Picture the scene: a cold morning in London’s Soho. Film critics waddle towards the doors of a cinema with their gloves and coats on to waylay a sharp nip in the air. People are seated and relaxed. The lights go down. The film plays. The lights go up. Those same critics stagger breathless towards the exit, not sure how to amply contemplate what they’ve just seen. In the interim, the sun has risen and it’s a little warmer now, so words are shared in the street, words such as “masterpiece,” “what did I just see?” and “have we just witnessed an entirely new cinematic language unfold before us?”

This was a true account of when the LWLies team first clapped eyes on RaMell Ross’s Nickel Boys, whose formal grace and emotional heft whacked us right on the solar plexus and left us in a daze. We’re so proud to be able to bring you an entire magazine dedicated to this wonderful film – one that we think ranks among 2024’s premium works of cinema. It is adapted from a 2019 novel by the double Pulitzer Prizewinner, Colson Whitehead, about the lives of two young Black men in 1960s Florida whose future has been placed into unnecessary jeopardy by the random pendulum swing of the Jim Crow laws. With aspirations of further education in his sights, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) is charged for the crime of car theft purely for being in the wrong place and the wrong time. He is sent to the Nickel Academy, a segregated reform school whose educational veneer masks an underside of sordid racist violence and oppression.

As a magazine made by movie lovers, we’re drawn towards examples of exceptional craft, and with its innovative POV cinematography and fluid use of documentary inserts, Nickel Boys very much ticks those boxes. We were turned on to Ross back in 2018 around the release of his stunning debut documentary, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, when he laid down for us a set of his own aesthetic principles, and he expands on that further for our in-depth interview inside this issue. Finally, it’s worth mentioning that as we were about to start work on this issue, the US electorate gave another pedestal to someone whose policies likely seek to perpetuate the grim desolation and abhorrent intolerance that’s plainly stated in this film. Yet we don’t just see Nickel Boys as a film for the moment, but one whose resonances and themes will echo through the ages.

On the cover

We were so proud to commission one of our long-term collaborators, Rumbidzai Savanhu aka marykeepsgoing, to create a special cover for us this issue. Our covers tend to feature portraits of protagonists within the film, and she has created a playful interpretation of this concept whereby we see the back of Elwood’s head, watching his life play-out on TV screens in a shop window – a reference to one of the film’s most affecting shots.

Also in the issue we have incredible new illustrated work from Ngadi Smart, Tomekah George, Joanna Blémont, Xia Gordon, Krystal Quiles and Stéphanie Sergeant.

In the issue

Lead review: Nickel Boys
Sam Bodrojan lauds a harrowing modern masterpiece for its boldness, humanity and formal poetics.

The Interior Self
Leila Latif discovers how filmmaker RaMell Ross made a Pulitzer Prize- winning novel his own.

The Invisible Man
Actor Ethan Herisse on the challenges of sculpting a performance and building a character from behind the camera.

Hard Labour
Leila Latif gets personal with the formidable actor and by-proxy activist, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.

Ways of Seeing
Jourdain Searles discovers how cinematographer Jomo Fray refreshed traditional concepts of the camera eye.

Sacred Images
Sophie Monks Kaufman writes in praise of cinema that channels human brutality while rejecting its lurid visual nature.

Community Matters
Rōgan Graham celebrates the world of grassroots advocacy organisations built to promote diversity in cinema.

I See A Darkness
Cheyenne Bart-Stewart speaks to writer/ director Rungano Nyoni about her new film, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl.

In the back section

Magic and Loss: the making of Queer
Hannah Strong chats to Luca Guadagnino, Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey on how they tangled with the cryptic poetry of William Burroughs in this flighty and emotional new screen adaptation.

Jesse Eisenberg
Darren Richman shares stories of ancestral journeys to Eastern Europe with the writer/director/star of A Real Pain.

Brady Corbet
Keeping it real to the very last second was the main gambit of co-writer/director of The Brutalist, discovered Hannah Strong.

Halina Reijn
Rafa Sales Ross discovers that female desire can be both funny and sexy on screen in her conversation with the writer/director of Babygirl.

Pablo Larraín
The Chilean director lays out his opera credentials to Hannah Strong in this dialogue on his new film Maria, about Maria Callas.

In review

Luca Guadagnino’s Queer
Ruth Beckermann’s Favoriten
Steven Soucey’s Merchant Ivory
Justin Kurzel’s The Order
Michael Gracey’s Better Man
John Crowley’s We Live In Time
Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain
Pinny Grylls and Sam Crain’s Grand Theft Hamlet
Viktor Kossakovsky’s Architecton
Magnus von Horn’s The Girl with the Needle
Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio
Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist
Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths
Naoko Yamada’s The Colours Within
Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch
Halina Reijn’s Nightbitch
James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown
Pablo Larrain’s Maria

Plus – the LWLies top ten films of 2024!

Matt Turner and David Jenkins explore eight recent Home Ents gems, plus we have a postcard from the Tokyo International Film Festival via Hannah Strong, and Marina Ashioti writes in praise of Chantal Ackerman’s Je Tu Il Elle ahead of a major BFI retrospective.

LWLies 105 is available to order now from our online shop. Become a Club LWLies Gold Member or subscribe today to make sure you never miss an issue.

Writer/director Andrea Arnold is an artist whose distinctive voice and arresting style have, rightfully so, established her as one of the greatest filmmakers in contemporary British cinema. For our latest print edition, we take inspiration from her sixth feature, Bird, an urban fable set in Kent about the burgeoning friendship between a rebellious girl on the cusp of teendom and a mysterious stranger searching for his roots.

Bird sees Arnold’s trademark, emotionally-heightened social realism slowly evolving into something a lot more surreal. Having only dipped her toes in the waters of myth and magical realism in the past, here she ambitiously saturates her work in the expansive field of the fantastical in more forceful ways, something that convincingly emerges through the ethereal allure of Franz Rogowski as the otherworldly titular figure. The film also features outstanding performances by newcomer Nykiya Adams as 12-year old protagonist Bailey, whose point of view grounds and shapes Arnold’s filmmaking, and Barry Keoghan as anarchist dad and psychedelic toad-whisperer, Bug.

This issue comes together as a wider celebration of Arnold’s craft, includes interviews with director and cast, as well as a dossier delving into and reappraising the filmmaker’s incredible back catalogue.

