28 Jul 2023
The Virgin Suicides review – Sofia Coppola’s enigmatic debut is blissfully strange and sad
Now back in cinemas in 4K, the director's first film, based on Jeffrey Eugenides' novel, remains brilliantly elusive and challenging
Articles by Steph Green
06 Jul 2023
The Damned Don’t Cry review – a mature Moroccan drama that lacks light and shade
British-Moroccan director Fyzal Boulifa's second film tips its hat to the grand Hollywood tradition, but this mother-son tale feels slight
29 May 2023
Homecoming review – great young acting talent anchors an otherwise weightless plot
Writer-director Catherine Corsini helms an uneven drama about a woman who returns to Corsica with her two teenage daughters
27 May 2023
Last Summer review – Catherine Breillat plays it safe with this illicit stepmother-stepson love affair
Known for her taboo erotic dramas, the director's remake of 2019’s Queen of Hearts fails to make up its mind on what it wants to be
24 May 2023
Anatomy of a Fall review – Sandra Hüller is the elusive soul of this extraordinary legal drama
Justine Triet's brilliantly slippery, serpentine film, about a writer accused of murder, hinges on a remarkably unshowy lead turn
22 May 2023
How to Have Sex review – a Brits abroad jaunt that goes horribly wrong
In Molly Manning Walker's strong debut, a trip to Malia becomes a growing nightmare for one girl hell-bent on losing her virginity
13 Apr 2023
Raging Bull review – an exhausting, bloodied, technical tour-de-force
Martin Scorsese's portrait of a toxic boxer remains a triumph of filmmaking verve, though its notions of masculinity grow tiresome
27 Mar 2023
Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves review – fun and flippant fantasy jaunt
This self-aware and surprisingly charming take on the iconic tabletop game makes for gleefully geeky viewing
28 Feb 2023
Disco Boy review – cerebral fairytale about the poison of colonialism
Franz Rogowski plays a Legionnaire whose path crosses with a Nigerian guerrilla fighter in a film of pure vigour and vibes
20 Feb 2023
Manodrome review – a dark foray into the ouroboros of toxic masculinity
Jesse Eisenberg is brilliantly cast against type in a fascinating, flawed thriller with too many moving parts to do its subject justice
13 Feb 2023
Titanic review – still the biggest movie there ever was
James Cameron's epic has lost none of its force 25 years later, reaffirming its status as a technical and emotional powerhouse
02 Feb 2023
Roman Holiday review – sun-kissed classic is as charming as ever
William Wyler's iconic 1953 rom-com, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, returns to theatres for its 70th anniversary
13 Jan 2023
Stream With a Theme: The Best Rural Horror Films Set in Britain
As Mark Jenkin's folk horror Enys Men arrives in UK cinemas, Steph Green recommends further viewing in this eerie pocket of cinema
12 Jan 2023
M3GAN review – robotically coded horror for the TiKToK algorithm
Allison Williams plays the inventor of a murderous AI doll in a resoundingly stupid but amusingly camp offering from Blumhouse
10 Jan 2023
Skinamarink review – sonic horror for the creepypasta generation
Writer-director Kyle Edward Ball's microbudget debut is a terrifying exploration of the intersection between nostalgia and nightmares
01 Nov 2022
Starter Pack: A Guide to Noirvember
As the month-long celebration kicks off again, Steph Green offers a pathway into the most morally murky of all movie genres...
20 Oct 2022
She Said review – impactful, unfrilly storytelling about Weinstein’s fall from grace
Maria Schrader's powerfully-acted film shows how journalistic integrity and female solidarity sparked a global movement
14 Oct 2022
Emily review – half-biopic does a disservice to the Brontë sisters
Emma Mackey gives a committed turn as the Wuthering Heights author, but it's not enough to save Frances O’Connor's dour film
09 Oct 2022
The Wonder review – Lelio’s intriguing drama is too slight to be truly spiritual
Florence Pugh is a 19th century nurse called to investigate a strange happening in a film packed with interesting details but little payoff
26 Sep 2022
Blue Jean review – a smart drama about sapphic love under Section 28
Georgia Oakley’s assured and morally complex debut tells the story of a queer teacher living in Thatcher's Britain
13 Sep 2022
Saint Omer review – a riveting courtroom drama of multi-layered intensity
Alice Diop's first narrative feature is a heart-stopping moral puzzle, featuring an extraordinary turn from newcomer Kayije Kagame
08 Sep 2022
Every David Cronenberg Film, Ranked
To mark the release of Crimes of the Future, Steph Green sorts the body-obsessed auteur's vast filmography from worst to best...
