the Black Country, exploring the director’s memories of the hardships of his parent’s lives. He talks tod Adam Scovell = 44 COVER FEATURE / In the belly of the binge Critics may lament the fact that seeing movies in a theatre is in danger of being surpassed by the culture of binge-watching big-budget series at home. But the compulsive, rapturous thrall such shows hold us in is something to be celebrated, argues David Thomson = 22 Poetry in MotionRalph Fiennes’s The White Crow, a sensitive portrait of Soviet dancer Rudolf Nureyev in the years leading up to his defection in 1961, is the latest in a long line of films that place ballet centre stage, from The Red Shoes to Billy Elliot. By David Thompson = 28 The MisfitsComplex issues of identity lie at the heart of Ali Abbasi’s dark Nordic fable Border, a film that resists easy classification, by a director working in Swedish, with an Iranian upbringing and a Latin American magic realist sensibility. Its director Ali Abbasi talks to Jonathan Romney = 32 Under InvestigationWhile the tough, cynical, cerebral loners of detective films have tended to be male, women have been solving mysteries on screen since before the heyday of noir, a tradition that extends from Miss Marple to Carol Morley’s neo-noir Out of Blue. By Imogen Sara Smith PLUS Nick James talks to Carol Morley = 36 [REGULARS] Editorial The artist and the critic = 5 Rushes On Our Radar: This month’s highlights = 6 Obituary: Thirza Wakefield celebrates the indelible life and impact of the great Albert Finney = 8 Dream Palaces: Ken Loach celebrates East Finchley’s Phoenix cinema = 9 The Numbers: Charles Gant on how this year’s awards season favourites have fared at the box office = 11 Wide Angle Point of View: Laura Rascaroli explores the poetic essay film = 12 Primal Screen: Pamela Hutchinson on the heyday of the American film serial = 14 Artists’ Moving Image: Maria Palacios Cruz immerses herself in the films of Spanish visual artist Dora Garcia = 17 Festivals Nick James on the mixed bag that was this year’s Berlinale programme = 18 Kieron Corless selects three highlights from the Rotterdam film festival = 20 Bryony Dixon reports from MoMA’s ‘To Save and Project’ archive film festival = 21 Letters = 95 Endings Jamie Dunn on how the ending of Arthur Penn’s Night Moves captures the uncertainty of the Watergate era = 96 Reviews [FILMS OF THE MONTH] Girl = 50Sorry Angel = 52Under the Silver Lake = 54 [FILMS] The Aftermath = 56 Alita: Battle Angel = 56At Eternity’s Gate = 57Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story = 58Benjamin = 59Border = 59Burning Men = 60Cleft Lip = 61Cold Pursuit = 62Everybody Knows = 62Happy Death Day 2U = 63High Flying Bird = 64The Hole in the Ground = 65How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World = 66The Kid Who Would Be King = 66The Kindergarten Teacher = 67The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part = 68Maiden = 68Minding the Gap = 69Miss Bala = 70Old Boys = 71Out of Blue = 71Piercing = 72The Prodigy = 73Ray & Liz = 74Rosie = 75Serenity = 753 Faces = 76A Trip to the Moon = 77What Men Want = 78What They Had = 78The White Crow = 79 [HOME CINEMA] Films by Luigi Bazzoni: The Possessed/The Fifth Cord, Born Yesterday, Diamonds of the Night, Human Desire, Films by Joseph H. Lewis: My Name Is Julia Ross/So Dark the Night, My Man Godfrey, Othello, Stranger in the House, La Verité DVD features = 82 Nick Bradshaw explores cinema as archaeology in Bill Morrison’s Dawson City: Frozen Time = 80 Rediscovery: Trevor Johnston reassesses Dennis Hopper’s infamous The Last Movie = 83 Revival: Anne Billson revisits Nakata Hideo’s J-Horror classic Ring 20 years after its first release = 84 Television: Robert hanks chuckles along with The Kenny Everett Video Show and The Goodies = 86 Lost and Found: Alex Dudok de Wit on Japanese director Yanagimachi Mitsuo’s transgressive 1985 film Fire Festival = 88 [BOOKS] Pamela Hutchinson welcomes an overdue life of director Clarence Brown = 90 Jack Watkins on a new biography of Vivien Leigh = 91 Philip Kemp enjoys a suitably spirited biography of screenwriter Ben Hecht = 92

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