On the cover

Franz Rogowski graces our cover, illustrated in bold, vibrant colours by Paris-based artist Marie Mohanna. The concept for this cover came from the energy of Bird – the character – as an uplifting beacon of hope for Bailey’s waning capacity for childlike wonder.

Elsewhere in the issue, we have new illustration work from Rumbidzai Savanhu, Stephanie Jade, Zoé Maghamès Peters, John Scarratt, Snids and Stéphanie Sergeant.

In the issue

Lead review: Bird
Hannah Strong on the lyrical and earthy aspects of Andrea Arnold’s gorgeous new work.

The Sensual World
Nia Childs meets filmmaker Andrea Arnold who dissects her method and explains her love of ethereal textures.

Outsider Odysseys
The Andrea Arnold corpus – from her early shorts through to 2023’s Cow – examined via six punchy essays.

Between Two Worlds
Savina Petkova in conversation with the German actor Franz Rogowski, who picks apart his own screen image.

View from the Balcony
Gamer; motocross-lover; method actor (kinda). David Jenkins has a chat with Irish megastar, Barry Keoghan.

South by South-East
Mike McCahill takes a trainride along the southeast coast of England in search of Thames Estuary cinema.

In the back section

Mikey Madison and Sean Baker
The director and star of Palme d’Or-winner, Anora, speak to Iana Murray going deep into the world of sex work.

Mati Diop
Rōgan Graham meets the maker of the remarkable prizewinning docu-essay hybrid, Dahomey, who explains the film’s urgent anti-colonial message.

Steve McQueen
The British artist and filmmaker meets Rōgan Graham and talks the vital importance of primary research that went into making his new film, Blitz.

Tyler Taormina
Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point is a Yuletide classic in the making, and its director has a sincere fondness for the holiday season.

In review
Sean Baker’s Anora
Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie á Deux
Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door
Milisuthando Bongela’s Milisuthando
Mati Diop’s Dahomey
Mark Cousins’ A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things
Johan Grimonprez’s Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Chris Sanders’ The Wild Robot
François Ozon’s The Crime is Mine
Jacques Audriard’s Emilia Pérez
Peter Murimi and Daphne Matziaraki’s The Battle For Laikipia
Pascal Bergamin’s Portraits of Dangerous Women
Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light
Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor’s No Other Land
Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point
Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice
Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man
Edward Berger’s Conclave
Malcolm Washington’s The Piano Lesson

Plus, Matt Turner selects six key home ents releases for your consideration; Hannah Strong sends a postcard from the Venice Film Festival; David Jenkins sends a postcard from the San Sebastián Film Festival, and Marina Ashioti assesses the queer impact of the iconic Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a Halloween-themed Sticky Gold Stars column.

LWLies 105 is available to order now from our online shop. Become a Club LWLies Gold Member or subscribe today to make sure you never miss an issue.

If you believe the trade publications, then 2024 is a desert when it comes to big ticket movie releases. To that we say: poppycock. There’s quality there for the taking if you’re willing to take a moment and seek it out. Case in point: Zoë Kravitz’s Blink Twice, a sun-bleached party movie set in a tropical villa with booze and drugs on tap in which cordialities between the gender-split attendees break down in the most spectacular way possible. It’s a showcase for Londoner Naomi Ackie, who plays Frida in the film, a food service worker who manages to place herself in the sightlines of the dashing tech mogul Slater King (Channing Tatum). Initially, Frida is a ball of nervous excitement who can’t believe her luck, as she and her bestie Jess (Alia Shawkat) are sipping cocktails on a private jet, headed to a mysterious yet luxurious destination.

It’s hard to place Blink Twice into a specific genre, as it touches on elements of so many. At one minute it’s an antic comedy about female friendship; then it’s a romantic drama as Slater seems to be trying to woo Frida; but then there are quite a few elements suggestive of occult horror, especially the ominous yellow snakes that constantly slither around the estate. Yet it ends up being all of those things and more, coalescing into something that’s raw, political and provocative.

So of course, we’re thrilled to be presenting this to you as the cover film of issue 104 of Little White Lies, one in which we chart the tonal balancing act involved in bringing the production together, as well as offering a wider celebration of women in the film industry. We speak to Kravitz, Ackie, co-star Adria Arjona, alongside producer Bruce Cohen who collectively tell us the story of how Blink Twice came together.

On the cover

We’re proud to showcase the work of Leeds-based artist Sarah Madden, who has created a gorgeous portrait of Naomi Ackie as Frida. The concept of the cover transmits the character’s initial joy at being accepted into this set, and the snakes represent the various dangers she encounters on her discombobulating and traumatising journey.

Also in the issue, we have new illustration work from Carolina Altavilla, Eloïse Héritier, Eve Lloyd Knight, Hazel Mason, Agnès Ricart, Katie Scarlett, Stéphanie Sergeant and Nick Taylor.

In the issue

Burning Down the House
A conversation with Blink Twice director and co-writer Zoë Kravitz on craft, casting and embracing discomfort.

Beauty and the Beast
Leila Latif has a natter with one of our favourite actors on the block (and star of Blink Twice), Naomi Ackie.

The Outrages
Laura Venning explores the valuable cinematic artworks that have been born on the back of the #MeToo movement.

Chan the Man
Hannah Strong’s heartfelt personal ode to her eventual loving acceptance of the actor Channing Tatum.

Fear Factor
2024’s biggest breakout star, Adria Arjona, on how acting is about overcoming your deepest fears.

The New Romantic
David Jenkins chats to British filmmaker and actress Alice Lowe about the making of her formidable Timestalker.

Double Threat
An expansive, 50-film chronology looking back at the history of films directed by female actors.

In the back section

Face-to-face with Kneecap
Rōgan Graham hopped on an early morning flight to Belfast to chat to the stars of of Kneecap – a music biopic that’s actually good.

Moin Hussein
Sky Peals is one of our favourite British indies of 2024, and Rafa Sales Ross chats to its writer/director about its innovative depiction of loneliness.

Carol Kane
A legend of Hollywood finally gets to play the lead in the great Between the Temples, and so Nick Newman celebrates the occasion with a long and winding chat.

Shuchi Talati
Girls Will be Girls offers a fresh spin on the timeworn teenage love story, and so Leila Latif meets its maker to talk about capturing intimacy and euphoria on screen.

