Ryan Gilbey

Ryan Gilbey is the New Statesman's film critic. He is also the author of It Don't Worry Me (Faber), about 1970s US cinema, and a study of Groundhog Day in the "Modern Classics" series (BFI Publishing). He was named reviewer of the year in the 2007 Press Gazette awards.

RSS

Film

It's not a mainstream film, but Like Someone in Love tells us no more about the realities of prostitution than Pretty Woman

20 June 2013

Like Someone in Love by the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami uses prostitution as a means to pursue its own ends: an analysis of identity and everyday role playing, without the slightest hint of smut.

Film

Because he's a Stone Roses superfan, Shane Meadows's chronicle of the band's comeback feels like a dereliction of duty

18 June 2013

The Stone Roses are back, whether you like it or not. Two new films, Spike Island by Mat Whitecross and Shane Meadow's Made of Stone, boast of the band's greatness, without offering much of a reason for it.

Film

Every time we say goodbye

14 June 2013

Richard Linklater’s remarkable 20-year, three-film journey, from sunrise to midnight.

Ryan Gilbey on Film

From Satyajit Ray and Lars von Trier to Richard Linklater and Edgar Wright: Three is the magic number

12 June 2013

One film? Anyone can do that. A set of two? Just bookends. Three is a force to be reckoned with.

Film

All may, none must, some should: Is it right for an actor to apologise for their work?

07 June 2013

Daniel Craig apologised for Quantum of Solace in 2011, and this week, Glenn Close has expressed regret publicly for her portrayal of a woman with mental illness in Fatal Attraction. But was it necessary?

Film

Behind the Candelabra and The Comedian: The end of the affair

07 June 2013

How to describe Liberace? Imagine a French Fancy at a grand piano, decked out in jewellery that would make the average hip-hop performer look frugal, and you're in the right ballroom. I mean, ballpark.

Film

Thérèse Desqueyroux strives after a significance that it can’t corroborate

06 June 2013

Claude Miller's new adaptation of Thérèse Desqueyroux has some neat acting from Audrey Tautou, but the film fails to catch fire.

Film

Raise ravens and they’ll pluck out your eyes

24 May 2013

If you’ve seen The Cement Garden, Pan’s Labyrinth or The Others, you are already familiar with some of the pictures which wouldn’t exist without Carlos Saura's Cría cuervos.

Film

The Hangover Part III: a franchise in its death throes

23 May 2013

Another installment of the second-unfunniest comedy franchise in town.

Film

I'm not worried about masculinity in crisis: I've seen where it leads

16 May 2013

Blood, mud and splinters.