Viewers are likely to go away appreciating Aubrey’s frustrations and perhaps, if they share them, feeling validated, but without the tools to do anything about them.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Viewers are likely to go away appreciating Aubrey’s frustrations and perhaps, if they share them, feeling validated, but without the tools to do anything about them.

~ Jennie Kermode -

If you have personally struggled with issues of this kind, you’ll find Take Care Of Maya hard to watch, but it is an important watch.

~ Jennie Kermode -

If you have personally struggled with issues of this kind, you’ll find Take Care Of Maya hard to watch, but it is an important watch.

~ Jennie Kermode -

It’s the sort of story rarely told in cinema today, and one which seems destined to attract a cult following.

~ Jennie Kermode -

It’s the sort of story rarely told in cinema today, and one which seems destined to attract a cult following.

~ Jennie Kermode -

There’s a deep understanding of the ways that people can be affected by grief underlying the gentle, quirky comedy of this tale.

~ Jennie Kermode -

There’s a deep understanding of the ways that people can be affected by grief underlying the gentle, quirky comedy of this tale.

~ Jennie Kermode -

As the film progresses, and these artists and filmmakers articulate their response to the conflict both verbally and through their work, Gutnik also interrogates the importance of culture when it comes to establishing and preserving nationhood.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

As the film progresses, and these artists and filmmakers articulate their response to the conflict both verbally and through their work, Gutnik also interrogates the importance of culture when it comes to establishing and preserving nationhood.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Perpetrator heralds the joyous rising up of a regiment of monstrous women.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Perpetrator heralds the joyous rising up of a regiment of monstrous women.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The animations give way to film at the end; having heard the stories, we see faces, emphasising that this happened to real people.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The animations give way to film at the end; having heard the stories, we see faces, emphasising that this happened to real people.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Morris keeps us guessing as to where the film is going.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Morris keeps us guessing as to where the film is going.

~ Jennie Kermode -

It’s a story which invites trust and faith in humanity even as it acknowledges that life involves risks.

~ Jennie Kermode -

It’s a story which invites trust and faith in humanity even as it acknowledges that life involves risks.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Liv and her mother are at different stages in battling their addiction and that’s a tangible thing in the way they are realised, as important in what it has to say as anything delivered directly by the dialogue.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Liv and her mother are at different stages in battling their addiction and that’s a tangible thing in the way they are realised, as important in what it has to say as anything delivered directly by the dialogue.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The Lesson is a treat. It's properly constructed, beautifully played. It might not quite cleave to classical unities but it knows enough to weave its course among them.

~ Andrew Robertson -

The Lesson is a treat. It's properly constructed, beautifully played. It might not quite cleave to classical unities but it knows enough to weave its course among them.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Ray feels like a real person plunged into an increasingly absurd situation, which is ultimately the source of a lot of the film’s comedy and its sometime tragedy.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Ray feels like a real person plunged into an increasingly absurd situation, which is ultimately the source of a lot of the film’s comedy and its sometime tragedy.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Unashamedly quirky but burtsting with the love of film, this is the sort of one-off doc that’s as much about the engaging playfulness of its construction as it is the content.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Unashamedly quirky but burtsting with the love of film, this is the sort of one-off doc that’s as much about the engaging playfulness of its construction as it is the content.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Finding a child with as much screen presence as Niemenmaa would be impressive in any circumstances.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Finding a child with as much screen presence as Niemenmaa would be impressive in any circumstances.

~ Jennie Kermode -

A masterpiece of cinematic efficiency.

~ Jennie Kermode -

A masterpiece of cinematic efficiency.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Although the structure is offbeat, and the muscular scoring from Jonas Colstrup (The Square) emphasises the emotional rollercoaster, Fredriksson’s film remains empathetic to all concerned.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Although the structure is offbeat, and the muscular scoring from Jonas Colstrup (The Square) emphasises the emotional rollercoaster, Fredriksson’s film remains empathetic to all concerned.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Writer/director Noam Kaplan breaks screenwriting rules to show his characters performing actions which are normally filtered out of cinematic depictions.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Writer/director Noam Kaplan breaks screenwriting rules to show his characters performing actions which are normally filtered out of cinematic depictions.