Obituary

Shelley Duval
One of the great all-time screen actors passed as we were nearing our press deadline, yet we made room for Sophie Monks Kaufman to honour her achievements.

In review

Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap
Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis
Alice Lowe’s Timestalker
Moin Hussain’s Sky Peals
Sean Wang’s Dìdi
Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendy’s Kensuke’s Kingdom
Marie Mire’s Clandestina
Justin Lerner’s Cadijo Blanco
Naqqash Khalid’s In Camera
Daniel Kokotajlo’s Starve Acre
Greg Kwedar’s Sing Sing
Nathan Silver’s Between the Temples
Azazel Jacobs’ His Three Daughters
Coralie Faraget’s The Substance
Wei Shujun’s Only the River Flows
Shuchi Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls
Mayram Moqadam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s My Favourite Cake
Nora Fingscheidt’s The Outrun
Catarina Mourão Astrakan 79
Cédric Kahn’s The Goldman Case

Plus, Matt Turner selects six key home ents releases for your consideration; and Marina Ashioti hails the queer eco-cyber parable Fresh Kill as it turns 30 for her Sticky Gold Stars column.

LWLies 104 is available to order now from our online shop. Become a Club LWLies Gold Member or subscribe today to make sure you never miss an issue.

Yorgos Lanthimos never disappoints. After plunging us into the wild bacchanalian depths of Poor Things earlier this year – which we plunged into for our 101st issue – the Greek director is now firmly resettling back to his roots. A more contemporary time and place makes up the setting for yet another of his deranged explorations of the human condition, this time in the form of an anthology told in three seemingly unconnected parts.

Kinds of Kindness sees Lanthimos reuniting with trusty screenwriter Efthimis Filippou, with whom he co-wrote the screenplays for Dogtooth, Alps, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Using a small ensemble of regulars and newcomers in different roles, the duo are once more brandishing their penchant for blowing provocative imagery out of proportion with sharp, absurdist humour whilst weaving characters in and out of each others’ lives. There’s tonnes to unpack within this nasty triptych of cerebral stories, where submission, manipulation, toxicity and control are turned into “kinds of kindness”.

In this stacked issue, we speak to Lanthimos and Filippou about the fruits of their legendary collaboration. We also meet with Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe and Hong Chau, who speak to us about the processes behind crafting a unique set of characters.

On the cover

We’re proud to showcase a new piece by the Edinburgh-based artist Tom Humberstone, which riffs on the film’s clever multiverse conceit. For inspiration, we sent Tom a ’90s film poster as a bit of inspiration for what we were going for (as a bit of an homage), but see if you can guess which one it is. You can explore more of Tom’s work, including his ace tennis-themed graphic novel, Suzanne, here.

In the issue

Lead review: Kinds of Kindness
David Jenkins praises the sprawling and spry new feature from the mischievous Greek auteur, Yorgos Lanthimos.

Little Babies
A conversation on the god-like qualities of directing and writing with Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou.

Summer Camp
Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons attempt to decipher the codes and meanings in Kinds of Kindness.

God’s Away on Business
Charles Bramesco explores the various strange and symbolic screen depictions of the big guy upstairs.

White Knuckle
Willem Dafoe and Hong Chau lay out the particulars of Yorgos Lanthimos’ method with actors.

Trigger Warnings
A compendium of confessions from LWLies writers on the moments that have caused them to physically look away from the cinema screen.

In the back section

Jeff Nichols
The American director details the circuitous route he took to finally arrive at his elegiac new film, The Bikeriders.

Nuri Bilge Ceylan
The Turkish maestro unpicks the secrets of his screenwriting and how he created such rich and abrasive characters for new film, About Dry Grasses.

Marie Amachoukeli
The decision to write a film from the perspective of a six-year-old was a no-brainer for the director of the wonderful Ama Gloria.

Bertrand Bonello
The French veteran and provocateur on the modern resonances of Henry James and being the total filmmaker for his new film, The Beast.

In review

Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders
Viggo Mortensen’s The Dead Don’t Hurt
Richard Linklater’s Hit Man
Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses
Selma Vilhunen’s Four Little Adults
Kamal Lazraq’s Hounds
Julio Torres’ Problemista
Jason Yu’s Sleep
Levan Akin’s Crossing
Matías Piñeiro’s You Burn Me
Lina Soualem’s Bye Bye Tiberias
Marie Amachoukeli’s Ama Gloria
Nathan and David Zellner’s Sasquatch Sunset
Bas Devos’ Here
Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border
Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast
Turner and Bill Ross’ Gasoline Rainbow
Stéphanie Di Giusto’s Rosalie
Christopher Murray’s Sorcery
Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1
Paul B. Preciado’s Orlando, My Political Biography
Monia Chokri’s The Nature of Love

Plus, Matt Turner selects six key home ents releases for your consideration; Hannah Strong sends a postcard from the Cannes Film Festival; Marina Ashioti looks at Virginia Woolf’s novel ‘Orlando’ and its various screen adaptations.

LWLies 103 is available to order now from our online shop. Become a Club LWLies Gold Member or subscribe today to make sure you never miss an issue.

The Italian writer/director Luca Guadagnino caught the eye of the film world with his lavish and luxuriant 2009 film, I Am Love, in which Tilda Swinton plays out a pursed romance set in the world of gourmet food service. Later, in 2017, he had a deserved mega hit with the wistful country romance, Call Me By Your Name, which connected with a young, curious audience on a profound level. His new film, Challengers, cultivates his connection with that influential audience, a spry and sharp romantic dramady set in the high stakes world of professional tennis.

The film stars Zendaya (who also produces) as Tashi, a charismatic tennis star-in-the-making who catches the eye of two fine prospects, Josh O’Connor’s lairy, louche Patrick, and Mike Faist’s more interior and sensitive Art. As both men playfully jostle for Tashi’s affections, she experiences a professional tragedy that frames her boyish sutors in a new light. This tale of romantic back-and-forth is told via flashback from the blue hard court of a low key “Challenger” competition in which our love rivals meet on court. Their fraught match becomes an outlet for their frustrations and joys, while Tashi must look on and attempt to make sense of the loaded body language that’s been sent across the net.

In this issue, we talk to Guadagnino about making what is his most kinetic and ebullient film, but one that retains his commitment to deep character shades and personal chemistry between actors. We also speak to Zendaya, O’Connor and Faist about how their personal relationships and intricate preparations resulted in one of the year’s hottest and most nail-biting films.

