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4/5
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Reality
(2023)
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Alexa Dalby
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Reality is unbelievably involving, even though, because it is based on real events, you know how it ends...
Posted Jun 08, 2023
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4/5
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The Blue Caftan
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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This haunting film is about the quiet love and tenderness that people may have for each other, which makes the ordinary extraordinary.
Posted May 12, 2023
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4/5
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Pacifiction
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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I still can’t get it out of my mind. Or unsee its beautiful images.
Posted Apr 27, 2023
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4/5
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Leonor Will Never Die
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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Leonora Will Never Die is an unclassifiable meta-mixture of a fantasy pastiche of the schlock ’70s action movies that Leonora used to write.
Posted Apr 27, 2023
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4/5
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Godland
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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Godland is visually stunning. Icelandic writer-director Hlynur Pálmason involves you in its unfolding story of a priest’s faith unravelling in the face of the terrible beauty of the unforgiving, vast Icelandic scenery.
Posted Apr 27, 2023
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3/5
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Love According to Dalva
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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Some of the child actors, including the central Zelda Samson herself, are non-professionals: director Emmanuelle Nicot has achieved exceptional performances from them.
Posted Apr 27, 2023
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4/5
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Close
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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Performances, notably that of young Eden Dambrine (talent spotted by Dhont on a train journey), who is present in almost every demanding scene, are all heartbreaking -- but ultimately in a positive way.
Posted Mar 03, 2023
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4/5
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Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
(2019)
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Alexa Dalby
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Enchanting.
Posted Mar 03, 2023
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3/5
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I'M FINE (Thanks for Asking)
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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The America of this film is a cruel society that neglects or devours its poor or unlucky people -- unless they are as strong as Danny.
Posted Mar 03, 2023
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4/5
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Saint Omer
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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It’s harrowing and haunting.
Posted Feb 08, 2023
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4/5
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Holy Spider
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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Even though Holy Spider is based on true events, so you may already know what happened, this is so suspenseful that it set my heart pounding throughout.
Posted Feb 08, 2023
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4/5
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Corsage
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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Corsage is reminiscent of Pablo Larrain’s Spencer in its episodic, impressionistic portrayal of a dangerously unhappy woman trapped in a stifling environment.
Posted Dec 22, 2022
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3/5
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Peter von Kant
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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A magnificent overblown oddity.
Posted Dec 22, 2022
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4/5
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Kanaval: A People's History of Haiti in Six Chapters
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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Kanaval is a fascinating documentary that lets Haitians speak for themselves about something we think we know: what it means for them is a cultural experience that’s uniquely Haitian.
Posted Nov 11, 2022
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4/5
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No Bears
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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No Bears is an incredibly poignant and brave statement on both Panahi’s own situation and that of his country, Iran. No Bears has so many layers and says so much.
Posted Nov 10, 2022
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3/5
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Neptune Frost
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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It’s weirdly fascinating, but at times tantalisingly slow and raw.
Posted Nov 03, 2022
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5/5
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Decision to Leave
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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It’s the work of a master, made with the characteristic directorial flair and élan that we have seen in Oldboy and The Handmaiden.
Posted Oct 27, 2022
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2/5
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All Is Vanity
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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All is Vanity feels to me like a pretentiously clever, satirical ultra-low-budget student graduation film -- (it’s Argentinian-born director Marcos Mereles’ feature debut), disjointed and surprisingly lifeless.
Posted Oct 14, 2022
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4/5
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It Is In Us All
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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It Is In Us All is a haunting film with a brooding sense of dread created by Jarvis’s performance, the atmospheric music and the stunning cinematography that both release the latent menace of the wild, remote country and coast.
Posted Sep 23, 2022
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3/5
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Juniper
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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Juniper is warm and by the end it is transcendentally satisfying, but, be warned, it’s also very sentimental and may very likely leave you sobbing against your will.
Posted Sep 23, 2022
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3/5
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Black Mail
(2022)
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Alexa Dalby
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As a whole, the film is male-orientated in its violence and with female characters who are only secondary, though it shows wider ambitions to resonate beyond a thriller into contemporary societal comment.
Posted Aug 25, 2022
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5/5
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Hit the Road
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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There’s so much in this wonderful film.
Posted Jul 29, 2022
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3/5
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Listen
(2020)
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Alexa Dalby
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The film is very moving and well acted, especially by Lucia Moniz
Posted Jun 24, 2022
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4/5
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Everything Went Fine
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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Everything Went Fine -- a bittersweet title -- is all the more effective for its understatement in avoiding the moral arguments about euthanasia and having its dramatic emotions so pared down.
Posted Jun 24, 2022
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4/5
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Faya Dayi
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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Faya Dayi is a uniquely beautiful, award-winning documentary that given enough attention, patience and time could create a meditative transcendence like that of its subject. But its non-linear two hours is a rather too-slow, lingering watch.
Posted Jun 24, 2022
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3/5
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Casablanca Beats
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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Casablanca Beats celebrates empowerment and the exhilarating release of finding a voice and being heard.
