In Praise Of

Why I love Abbas Kiarostami’s Homework

By Nadine Mamoon

More than three decades after it was made, this landmark work defies classification – a portrait of young people caught between warring countries, attempting to have a typical childhood.

Michael Bay’s American Nightmare: Bad Boys II at 20

By Olivia Hunter Willke

Two decades on, Michael Bay's nihilistic, hyper-violent police drama serves as a state of the union address.

Crisis of faith: The Exorcist at 50

By Greg Cwik

Fifty years since William Friedkin unleashed a demon at the multiplex, the impressive performances of Max von Sydow and Jason Miller are as haunting as ever.

David Byrne and the autistic euphoria of Stop Making Sense

By Raine Petrie

As an anniversary restoration of Jonathan Demme and Talking Heads' landmark concert film hits cinemas, it remains a landmark in autistic representation on screen.

The enduring joy of Dick Cavett’s Old Hollywood interviews

By Sarah Cleary

Stars including Katherine Hepburn and Gloria Swanson appeared on Dick Cavett's seminal American talk show – a reminder that the televised interview is something of a lost art.

How Saving Private Ryan changed the war movie

By Sam Moore

Twenty-five years on, Steven Spielberg's World War Two epic completely revolutionised the way Hollywood thought about depicting conflict on screen.

Why I love the lesbian documentaries of the 1990s

By Lucy Talbot Allen

Filmmakers including Barbara Hammer and Karen Everett explore various facets of lesbian culture in their unabashed, lo-fi films, celebrating the defiant acts of queer joy and activism.

Portrait of the journalist as a young grifter: Shattered Glass at 20

By Kyle Turner

Billy Ray's 2003 thriller about a young journalist who fabricated stories for The New Republic is a curious relic two decades on, with an undercurrent of homoerotic tension.

Oldboy and the aesthetics of national trauma

By Anabelle Johnston

As Park Chan-wook's seminal revenge thriller turns 20, it remains one of South Korean cinema's most piercing political indictments.

Exploring Ousmane Sembène’s activist cinema at 100

By Henry Roberts

A new BFI season highlights the incredible cinematic legacy of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène, who saw film as a tool to bring power to the people.

American Graffiti and the lasting impact of nostalgia on cinema

By Daniel Allen

Half a century on, George Lucas's seminal teen movie casts a long shadow across both the coming-of-age genre and filmmaker autofiction.

The uplifting, transformative coming-of-age cinema of Greta Gerwig

By Mallory Blair

A writer reflects on how watching Greta Gerwig's Little Women led to a life-changing revelation, and the comfort found in her cinema of girlhood.

The hero dies at the beginning: Enter the Dragon at 50

By Micah Nathan

The film that introduced Bruce Lee to the American mainstream was sadly his last – but its power is still palpable five decades later.

Why I love the train chase scene in The Wrong Trousers

By Eleanor Brady

Tom Cruise and Marvel can't hold a candle to Aardman Animation's nail-biting stop animation sequence in the classic Wallace and Gromit adventure.

The Counselor was Cormac McCarthy’s unflinching portrait of the consequences of desire

By Evan Helmlinger

In his only produced screenplay, the American titan of literature painted a bleak picture of the logical endpoint of greed.

Why I love The Watermelon Woman

By Robyn Quick

Cheryl Dunye's debut feature broke the mould with its witty blend of fact and fiction – and remains a queer classic to this day.

In defence of The Bling Ring

By Katie Tobin

A decade since its release, Sofia Coppola's take on teen thieves and celebrity obsession is as sharp as ever.

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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.

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