On the cover

We commissioned the Eindhoven-based artist Petra Eriksson for this vibrantly colourful, graphically-inclined cover featuring the film’s three leads. You can read more about Eriksson’s process here. Elsewhere in the issue, we have new artwork by Andrei Nicolescu, Stéphanie Sergeant, Ruby Ash and Polina Jakimova, plus a special illustrated celebration of Luca Guadagnino’s cinema by Elise Hibberd, Eri Aikawa, Stephanie Monohan, Max Erwin, and Laura Hope.

In the issue

Encounters: The Cinema of Luca Guadagnino
Rafa Sales Ross surveys the lush cinematic landscape of this singular director ahead of Challengers’ arrival.

Hawk Eye: A conversation with Luca Guadagnino
The poetic and worldly filmmaker explains how he came to make a hyper-kinetic sports melodrama in Challengers.

Three’s Company
We meet Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist – the stars of Challengers – to divine the formula of their awesome screen chemistry.

Emotion Seller
A conversation with Challengers’ ace screenwriter and erstwhile YouTube sensation, Justin Kuritzkes.

Gentleman’s Agreement
Lillian Crawford looks for bisexual rumblings in cinema’s early days.

Cinesynthia!
Jake Cole lists ten of the most important and epochal electronic soundtracks in the history of cinema.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Movie Stars: A LWLies round-table
Four critics pick and pull at the sinews of the modern movie star over a lavish breakfast at The Wolseley.

Ads Infinitum: A Guadagnino Portfolio
Five Luca Guadagnino bangers reframed as classic magazine ads by a group of industrious illustrators.

In the back section

Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke
Hannah Strong talks dirty with the writer/director partnership whose new film, Drive-Away Dolls, offers a sex positive throwback to sixties B-pictures.

Rose Glass
It’s two times the charm for the director of Love Lies Bleeding, who discussed her visceral bordertown crime caper with Hannah Strong.

Victor Erice
David Jenkins meets the Spanish maestro whose wonderful new film, Close Your Eyes, is his first feature in over 30 years.

Alice Rohrwacher
Hannah Strong interviews this leading light of the new ethereal cinema on her beguiling and emotional new work, La Chimera.

Sean Price Williams
Anna Bogutskaya shoots the breeze with the ace cinematographer-turned-director on the occasion of his down-and-dirty debut, The Sweet East.

Rodrigo Moreno
The Argentinian filmmaker behind the laconic crime comedy, The Delinquents, talks about mining classical genre to find something new and transcendent.

In review

Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s Drive-Away Dolls
Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy’s Baltimore
Bobby Moser, Gennady Baranov and Ben Mullinkosson’s The Last Year of Darkness
Rose Glass’s Love Lies Bleeding
Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck’s Fantastic Machine
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster
Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams
Neo Sora’s Opus
Kevin Macdonald’s High and Low: John Galliano
Marco Bellocchio’s Kidnapped
Sacha Polak’s Silver Haze
Anthony Chen’s Drift
Sean Price Williams’ The Sweet East
Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Banel & Adama
Victor Erice’s Close Your Eyes
Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano
Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera
Ilker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge
Angela Schanelec’s Music
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist
Elene Naveriani’s Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry
Giacomo Abbruzzese’s Disco Boy
Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy
Paul Duane’s All You Need is Death
Rodrigo Moreno’s The Delinquents

Plus, Matt Turner selects six key home ents releases for your consideration. Also, Hannah Strong sends a postcard from the Berlin Film Festival.

LWLies 101 is available to order now from our online shop. Become a Club LWLies Gold Member or subscribe today to make sure you never miss an issue.

When the film Dogtooth played for the first time to press and public at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, it was clear to everyone in the room that its maker harboured a perverse fascination with how we develop as human beings, and how that development can be manipulated to make entertainingly transgressive movies. That filmmaker was Greece’s Yorgos Lanthimos, and over the intervening years he has assiduously ploughed this lively intellectual furrow with films like Alps, The Lobster, Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Favourite. This interest in brain function, learning techniques, and psychological power-plays has always remained present, and surfaces once more in his latest – and possibly greatest – work, Poor Things.

This new film is the product of a connection that was made with the famous Scottish novel by the author Alasdair Gray, about a Frankenstein-like creator and the daughter he builds and then sends out into the world. That daughter is named Bella Baxter and she is played in the film by Emma Stone. While the film is packed to the gills with pertinent questions about how our bodies function as physical tools for learning and loving, it’s powered by a central performance of such commitment that it’s hard to see how Stone could return to mainstream comedies again. It’s Lanthimos’ most ambitious film to date, an intimate epic that encompasses the gamut of human development while threading the needle between his formative strangeness and the type of release that’s central to big awards ceremonies (it already nabbed the Golden Lion at the 2023 Venice Film Festival).

In this issue, we speak to the director about his long and winding relationship with the novel and how he received Gray’s blessing to make it. We also meet the craft team behind this eye-popping marvel, and how they helped refashion an early-19th century Europe into a colourful playground of expressionist delights.

On the cover

Hamburg-based illustrator Julia Plath places Emma Stone on the slab with this amazing portrait which taps into the film’s central themes of manipulation and empowerment. Other illustrators inside the issue include Agata Samulska, Stéphanie Sergeant, Régina Dargère, Przemysław Berestko and Andrew Bastow.

In the issue

Lead review: Poor Things
Savina Petkova picks apart the subtle psychological core of Yorgos Lanthimos’ literary picaresque.

The Modern Prometheus
Hannah Strong explores the epic adventure of Poor Things’ production and creation with director Yorgos Lanthimos.

Wild Nights with Emily
Hannah Strong lauds the multifarious, awards-garlanded career of the actor Emily Jean “Emma” Stone.

Art and Craft
Leila Latif conducts a round table interview with the creative heads of department on Poor Things.

Strange Frequencies
Marina Ashioti takes a trek into the past to explore the winding cinematic roots of Greece’s so-called “weird wave”.

The Wicker Woman
Will Sloan charts the journey of erotic screen empress Emmanuelle across a continent of sequels and spin-offs.

Free Brochure: Red Light / Green Light
Catch the diverse line-up for the first annual festival of radical cinema from inside the system.

In the back section

David Fincher
Adam Woodward goes deep with the Hollywood auteur on the precision mechanics of his new film, The Killer.

