October 2009

Please view our back issues page for more information about obtaining previous months issues, dating back to 1995.

Features

#Going underground

Billy Elliot screenwriter Lee Hall digs into the BFI National Archive’s extraordinary collection of films about the mining industry, which offer a provocative and often moving celebration of everyday labour

#Crossing the threshold

On the eve of a retrospective of his films in London, Colossal Youth director Pedro Costa discusses his career with Kieron Corless, while (in the magazine) critic Quintín explains why the Portuguese film-maker’s process is key to understanding his work.

Also in the magazine, Argentinian critic Quintín charts the development of Costa’s unique filming style. Plus exclusively online:

#Serenity

Miguel Gomes explains how Pedro Costa found a home to film as his own with the inhabitants of Fontainhas on the margins of Lisbon

Cover feature: Estate of mind

Red Road director Andrea Arnold tells Lisa Mullen why thinking is the enemy of creativity - and why it's only the middle classes who are likely to find her acclaimed new council-estate drama Fish Tank 'grim'.

PLUS Nick Roddick explains why the director fits a tradition of British film-makers who refuse to be constrained by the social-realist label

In the line of beauty

R.J. Cutler tells Nick James how he gained the trust of Anna Wintour, the famously icy editor of American Vogue, for his fascinating documentary The September Issue

Phoning it in

Sally Potter talks to Nick Bradshaw about her experimental fashion drama Rage, and explains why it's impossible to resist change

Reality check

Jonathan Romney reports from the Tuscan set of Abbas Kiarostami's enigmatic Juliette Binoche vehicle Certified Copy

Selected reviews

#Film of the Month: The Beaches of Agnès

Eighty-one this year, Agnès Varda looks back on a life that took her from the French New Wave to hippie-era Los Angeles and beyond, in a self-portrait that’s as rich and full as any autobiography, says Jonathan Romney

#DVD review: The Howl

Tim Lucas admires the revolutionary electricity and formal adandon of Tinto Brass’ 1968 The Howl

#Film review: BirdWatchers

#Film review: Tricks

Reviews in this issue:

  • 31 North 62 East
  • The Agent
  • Aliens in the Attic
  • Away We Go
  • Film of the Month: The Beaches of Agnès
  • Film review: BirdWatchers
  • Blind Dating
  • Born in 68/Nés on 68 Nous nous aimerons jusqu'à la mort
  • Bustin' Down the Door
  • Chevolution
  • Coffin Rock
  • Creation
  • District 9
  • Dorian Gray
  • The Firm
  • Fish Tank
  • Funny People
  • G-Force
  • Goodbye Solo
  • Heart of Fire/Feuerherz
  • DVD: The Howl
  • DVD review: The Howl
  • Je veux voir
  • Jetsam
  • Julie & Julia
  • The Meerkats
  • Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus
  • Morning Light
  • Orphan/Orphan Das Waisenkind/ Esther/L'Orpheline
  • A Perfect Getaway
  • The September Issue
  • Shank
  • Shorts
  • The Soloist
  • The Spell
  • The Time Traveler's Wife/Die Frau des Zeitreisenden
  • Film review: Tricks
  • Up
  • Vinyan
  • White Lightnin'
Last Updated: 20 Dec 2011