The Playlist

Cannes 2013: Surprises & Notable Absence ...

The obsessives' guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, movie music, soundtracks, DVDs and more.

Interviews

New Trailer & Poster Arrive For Ben Wheatley's Trippy 'A Field In England'

By Oliver Lyttelton
|
May 21, 2013 8:59 AM
|
4 Comments

News

Many, including ourselves, tipped the latest film from Ben Wheatley, "A Field In England," to pop up somewhere in the Cannes line-up. After all, his reputation's been growing since his first two pictures "Down Terrace" and "Kill List," and "Sightseers" was on the Croisette last year. The film didn't appear in the line-up, but in a way, it didn't need to, because it already has its own plans; rolling out back in the UK in an unprecedented multi-format release that will see it hit cinemas on the same day that it's released on DVD & Blu-Ray, airs on VOD, and even screens on the free Film4 channel.

By Oliver Lyttelton
|
November 29, 2012 10:01 AM
|
0 Comments

Interviews

It might not have been a banner year for comedy movies so far, but there's one shining light arriving this week (for U.K. audiences at least -- American crowds are going to have to wait another few months), in the shape of "Sightseers," the third feature from "Down Terrace" and "Kill List" director Ben Wheatley. Blending the outstanding visuals and unsettling sound of the director's earlier films with a unique pitch-black sensibility, it also sees the arrival of two fully-formed comic talents on the world scene, in the shape of the film's stars and writers, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram.

By Kevin Jagernauth
|
September 17, 2012 2:59 PM
|
1 Comment

Interviews

Camper van holidays in the north of England and murder do not, traditionally, go hand in hand. But trust Ben Wheatley, the mind behind pitch-black breakthrough films "Down Terrace" and "Kill List," to bring them together for his third feature film, "Sightseers." From a script by British comedians Alice Lowe and Steve Oram (who workshopped the characters on the U.K. circuit for years), and executive produced by Edgar Wright, the film is a darkly funny, curiously moving film that drew rave reviews when it premiered at Cannes (including our own).

By Joe Cunningham
|
May 23, 2012 11:41 AM
|
0 Comments

News

When movies aren’t being watched at the Cannes Film Festival, they’re being purchased, and we’ve got news of a couple that have been picked up for North American distribution.

By Oliver Lyttelton
|
November 10, 2011 10:02 AM
|
2 Comments

Features

It's been something of a banner year, both critically and commercially, for British film, with the likes of "The Inbetweeners Movie" and "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" tearing it up at the box office at home, while pictures like "Kill List," "Attack the Block," "We Need To Talk About Kevin" and "Shame" have won acclaim from critics at home and abroad. But with the changes in the industry coming from the scrapping of national funding body the UK Film Council last summer starting to take effect, we're at something of a pivot point -- the last of the Film Council-funded features are starting to roll out, and it remains to be seen what kind of effect the move of funding to the British Film Institute will have.

By Oliver Lyttelton
|
September 22, 2011 2:21 AM
|
1 Comment

Five Things We Learned From The Fast-Rising British HelmerAfter claiming awards at Fantastic Fest, Raindance, and IFF Boston for his debut feature, “Down Terrace,” U.K. director Ben Wheatley premiered his follow-up at this year’s SXFantastic to similar adulation, and rave reviews. (Read ours here.) Called “Kill List,” the film takes cues from the “kitchen sink crime drama” framework of “Down Terrace,” but ups the ante considerably, particularly in its deeply deranged third act. The Warp Films production was duly acquired by genre label IFC Midnight for a North American release in early 2012.

By Oliver Lyttelton
|
August 15, 2011 2:41 AM
|
0 Comments

Comedy 'I, Macrobane' With Nick Frost Will Follow In 2012Perhaps the biggest homegrown hit of Empire Big Screen over the weekend was Ben Wheatley's "Kill List," a low-budget hitman/horror flick from the director of the excellent, terminally underseen crime film "Down Terrace." More than perhaps any other British film that had footage shown, the clips had people talking for much of the weekend, and director Ben Wheatley hit the event on Saturday, along with stars Neil Maskell and MyAnna Buring, to get the buzz going. If you've read our review from SXSW, you'll know that it's a film worth getting very excited about (it even made one member of The Playlist team physically ill -- in a good way), and it crystallizes Wheatley as a real talent to watch.