Jack Cameron

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences was initially set-up by Louis B. Mayer in 1927 to resolve a labour dispute. Wary of his studio workers unionising, Mayer decided to placate his employees by holding an awards ceremony that would instead offer prestige, clout and a career boost to any lucky enough to win. The Academy Awards were born from these slightly shady origins and, for a time, were further used to promote the pictures put out by Mayer and his cronies – AKA the Academy its...

The Hero’s Journey or The Wanderer Dream: Tangled perspectives in Embrace of the Serpent
Tales of adventure and exploration in the jungle have long captured the Western imagination. Sailing down river from familiarity into mystery is a typical story which provides a perfect frame for the Hero’s Journey, a structure of myth popularised by Joseph Campbell in the 1940s. Described by him, the Hero’s Journey is a recurring story which follows a single narrative pattern:
“A hero ventures forth from...

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Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the latest release from Japan’s FromSoftware studio, has proven somewhat divisive, breaking the studio’s near ten-year streak of perfect hits. It’s won its fair share of Game of the Year awards, and its sales figures are none too shabby, but the discussion still continues that the game is just too hard. Most of these complaints seem to relate to the game’s new mechanics, which deviate from the FromSoftware formula in two key ways. First, it ditches the old com...

Originally released in 2007, Spanish horror flick Rec debuted amongst the height of the Found Footage craze. Starting with 1999’s Blair Witch Project there was a considerable amount of time where it felt like if a film wasn’t in the found footage style it wasn’t a horror film. Even at the time the film managed to rise above the rest, gaining international attention, spawning numerous sequels and the inevitable, inferior American remake. Rereleased now by Arrow Video, on an upgraded Blu-ray ed...

The opening scene of Pieces of a Woman may well prove to be the point which either wins or loses its audience. It begins with Martha (Vanessa Kirby) experiencing labour pains while her partner Sean (Shia LaBeouf) hurries to get the midwife. Continuing through Martha’s labour, her delivery and finally the tragic passing of their new born; director Kornél Mundruczó presents all of this in a near thirty-minute single take. As it unfolds in real time, it’s unclear if the intention is to inspire r...

Here comes Atticus Freeman; adventurer, scholar, Chicago South Sider, and monster killer. Atticus is the central character of Lovecraft Country, which is not only presenting stories we’ve never seen from Black characters before but is also arguably the best show on television. It may well be a star-making role for lead actor Jonathan Majors after twelve months of incredible supporting performances.
A graduate from the prestigious Yale School of Drama, Majors has repeatedly demonstrated both a...

This article was written exclusively for The Film Magazine by Jack Cameron.
New Order (2020)
Director: Michel Franco
Writer: Michel Franco
Starring: Naian González Norvind, Diego Boneta, Mónica Del Carmen, Darío Yazbek
New Order opens with a blurry montage of disturbing images; people in various stages of distress, outbursts of violence and piles of dead bodies littering city streets. It’s a vicious assault on the senses and its rapid-fire delivery leaves the audience clueless as to what’s go...

Writer-director Ben Sharrock has made something very special with Limbo. In this film about a group of displaced refugees awaiting asylum on an anonymous Hebridean island, he manages to deliver humour, heartbreak and pathos in equal measure. Presented in an offbeat tone that deceptively covers the depth of its story, Limbo proves to be a profoundly moving piece of cinema.
With nothing to do, Omar spends his days walking back and forth across the island lugging his heavy Oud with him. The inst...

There is something really eerie about watching someone perform a voice-over. Inés is a voice actor who is first seen, mid-session, dubbing a porn film. Listening to the emotions coming from Inés’ voice, in contrast to the vacant expression on her face, is a deliberately off-setting introduction. It establishes a strange tone which The Intruder tries but fails to maintain throughout the film.
Director Natalia Meta creates moments which evoke the central relationship in Midsommar, the off-kilte...

This article was written exclusively for The Film Magazine by Jack Cameron.
Wildfire (2020)
Director: Cathy Brady
Screenwriter: Cathy Brady
Starring: Nika McGuigan, Nora-Jane Noone, Kate Dickie, Martin McCann
Opening with composited newsreel footage of UK soldiers patrolling the streets of Belfast, bomb explosions, arrests, mass incarcerations and family tragedy, the first few minutes of Wildfire whip through the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Particular attention is given to th...

Mustafa (Ali Suliman) lives in the West Bank while his wife and children live in Israel. In order to see them, he must slowly make his way through a very intimidating border check. It is the only path through the wall that separates Mustafa’s home from his family’s: a distance of 200 metres. It is a constant reminder, during the events that follow, of Mustafa’s paradoxical situation; the distance he must travel is at once miniscule and terrifyingly far.
Writer-director Ameen Nayfeh’s feature ...

Director Hirokazu Koreeda further blurs the lines between film and television with the first episode of his new series, A Day Off Of Kasumi Arimura. A comic, sweet, charming drama that sees actress Kasumi Arimura play a fictional version of herself. With filming cancelled on her current TV show, Kasumi makes an impromptu visit to her mother in her old hometown.
Koreeda’s cinematic career has been defined by depictions of, unconventional, family dynamics. His latest is smaller and lighter in t...

A small village in Czechoslovakia has had its nationality swapped numerous times. Its position near a contentious border means it has belonged to several countries; the one thing that remains constant is its people. However, when war comes in 1939, one group of villagers decide to officially announce themselves as German, a move that ideologically splits the village apart—a blow that they will never recover from.
Neighbours turn on each other with shocking speed and incredible acts of cruelty...