Irish Film Institute -Review Roundup: The Eyes of Orson Welles, The Heiresses, The Guardians

Review Roundup: The Eyes of Orson Welles, The Heiresses, The Guardians

Four new releases land on Friday the 17th of August: Mildred Pierce, The Eyes of Orson Welles, The Guardians and The Heiresses.

Read on for a selection of reviews or pop in to make up your own mind!

THE EYES OF ORSON WELLES
“Those who do engage with Cousins’s long vowels will, however, find much to savour in his raptures”
4/5 – Irish Times

“Marvel at the talents of a true Renaissance man of the 20th Century who didn’t waste a minute”
4/5 – RTE

“Cousins knows what he’s on about, chooses film segments with great insight, and finds plausible ways of re-reading Welles’ life and work”
4/5 – Irish Independent

“[A] wayward, very indulgent but deeply felt love letter to Orson Welles”
4/5 – Guardian

“Cousins makes a lively argument for the creative dynamo’s abundant hand-drawn work as an integral part of his creative process, even if Welles never advertised himself publicly as a brushes-and-canvas man.”
Hollywood Reporter

THE GUARDIANS
“As heritage pictures go, it’s immaculate and tasteful”
4/5 – Irish Times

“It’s a fine film, thoughtful, nuanced and beautifully photographed”
4/5 – Irish Independent

“This richly compassionate, fiercely acted and beautifully shot period drama is about the second conflict, the battle of wills on the home front”
4/5 – Guardian

“The story of France’s land girls during World War I is told with patience and painterly finesse in this softly virtuosic period drama from Xavier Beauvois”
4/5 – Telegraph

“Unassumingly powerful details make The Guardians one of the year’s most affecting love stories.”
Village Voice

THE HEIRESSES
“A welcome new entry into the same subgenre as Sebastián Lelio’s Gloria and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s magnificent Aquarius.”
4/5 – Irish Times

“Dense and complex as a good novel, The Heiresses is bolstered by fine acting, especially from the two leads”
4/5 – Irish Independent

“A superb first feature from Marcelo Martinessi, this entirely female-driven story is full of gentle wit and playful observations on the crumbling upper echelons of Paraguayan society”
4/5 – Guardian

“Builds emotional involvement by infinitesimal degrees through its acute observation of characters and social context and its ultra-naturalistic performances”
Hollywood Reporter

“Using largely unknown actresses with practically no screen experience yet an extraordinarily canny understanding of character, the director-writer achieves a heightened degree of insight within the confines of a stripped-down production”
Variety

MILDRED PIERCE
“This great film is a more subtle, nuanced beast than expected”
5/5 – Little White Lies

“throbbing melodrama doesn’t come with more conviction”
Empire

“it is mainly Crawford’s triumph, and the most remarkable comeback in Hollywood’s history”
4/5 – BBC

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