Cailee Spaeny
Hannah Strong meets the star-in-ascent who has delivered one of the year’s best performance as the lead in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla.

Lois Patiño
Caitlin Quinlan meets the young Spanish maestro behind the transcendent new film Samsara.

Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares
Rogan Graham talks to the writer-directors of searing new dystopian drama, The Kitchen.

Andrew Haigh
Hannah Strong gets emotional with the director of one of the year’s most powerful films, All of Us Strangers.

Laura Citarella
David Jenkins talks novels and mysteries with the Argentinean director of the epic Trenque Lauquen.

In review
David Fincher’s The Killer
Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla
Michael Mann’s Ferrari
Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves
Wim Wenders’ Anselm
Jeymes Samuel’s The Book of Clarence
Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers
Lois Patiño’s Samsara
Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins
Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares’ The Kitchen
Leo Leigh’s Sweet Sue
Paris Zarcilla’s Raging Grace
Thomas von Steinaecker’s Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer
Jane Giles and Ali Catterall’s Scala!
James Hawes’ One Life
Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers
William Oldroyd’s Eileen
Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron
Laura Citarella’s Trenque Lauquen

Plus, Matt Turner selects six key home ents releases for your consideration.

Also, David Jenkins writes in memory of the recently departed British filmmaker Terence Davies, and Elena Lazic sends a musical postcard from Film Fest Gent, which includes an encounter with Ryusuke Hamaguchi.

In her 4th column focusing on LGTBQ+ cinema, Sticky Gold Stars, Marina Ashioti surveys a number of recent documentaries looking at non-conformity as a mode of political activism.

LWLies 101 is available to order now from our online shop. Become a Club LWLies Gold Member or subscribe today to make sure you never miss an issue.

The prospect of this anniversary issue has been something of an obsession for a number of years now. In the world of print magazines, you’re constantly asking yourself the question: how can we do something special? But something special that’s also achievable with the means at your disposal.

Thinking about this issue, the LWLies team and I wanted it to serve as a celebratory benchmark for our centennial – a difficult number to reach in the ultra-precarious world of independent publishing. We wanted the issue to look back and look forward, but also to not take its eye away from a present moment that captures the film industry in a state of curious flux.

What about the cover? How would it look and what would it say? Traditionally, we select a single cover film and the design inspiration derives from that finite point. But with this issue, the plan was always to expand our horizons, and so the boundaries for what we could or should put on the cover changed along with it.

One personal specification for this issue would be that it would deliver a sense of (hopefully positive) nostalgia for both the readers and the creators who have picked up and worked on the magazine in the past. But also, this one had to be an introduction to the brand and an inviting summation of our cinematic enthusiasms – not just a great issue 100, but a great issue 1 too.

So I’ve talked about what we wanted LWLies 100 to be, so maybe I’ll say a little something about what it is. We ended up looking inwards, taking inspiration from our review scoring system and dividing the issue up into three chapters: Anticipation, Enjoyment and In Retrospect. Each chapter opens on a special personal essay addressing concerns of the past, present and future in the world of film. Then, there are three special features: the first looking at filmmakers; the second looking at films; and the third looking at the history of the magazine. The highfalutin concept has been used as an excuse to talk about the things we love and devise an editorial journey that you’ll want to hold in your hands and keep forever.

You can’t see it, but I’m getting a little teary-eyed just writing about this – it’s emotionally overwhelming to just consider all the collaborators who have helped along the years to make LWLies what it is today. I’ve always believed that one thing that makes magazines unique is that they are a physical manifestation of the collective endeavour, where the work of writers, artists, illustrators, designers, researchers, proof-readers, editors and publishers can co-mingle and interact in a way that the digital world has yet to satisfactorily recreate. Anyway, we have personally thanked you all inside this issue.

A final thing: I hope she doesn’t mind me saying so, but LWLies artistic director, Laurène Boglio, lives out in the Massachusetts countryside and all the creative elements of this issue were powered through a series of one-hour afternoon video calls. This has been the set-up since pre-Covid, and with this issue, even though it was a much more complex beast to grapple with, we got our method down to a tee. The joy of making magazines, the thrill of making decisions and examining the work of collaborators, working out the best visual pedestal to place it on, is completely captured in these calls.

On the cover(s)

With a celebratory vibe in mind, a party theme emerged early on in our thinking about what would go on the cover of this special issue. We engaged four amazing artists each to provide a panel for a connective artwork depicting a huge, vibrant house party – how better to capture the films of the past two decades? If you look a little closer at the guests, you see that they represent every one of the films – and themes – that have been selected for our past covers. So when you pick up or receive your copy, you’ll actually be holding one of four possible covers.

Cover 1: Top left (Issues 51-74)
By Kyle Platts

Cover 2: Top right (Issues 75-99)
By Murugiah

Cover 3: Bottom left (Issues 1-24)
By Zara Wilkins

Cover 4: Bottom right (Issues 25-50)
By Tim Alexander

And, because we’re not doing things by halves this issue, we also have a fifth cover that every reader will receive in the form of a special slipcase designed by our very own Laurène Boglio. The inspiration for this outer cover design comes from the three chapters of the book and is a work that represents the multiplicity of ways we can engage with cinema, and that cinema can engage with us.

Elsewhere in this issue we have new illustration work by Stéphanie Sergeant, Laura Backeberg, Drew Shannon, Ana Müshell, Frieda Ruh, Rumbidzai Savanhu and Nick Taylor.

Inside the issue

Essay 1: The Ghosts of Cinema Future
Charles Bramesco is worried that our streaming overlords are dropping the ball and suggests a clever course correction.

In the Beginning…
Thirty-nine great filmmakers from around the globe talk exclusively to LWLies about the impulse that led them down the rabbit hole of cinema. Includes new interviews with Wes Anderson, Lulu Wang, Mark Jenkin, Alice Rohrwacher, Davy Chou, Isabel Sandoval, Pedro Almodóvar and Christian Petzold.

Essay 2: The Ghosts of Cinema Present
Hannah Strong reflects on the state of the multiplex and ponders whether the cinemagoing experience will ever be the same again.

Perfect 10s
Summing up the cinema of LWLies’ lifetime (2005 to present) the only way we know how: with a load of irreverent top 10 lists.

Essay 3: The Ghosts of Cinema Past
Christina Newland opens her heart for a personal exploration into what it means to cherish old movies.

