Peter Bradshaw

Patrick Wang’s nearly three-hour, microbudget film presents Arthur Rimbaud’s life as an austere one-man theatrical performance, with Blake Draper portraying the poet through direct monologue and invisible exchanges with figures including Paul Verlaine. The film covers Rimbaud’s escape from Charleville to Paris, his relationship with Verlaine, and his later transformation into an export merchant in Cyprus and Africa. While Draper’s committed performance and the production’s ambition are acknowledged, the review finds Rimbaud’s shift from poetry and romantic rebellion to commercial enterprise insufficiently explained, leaving the experience distinctive but full of unresolved mysteries.

A favorable review of a film adaptation of Jay Parini’s semi-fictional memoir about driving the blind Jorge Luis Borges through the Scottish Highlands in 1971. Luis Gnecco is praised for giving Borges warmth, wit, theatrical charm and underlying loneliness, while Fionn Whitehead plays the inexperienced young Parini. The review highlights the film’s fanciful episodes, including a Loch Ness adventure, but argues that its messy implausibility can resemble real life. The relationship between Borges’s public persona and private identity, along with his dependence on others and sense of regret, gives the film its most affecting emotional force.

Snapshot is an inventive found-footage horror film set in 1880s Victorian London, following an amateur women’s spiritualist team investigating the Jack the Ripper murders. Shot as supposedly unearthed monochrome film recorded by the pioneering Tamworth, it reinterprets the killings as manifestations of fear, misogyny, poverty, press misinformation and political rage rather than the work of one conventional murderer. The review praises its eerie, jittery style, black comedy and ambitious ideas, but finds the performances somewhat one-note and the pacing too uniform.

Simon Ryninks’s debut film follows Maz, a Welsh teenager in 1999 who believes her scientist father was abducted by aliens after witnessing a mysterious incident at a secret Ministry of Defence base. With help from her friend Elis, local ufologist Bryn and eccentric new age shop owner Shifty Gruff, she plans to infiltrate the base and recover her memories. The review praises the film’s warm, entertaining YA comedy-drama tone, its UFO folklore setting and Michael Sheen’s comic performance, while noting its melancholy reflections on grief and the underuse of Kimberley Nixon. It suggests the story could work well as a television series.

Scottish Ballet’s 70-minute dance film reimagines Romeo and Juliet as a feverish, impressionistic nightmare rather than a romantic love story. Directed by Christopher Hampson and Oscar Sansom, the production emphasizes dread, alienation, youth and the destructive intensity of passion, using stark physical choreography and unsettling imagery. It removes the balcony scene, confines Romeo and Juliet’s private time together largely to the ending, and recasts their mutual suicide as a possible anguished act of despair rather than an accident. Kayla-Maree Tarantolo and Ishan Mahabir-Stokes lead a fiercely committed cast in a bold, pessimistic and engrossing adaptation.

Tom Six’s final documentary, made in his Amsterdam apartment after a multiple sclerosis diagnosis, is a chaotic and self-indulgent account of his career, financial disappointments and struggles to release The Onania Club. The review credits Six with genuinely shocking audiences through The Human Centipede and argues that he deserves a place in independent-cinema history, while criticizing the documentary’s heavy-handed non-PC comedy and uneven execution. It concludes that The Onania Club should be released or screened at a festival such as the UK’s FrightFest.

Griffin Dunne’s 1998 supernatural romance Practical Magic is receiving a big-screen rerelease ahead of a sequel. The review praises its pairing of Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, eccentric occult-romance premise, golden cinematography and flashes of black comedy, while describing the story of witch sisters Sally and Gillian Owens, their family curse and confrontation with an abusive former lover. Despite its distinctly 1990s style, the film is judged an enduringly entertaining cult gem.

Michael Almereyda’s 1994 film Nadja is praised as a dreamy, lo-fi vampire romance with monochrome imagery, surreal transitions, looming closeups and Lynchian sound design. Elina Löwensohn plays Dracula’s glamorous daughter, who travels with Renfield, seeks to revive her sick brother Edgar and turns Lucy into a quasi-vampiric zombie. The review highlights the film’s poetic dialogue, sexual and gothic themes, eccentric performances—especially Peter Fonda’s Van Helsing—and David Lynch’s cameo, while judging Abel Ferrara’s The Addiction slightly more compelling.

Anna Cazenave Cambet’s adaptation of Constance Debré’s autobiographical novel stars Vicky Krieps as Clémence, a mother whose ex-partner seeks sole custody and blocks her access to their son after she comes out as gay. The film portrays the prolonged, bureaucratic cruelty of the custody dispute and the effects of patriarchal family-court attitudes, while following Clémence’s efforts to rebuild her life through writing, intimacy and limited supervised contact with her child. Krieps’s performance and the film’s restrained, sensual realism are strongly praised, although the review finds that the drama never fully reaches the passionate intensity it seems to promise.

