film Archives - Cherwell

Can movie violence ever be fun?

“Because it's so much fun, Jan!” This was Quentin Tarantino’s answer when an interviewer asked him to justify on-screen violence. Few would disagree. From...

One of the most urgent films of the year: ‘Urchin’ review

There are few films which have the power to change how you interact day-to-day with the world. Urchin (2025) is one of them. Far...

Cillian Murphy does it again

Since his generation-defining performance in Oppenheimer (2023) two years ago, Cillian Murphy has shown little interest in playing it safe. Having collaborated already on...

Spike Lee’s lackluster remake: Highest 2 Lowest

There is no reason why a remake should remain inferior to its source material; even less so when it’s a ‘reinterpretation’ by an auteur...

The Librarians (2025) at the Bodleian: reviewed

Kim A. Snyder’s The Librarians (2025) draws the audience into a pernicious web of censorship, repression, and culture-war collisions. Embroiled in a fierce, sombre, and...

A guide to contemporary China, through cinema

“An artwork whose medium is history”, is how sinologist Haun Saussy defines China. As passionately debated as it is little understood, China today remains a...

Old age reframed – ‘The Blue Trail’: Reviewed

★★★★☆ The Blue Trail (O Último Azul), this year’s winner of the Berlin International Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, is probably unlike most things you’ve...

Max Morgan, director of Oxford’s first feature film since the 1980s

Morgan speaks to Cherwell about his forthcoming films Breakwater and May Day!, and how he built a career in the film industry while at Oxford.

What can office workers learn from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty?

"The character Walter Mitty was first brought to life in James Thurber’s short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, published in a 1939 issue of The New Yorker."

I’m Still Here: An exploration of memories

"I’m Still Here follows a mother and her family as they deal with the disappearance of the father at the hands of a military dictatorship."

The Oxford Cinema & Café: A profile

"The opening of The Oxford Cinema & Café marks a new chapter in Oxford’s cinema scene: a move further towards independent cinema."

The Case for Reincarnated Romances

"Reincarnation romance films are sometimes silly, mostly melodramatic, but always overlooked as a subgenre."

Barry Lyndon – Kubrick’s ultimate antifilm?

Barry Lyndon has always been dismissed within Kubrick’s filmography. While he is a filmmaker known for his versatility across genres, Barry Lyndon still sits...

Cinema’s hidden gems: Daisies (1966)

Whilst mainstream cinema more often favours the safe and the familiar, some of the most remarkable films ever made are those that dismantle the...

Tag: film