TF:
Steve McQueen’s direction can feel like having your hand held up to a flame. Your reflex is to recoil, but McQueen’s unflinching camera holds you in place, forcing you to experience the physical disintegration of Hunger’s Bobby Sands or the self-flagellating excesses of Shame’s sex addict, Brandon.
12 Years A Slave, the brutal and terrifying true story of a free man sold into slavery in 1840s Louisiana, is no exception – yet it’s not the film you expect from McQueen, either. Where Sands and Brandon were both at the centre of their own character study, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Solomon is closer to an observer – dwarfed by the people he meets and the sweeping canvas he inhabits.
Rich and textured supporting characters – most notably Michael Fassbender as the sadistic, scripture-quoting slave master Edward Epps and Lupita Nyong’o as his abused ‘favourite’, Patsey – come at the cost of much insight into Solomon’s own psychological state.
With the new The Crow remake coming soon, we take a look back at the 30-year-old cult classic original–and where the stars are now.
Kaam Chalu Hai Review: Based on true events, this movie is thought-provoking and inspiring
Rebel Moon Part 2 Review: This movie doesn't feel anything new or worth remembering, which is a shame.