Glenn Close gives a formidable and affecting performance as a cantankerous grandmother in a gentle adaptation of Tove Jansson’s novel. Set on an idyllic island in the Gulf of Finland, the film follows a grandmother, her widowed son and six-year-old granddaughter as they confront grief and try to recover a sense of family happiness. Although the adaptation is sometimes overly sensitive, underdevelops the son’s inner life and leaves the grandmother’s fate uncertain, Close’s presence gives the film its emotional force and distinctiveness.

John Schlesinger’s 1963 film follows Billy, a Yorkshire undertaker’s clerk who escapes an ordinary life through fantasies of ruling the fictional land of Ambrosia while pursuing ambitions to become a comedy writer. Tom Courtenay gives a superb performance, supported by Julie Christie as Liz, but the review argues that Billy’s failure to leave for London makes the film too committed to unhappiness and defeat. The reviewer acknowledges that the ending may reflect Billy’s destructive lies to two women, yet remains unconvinced by the film’s enduring critical reputation.

Bill Gunn and Ishmael Reed’s 1980 micro-budget film follows Johnnie-Mae, a Harlem nurse whose marriage, affair, family tensions and crowded home life unfold through improvised performances and analogue video. Despite muddy sound, loose subplots and an open-ended structure that falls between television and feature film, the two-and-a-half-hour work is praised for its vitality, intimacy, humour and pioneering depiction of Black working-class life in New York.

Konrad Wolf’s 1980 film follows Sunny, a former factory worker and touring singer in the GDR, as she seeks to escape a shabby band, an oppressive social environment and a failed relationship. Renate Krößner’s performance conveys the character’s thwarted ambition and loneliness, while the film’s gritty depictions of East Berlin and its compromised political context give the story the melancholy of a historical time capsule. The review sees Solo Sunny as a warm, witty and poignant portrait of life under East German collectivism and the uncertain lure of individual celebrity.

Matt Johnson’s Tony adapts the formative kitchen experiences from Anthony Bourdain’s memoir Kitchen Confidential, with Dominic Sessa playing the conceited yet vulnerable young chef and Antonio Banderas appearing as his kindly but demanding mentor. Set in 1970s Provincetown, the film follows Tony’s entry into restaurant work, his relationship with Nancy and his tutelage under the troubled chef Sal. The review finds the film entertaining, sentimental and well supported by its cast, but argues that its feelgood coming-of-age trajectory is undermined by knowledge of Bourdain’s later depression and suicide. A scene about a chef who takes his own life is seen as an uneasy, implicit reference to Bourdain’s fate, leaving the film as a bittersweet rather than uncomplicatedly uplifting experience.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day resets Peter Parker’s life after Doctor Strange erased public knowledge of his identity, leaving him isolated and longing for MJ. A body-possessing entity, Parker’s worsening physical and mental health, and conflicts involving Black Widow, Bruce Banner and the Punisher create new threats. The review argues that Zendaya’s mature and emotionally grounded performance gives the film much-needed vitality, while the broader movie remains sluggish, familiar and visually spectacular without offering the radical reinvention the character now needs.

Wham!’s 1985 tour of China was conceived by manager Simon Napier-Bell as a breakthrough publicity strategy, leading to historic concerts in Beijing and Guangzhou and helping the duo break into the US market. The documentary combines the original footage with new interviews and revisits the clash between filmmaker Lindsay Anderson, who wanted a serious examination of cultural differences, and the music industry, which wanted promotional material. The tour exposed Chinese audiences to Western pop and a taste of social liberty, but the film leaves largely unexplored whether it had broader historical significance before the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The result is an engaging but incomplete account of a consequential collision between pop stardom, politics and culture.

The Guardian ranks Benedict Cumberbatch’s 20 best film performances, praising his portrayal of the sinister rancher Phil Burbank in The Power of the Dog as his finest work and placing Alan Turing in The Imitation Game second. Other highly regarded roles include 12 Years a Slave, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Doctor Strange and Wreckers. The ranking also highlights his range across prestige drama, comedy, espionage, war films, science fiction and motion-capture, while criticizing The Roses and The Thing With Feathers as weaker or less convincing vehicles.

Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1983 film follows Andrei, a Russian scholar in Italy researching the homesick composer Pavel Sosnovsky, as he experiences emotional paralysis and a crisis of belonging. His encounter with Domenico, a local man convinced that carrying a lit candle across the baths can save humanity, becomes a spiritual and existential parallel to his own alienation. Blending Russian religious imagery, Italian settings and poetry, the film explores artistic translation, the absence of God and the possibility that the modern world has already ended. Its final candle-bearing sequence is presented as a stark, mournful and profoundly mysterious culmination.

A documentary examines E Jean Carroll’s legal battles with Donald Trump, portraying her resilience as she wins two civil cases for sexual assault and defamation. The film highlights Trump’s dismissive behavior, Carroll’s decades-long media career, and the personal toll of the lawsuits. Elle magazine is criticized for severing ties with Carroll during the dispute, while the narrative suggests unresolved issues may persist beyond Trump’s presidency.

Helen Walsh’s On the Sea follows Jack, a middle-aged mussel fisherman in north Wales, who begins a passionate relationship with the itinerant deckhand Daniel while hiding his sexuality from his wife and conservative fishing community. The review praises Barry Ward and Lorne MacFadyen, as well as the film’s poignant depiction of a suppressed identity and a romance that flourishes away from social disapproval. It also criticizes the limited development of Liz White’s character, Maggie.

A delusional former tennis hopeful nicknamed The Hammer reluctantly takes up pickleball to recover from injury and discovers an unexpected fondness for both the sport and its enthusiast Candace. The comedy leans on cameos from real tennis figures, explores Dusty’s strained relationship with his father, and delivers broad humor through supporting characters while offering a light, silly take on sports culture.

A Thai supernatural black comedy explores national trauma through ghosts tied to political violence and industrial exploitation. A haunted vacuum cleaner leads to revelations about past crackdowns, family tragedy and state efforts to suppress memory, blending satire, grief and magical realism with stylistic confidence.

David Thomson’s A Sudden Flicker of Light is praised as an ambitious, rapturous and eccentric history of cinema, ranging from Hollywood’s origins to contemporary film and television. The review admires Thomson’s sweeping scope, cinephile enthusiasm and contrarian arguments about profits, theatrical exhibition and the possible decline of the big-screen experience, while criticizing his tendency toward grand pronouncements and reverential treatment of canonical filmmakers. Rather than presenting a systematic critical history, the book is characterized as a quasi-fictional, highly personal cinematic performance that celebrates film even as it registers anxieties about the medium’s future.

The animated documentary Flavours of Iraq recounts French-Iraqi journalist Feurat Alani’s childhood memories of Baghdad and Falluja, framed by his father’s funeral and the stories of Iraq’s socialist diaspora. Co-directed by Alani and Léonard Cohen and narrated by Malik Zidi, the film uses stylised, expressionist animation to evoke exile, family memory and the sensory experience of Iraq in the 1980s. The review praises its vividness and urgency, especially its portrayal of Alani as both a child in French exile and, later, an alienated French journalist in US-occupied Iraq, while noting that the childhood sections are its strongest.

Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey is presented as a colossal, visually spectacular exploration of war, post-traumatic suffering and the painful process of returning home. Matt Damon plays Odysseus, whose journey from the Trojan War through encounters with monsters, gods and the underworld is paralleled by Penelope’s struggle with suitors and Telemachus’s search for his presumed-dead father. The review praises the film’s ambition, performances, landscapes and battle scenes, while noting occasional broad dialogue. Its central achievement is described as shifting attention from the causes and victory of war to the toxic, disorienting aftermath and Odysseus’s eventual transformation.

Two celebrated Wallace and Gromit shorts are praised for delivering full-feature storytelling in compact form, blending inventive action, humor, and affectionate character dynamics. A Close Shave is highlighted for its energetic adventure and witty references, while A Matter of Loaf and Death is noted for its playful suspense, cinematic nods, and renewed romantic complications. Both films are commended for their creativity, charm, and enduring entertainment value.

Andy Serkis and Nicholas Stoller’s animated adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm is criticized for replacing the novel’s rage, satire and political force with a cheap-looking, Disney-style happy ending. The film moves the pivotal pigs-and-humans resemblance earlier, depicts Napoleon eliminating Snowball and collaborating with the agribusiness figure Pilkington, then concludes with young rebels overthrowing him while also questioning their trust in Snowball. The review argues that these changes flatten the allegory of Stalinism and failed revolution rather than providing meaningful historical or political reinterpretation.

Hong Sang-soo’s black-and-white drama follows an actor returning from a career break as she endures a series of nearly identical interviews that blur together in subtle, humorous ways. Her reflections on life, career and love deepen as she later reenacts the interviews in an acting class, blending memory and invention into an autofictional exercise. Through static shots, understated conversations and motifs of quiet day drinking, the film builds an elusive but absorbing study of self-knowledge and emotional vulnerability.

