Josh Slater-Williams

England

Critic and Culture Journalist at Freelance

Critic and culture journalist. Bylines: BFI, Sight and Sound, Total Film, Little White Lies, IndieWire and others.

Articles

10 great films about popes

1 week ago | bfi.org.uk | David Parkinson |Josh Slater-Williams |Chloe Walker |Rory Doherty

The papacy and cinema go back a long way. Leo XIII became the first moving picture pope in July 1896, with successor Pius X being filmed in 1907. He would become the first cine-saint when he was canonised in 1954, two years after Henri Vidon had played him in The Secret Conclave (1952), which was the first feature to recreate a papal election. Pius actually disapproved of moving images and forbade their exhibition in churches in 1909.
10 great Japanese time-travel films

1 week ago | bfi.org.uk | Josh Slater-Williams |Chloe Walker |Rory Doherty

At the 48th edition of the Japan Academy Film Prize (also known as the Japanese Academy Awards), the big winner was A Samurai in Time (2023) from writer-director Jun’ichi Yasuda, which picked up best film. The low-budget feature has not only been a major awards triumph in Japan but a financial one too, passing the 1 billion yen mark at the domestic box office.
Cloud review - all-time bleakest episode of Only Fools and Horses

3 weeks ago | lwlies.com | Josh Slater-Williams

About Little White Lies Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.
Leonardo Van Dijl on Julie Keeps Quiet – The Skinny

3 weeks ago | theskinny.co.uk | Josh Slater-Williams

A taut examination of power, abuse, repression, class dynamics and troubling things left unsaid, the debut feature of Belgian director Leonardo Van Dijl brings to mind a few veterans who made their name with realist filmmaking. “What can I say, I love the movies of Ken Loach and the Dardennes,” he tells me at the London Film Festival – the latter two, brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc, actually have co-producer credits on the film.
‘Invention’ Review: Callie Hernandez and Courtney Stephens Take the Grief Drama to Strange New Places

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Josh Slater-Williams

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key TakeawaysEditor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2024 Locarno Film Festival. “Invention” plays at the Metrograph in New York starting Friday, April 18.
“We’re recreating the devil’s music”: composer Ludwig Göransson on Sinners

4 weeks ago | bfi.org.uk | Lou Thomas |Sam Wigley |Josh Slater-Williams |Lillian Crawford

If we could award cool points to composers, Ludwig Göransson would have scored plenty. Leaving aside his extensive work producing Childish Gambino – Donald Glover’s rap alter ego – and credits on tunes by Stormzy, Adele and Lykke Li, Göransson already has two Oscars. The Swedish musician bagged his first best original score statue for frequent collaborator Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther (2018) and the other for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023).
The Return review: Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoch take centre stage in The Odyssey adaptation

1 month ago | scifinow.co.uk | Josh Slater-Williams

Certificate:15Director:Uberto PasoliniCast:Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Charlie Plummer, Marwan Kenzari, Claudio SantamariaDistributor:Modern FilmsRunning Time:116 mins Every so often, the release schedule will serve audiences examples of twin films: movies with very similar subjects that come out only a few months to a year apart, and with similarly notable talent involved. Think Antz and A Bug’s Life or Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down.
“The more craic people are having on the shoot, the less funny it’s going to be”: Darren Thornton on his tragicomedy Four Mothers

1 month ago | bfi.org.uk | Josh Slater-Williams |Lillian Crawford |Jonathan Romney |Nick Bradshaw

Winner of the BFI London Film Festival’s Audience Award, Four Mothers is Irish director Darren Thornton’s long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed ex-con drama A Date for Mad Mary (2016). Co-written with brother Colin Thornton, it’s a loose adaptation of Mid-August Lunch (2008), Gianni Di Gregorio’s comedy about a man living with his mother in a small apartment, only to get saddled with three additional old women – all of them strangers – during an Italian holiday.
Four Mothers review: James McArdle is a winning lead

1 month ago | theskinny.co.uk | Josh Slater-Williams

Film title: Four Mothers Director: Darren Thornton Starring: James McArdle, Fionnula Flanagan, Dearbhla Molloy, Paddy Glynn, Stella McCusker, Rory O’Neill Release date: 4 Apr Certificate: 15 In 2008, Italian filmmaker Gianni Di Gregorio gave us Mid-August Lunch, a gentle comedy he directed, co-wrote and starred in, playing a middle-aged man living in Rome with his fussy mother.
“We use virgin olive oil, and oil the eye”: the Quay brothers on the method behind their uncanny worlds

1 month ago | bfi.org.uk | Jonathan Romney |Nick Bradshaw |Josh Slater-Williams |Blake Simons

In the world of the Quay brothers, all matter is viewed through – and transformed by – lenses. In Dormitorium, the current exhibition of the animators’ models and film decors at London’s Swedenborg House, some of the items on display take the form of peepshows. But these are not the traditional kind, with tiny holes to squint into.