Freeze: Iced up Santa, freeze frames, Antarctic creatures

Read about the real evil Santa in his ice prison in twisted Finish fairy tale Rare Exports, chilled emotions in American independent cinema, freeze frames and stasis in La jetée, Lovecraftian ice monsters + a Reel Sounds column about The Shining‘s soundtrack.

This month sees the release of the much talked-about A Serbian Film, which was heavily cut by the British censors – read the interview with director Srdjan Spasojevic. Norwegian black metal documentary Until the Light Takes Us also provoked controversy at festival screenings this year. Also out is Mathieu Amalric’s acidic burlesque comedy On Tour and charming British sci-fi romance Monsters.

In the DVDs, we review Jacques Tati’s Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot and Playtime, and we have a Comic Strip Review of Boudu Saved from Drowning. Our Online Movies column looks at the wonderful Horse Glue, Short Cuts focuses on Tom Browne’s football gorilla nightmare Aston Gorilla while in Alter Ego author Sarah Moss is Filippa in Babette’s Feast.

We have an interview with one of pinku eiga‘s Four Devils, Hisayasu Satô, and a feature on Spanish pioneer Segundo de Chom&#243n. You can read festival reports on Zipangu and Cine-City in the Blog while retro popsters The Loves pick their favourite films in the Film Jukebox. For a look back at the year in film, check out our review of 2010.

PODCAST:
Guerilla Filmmaking and Fleeing Monsters: In a Q&A recorded live at this year’s Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest and broadcast on Resonance FM, Alex Fitch talks to British director Gareth Edwards about his genre-crossing film Monsters, which features a photo-journalist escorting a spoilt rich girl across Mexico following an alien invasion. Gareth Edwards discusses his use of special effects and the pros and cons of shooting guerrilla-style with a small cast and crew South of the Border.