Marc Isaacs presents a hybrid docudrama in which characters from his past documentaries are leased to a fictional AI research lab to train software in creating human figures, but the film’s artificiality and conceptual framing leave it feeling shallow. An AI avatar modeled on Ilinca Manolache interacts with Isaacs, while the project’s supposed goal is to generate an AI version of exiled Uyghur restaurateur Ablikim Rahman, raising questions about authenticity and purpose. Actor Lynn El Safah becomes embroiled in a fictional controversy involving Chinese funding and her political views, yet the film’s blend of fact and invention ultimately lacks depth and fails to satisfy.

A live‑action remake of Moana is described as competent but unnecessary, relying heavily on CGI and offering little beyond the original. Dwayne Johnson and Catherine Laga’aia share appealing chemistry, but Johnson’s performance is portrayed as routine. Despite contributions from Jared Bush, Thomas Kail and Lin‑Manuel Miranda, the film is criticised as cynical, unexciting and largely redundant compared with its animated predecessor.

The rerelease of Nick Park’s first two Wallace and Gromit films, A Grand Day Out and The Wrong Trousers, highlights their enduring appeal as inventive, funny stop‑motion classics. The review praises the charm, humour and technical creativity of both films, noting the simple brilliance of the moon‑cheese adventure in A Grand Day Out and the more elaborate heist‑thriller structure of The Wrong Trousers. Character dynamics, standout comic moments and cultural influences are emphasised, along with their lasting impact on animation.

A newly reviewed 1978 Sri Lankan film follows two sisters whose diverging paths highlight class pressures, unspoken emotion and economic motives underpinning relationships. Kusum’s quiet heartbreak contrasts with Soma’s ascent through a beauty competition, reflecting how financial interests override romance. The film’s understated style and emotional restraint challenge conventional Hollywood coming-of-age narratives.

Two ageing drifters and a lovelorn student wander through northern Italy in a bleakly humorous road-trip tale that blends drunken misadventure with reflections on friendship, regret and missed connections. Their search for a long-lost companion leads to encounters that reveal the student’s emotional struggles, while architectural visits and recurring gags add thematic depth. The film is portrayed as a depressing yet amusing tragicomedy that meanders with charm and understated insight.

A Danish family drama set around a seaside baby-naming ceremony erupts in tension when a previously estranged, bipolar mother unexpectedly arrives. Trine Dyrholm delivers an intense, nuanced performance as the volatile Vibeke, whose charm and emotional instability unsettle her son Karl and the wider family. Shot in a Dogme 95–inspired style, the film explores resentment, fragile boundaries and the painful contrast between family dysfunction and a newborn’s innocence.

A documentary about cinematographer Robert Richardson explores his intense creative collaborations with Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino while examining the personal costs of his career, including family estrangement and emotionally charged home video footage. Directed by Jana Hojdová, the film blends interviews and archival material to reveal his turbulent working relationships, artistic process and the personal complexities behind his public image.

A couples comedy about infidelity unravels into strained shouting and weak performances as two pairs confront betrayal during a New Year cabin trip. Despite a promising setup involving simmering insecurities and unresolved feelings, the film offers little insight or humor, especially when compared to more successful works like Olivia Wilde’s The Invite. Signature Entertainment’s release fails to deliver engaging drama or comedy.

A documentary examines Misan Harriman’s rise from finance to prominence as a photographer and activist following a viral protest image. It highlights his work on anti-racism and Gaza, his Oscar-nominated short film The After, and his influences, while acknowledging recent controversy over his social media posts. The film portrays him as talented yet self-regarding, with its most affecting moment being his tribute to photographer Peter Magubane.

Mark Cousins’s latest chapters from The Story of Documentary Film explore 1980s nonfiction cinema through themes of empathy and investigation, connecting films from Europe, the US, Brazil, Japan and Iran to broader political and cultural shifts. The episodes highlight works confronting oppression, state power and historical accountability, while also incorporating music documentaries and lighter moments. Together they form a dense, insightful survey questioning how documentaries were consumed and how their influence evolved, particularly leading to the rise of theatrical campaigning films in later decades.

A documentary follows the relationship between BBC journalist Janay Boulos and Syrian photojournalist Abd Alkader Habak as they navigate war, distance and eventual life together in London. Intercut footage traces Habak’s dangerous work in Syria, Boulos’s life in London and the evolution of their bond. After Habak escapes to Turkey and later joins Boulos in the UK, they marry and participate in pro‑Palestinian activism. The film’s constructed elements are noted, but its sincerity and emotional warmth are highlighted.