Print Matters
A visual journey through the LWLies publishing archives to demonstrate how the magazine has evolved over the years.

In the back section

Moviehunting: A guide to finding small gems
LWLies contributing editor Sophie Monks Kaufman charts her exploration at the fringes of film culture over the last decade, in search of rare, burnished jewels to call her own.

Interview: Joanna Hogg
Soma Ghosh meets the British filmmaker to discuss the subtleties and subtext of her intriguing, self-reflexive new work, The Eternal Daughter.

Interview: Carol Morley
David Jenkins chats with a filmmaker who naturally gravitates towards eccentrics and mysteries as she uncovers the life of lost artist Audrey Amiss in her new film, Typist Artist Pirate King.

Interview: Rodrigo Prieto
Anna Bogutskaya talks to Martin Scorsese’s current cinematographer of choice about the aesthetic decisions that went into the maestro’s new epic, Killers of the Flower Moon.

In review

Ira Sachs’ Passages
Celine Song’s Past Lives
Anna Hints’ Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter
Todd Haynes’ May December
Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex
Ken Loach’s The Old Oak
Babak Jalali’s Fremont
Craig Gillespie’s Dumb Money
Carol Morley’s Typist Artist Pirate King
Cristian Mungiu’s R.M.N.
Clement Virgo’s Brother
Matt Johnson’s BlackBerry
Sebastián Silva’s Rotting in the Sun
Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall
Koji Fukada’s Love Life
Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon

Plus, Matt Turner selects six key home ents releases for your consideration, including Jean Rollin’s Night of the Hunted, Christopher Nolan’s Following, Kira Muratova’s The Long Farewell, Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace 4K, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s The Guard from the Underground and Ann Hui’s Visible Secret.

The third edition of Marina Ashioti’s column Sticky Gold Stars which celebrates LGBTQ+ cinema is inspired by the queer-tinged slow cinema offerings at this year’s Locarno Film Festival.

And there’s also a preview of all the great films playing at the 2023 London Film Festival.

A final big thank you to everyone at LWLies and TCO London whose tireless efforts and neverending hustle allowed all this to happen: Hannah Strong, Marina Ashioti, Adam Woodward, Saskia Lloyd Gaiger, Tertia Nash, Emma Balebela, Han Nightingale, Emily Sear, Kay Ogundimu, Vince Medeiros, Steph Pomphrey, Wendy Klerck, Simon Baker, Brian Clark and the entire team.

LWLies 100 is available to order now from our online shop. You can order all four covers as a package, or order individual covers. Become a LWLies Gold Member or subscribe today to make sure you never miss an issue.

Eighteen years and ninety-eight editions since The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou graced the cover of our very first issue, the stars have aligned once again, just in time for issue #99. It’s a full circle moment of sorts here at LWLies HQ, as we celebrate one of our favourite auteurs with a fourth issue dedicated to the world of Wes, this time taking inspiration from his stellar eleventh feature: Asteroid City.

Set in 1955 in a fictional, space-obsessed desert town somewhere between Parched Gulch and Arid Plains, the film sees a crew of astro-enthusiasts from across America flocking to the town’s Junior Stargazers/Space Cadet convention for Asteroid Day. It’s another star-studded ensemble piece boasting regular collaborators Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Liev Schreiber, Edward Norton, Stephen Park, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum et al. They’re joined by an impressive lineup of Wes newcomers including Steve Carell, Margot Robbie, Maya Hawke, Tom Hanks, Matt Dillon and Hong Chau. Our esteemed Editor in Chief David Jenkins calls it his “most complete, rich and surprising film to date, and perhaps his most autobiographical in some obscure, allegorical way”.

For this issue, we’ve embraced Wes’ love for colour, texture and hand-made craft by going all out on all things hand-made. Contact was made with the filmmaker himself, who let us in on some personal insights regarding the making of this wonderful new feature. We speak to some of his longtime collaborators including cinematographer Robert Yeoman and leading man Jason Schwartzman, as well as brand new inductee Maya Hawke. And as a special side-project, we put together a carefully curated itinerary of items for a special intergalactic capsule to be blasted into space as a way to educate alien species on the Wes Anderson canon.

On the cover

Ali Mac’s incredible portrait of Jason Schwartzman’s widowed war photographer, Augie Steenbeck, made entirely out of felt, adorns the cover of this issue. Explore her work at alimacdoodle.com. Elsewhere in the issue we have new artwork from Oriane Dufort, Becki Gill, Claudia Mandagie, Molly Kirk, Lorena Spurio and Lucas Burtin.

In this issue

Lead Review: Asteroid City
David Jenkins lauds a possible magnum opus from filmmaker Wes Anderson, a weekend of wonder in 1955 that picks apart the very essence of creativity.

Memo Re. The Sudden Receipt of ‘New Recording 674.m4a’
A recorded missive from Wes Anderson, answering a series of questions sent to him by Sophie Monks Kaufman.

Tripping the Daylight Fantastic
Cinematographer Robert Yeoman on why Wes Anderson remains a sucker for 35mm film.

Written in the Stars
Hannah Strong meets Jason Schwartzman, the Wes Anderson totem whose own life mysteriously overlaps with his character in Asteroid City.

Touching Down in a Strange and Beautiful New World
David Jenkins talks to Maya Hawke, who is effusive about her first-time visit to Andersonville.

Itinerary of Proposed Cargo for ‘Wesplorer 4’ Space Pod
The vital task of teaching as-yet-undiscovered intergalactic species about the films of Wes Anderson is taken-on with aplomb by a gaggle of LWLies’ finest.

In the back section

Pedro Almodóvar
The Spanish legend talks to Anna Bogutskaya about unlocking his formative passion for the western in his spellbinding new short, Strange Way of Life.

Alice Winocour
The French filmmaker speaks to Hannah Strong about the nuances of recreating a real-life terrorist attack in her reflective new film, Paris Memories.

Sydney Sweeney
Charles Bramesco meets the Euphoria star pivoting with grace to experimental cinema as she discusses her role in Tina Satter’s chamber thriller, Reality.

Annie Ernaux and David Ernaux-Briot
The Nobel Prize winner and her son explain the process of digging up memories from the attic for their diary film, The Super 8 Years.

Harris Dickinson
Hannah Strong meets one of the most promising young actors working today to discuss his turn as beach blonde club promoter/absentee father in Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper.

