Yes, Pixar has created a film with laugh-out-loud moments and imaginative ideas, but what  it really does, more than that, is depict the reality of what it is to live. It takes a risk - and uses a  young person as their main character - and in doing so, invites older viewers to confront the fact that mental health can plague us from a young age. Moreover, for the younger viewers,  it gives one important message - it is normal and okay to struggle. It gives shape to these  scary abstract emotions. 

You’ve probably guessed by now that the premise of The Assembly is where a group of autistic, neurodivergent and learning disabled people interview celebrities. I appreciate its heart is in the right place, and I don’t want to tear it apart completely. Except I do. It’s 2025 and it feels incredibly frustrating and disappointing to see disabled people treated like zoo animals. 

Jane Schoenbrun’s freshman feature We’re All Going to the World’s Fair released in 2021. It is a film that captures what it meant to be a teenager growing up in the internet age, and the effect of the media consumed on one’s identity through a lo-fi horror aesthetic. This concept is developed further in their next film, 2024’s I Saw The TV Glow, swapping out the presence of internet access with that of nostalgic late night cable television. Within this lies the core identity of the film: the damage caused from the repression of identity, and more importantly, why the expressionism of oneself is important.

Having first seen the movie in my mid teens, somewhere in the early 2000’s, the movie was  fundamental in the forming of my love of cinema. Besides this, I developed some strong emotional bonds over the love of this movie, at a difficult age where such things are pivotal.

 “The big important definition is that it's fashion IN film.” Dal tells me as we sit outside the watershed on a fresh Sunday afternoon. “It's not a fashion film festival which is the mistake that a lot of people often make and that distinction, that tiny word of two letters, is so crucial. Because what it should imply is that we're interested in film and Cinema”. 

Losing Joy is a short film about a young woman struggling to acknowledge the first anniversary of her sister’s death. Faith [Michelle Tiwo] is lost in grief until close friend and former girlfriend Olivia [Shanay Neusum-James] guides her into acceptance.

Ahead of the release of his biopic Rebel Dread, we speak to acclaimed videographer, film-maker and DJ Don Letts. Growing up with the ever-present threat of racism, police harassment and violence in London during the 60s and 70s, Letts found himself at the epicentre of the emerging punk movement in the late 1970s. Don Letts was central to the crossover between the rasta and punk scenes, which created something completely new and exciting which has influenced the sound of UK alternative music ever since.

Welcome to March’s film and TV review round-up! February’s review round-up was such a success that we decided to keep the ball rolling. With reviews from writers across the globe, we’ll be bringing you their thoughts and opinions on some of the newest releases.

Let’s get stuck in…