03 Sep 2022
Master Gardener review – Schrader’s horticulturist thriller is stylish but culturally crude
Joel Edgerton stars in the writer-director's third "man in a room" movie in a row, a character study that both confounds and absorbs
02 Sep 2022
Bones and All review – tendon is the night in Luca Guadagnino’s cannibal romance
Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell play a hungry couple in a sweet, sinister road movie about the all-consuming nature of love
01 Sep 2022
Tár review – a stratospheric star vehicle for Cate Blanchett
The actress gives one of her greatest performances in Todd Field's spiky story of a celebrated composer whose life begins to unravel
18 Aug 2022
Free Chol Soo Lee review – impassioned outcry against racial bias and prison cruelty
Directors Julie Ha and Eugene Yi's sensitive documentary tells the story of a Korean man wrongly convicted of a gangland killing
10 Aug 2022
Eiffel review – nonsensical biopic propped up by a fiery amour fou
Chemistry between Romain Duris and Emma Mackey just about saves an otherwise ludicrous attempt in historical revisionism
03 Aug 2022
Bullet Train review – wisecracking action comedy is firmly on the beaten track
Brad Pitt shines as a hapless assassin in an otherwise exhausting adaptation that thinks it's a lot funnier than it actually is
13 Jul 2022
Stream With a Theme: The Best Jane Austen Films
As the latest take on Persuasion comes to Netflix, Steph Green highlights some of the author's finest screen adaptations to date
21 Jun 2022
The Black Phone review – let this nonsensical horror go to voicemail
Scott Derrickson reteams with his Sinister star Ethan Hawke for an inert and mostly pointless yarn about a masked child catcher
21 Jun 2022
Wings of Desire review – transcendent empathy in partitioned Berlin
Wim Wenders' beguiling romantic fantasy, now re-released and restored in 4K, follows two angels in search of human connection
29 May 2022
Tchaikovsky’s Wife review – the maudlin life of a composer’s unwilling decoy
Petrov's Flu filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov tackles the life of Antonina Miliukova in a sprawling, well-acted but repetitive biopic
27 May 2022
Mediterranean Fever review – personal and political collide in an uneven suicide story
Blending drama and comedy to mixed effect, Maha Haj explores the Israeli-Palestine conflict through the story of one man's depression
25 May 2022
Tori and Lokita review – furious outcry against the hostile treatment of young immigrants
The Dardennes' latest is a bare and brutal slice of social realism about two migrants who pass themselves off as brother and sister
22 May 2022
Corsage review – Vicky Krieps strikes gold as the restless Empress of Austria
The Phantom Thread star delivers a brilliantly mischievous turn in writer-director Marie Kreutzer’s subversive period drama
20 May 2022
The Eight Mountains review – overlong friendship drama isn’t worth the arduous trek
Stunning scenery can't save a dull and airless adaptation from co-directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch
19 May 2022
Scarlet review – Pietro Marcello spins a soft-spoken, magical yarn
The Martin Eden director's latest, a tender adaptation of an Aleksandr Grin short story, is a film of simple, lyrical pleasures
16 May 2022
Benediction review – a devastating ballad from Britain’s greatest living filmmaker
Terence Davies delivers another immensely personal lament, based on the life of English soldier and war poet Siegfried Sassoon
14 Apr 2022
Stream With a Theme: The Best Nun Films
As Paul Verhoeven's audacious Benedetta lands in cinemas, Steph Green highlights some worthy features about cinematic Sisters...
12 Apr 2022
The Northman review – jaw-droppingly original and unhinged epic for the ages
Writer-director Robert Eggers' third feature is his best work yet, a delirious, miraculous fever dream about the ecstasy of revenge
30 Mar 2022
The Novice review – Whiplash-like sports drama is lacklustre and derivative
Isabelle Fuhrman gives a committed turn in Laura Hadaway's debut, but its reliance on tropes means it's more irritating than inspired
16 Mar 2022
Fresh review – very millennial horror-comedy has more bark than bite
Mimi Cave's feature debut explores the hell of modern dating with plenty of wit but is let down by rote plotting and flimsy feminism
14 Mar 2022
Deep Water review – an old-school erotic thriller, for better or worse
Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas are a couple caught in cat-and-mouse games in Adrian Lyne's return to the sultry genre he helped define
23 Feb 2022
Every Joe Wright Film, Ranked
To coincide with the release of Cyrano, Steph Green delves into the British director's lush and eclectic filmography...
