Features and reviews

Discover the latest from the BFI, the UK’s lead organisation for film, television and the moving image.

From the Sight and Sound archive

Lonesome tonight: Tony Rayns and Edward Yang on A Brighter Summer Day

Gang feuds, a troubled teenage romance and political paranoia in 1960 Taiwan are mixed in Edward Yang's extraordinary epic A Brighter Summer Day. Tony Rayns recalls visiting the set and reflects on Yang's achievement in this 1993 feature.

By Tony Rayns

Lonesome tonight: Tony Rayns and Edward Yang on A Brighter Summer Day

Object of the week

How to train a kestrel: the original notes from the making of Kes

By Melanie Williams

How to train a kestrel: the original notes from the making of Kes

Rarities of British cinema

Three weeks, two lovers, one shelved film: Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier’s forgotten blackmail drama 21 Days

By Josephine Botting

Three weeks, two lovers, one shelved film: Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier’s forgotten blackmail drama 21 Days

Features

Sumitra Peries’s The Girls: how a landmark Sri Lankan film captures the agony of girlhood

By Uditha Devapriya

Sumitra Peries’s The Girls: how a landmark Sri Lankan film captures the agony of girlhood

From the Sight and Sound archive

God’s lonely man: Amy Taubin on Taxi Driver

By Amy Taubin

God’s lonely man: Amy Taubin on Taxi Driver

Object of the week

The back room from Dead of Night: the production design for a dusty hiding place

By Melanie Williams

The back room from Dead of Night: the production design for a dusty hiding place

Features

BFI Flare: through the years

Finest hours

Finest hours: Robert Walker as the charm-school sociopath in Strangers on a Train

By Chloe Walker

Finest hours: Robert Walker as the charm-school sociopath in Strangers on a Train

Black Film Bulletin

Excavating legacies: Euzhan Palcy interviewed by June Givanni

By Abiba Coulibaly

Excavating legacies: Euzhan Palcy interviewed by June Givanni

Then and now

75 years of The Lavender Hill Mob: how the London locations look today

By Adam Scovell

75 years of The Lavender Hill Mob: how the London locations look today

Black Film Bulletin

The monster and the mirror: Black resistance humour in cinema

By Artel Great

The monster and the mirror: Black resistance humour in cinema

Object of the week

Object of the week: Costume designs for Julie Christie in the swinging 60s drama Darling

By Melanie Williams

Object of the week: Costume designs for Julie Christie in the swinging 60s drama Darling

Then and now

Amélie’s Paris: how the locations look, 25 years later

By Adam Scovell

Amélie’s Paris: how the locations look, 25 years later

From the Sight and Sound archive

Death becomes Visconti

By Michael Wood

Death becomes Visconti

Object of the week

Object of the week: Pre-Python promotional shots for 60s ITV sketch show Do Not Adjust Your Set

By Lisa Kerrigan

Object of the week: Pre-Python promotional shots for 60s ITV sketch show Do Not Adjust Your Set

Then and now

30 years of Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies: how the London locations look today

By Adam Scovell

30 years of Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies: how the London locations look today

Object of the week

Inside a 1959 fan magazine for Marilyn Monroe

By Tamar Jeffers-McDonald

Inside a 1959 fan magazine for Marilyn Monroe

Features

The film that fate helped make a classic: The Misfits

By Geoff Andrew

The film that fate helped make a classic: The Misfits

Features

Reservoir Cops: Quentin Tarantino on The Rip

By Quentin Tarantino

Reservoir Cops: Quentin Tarantino on The Rip

Features

The Marilyn moment: Monroe at 100

By Farran Smith Nehme

The Marilyn moment: Monroe at 100

Object of the week

Emeric Pressburger’s screening room pass for the UFA film studios in pre-Nazi Germany

By Melanie Williams

Emeric Pressburger’s screening room pass for the UFA film studios in pre-Nazi Germany

From the Sight and Sound archive

A “lethally perfumed neo-noir”: David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr.

By Graham Fuller

A “lethally perfumed neo-noir”: David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr.

Features

Exit 8: in the loop

By Adam Nayman

Exit 8: in the loop

Where to begin

Where to begin with Ritwik Ghatak

By Sanghita Sen

Where to begin with Ritwik Ghatak

Features

Guillermo del Toro’s advice for young filmmakers: stay untamed, irrational and stubborn

By Ivie Uzebu

Guillermo del Toro’s advice for young filmmakers: stay untamed, irrational and stubborn

Where to begin

Where to begin with Aleksandr Rou

By Deborah Allison

Where to begin with Aleksandr Rou

Then and now

In search of the locations from Bicycle Thieves

By Adam Scovell

In search of the locations from Bicycle Thieves

Object of the week

When Brighton Rock was called ‘The Worst Sin’ – the rare original poster

By Alex Prideaux

When Brighton Rock was called ‘The Worst Sin’ – the rare original poster

From the Sight and Sound archive

Beauties and the beast: Lina Wertmüller’s Seven Beauties and Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver

By Colin L. Westerbeck Jr.

Beauties and the beast: Lina Wertmüller’s Seven Beauties and Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver

Object of the week

Object of the week: Sight and Sound’s Festival of Britain special from 75 years ago

By Alex Prideaux

Object of the week: Sight and Sound’s Festival of Britain special from 75 years ago