Sky Peals (2023)

from The Guardian

An arresting first feature – unsettling and effective. Hussain takes the humble service station and cleverly paints it as a nightmarish modern limbo, with the motorway repurposed as a secular River Styx.

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This is Going to Hurt (2022)

from The Guardian

"Like the book, This Is Going to Hurt is full of images and scenes that you’ll hope to forget." Lucy Mangan

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Anatolian Leopard (2021)

from TIFF
The Toronto International Film Festival, the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) have named their award winners for work screened at TIFF 2021.
“We are thrilled to announce that Anatolian Leopard has received the 2021 FIPRESCI Jury Award,” said Diana Sanchez, senior director, film, TIFF. “Every year we are amazed at the creativity and audaciousness of the filmmakers in our line-up. Anatolian Leopard, directed by Emre Kayis is no exception.”
The 2021 FIPRESCI jury released a statement that called its winner “a perfectly controlled comedy of manners, Anatolian Leopard takes the temperature of a country torn between the old ways and modernity – not to say between honour and corruption – while offering up a melancholy portrait of a man at odds with his surroundings. Emre Kayis shows great formal accomplishment in this measured and thoughtful film, which stood out from the competition for its singular tone and worldview.”
 

Limbo (2020)

from Radio Times
"The film is also a treat for the eyes, shifting between the dehumanising hostel where the men have been housed and the seemingly endless purgatorial bleakness of the island itself. The result is one of the best films ever made about the refugee experience." Stephen Applebaum

from Film Inquiry
"Frightening in its portrait of sorrow yet far from pedantic in its exploration of asylum-seeking, “Limbo” is nothing short of sublime, a triumphant feat of storytelling as striking in its visuals as it is in its writing. Sharrock is unafraid to cut a deep wound, blowing lovingly into it and then cutting into it deeper, a steady, well-orchestrated cycle of small joys and gutwrenching woes." Rafaela Sales Ross

from Time Out
"It’s a credit to Sharrock that “Limbo” can hold this multiplicity, flexing to accommodate tonal changes in much the same way cinematographer Nick Cooke’s aspect ratio shifts to embrace the astounding scenery. There are shots and simple moments here that will break and remake you. Sublime." Stephen A. Russell

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Make Up (2020)

from Sight and Sound

"Make Up is a mesmerising and original coming-of-age story that will leave you lost in its embrace long after the credits have rolled." Rebecca Harrison

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from Screen Daily

"Oakley has crafted a story which packs an immersive sensory punch." Nikki Baughan

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Responsible Child (2019)

from the Times (UK)
"told sparingly, eloquently and with such realistic dialogue and camerawork that at times it felt like a documentary." Carol Midgley

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from Metro

"A story like this is meant to spark debate, and it grips you tight, and leaves you struggling for breath in pure frustration and anger and pity for everyone involved."

"Whatever the show’s outcome, no one would’ve been a winner here – but this one-off special really is a heartbreaker that deserves all the recognition it’s in line to get." Tilly Pearce

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Pond Life (2018)

from Sight & Sound

"Thanks to some committed, sensitive performances, Nick Cooke’s gorgeously sun-soaked cinematography and a gruffly romantic soundtrack by Richard Hawley, Pond Life happily becomes more than the sum of it’s parts." Pamela Hutchinson

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The Hungry (2017)

from Hollywood Reporter

"Apart from Sheetal Sharma’s eye-catching costumes, tech credits work together to create a highly atmospheric film. DP Nick Cooke’s diffuse lighting offers the unsettling colors of the polluted dawn mist in New Delhi, or the mirrored white hall of glass, a sort of corridor of power, inside the Ahuja family complex." Deborah Young

 

from Screen Daily

"There is notable work from cinematographer Nick Cooke as he captures misty morning scenes, contrasting rich and poor or glides through the courses of a vast and deadly wedding banquet." Allan Hunter

Butterfly Kisses (2016)
from The Guardian
"Strong performances are the basis of this promising piece of work; Nick Cooke’s high-contrast monochrome cinematography gives it an interestingly European feel."  Peter Bradshaw

from Tagesspiegel
“The images are intransigently acute, reflecting the disunity of Jake, who is increasingly drifting into isolation and so becomes ever more unattainable.” Kirsten Taylor

from Screen Daily
"Striking black-and-white camerawork from Nick Cooke - Cooke’s photography certainly creates an ominous atmosphere that’s a lot classier than the rough-grained Brit realist norm."  Jonathan Romney

 

Pikadero (2015)

from Screen Daily
"Carefully composed throughout with a fondness for long static shots and precise framing, especially in the couple’s frequent retreats to a railway station shelter, the film is a triumph for cinematographer Nick Cooke who contributes to a sense of lives diminished by their oppressive surroundings. Gorka’s family seem to be squashed into a home that is too small for all of them. Cooke also provides some beautiful images of starry night skies, piercing sunshine and the way bright colors intrude into an otherwise drab world." Allan Hunter