~ Jennie Kermode -

An homage to truly bad film-making - but it sails perilously close to self-parody

~ Richard Mowe -

An homage to truly bad film-making - but it sails perilously close to self-parody

~ Richard Mowe -

Lee is terrific and his natural charisma gives the film the energy it needs.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Lee is terrific and his natural charisma gives the film the energy it needs.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Sometimes the most thrilling experience one can have at the movies is simply watching a big monster fight and a lot of stuff getting smashed up.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Sometimes the most thrilling experience one can have at the movies is simply watching a big monster fight and a lot of stuff getting smashed up.

~ Jennie Kermode -

On the surface, this is a comedy of manners taken to extremes. Underneath is a layer of questions about intimacy and why some people feel the need to seek out strangers so that they can be themselves.

~ Jennie Kermode -

On the surface, this is a comedy of manners taken to extremes. Underneath is a layer of questions about intimacy and why some people feel the need to seek out strangers so that they can be themselves.

~ Jennie Kermode -

There’s a lack of depth in general.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

There’s a lack of depth in general.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

It’s in this fracturing of feminine figures within a familial, uterine space that Thorndike finds the unsettling kind of horror she’s looking for.

~ Jennie Kermode -

It’s in this fracturing of feminine figures within a familial, uterine space that Thorndike finds the unsettling kind of horror she’s looking for.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Petzold’s most literary film to date.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

Petzold’s most literary film to date.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

Throughout the film there is a sense of play, and even as the story evolves to take on darker material, something of that lightness, that happy-go-lucky quality remains.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The film hinges on amazing vocal work by Lalama.

~ Jennie Kermode -

There’s a genuine unpredictability to Honey Bunch, both structurally and thematically.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Where the episodes work is when they have a driving, kinetic energy about them. When they don't it's repetitious loop.

~ Donald Munro -

The film, directed by feature debutant Shaun Dozier, retains the density of dialogue you might expect from a stage play but, by leaning into the theatrical nature of the proceedings, Dozier is in some ways able to make this into a virtue.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

A very effective piece of low budget storytelling.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Coogan is well cast in this tricky role, moving easily from humour to heartbreak..

~ Jennie Kermode -

Manizha Bakhtari may not be a household name but after watching Natalie Halla’s documentary you’re likely to think she ought to be.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Sung’s own camera plays tricks, placing objects too close in the foreground so that parts of an image are out of focus, like an incomplete memory.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The concept, narrative, dialogue, cinematography and action sequences are elements of Scanners that can't be faulted.

~ Donald Munro -

The film hangs on Pemberton’s performance, and he imbues Doug with a sweetness that makes us feel for him despite his deeply misguided actions.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The screenplay written by the filmmaker and Andrea Piva is a proper masterwork, from the basic plotting to the intelligent, insightful dialogue.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

From the start, there is something different about this film.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Despite the anger at the unfairness of what has gone before, this is ultimately a warm-hearted, life-affirming film.

~ Jennie Kermode -

It is a ride, okay, and it is a bit nauseating and therefore not sterile.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

It’s also striking to think that when Leila is looking forward into the future, she is already, in some senses, looking at our recent past, which only reinforces the sense of the cyclical and ongoing nature of her themes.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Thorne still comes across as being at the stage where many aspects of her work are experimental. She’s yet to settle into her style.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The characters work well...but there’s never quite enough energy to events.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Ahmed doesn’t need to include war footage for us to feel its weight and understand its shadow.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The colour elements prove all the more striking when in contrast to black and white.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

A very effective piece of low budget storytelling.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Having set up all the elements of a thriller, the film proceeds to untangle them in a refreshingly different and mature way.

~ Jennie Kermode -

[Hart] doesn’t turn up the volume, but uses tone and repetition so effectively that the film becomes a microcosm of the real experience.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Once again, Guiraudie proves himself the master of setting up a mystery by the means of perfect script economy that functions strictly on “need to know” basis.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

The director shows how it’s not just Julie’s tennis skills that have been groomed by the coach but large aspects of her life.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

It’s ironic that a film about a family who have built a perfect facsimile of a life for themselves should feel so overly constructed itself

~ Amber Wilkinson -