Irish Film Institute -REVIEW ROUNDUP: DARK WATERS AND PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE

REVIEW ROUNDUP: DARK WATERS AND PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE

This week’s new releases at the Irish Film Institute on Friday February 28th 2020 are Dark Waters and Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

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

DARK WATERS

“Ruffalo, whose personal interest in the case helped bring it to the big screen, internalises brilliantly.”

4/5 – The Irish Times

“The director and his leading man have turned a dry legal battle into a gripping yarn that exposes the full extent of a corporate power, without sacrificing tension and with some superb acting in a fine drama about justice finally being served.”

4/5 – RTÉ

“This tough, clear movie was what Haynes needed to clear his creative palate.”

4/5 – The Guardian

“It’s exceedingly well executed and technically impeccable.”

NY Times

“Haynes has intently devoted himself to the story and his actors, with strong, unshowy work that ideally serves the tale of being told.”

Hollywood Reporter

“Todd Haynes has made the first corporate thriller that’s a call to action because you’ll emerge from it feeling anything but safe.”

Variety

“What makes it a Haynes film, besides the evocative camera genius of Haynes regular Ed Lachman, is something intangible and mysterious.”

4/5 – Rolling Stone

 

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE 

“By the time in the final heartbreaking, all-a-flutter sequence plays out to the strains of Vivaldi, it’s been a remarkable sensory journey.”

5/5 – The Irish Times

“Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a cool, almost ascetic work exploring sexual repression and sexual longing.”

4/5 – RTÉ

“After those final credits, Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ is such an extraordinary work that it will linger with you long after that tearful finale.”

4.5/5 – entertainment.ie

“Everything from production design to the costuming is stripped back, used to augment the story and mood rather than detract from it.”

University Observer

“Sciamma evokes Merlant’s painterly eye and tender hand in her staggeringly beautiful visuals, composing her shots like luminous, textural paintings.”

Hot Press

“Sciamma flips it to a female gaze, a gaze of connoisseurship, of artistic appropriation, of erotic rapture. And that gaze is reciprocated.”

5/5 – The Guardian

“Sciamma has a great feel for structure, for emotional arcs, and for pinpoint accurate catharses that nevertheless preserve the tantalizing enigma of her characters.”

Vulture

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