Valentina Maurel’s sophomore feature, Forever Your Maternal Animal, is a touching tale of familial bonds, mental illness and feminine sexuality.
Another Unhappy Family, Excellently Portrayed
Festivals
Reviews and dispatches exploring the best new cinema premiering around the world.
Big Rigs. Even Bigger Feelings.
Flesh and Fuel rises above its euro-drama trappings by capturing a great sense of sweetness and vulnerability among the continent’s gay trucking community.
Shana. Chaos Under Pressure.
Anchored by an excellent performance by Eva Huault, Shana is a deeply entertaining Parisian-set tale of Jewish identity and feminine chaos.
Viva is Wonderfully Messy and Alive
Aina Clotet’s woman-in-crisis picture Viva is a thrilling tale of female reclamation — an easy standout from Cannes Critics’ Week.
The Perils of Adapting
Joseph Owen takes stock in Linz, a modern(ising) city with a dark past, to reckon with the multiple forms of adaptation, at Crossing Europe.
Heat. A Bleak Glass Desert Mirage.
Capturing the Gulf States as they suffer from temperatures rising over 50 degrees, Jacqueline Zünd’s Heat is a bleak and bold artistic vision.
The Roots of Madness (It’s America)
The Roots of Madness is an excellent exploration of American intervention in the Middle East that sadly suffers from a fatal omission.
We Have To Survive Contemplates a World in Crisis
In We Have to Survive, Tales from Greenland, Australia, North Carolina and Mongolia show how the world is united in one thing: the threat of climate change.
Ukrainian Rhapsody in 16mm
Filmed over the course of ten years, Pieter-Jan De Pue’s documentary Mariinka is one of the best films made about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Dad Genes Has No Spunk
Dad Genes has a brilliant premise — a man in his 50s reconnecting with his sperm donor children — but is derailed by perfectly middle-of-the-road filmmaking.