After Love (Joachim Lafosse, 2016)

“People used to be able to mend stuff. They’d mend socks, fridges… Now, they throw them out at the first problem. A relationship is the same. No desire, out it goes. But nobody’s perfect.”

The above dialogue comes from the mother of one of After Love’s protagonists. Considering how it sounds like a mission statement of sorts when taken out of context, one who’s not yet seen the film might expect that the marital feud at the film’s centre eventually dissipates, that perhaps the people facing an amorous breakdown might seek to persevere and stay together for the kids. But happy endings aren’t really the forte of Belgian director Joachim Lafosse, whose international breakthrough, 2012’s Our Children, was based on a true infanticide case…

Full review for VODzilla.co

The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook, 2016)

After a polarising foray into English-language filmmaking with 2013’s Stoker, Park Chan-wook returns to his native South Korean cinema for The Handmaiden. The results on display suggest a director rejuvenated. With this period epic of lust, love and (lady) vengeance there’s still all of the off-kilter bombast and blunt force that has characterised his career to date, but with a much more assured control of tone, pitch-black humour and his maximalist stylistic tendencies that makes this a career high…

Full review for The Skinny