When a documentary film is about a filmmaker and their own family, there is really no way to critique the work of art without critiquing the people in it. That caveat, or concern, is especially important for Remake, the new documentary by Ross McElwee, who single-handedly changed the world of …
In the UK Sense and Sensibility has a U rating – suitable for all – which is the equivalent of an American G rating. For a movie about the romantic choices of two adult sisters this is an incredible achievement, even if it’s an adaption of a Jane Austen novel. …
There was an unusual preoccupation with performance art at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Perhaps this is because performance art is by definition tied to a specific place, people and moment, providing an experience that can never be replicated. On the other hand, in a world where all our moments …
Emmanuel Marre won the Best Screenplay Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for A Man of His Time aka Notre Salut, because it does the impossible: it is a comedy about the slide into fascism. But the film is clearly of personal as well as professional importance to Mr. …
The end credits confirm genAI was used for parts of Titanic Ocean. This is a disgraceful choice by writer-director Konstantina Kotzamani because it insults all the hard work of her cast and crews. This is especially unforgivable because the young actresses had to do a large amount of underwater work …
French family film Words of Love aka Quelques Mots d’Amour is about a tough but ordinary topic: how a child comes to terms with the fact the family they have is not the family they want. It features a single professional actor, Hafsia Herzi, as Erika the mother. All the others …
The Difficult Bride is rare on two counts: it is a Bangladeshi film, and its director, Rubaiyat Hossain, is a woman. It is rarer still for being both incredibly supportive and furiously critical of its heroine, who is also both a traditional woman (getting married very young) and a modern …
You don’t realise how tough it is to make a good documentary until you see ones which fall short. For a documentary to succeed, it needs to back up its assertions in ways which will stand up in court, access to the people who will give you that backup, and …
Writer-director Katharina Rivilis is clearly telling an personal story with I’ll Be Gone in June, an observant film about one German girl’s year as an exchange student in New Mexico. (How personal? According to the press notes some of the costumes are her own clothes from the time.) The southwestern …
It’s rare that the context of a movie’s making is as important to appreciating it as that of A Girl’s Story. It’s not only that the writer whose story has been adapted, Annie Ernaux, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2022. Ms. Ernaux has spent her life documenting, well, …
Memorizu is an incredible movie about the power of the image and the way images keep us connected to each other. It also does this within the context of a three-generation family which loves and likes each other and wants very much to stay connected, even if each generation has …
It’s hard to believe that a movie which begins with a suicide pact is able to feel so heartwarming, but What Is To Come is about a woman moving from the lowest point of her life into – well, something else. This Israeli movie about the importance of never giving …
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a lot of the greatest artists of our time were dealing with mental health issues. It is a further truth that these mental illnesses are handled are not always handled well in film biopics. This can be even more sensitive when the artist …
The title comes from a song; this isn’t really a Christmas movie. There are ups and downs in every career, but Pedro Almodóvar has been on a downswing lately. He commented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023 that he is no longer interested in exploring human sexuality onscreen, though …
Does anyone helpfully inform a family member that they are going “out” anymore? Maybe not, but Just an Illusion remembers when that was all the detail a parent required. This French movie about the run up to a boy’s bar mitzvah is the kind of gentle, low-stakes story the entire …
The question of how you tell an untellable story is at the heart of Agata the Writer, which was evidently a passion project for writer-director-cinematographer-editor-composer Kuba Dorabialski (who also plays the small part of Janek). Its awkward thoughtfulness sets an unusual tone that will not resonate with a lot of …
It’s always interesting, though not always for the right reasons, when a director on a publicity tour manages to undermine his own movie. At this year’s Venice Film Festival the headlines about Paul Schrader were not about The Basics of Philosophy, the movie receiving its world premiere. Oh no, he …
Father Joe is dumber than a box of rocks and more entertaining than a box of frogs. There is nothing to recommend Father Joe except for its commitment to being the stupidest possible piece of action entertainment. Luc Besson, who wrote and produced the film for director Barthélémy Grossmann, clearly …
In The Black Ball directors Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo (known as Los Javis) and cinematographer Gris Jordana have created an unusually beautiful work of art. The Black Ball is kind and tender, very clear-eyed about the trauma of war and the misery of addiction. But above all it is …
Rwandan filmmaker Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo won the Camera d’Or – the prize for best debut feature in any of the festival’s competition strands – at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for Ben’Imana. This is a double achievement as Ben’Imana is also the first Rwandan film ever to compete at Cannes …