Classical Hollywood filmmaker Howard Hughes is the tragic centrepiece of Martin Scorsese’s treatise on an industry that is both extravagantly pioneering and detrimentally obsessive, and in its Technicolor experimentations, The Aviator fully recognises both sides of this glamorous culture and the bright-minded pioneer it consumed.
The reunion of young film director Enrique with old childhood friend Angel at the start of Bad Education is complicated when fraudulent identities come to light, warping Pedro Almodóvar’s transgressive melodrama of child sexual abuse and corrupt religious authorities into a twisted yet vibrantly colourful neo-noir of elaborate lies and murder.
There is a beautiful, architectural surrealism to the miniature replicas of world-famous monuments of The World, as the theme park where Jia Zhangke sets his film shrinks these landmarks down to a size that makes both tourists and staff look like giants, and criticises a globalised Chinese culture that allows for such a cheapening of art and culture.