Posted May 05, 2022
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5/5
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Drive My Car
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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Drive My Car is a mesmerising film that stays with you long afterwards. Its rhythm and pace enfolds the viewer: by the end you see how necessary and fitting that three-hour journey was and how much it encompassed.
Posted Apr 01, 2022
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4/5
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The Worst Person in the World
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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If you can accept its premise, it’s a charming, engaging and, in the end, surprising watch.
Posted Mar 24, 2022
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4/5
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The Real Charlie Chaplin
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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The Real Charlie Chaplin is an excellent film biography and its focus on human drama is for everyone, not just for fans or film buffs.
Posted Feb 18, 2022
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5/5
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Flee
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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It’s a memorable, outstanding film, an empathetic aid to our understanding of the global plight of refugees.
Posted Feb 10, 2022
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4/5
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Petrov's Flu
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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Set in the wintry dark of the remote eastern city of Yekaterinburg, the film is a hallucinatory, pessimistic satire of Russian life.
Posted Feb 10, 2022
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4/5
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Memory Box
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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Memory Box is a lovely female-centred film about unpicking three generations of family secrets, grounded in the timely theme of how to make a new life in a foreign country.
Posted Feb 04, 2022
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4/5
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Rams
(2015)
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Alexa Dalby
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Director and screenwriter Grímur Hákonarson has crafted an unmissable tragic and noble fable that celebrates humanity.
Posted Dec 06, 2021
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3/5
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The Collini Case
(2019)
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Alexa Dalby
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The film's direction by Marco Kreuzpaintner is sophisticated and competent: the acting is universally excellent.
Posted Nov 05, 2021
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5/5
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Azor
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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The feeling of uneasy dread grows throughout this memorable film: it is palpable but is never explained.
Posted Nov 05, 2021
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4/5
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A Cop Movie
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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A Cop Movie in the end raises questions about the role of the police that are relevant not just in Mexico but here too.
Posted Nov 05, 2021
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3/5
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Fatima
(2020)
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Alexa Dalby
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The visions arrive in a bright light as part of nature out of the breezes that move the trees, though there also is a CGI sequence of hell.
Posted Jul 01, 2021
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2/5
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Agony
(2020)
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Alexa Dalby
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Unfortunately, titling a film Agony invites facetious comments about what it feels like to have to watch it.
Posted Jun 26, 2021
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4/5
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After Love
(2020)
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Alexa Dalby
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Joanna Scanlan, known for her biting comedy performances in television series such as The Thick of It and Getting On, is phenomenal.
Posted Jun 26, 2021
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4/5
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Sound of Metal
(2019)
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Alexa Dalby
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Sound of Metal is a must-see. Ahmed 100% deserved his 2021 Oscar-nomination for Best Actor.
Posted May 24, 2021
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3/5
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Frankie
(2019)
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Alexa Dalby
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Though much of the film's impact is anti-climactic, and as a whole it doesn't really work though it does stick in your mind, the final shot in the sunset, where for the first time for a moment all the family are in the same place, is sublime.
Posted May 24, 2021
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3/5
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Rare Beasts
(2019)
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Alexa Dalby
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Rare Beasts is a bold, flawed first film that will surely, excitingly, lead on to more in future.
Posted May 24, 2021
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4/5
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The Human Voice
(2020)
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Alexa Dalby
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Almodóvar brilliantly creates another female-focused world that's a curiosity of maddening, theatrical, melodramatic, verging-on-camp questions...
Posted May 24, 2021
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4/5
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The Mauritanian
(2021)
|
Alexa Dalby
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Tahar Rahim is superb.
Posted May 14, 2021
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4/5
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Apples
(2020)
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Alexa Dalby
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So much of Apples and its meaning is open to alternative interpretations, and this imprints it in your memory - it's a cult film in the making.
Posted May 07, 2021
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4/5
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Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation
(2020)
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Alexa Dalby
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Truman and Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation is clever and very worthwhile, no matter how familiar you are with their work. Do see it.
Posted May 07, 2021
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4/5
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The Trial of the Chicago 7
(2020)
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Alexa Dalby
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To see this racist humiliation now by the out-of-his-depth Judge Hoffman (Frank Langella) is gasp-out-loud shocking and yet sadly resonant in the present-day brutal treatment and killings of African Americans.
Posted Apr 30, 2021
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4/5
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Judas and the Black Messiah
(2021)
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Alexa Dalby
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Both men are superb, Standfield quieter, and unsympathetic, and Kaluuya in the more showy part, which earned him his Oscar-winning Supporting Actor nomination.
Posted Apr 30, 2021
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4/5
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Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
(2020)
|
Alexa Dalby
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You know Borat. You know what to expect. This film will exceed your expectations.
Posted Apr 30, 2021
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4/5
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Promising Young Woman
(2020)
|
Alexa Dalby
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Emerald Fennell's script is fun, witty and challenging. Her direction is crisp and to the point.
Posted Apr 16, 2021
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