17 Feb 2022
Kimi review – Soderbergh’s pandemic thriller is prescient and never opportunistic
Zoë Kravitz shines as an anxious tech worker entangled in a corporate conspiracy in this sharp and sprightly throwback
16 Feb 2022
Here Before review – reincarnation thriller is unnerving and unoriginal
Stacey Gregg’s feature debut is well-acted and boasts a great score, but is let down by a familiar plot that over-explains itself
10 Feb 2022
The Sky Is Everywhere – Josephine Decker’s YA foray is a step backwards
Despite some bold and interesting visual touches, the Madeline's Madeline director delivers a predictable, trope-heavy adaptation
19 Nov 2021
Stream With a Theme: The Best Doppelgänger Films
Céline Sciamma's latest Petite Maman joins a host of strange and otherworldly features about doubles, look-alikes and duplicates
19 Nov 2021
Every Jane Campion Film, Ranked
To mark the arrival of The Power of the Dog, Steph Green looks back on the acclaimed New Zealand director's landmark filmography...
01 Nov 2021
Benedetta review – fun nunsploitation satire gets stuck in purgatory
Paul Verhoeven's campy takedown of the church is undoubtably entertaining, though some of the meaning is lost the madness
22 Oct 2021
Starter Pack: The Films of Mike Leigh
As the BFI launches a season dedicated to the works of the legendary director, Steph Green offers a route into his very British canon...
12 Oct 2021
Titane review – a renegade romp of limit-testing cinema
Julia Ducournau's Palme d’Or-winning sophomore feature is a welcome breath of nerve-shredding, fume-choked air
09 Sep 2021
The Servant review – a potent classic of British class warfare
A shady manservant plans to usurp his employer in Joseph Losey's fascinating and still timely tale of rich vs. poor, now restored in 4K
07 Sep 2021
The Lost Daughter review – Maggie Gyllenhaal’s ambitious debut is striking and sour
The actor-turned-director makes quite the impression with a messy but highly atmospheric adaptation of the Elena Ferrante novel
06 Sep 2021
Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon review – strange and stunning descent into chaos
Ana Lily Amirpour's hypnotic third feature could be accused of style over substance, but it's so much fun you're unlikely to care
05 Sep 2021
The Power of the Dog review – a cunning slow burn from the queen of desire
Jane Campion's first film in twelve years is a dizzying, unpredictable exploration of desire that builds to an unforgettable finale
05 Sep 2021
The Card Counter review – Paul Schrader thriller hits a royal flush
Oscar Isaac is excellent as an Iraq veteran-turned-gambler in the First Reformed filmmaker's morally queasy revenge tale
20 Aug 2021
The Rest of the World Exists: Anna Paquin and Margaret
As Kenneth Lonergan's egocentric epic nears its 10th anniversary, Steph Green looks back on the film's remarkable lead turn
06 Jul 2021
A Film of One’s Own: Celebrating The Naked Civil Servant
John Hurt played Quentin Crisp in this subversive 1975 made-for-TV biopic. Steph Green argues its case as an underseen queer classic
03 Mar 2021
Petite Maman review – enchanting ode to memory and imagination
The latest from Portrait of a Lady on Fire filmmaker Céline Sciamma is a warm, Miyazaki-like fairytale with a touch of the supernatural
02 Mar 2021
Introduction review – Hong Sang-soo’s latest is a meandering bore
Even die-hard fans of the idiosyncratic South Korean auteur are likely to find this slight and sluggish film patience-testing
02 Mar 2021
I’m Your Man review – fun but featherlight twist on human-robot love
Dan Stevens gives a pitch-perfect turn in Maria Schrader's thoughtful comedy, but her film fails to make a lasting impression
15 Sep 2020
Memories of Murder review – masterful tragicomedy of errors and helplessness
Bong Joon-ho's brilliant breakthrough - now re-released in UK cinemas - cleverly subverts the conventions of the serial killer film
23 Jul 2020
COVID-19 and the Monstrous Prescience of The Host
Bong Joon-ho's acclaimed 2006 monster movie anticipated a future of fake news and murky "facts." Steph Green explores its relevance in today's pandemic-stricken world