The considerably more dramatic original title of this German movie is Ants Don’t Eat Halva. This is a line spoken during the argument that’s at the core of this sweet and strange story of adult responsibilities assumed much too young. I Spy With My Little Eye has heavy subject matter …
One movie is an experience. Four is a consensus. The female filmmakers of America have agreed: modern motherhood is hell on earth. The mommies at the centre of these recent movies are all wealthy, with every societal advantage their husband’s money can buy. (They’re all thin and white too, if we …
Using the court system as a way to discuss societal problems has been a mainstay of television around the world for decades. Yet since Anatomy of a Fall gave the world an clever, multilingual mystery, the court system has suddenly become just as popular a technique for movies to address …
Some writers might use subtext. Others have the main female character ask the male lead, “So you’re on a f*cked-up American pilgrimage?” It never hurts to spell things out, but Via Negativa ricochets quite a bit between overly explaining things and letting Young Mazino’s handsome face do all the work. …
This charming little movie doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does do three things. It makes the case that Haley Bennett is one of our most overlooked movie stars, it introduces Austrian actor Elyas M’Barek to English-speaking audiences, and it tells a serious story of unsupported female ambition with a …
Film festivals can be a little too intellectual sometimes. There is of course space in movies for people giving each other lectures on why capitalism is bad (something that featured in an awful lot of films at Cannes this year). But those movies are rarely a good time, and most …
Romantic movies told from the male point of view tend to focus on the guy, especially a guy able to recognise something in a woman – beauty, brains, talent – that she didn’t know she had. Through the guy’s actions the woman is able to get what she deserves, which …
Netflix’s Beef, starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, was a phenomenon upon its release in 2023. At the time, everyone thought that the show would be nothing more than a limited series. Now in 2026, Beef has taken the anthology route with a brand new eight-episode season. Beef season two …
Travel remains one of life’s luxuries where, for a few hours whilst in the air, passengers are encouraged to switch off from outside distractions and disconnect those online connections. Therefore to be a designated ‘travel companion’ to receive free flights, on standby, is a perk that few are unlikely to …
For anyone who is, knows, or aspires to be a dad, Finnegan’s Foursome is the perfect movie. The stakes are low, the banter is high, and there’s so much golf that anyone who’s ever fallen asleep in front of Sunday afternoon television will feel right at home. Edward Burns has …
When someone writes, directs and edits their own film, this can be a promising sign of an expert knowing exactly how to deliver the idea they have in their head. It can also be an exercise in the worst kind of self-indulgence, the kind that brooks no feedback and maintains …
Wasteman follows the great British cinema tradition of bringing no-holds barred, gritty stories to life. Cal McMau’s feature debut casts a sceptical eye on the British prison system and questions how effective it realistically is. The drama follows Taylor (David Jonsson) who is mere weeks away from being released on …
Director Jamie Adams has a no-budget niche. He finds a location and maybe six actors, prepares a concept and character arcs, starts the camera rolling, and allows the cast to improvise their way to the aimed-for ending. Within a week. His shooting schedule for his films lasts approximately a week. …
Dustin Hoffman might not have too many more films in him, but he is winding up his career on a personal high. In Tuner, also released this year, he stole the entire film as the kind and charismatic piano tuner everybody can’t help loving. In The Revisionist he pulls off …
Paweł Pawlikowski shared the Best Director prize at this year’s Cannes with the directors of The Black Ball, who spoke first. When he finally gained the podium for his own speech, Mr. Pawlikowski laughed and (accurately) said the staging of this moment was terrible. No such mistakes were made for …
The wild success of the mediocre A Complete Unknown has at least opened up a new trend for cinema: a fictionalised exploration of specific albums recorded by specific artists. These stories tend to hark back to the analogue era, not only because young people who can’t imagine making music without …
Surrealism is not my favorite film genre, but I will make a massive exception if it’s in the hands of Boots Riley. Not unlike his debut, Riley’s latest feature, I Love Boosters, is a weird, vibrant, funny, thoughtful, hopeful thesis on collective action and workers’ rights. At a time when …
It’s a trope seen more often in romantic comedies, but on this level at least Paper Tiger innovates: it is the rare thriller that relies on The Idiot Plot. The only way everything in Paper Tiger happens is because all three main characters are complete and total idiots. It looks …
“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives” utters the popular opening credits narration from the daytime soap, Days of Our Lives. This also rings true for Ferzan Özpetek’s latest film Diamanti, which heavily peers through time’s hourglass in its depiction of the past and present …
Diego Luna has used the attention gained from the success of Andor to make a fascinating movie about a young Mexican woman’s tough life in Spain. Broadly speaking it is about the ways resentment and annoyance can spoil attempts to build a better life. Ashes also knows the power of …