Patricio Guzmán
The veteran Chilean activist-filmmaker speaks to Marina Ashioti and picks apart the political layers of his vital new film, My Imaginary Country.

In review

Pedro Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life
James Mangold’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Alice Winocour’s Paris Memories
Claire Denis’ Stars at Noon
Riley Keough and Gina Gammell’s War Pony
Thomas Hardiman’s Medusa Deluxe
Tina Satter’s Reality
Barnaby Thompson’s Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story
D Smith’s Kokomo City
Carolina Cavalli’s Amanda
Stephen Williams’ Chevalier
Annie Ernaux and David Ernaux-Briot’s The Super 8 Years
Jean-Paul Salomé’s La Syndicaliste
Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper
Dionne Edwards’ Pretty Red Dress
Léonor Serraille’s Mother and Son
Patricio Guzmán’s My Imaginary Country
Quentin Dupieux’s Smoking Causes Coughing
Shamira Raphaëla’s Shabu
Danny and Michael Philippou’s Talk To Me
Fyzal Boulifa’s The Damned Don’t Cry

Plus, Matt Turner selects six key home ents releases for your consideration.

The second edition of Marina Ashioti’s column Sticky Gold Stars, explores the queer undertow in the films of giallo maestro, Dario Argento.

Finally, team LWLies report their findings from the 2023 Cannes Film Festival with a round-up of gems and new discoveries.

LWLies 99 is available to order now from our online shop. Become a LWLies Gold Member or subscribe today to make sure you never miss an issue.

If you already own sunglasses, go and put them on now. If you don’t, then go and buy some. That’s because LWLies issue 98 is one of the most brightly coloured issues we’ve ever made, and that’s saying something. Our cheerfully florid colour scheme forms a perfect match with cover film Polite Society, about an angry young woman whose dream of becoming a stuntwoman is put on hold when she has to prevent her sister from marrying a wealthy and possibly sinister bachelor.

As paid-up fans of Nida Manzoor’s Channel 4 sitcom, We Are Lady Parts, anticipation levels were already unfeasibly high for the writer-director’s transition to the big screen. And with its gymnastic camera movements, snappy editing and numerous cinematic reference points, We Are Lady Parts perhaps concealed Manzoor’s desire to move in that direction. Polite Society sits comfortably in the rich continuum of films which explore the lives of South Asian families both adapting to the landscape of contemporary Britain, and forging their own idiosyncratic path.

Yet it’s the lively genre twist which makes Polite Society feel like a world away from classic Brit diaspora dramas such as Bhaji on the Beach and Bend it Like Beckham. Manzoor draws in the colours, tones and musicality of Bollywood, as well as the bone-crunching but comic violence that is integral to martial arts classics featuring the likes of Sammo Hung, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

On the cover of the issue we have Polite Society’s boisterous lead Priya Kansara who plays scorned sister Ria with a blend of desperation and outright fury. With our design, we wanted to pay homage to the film’s comic energy, as it feels like the sort of thing that’s been adapted from your favourite graphic novel. It’s a film we love, and an issue we’re tremendously proud of. We hope it will operate as a delightful amuse bouche prior to the film’s UK release on 21 April and also a keepsake for the inevitable long term fandom it generates – especially once Nida strikes it big in Hollywood, as we’re sure she will.

On the cover

It’s a thrill for us to announce a collaboration with Pakistani illustrator Shehzil Malik, whose work focuses primarily on women’s stories from her home country. Her amazing portfolio can be viewed at shehzil.com.

Elsewhere in the issue we have excellent new work from artists Stéphanie Sergeant, Shin-Yeon Moon, Suleman Aqeel Khilji, Dan Evans and Vidhya Nagarajan.

In this issue

Lead Review: Polite Society
Fatima Sheriff writes in praise of Nida Manzoor’s exuberant feature debut.

The Big Boss
Soma Ghosh in conversation with writer/director Nida Manzoor on fighting, feminism and generational schisms.

Make ’Em Laugh
A brief history of filmmakers who have made sitcoms (and sitcom makers who have directed films).

Fist of Fury
Hannah Strong meets Polite Society’s feisty lead, Priya Kansara, to talk the epic prep required to play a teen stuntwoman-in-the-making.

Way of the Dragon
David Jenkins chats to Ritu Arya about her eclectic career path and forging bonds with the cast and crew of Polite Society.

Throwing Punches
Anna Bogutskaya meets Shaina West, a social media sensation and movie stuntwoman on the cusp of superstardom.

Pitch Perfect
Three essays looking back at the Brit-Asian sensation, Bend it Like Beckham, on the occasion of its 20th birthday.

The Walking of Peckham 123
Rōgan Graham takes a stroll around the haunts of Peckham and Brixton with Rye Lane director, Raine Allen-Miller.

On the Wall
A confessional dossier in which a host of LWLies writers tell us about how they decorated their teenage bedroom walls.

Mia Goth
Marina Ashioti talks to one of the most exciting and intense actors on the scene about her everything-on-the-table turns in Infinity Pool and Pearl.

Léa Mysius
Emily Maskell meets the director of olfactory wonder, The Five Devils, who reflects on making a film about potions, memory and the sense of smell.

Hlynur Pálmason
David Jenkins speaks to the Icelandic director of the ethnographic epic, Godland, on creating his own myths and how to properly record birdsong.

Albert Serra
The loquacious Spanish maestro speaks to Caitlin Quinlan and picks apart the process of his breakthrough feature of political malaise in the South Seas, Pacifiction.

Davy Chou
The writer/director of the magical Return to Seoul speaks to Hannah Strong about how the truth is stranger than fiction.

