Rory O'Connor

[Venice Review] Chuck

Chuck looks a bit familiar. A film of browns and greens; disco music and ‘70s rock tunes; big haircuts and even bigger lapels. Indeed, in a way reminiscent of r...

[Venice Review] Arrival

In Arrival, prolific Québécois director Denis Villeneuve ponders the ramifications and possibilities of a potential first-contact between human beings and an ad...

[Venice Review] La La Land

There’s a great recurring gag in Whiplash director Damien Chazelle’s La La Land -- a beautiful, audacious, aesthetically vibrant, and enchanting contemporary mu...

[Cannes Review] After the Storm

Can our children pick and choose the personality traits they inherit, or are they doomed to obtain our lesser qualities? These are the hard questions being medi...

[Cannes Review] The Last Face

There is a moment in Sean Penn’s new film -- for some reason screening this week in competition in Cannes -- when, having navigated the safe passage of a group ...

[Cannes Review] The Red Turtle

Motion, love for the Gaia, and lush orchestral music provide the backbone of Michaël Dudok de Wit’s The Red Turtle, a dialogue-free, feature-length animation ab...

[Cannes Review] Two Lovers and a Bear

Kim Nguyen’s Two Lovers and a Bear is a film that suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. Like an indie playlist stuck on constant shuffle, unapologetically r...

[Cannes Review] Ma’ Rosa

Not a huge amount happens in Ma’ Rosa, the relentless new film from Filipino director Brillante Mendoza, which premieres this week in competition at Cannes. In ...

Rory O'Connor

Irish-born, Berlin-based, Rory O'Connor has been covering the European film festival circuit since 2012. A regular contributor to The Film Stage, his work has also appeared in Frieze, The Playlist, and CineVue.