To some extent, Párvulos suffers by its promotional material, which seems to promise something mysterious and dark, swirling ominously in the washed-out, arthouse colour palette which we saw in the first stills. In truth, and beyond that muted colour palette, the film is nothing like that. In fact, arthouse, in terms of theme and approach […]
A viewing of Black Eyed Susan (2024) will, if you have any stomach to get through its blisteringly unpleasant quandaries and implications, leave you with many questions. However, for all of that, the one resounding question for this reviewer is: are we ten years away from this kind of scenario, or five? Let me explain. […]
How do you solve a problem like the Oieans? Dune-like, The Silent Planet (2024) opens with a proverb being spoken in an alien tongue: Earth is now host to an alien species called the Oieans, though they are not the straightforward, superior civilisation which we might expect. Rather, they have arrived to Earth seeking help […]
Whatever you think you’re watching, you aren’t. What you think is going on, isn’t. That’s an early lesson to take away from In Our Blood (2024), a film which uses everything at its disposal – including its shooting style – to disorientate and surprise its audience. The film opens on an upset, afraid young woman, […]
Could The Dead Thing (2024) have a simple strapline? If so, perhaps ‘this is hell we’re in’ would suffice, bearing in mind how – at least for the first couple of acts – modern technology is crucially important, and a key factor in raising a specific kind of hell. Today, there are all sorts of […]
Mia (Teele Kalijuvee-O’Brock) packs a bag and heads for an Estonian beach retreat. She’s looking forward to catching up with friends Sarah (Joanna Gross) and Grere (Johanna Rosin). However, once she arrives, it becomes clear that their previous camaraderie is not what it used to be; Sarah and Grere are focused on partying and an […]
Director Lucía Forner Segarra has a run of titles under her belt which are named for their female protagonists. Marta (2018) concerns a woman who aspires to be a serial killer; Dana (2020) tackles the discomfiting subjects of rape/revenge and (lacklustre) justice; completing this trilogy, her most recent short Berta (2024) takes us once again […]
What’s your bluff limit? You know, your bluff limit. The point to which you are willing to overextend your actual abilities. Maybe yours is pretty low – maybe you’d never want the stress of exaggerating what you can do to get somewhere which may be rather stressful. Or, maybe you like the thrill of chancing […]
As Sleep (2023) opens, we can – appropriately enough – hear someone gently snoring: a couple is in bed. And yet, you get the distinct impression that restful sleep isn’t going to feature heavily here, or even at all beyond this point. The film almost instantly starts to toy with the hazy delineations between sleep, […]
It’s not instantly clear what you’re looking at as Body Odyssey (2023) begins: perhaps led by the title, my first guess was an Inner Space type scenario, which turns out not to be the case. In a way, this is a very fitting opening for such a strange, unsettling but highly rewarding film: disorientation is […]
Cat Call (2023) is essentially a rom-com, though it starts by subverting a few expectations and – to do it justice – it sticks with this odd, if easy-going approach throughout. We’re introduced to our main character, a young woman called Fáni (Franciska Töröcsik) sauntering through – a cemetery. And yet, her laidback demeanour and […]