A chaotic, effects‑filled Canadian comedy follows Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol as slacker bandmates who accidentally travel back to 2008, reopening tensions over their partnership while pursuing an absurd quest for musical recognition. Drawing on influences from Bill and Ted to Primer, the film embraces deliberate low‑fi style, arbitrary time‑travel logic and juvenile humour, ultimately highlighting the passage of time and creative frustration while prioritising laughs over deeper thematic ambitions.

A scathing review condemns Citizen Vigilante as a cheaply made, incoherent revenge thriller used to push imagined narratives about migrant violence in Europe. Armie Hammer’s lead performance is criticised as embarrassingly poor, with the film framed as part of a broader politically charged effort amplified by Elon Musk. The review contrasts the film with classic American vigilante movies that had stronger artistic vision, while highlighting Hammer’s past controversies and questioning the motivations behind the film’s sensationalist themes.

A middle‑class dinner party spirals into awkward revelations as two tense hosts entertain their effortlessly confident neighbours, with Seth Rogen’s performance providing levity that balances the film’s contrived and theatrical shifts. Adapted from a Spanish film, the story evolves into a humorous and unexpectedly affecting four‑hander, supported by strong turns from Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton.

Martha Coolidge’s 1976 docudrama Not a Pretty Picture remains a powerful and innovative examination of rape, combining dramatised scenes with behind-the-scenes discussions between the director and actors. Its candid exploration of sexual violence, victim-blaming and male entitlement is underscored by unsettling moments, especially actor Jim Carrington’s comments that reveal ingrained misogyny. The film’s structure and honesty make it a significant and still essential work, newly available on Mubi.

Maria Stoianova’s documentary assembles her father’s home‑video footage to trace his experiences as a touring ice dancer during the final years of the Soviet Union. The material highlights the privileges and surveillance that shaped performers’ lives, his fascination with western consumer culture, and the contrast between their uninterrupted tours and the political upheavals under Gorbachev and Yeltsin. The film emerges as a poignant portrait of family memory set against the backdrop of a disintegrating state.

John Woo’s 1986 action film is praised for its stylized gunplay, intense melodrama and themes of fraternal loyalty. The story follows a guilt-ridden gangster seeking redemption after prison while navigating shifting power dynamics and personal relationships. Notable performances, explosive set pieces and broad emotional tones drive the film’s enduring appeal.

A Netflix documentary explores the friendship and rivalry between tennis champions Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, highlighting their mutual support during cancer treatment and revisiting the highs and lows of their decades-long relationship. Navratilova’s dramatic defection from communist Czechoslovakia adds historical depth, while contributions from fellow players and archival commentary provide broader context to their dominance in women’s tennis.

A reflective review of Sophy Romvari’s debut feature Blue Heron describes its quiet, autobiographical depiction of a Hungarian immigrant family coping with a troubled son diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder on Vancouver Island in the 1990s. The film interweaves past and present as the adult Sasha revisits her brother’s case, exploring the emotional wounds left by his dangerous behavior, the gendered burdens placed on their mother, and the lack of social support. Praised for its subtlety, metatextual structure, and emotional intelligence, the film is portrayed as a moving and sophisticated exploration of family trauma.

A lively and clearer-focused Supergirl film follows Milly Alcock’s heroine teaming with Eve Ridley’s Ruthye to pursue the human trafficker Krem while avoiding the convoluted backstory that has weighed down recent DC entries. Strong performances, humour, and a straightforward narrative offer a refreshing shift for the franchise despite some imperfections.

A review criticizes The Last Viking for squandering its humorous premise through repetitive and humourless violence, despite committed performances from Mads Mikkelsen and the supporting cast. The film follows a man with a dissociative disorder who believes he is John Lennon, leading to a chaotic search for buried loot. While the setup offers comic potential, the execution is described as relentlessly unfunny, with Anders Thomas Jensen’s direction faulted for lacking comedic skill.

Nick Park’s Early Man is praised as a witty, charming Aardman family comedy that combines prehistoric adventure with an underdog football story. Set around Manchester, it pits Dug and his Stone Age tribe against the Bronze Age’s wealthy industrialists, led by Lord Nooth, who seek to mine their land. The review highlights the film’s intelligent humor, environmental and class themes, inventive football sequences, and appeal to both adults and children.

Aardman’s animated comedy follows Hugh Grant’s hapless Pirate Captain, who seeks to win the Pirate of the Year award. After his crew captures Charles Darwin aboard the Beagle, the captain is drawn into an adventure involving Queen Victoria. The film is praised for its clever visual gags, effortless humor and intelligence, making it an appealing Easter holiday family treat.