Chris Jury finds Adam Curtis's latest film to be memorable and compelling, but also irritatingly obscure. The term "hypernormalisation" is taken from Alexei Yurchak's 2006 book Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation, in which Yurchak argues that for many decades everyone had known the…

Professor Mark Stephens argues that the underlying solution to the misery inflicted on the characters portrayed in David Loach’s film lies in reforming policy, not charity. Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winning film, I, Daniel Blake, has publicised the way in which the social security system is administered and, in particular,…

Steve Presence looks at the way space, class and masculinity are represented in two films directed by Shane Meadows. Introducing his book Cinematic Countrysides (2007), Robert Fish emphasises the ‘rich and diverse spatial imagery’ evoked when considering cinematic representations of rural space. Exploring representations of the countryside on film also,…