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Short film review archive

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E — 59 results

  • Ears, Nose And Throat (2016)
    Review preview for Ears, Nose And Throat

    There is a minimalism to this that compels.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    A woman unburdens herself about a horrific event she witnessed.
  • Easier As A Spaceman (2011)
    Review preview for Easier As A Spaceman

    Well paced and well directed - especially when you consider that it was made entirely by schoolkids.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Two schoolfriends faced with having to part go to the woods for one last adventure.
  • Eastern Valley (1937)
    Review preview for Eastern Valley

    Arguably the film is a slight affair in comparison to some other contemporaneous works, although perhaps some of the shortcomings seen by modern eyes are an unavoidable part of filmmaking in that era.

    Rebecca Naughten · 3 out of 5
    Documentary detailing the establishment of a co-operative society by unemployed miners in Wales.
  • East Hastings Pharmacy (2012)
    Review preview for East Hastings Pharmacy

    With its considered compositions and emphasis upon real-life re-enactment, East Hastings Pharmacy has a vague resemblance to Soderbergh’s Bubble.

    Michael Pattison · 4 out of 5
    An introduction to the various people who visit a methadone clinic over the course of a day.
  • Eating For Two (2003)
    Trying for a baby over fish and chips.
  • Eating Out (2003)
    A young couple argue in a restaurant.
  • Ebb And Flow (2012)
    Review preview for Ebb And Flow

    An affecting piece of film-making.

    Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
    A documentary about a car dealer who is HIV positive and deaf.
  • Echo (2012)
    Review preview for Echo

    It's the silences that really give Echo its power.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    A woman makes desperate phone calls and solicits help, but what is she really up to?
  • Edith And Eddie (2017)
    Review preview for Edith And Eddie

    Checkoway's documentary quietly rages against the injustices perpetrated on the old.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Edith and Eddie, ages 96 and 95, are America's oldest interracial newlyweds. Their love story is disrupted by a family feud that threatens to tear the couple apart.
  • The Eagleman Stag (2010)
    Review preview for The Eagleman Stag

    A looping delight of metaphysicality and biology.

    Andrew Robertson · 5 out of 5
    If you repeat the word 'fly' for long enough it sounds like you are saying 'life'. This is of no help to Peter. His answers lie in the brain of the beetle.
  • Eagles (2021)
    Review preview for Eagles

    This is a straightforward observational film, which captures the searchers as they go about their business

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    A snapshot documentary of the work of volunteers who search for missing migrants near the Arizona border.
  • Easter Eggs (2010)
    Review preview for Easter Eggs

    Not without drama, not without charm, this is a touching little piece of rebellion and acceptance.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    A mother and her children enjoy a spectacular Easter celebration in the shadow of Communism.
  • Eat Pretty (2018)
    Review preview for Eat Pretty

    Rebecca Culverhouse's film is somewhere in a the realm of tableaux vivants, of stereogrammatic .gif sets, of brief moments somewhere around the repeated rustle that Vine left.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    An experimental horror short that explores the link between social media, isolation and eating disorders.
  • Echo (2008)
    Review preview for Echo

    An unrelentingly emotionally tense and harrowing experience from start to finish... one of the most accomplished short films I have seen this year.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    Two boys are forced to face up to their crime.
  • Echoes Of You (2018)
    Review preview for Echoes Of You

    The film slowly builds to an emotional crescendo, deftly hitting the right notes.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    An aspiring musician strikes up an unusual friendship.
  • Eeva (2022)
    Review preview for Eeva

    Whilst Eeva’s reaction is extreme and very far from something you should try at home, it’s important in its acknowledgement of the rage that some people feel.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    It's a sad day in Eva's life. The rain is pouring down at her husband's funeral. A woodpecker delivering a message code on the coffin is killed. There is a lot of crying, too much wine, and a couple of dreams that fill in the gaps.
  • The Electric Kiss (2026)
    Review preview for The Electric Kiss

    The chemistry between Demoustier and Marmaï is at least one Van de Graaff’s worth and Lellouche’s Armand has a playful ambivalence that works well.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    A grieving artist tries to reconnect with his dead wife via a clairvoyant, who is in fact a penniless performer who has cooked up a ruse.
  • The Elemental (2009)
    Review preview for The Elemental

    Neither particularly original nor particularly satisfying.