In review

Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool, by Hannah Strong
Ti West’s Pearl, by David Jenkins
Raine Allen-Miller’s Rye Lane, by Cheyenne Bunsie
Léa Mysius’s The Five Devils, by David Jenkins
Tarik Saleh’s Cairo Conspiracy, by Charles Bramesco
Dominik Moll’s The Night of the 12th, by Saskia Lloyd-Gaiger
Éric Gravel’s Full Time, by David Jenkins
Emmanuelle Nicot’s Love According to Dalva, by Alexandria Slater
Rodrigo Sorogyen’s The Beasts, by Anton Bitel
Manuela Martelli’s 1976, by Marina Ashioti
Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland, by Josh Slater-Williams
Nina Menkes’ Brainwashed: Sex-Power-Cinema, by Lillian Crawford
Daniel Goldhaber’s How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Daniel Goldhaber
Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume, by Alicia Haddick
Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, by David Jenkins
Saela David and Anna Rose Holmer’s God’s Creatures, by David Jenkins
Mayrem Touzani’s The Blue Caftan, by Marina Ashioti
Felix Van Groeningen’s The Eight Mountains, by Rafa Sales Ross
Chei Hayakawa’s Plan 75, by Trevor Johnston
Davy Chou’s Return to Seoul, by Ella Kemp
Martika Ramirez Escobar’s Leonor Will Never Die, by David Jenkins
Amanda Kramer’s Please Baby Please, by Marina Ashioti
Mia Hansen-Løve’s One Fine Morning, by Savina Petkova
Sierra Pettingill’s Riotsville, USA, by Caitlin Quinlan
Lola Quivoron’s Rodeo, by Katherine McLaughlin

Plus, Matt Turner selects six key home ents releases for your consideration.

And the first edition of Marina Ashioti’s new column Sticky Gold Stars, which will offer a celebration of the current LGBTQ+ cinema. In this maiden edition, Marina reports from the 2023 Berlin Film Festival.

LWLies 98 is available to order online now from our online shop. Become a LWLies Gold Member or subscribe today to make sure you never miss an issue.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is a film about empathy as a way of life, a collaborative autobiography that is both revelatory and profound. The American portrait photographer Nan Goldin will be known to many as a chronicler of those lost fragments of raw intimacy that occur in the spaces between moments: the post-coital cigarette; the taxi en route to the bar; the beat after a raging argument; the hospital bed repose just before the morphine hits; the untethered child hankering for an embrace. The evanescent nature of the images she captures imbues them with a purity of feeling, something indescribable and enigmatic. This film about her life, career, family (biological and artistic) and struggles places her iconic photographs in a new light.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed won the Golden Lion at the 2022 Venice Film Festival – a rare feat for a non-fiction film, albeit in this case, a deserved one. Director Laura Poitras had already made a name for herself as someone interested in meeting various controversial figures – Edward Snowdon, Julian Assange, Osama Bin Laden’s one-time bodyguard – and allowing them to give their side of an often complex story. While this new film initially feels like something a little different, it soon becomes clear that this is another portrait of an activist searching for ways to rail against the entrenched political hegemony and a general system of oppression.

We learn details of Goldin’s early life, but the story is filtered through her contemporary battle against the billionaire Sackler family, whose financial tendrils are sunk into the pharmaceutical industry, and whose mercenary economic practices have instigated a pandemic of opioid deaths in the US. Goldin takes specific umbrage with their attempts to greenwash their filthy lucre through endowments to some of the globe’s biggest art institutions.

In this issue, we place Goldin and her world in the spotlight, exploring her connections to film, the primacy of images and the collaborators she’s worked with along the way.

On the cover

It’s a thrill for us to announce a collaboration with the award-winning Canadian-American illustrator Nicole Rifkin, who has produced a collage-like representation of Goldin for the cover which nudges at the boundaries of traditional portraiture. Her portfolio can be viewed at reformforest.com. Elsewhere in the issue we have new work from Stéphanie Sergeant, Ian Addison, Lily Blakely and Oliver Stafford.

In this issue

Lead review: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Marina Ashioti lauds this extraordinary profile feature that explores the intersections between art and activism.

For Shame: A Conversation with Laura Poitras

Sophie Monks Kaufman interviews the filmmaker on her intimate collaboration with protagonist, Nan Goldin.

You Are Entering a World of PAIN

Activist Megan Kapler on the vital work she undertakes for Nan Goldin’s advocacy organisation, PAIN.

The Art of Dissent: A Conversation with Nan Goldin

Sophie Monks Kaufman meets the legendary photographer, activist and subject of All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.

Journey to the End of the Night

Hannah Strong reports from Stockholm on an innovative and immersive new exhibition of Nan Goldin’s slideshows.

The Cinematic Circle

Juan Barquin offers up a programming proposal for a Nan Goldin-inspired film festival series.

Night Walking

Anna Bogutskaya talks to Bette Gordon about the making of her Hitchcockian 1983 cult classic, Variety.

Alice Through the Looking Glass

Leila Latif celebrates the films of French director Alice Diop, particularly her stunning new drama, Saint Omer.

(Experience My) Transcendent Despair

Charles Bramesco teases out the intricacies of depicting activism on screen with the makers of the brilliant new film, How to Blow Up a Pipeline.

In the back section

The Best Films of 2022
A small sample of our favourite movies to be released in the UK between 1 February 2022 and 31 January 2023.

Sarah Polley

Sophie Monks Kaufman talks to the Canadian filmmaker about how cultivating an environment reflective of the drama in her film Women Talking was a vital aspect of her work.

Mark Jenkin

David Jenkins meets the Cornish maestro to discuss his new film Enys Men and why everyone should stop worrying and learn to love 16mm.

Tony Kushner

Trevor Johnston unlocks the secrets of Spielberg (via his new film The Fabelmans) with screenwriter and doyen of American theatre.

Carla Simón

Marina Ashioti chats to the Spanish director of Golden Bear-winning Alcarràs to talk lyricism and realism in film.

Chinonye Chukwu

Rōgan Graham goes face-to-face with the director of scintillating civil rights drama, Till.

Todd Field

Charles Bramesco hears a fun story about bubble gum from the writer/director of the formidable Tár.

In review

Sarah Polley’s Women Talking
Damien Chazelle’s Babylon
Andery Paounov’s January
Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men
Georgia Oakley’s Blue Jean
Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO
Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmens
Emily Atef’s More Than Ever
Carla Simón’s Alcaràs
Mario Martone’s Nostalgia
Kristoffer Borgli’s Sick of Myself
Pierre Földes’ Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider
Dean Fleischer Camp’s Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Saim Sadiq’s Joyland
Hirokazu Koreeda’s Broker
Shekhar Kapur’s What’s Love Got to Do With It
Chinonye Chukwu’s Till
Asif Kapadia’s Creature
Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale
Alice Diop’s Saint Omer
Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light
Todd Field’s Tár
Plus, Matt Turner selects six key home ents releases for your consideration.

LWLies 97 is available to order online now from our online shop. Become a LWLies Gold Member or subscribe today to make sure you never miss an issue.