Thelma

Thelma & Louise remains one of Hollywood’s most treasured classics, but the film was nearly derailed at every turn. First was the task of getting it made in the first place. The screenplay behind the iconic 1991 release, written by Callie Khouri, floated around Hollywood for several years before finally getting picked up, and was referred to by its many dismissive detractors as simply “two b*tches in a car.” Nice. The task of casting was also a massive hurdle, and saw a huge number of names considered, and even…

Somehow, its already been more than 30 years since 1991’s Thelma & Louise hit theaters. The chemistry between lead stars Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon is utterly unmatched in this early ’90s release, which blends together so many potential genres that it still falls somewhere in between. Part feminist crime caper, part buddy road trip comedy, part rom-com, the film doesn’t mire itself in a single camp, and arises all the better for it. It still holds up, a good three decades post-release, and a huge part of the…

Thelma Schoonmaker was 15 when she first watched The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, a wartime classic by the British film-making duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, one day after school.“It just so happened to be on, but I never forgot it. It reigned in my brain,” she says wistfully, almost 70 years later. “I had no idea it was made by the man I would later marry.”Today, Schoonmaker is arguably the world’s most successful film editor, having collaborated with Martin Scorsese for more than five decades. She is the…

Screenwriter Callie Khouri’s desperada road-movie thriller Thelma & Louise is the classic whose Bechdel test credentials go all the way up to the title. Just over 30 years later, it looks punchier, bolder, hotter and sweatier than ever. This is a masterclass in narrative construction and character development and director Ridley Scott puts his pedal to the metal with pure action brio; I always particularly love the shot where the camera lovingly counter-swooshes back along the flank of the Thunderbird while it barrels…

Image: Magnet ReleasingDarkly funny and deeply existential, Mali Elfman’s debut feature Next Exit confronts questions of life and death with a sci-fi practicality that allows the emotional, character-driven story to unfold. As odd couple Rose (Katie Parker) and Teddy (Rahul Kohli) travel cross-country in order to take part in a clinical death trial, they confront their own traumas and hang-ups in an attempt to figure out what they are willing to suffer to survive. The film is pragmatic and deliberate, an esoteric…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeGeena Davis has discussed her memories of Brad Pitt’s audition forThelma & Louise, as well as the future A-listers he beat to land the part.The role of cowboy hitchhiker JD brought Pitt to mainstream attention in 1991, and is widely credited with having helped to launch the actor’s career.During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show on Friday (21 October), Davis recalled that she…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeGeena Davis has discussed her memories of Brad Pitt’s audition forThelma & Louise, as well as the future A-listers he beat to land the part.The role of cowboy hitchhiker JD brought Pitt to mainstream attention in 1991, and is widely credited with having helped to launch the actor’s career.During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show on Friday (21 October), Davis recalled that she…