A fat straight man finds a new lease of life when he sends his self-portrait into a gay magazine in Devin Shears’ touching debut Cherub.
Aye, There’s The Cherub
Category: Festivals
Reviews and dispatches exploring the best new cinema premiering around the world.
Familiar Touch Depicts Dementia with Disarming Discernment
Sarah Friedland’s potent debut takes time and care to depict the ins and outs of living with dementia, to powerful results. Live from Venice Film Festival.
Cloud Finds the Apocalypse in E-Commerce
Cloud, the latest from Kiyoshi Kurosawa, shows how fears about the internet have drastically evolved since Pulse (2001). Live from Venice.
Venice 2024: Sunny Weather. Gloomy Cinema.
Splendour on the Lido comes into contrast with gloomy visions of the end of the world and downbeat epics across the Venice competition and Orizzonte section.
The Party’s Over. But Prejudice Never Ends.
The Party’s Over casts prejudice as farce in this sharply-written tale of a wealthy Spanish lady reacting to a Senegalese immigrant in her midst. From TIFF.
Maldoror Brings Fincher Energy to a Horrific Moment in Belgian History
With hints of Zodiac and Seven, Fabrice du Welz’s new thriller Maldoror — charting the real-life murders of Belgian serial killer Marc Dutroux — aims for that nasty, slow burn.
Familia Provides a Nuanced Portrayal of Cyclical Bonehead Violence
Fascist bonehead study Familia refreshingly avoids clichéd redemption arcs in favour of a more nuanced take on the cyclical nature of toxic masculinity.
The Imhumane Perils of a Quiet Life
The dehumanisation of seeking asylum is piercingly explored in Alexandros Avranas’ horror-but-not-horror Quiet Life. Live from Venice Film Festival!
Locarno 2024: Something Fun
From Radu Jude’s latest essay experiments to Wang Bing’s second Youth film to Hong Sangsoo’s newest metafiction, Locarno 2024 brings the cinematic goods.
Mond Offers a Nuanced Cross-Cultural Tale of Female Solidarity
A washed-up Austrian MMA fighter finds herself immersed in a strange Jordanian family in Kurdwin Ayub’s Mond, her much-anticipated follow-up to Sonne.