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Adrian Warren

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Reviews

The Challenging Emotions of 'The Crying Game'

Despite its setting against a backdrop of recent British political history, Neil Jordan's excellent drama is also a timeless exploration of gender identity and moral ambiguity.

Reviews

How Does One Make a Stuffy Script Humorous?

The BFI celebrates the obscure public information films of the eccentric British character actor and director Richard Massingham, uncovering much to enjoy.

Reviews

'Eyes Without a Face' Is Full of Fairy Tale Aesthetics

In Eyes Without a Face, French director Georges Franju lifts a fairly standard horror film narrative into the realms of poetic fable.

Reviews

A Sherlock Holmes Fit for a King

In an excellent series of TV adaptations, the noble and striking Douglas Wilmer offers a portrayal of Holmes that is perhaps closest to the great writer's original character.

Reviews

'The Francois Truffaut Collection' Captures the Director's Finest Hours

These eight films collectively demonstrate a master filmmaker with a total understanding and command of cinematic language.

Television

'Mr. Sloane' Displays An Allenesque Dark Charm

Robert B. Weide's British period comedy Mr. Sloane was cancelled after just one season, depriving viewers of an engaging, wise and beautifully-made character study.

Film

(Not So) Sex Obsessed: 'Alain Robbe-Grillet: Six Films 1963-74'

The controversial French director's best known films are collected into this handsome six-film BFI box set, full of impressive nouvelle vague innovation.

Film

'Seven Samurai' Spawned a Subgenre All of Its Own

Celebrating its 60th birthday this year, Akira Kurosawa's superb and influential Japanese adventure film is still as impressive as ever.

Film

'Runaways', Rebellion and Reissue

Aimed at younger viewers, this BFI period collection about runaways and tearaways manages a good mix of entertainment, education and social commentary.

Film

'The Borderlands' Is Where Faith Goes to Die

Just like the unfathomably popular Paranormal Activity, The Borderlands often relies on tired old horror film tropes to generate frights.

Film

'The Big Melt' Puts Flesh Onto the Memories of Sheffield's Steel Industry

Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and director Martin Wallace join forces to breathe new vibrancy into a living history of glowing foundries, smoking chimneys and toiling men.

Film

'The Phantom of the Opera' Is Unsettling and Imbued with a Dense and Shadowy Gothic Atmosphere

This wonderful HD restoration of Universal's horror classic reiterates the brilliance of Lon Chaney's grotesque creation.

Film

There Are No Easy Answers for Feminism in 'Riddles of the Sphinx'

Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen's seminal experimental film is an interesting synthesis of rigorous feminist film theory and avant-garde sound and music.

Reviews

'Robin Redbreast' and the Creeping Horrors of a Rural Idyll

Released for the first time on DVD, the BBC's 1970 drama is a disturbing film concerning the grim underbelly of sinister rural rituals, and those that adhere to them.

Reviews

Scratch Beneath the Surface of 'Dead of Night', If You Dare

If you are patient you will be rewarded with intellectual stimulation, and a tone of general strangeness that will creep insidiously under your skin.

Film

The Domestic Drama and Emotional Claustrophobia of 'Breathe In'

Drake Doremus continues to mature as a striking young writer and director, showing in this latest film that he is still preoccupied with the fallibility of human relationships.

Reviews

'Sleepwalker' Walks Right into a Nightmare

Sleepwalker is one of the most obscure British films ever made, and it's easy to see why: almost everything about Saxon Logan's weird, unsettling and dreamlike film is unconventional.

Reviews

It's Grim Up North in 'Citadel'

Ciaran Foy's debut horror film may be a low budget affair, but its bleak urban environment provides a terrific backdrop for some genuine chills.

Reviews

The Myths and the Truths in the 'Stories We Tell'

Sarah Polley's fascinating documentary focuses on her family history, and the extent to which memories are embellished and distorted over time.

Reviews

There's an Appealing Gloom, an Irresistible Unsettling to be Had in These 'Scary Stories'

Despite being aimed at younger viewers, the unnerving atmosphere of each film in this engaging and spooky British collection offers plenty of chills for adult genre fans, too.

Reviews

'Into the Dark' Aims High and Strives for Occasional Profundity

Into the Dark is a flawed but interesting supernatural romance, with a nice sideline in existential crisis.

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