    Andrew Robertson · 2 out of 5
    An elderly couple are starving in a condemned tenement, trapped by their terror of a creature on the stair.
  • The Elephant Whisperers (2022)
    Review preview for The Elephant Whisperers

    This Oscar-nominated short is a natural crowd pleaser.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    An indigenous couple in South India raise two orphaned baby elephants
  • The Emperor (2001)
    Review preview for The Emperor

    The style allows for a sense of movement, which Hobbs often exploits for its witty details.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    The tale of a quest to free Napoleon Bonaparte from exile on the island of St Helena.
  • Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting (2025)
    Review preview for Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting

    With no recourse made to generative AI, this is the real deal, full of detail and personality.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A mother and daughter head out into the woods where the girl must steel herself to perform an ancient rite of passage.
  • Endless Cookie (2025)
    Review preview for Endless Cookie

    Endless Cookie is not like anything else and yet it is very much like life.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    Exploring the complex bond between two half brothers - one Indigenous, one white - traveling from the present in isolated Shamattawa to bustling 1980s Toronto.
  • Enough (2019)
    Review preview for Enough

    Enough is a glorious bit of short filmmaking.

    Andrew Robertson · 5 out of 5
    A fuzzy yarn about what happens when patience runs out.
  • En Rang Par Deux (2020)
    Review preview for En Rang Par Deux

    There is a rhythm to this, a catchy sense of improvisation.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    Animation sees Afif, originally from Tunisia and Aliou, from Senegal, tell their different stories.
  • Eructation (2026)
    Review preview for Eructation

    Trow's approach has a pleasing Wes Anderson vibe

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    Documentary about a woman's attempts to break the world record for the loudest burp.
  • Escape Attempt (2024)
    Review preview for Escape Attempt

    Escape Attempt has the style and quality one might expect of a blockbuster.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Honeymooners are persuaded to give a ride to a stranger who wants to be dropped off on an uninhabited planet, but they're not prepared for what they find there.
  • Estomago (2011)
    Review preview for Estomago

    Estomago has a twist outside the usual confines of the genre and is surprisingly moving as a result.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A lonely man confronts zombies in a poorly fortified building, missing his wife - but what is going on in the world beyond this?
  • Europa (2021)
    Review preview for Europa

    Jose Lillo's performance as Pedro is of chiselled weariness, whisper, mutter, movement.

    Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
    A foreign worker in Switzerland has to take a cow to slaughter while his mother is dying in a Spanish hospital.
  • Everybody Goes To The Hospital (2021)
    Review preview for Everybody Goes To The Hospital

    Michael J Bishop and Mukhtar Kaissi’s charismatic model work adds oodles of expression.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    An animated exploration of a true physical, psychological, and familial trauma.
  • Everyman (2020)
    Review preview for Everyman

    Jack teases apart aspects of a code in which most of us are fluent but which is almost all learned, cultural.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A personal, visual essay about gender transition.
  • Everyone Deserves A Slice Of The Pie (2025)
    Review preview for Everyone Deserves A Slice Of The Pie

    With so much going on the only shame is that at this length the pirouettes in various directions are so brief, giving us a taste for ideas that are begging to be dug into further.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A celebration of pie throwing... and activism.
  • Ever Here I Be (2010)
    Review preview for Ever Here I Be

    It's the script and the visuals that really sing.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    An exploration of the feelings of an impending break-up.
  • Exam (2019)
    Review preview for Exam

    Although the film retains a tight focus on its specific story, Hadad is also offering glancing, but scathing, commentary about the patriarchy and authority more generally

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    A girl takes an illicit package into a school exam room.
  • Expensive Shit (2020)
    Review preview for Expensive Shit

    In a festival selection that included a number of feminist works and perspectives this was a standout.

    Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
    A Nigerian toilet attendant, desperate for survival, forced to manipulate unsuspecting women for men watching from behind a two-way mirror in a Glasgow club.
  • Extinction (2019)
    Review preview for Extinction

    It is funny, sharp, and like the best of the short film genre – all creds to director Jack Cooper Stimpson - pretty much every second works towards sketching a neat, clear picture of the issues with minimal lines.

    Jane Fae · 4 out of 5
    A political satire about climate change. Focused on the protest group Extinction Rebellion.
  • Extremist (2025)
    Review preview for Extremist

    The contrast between modern facilities and regressive culture makes a wider point, whilst the strangeness of living with it is reflected in the final scene.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A young Russian artist makes an anti-war statement by swapping food labels with pacifist messages in a Moscow supermarket, leading to her arrest and the threat of a 10-year prison sentence.
  • Electric Faces (2015)
    Review preview for Electric Faces

    If he achieves all this on a small budget, it's about time someone gave him a bigger one to play with.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A young man plans to rob a banker, with the help of his unstable robot.
  • Electric Light Wonderland (2009)
    Review preview for Electric Light Wonderland

    Shot in ultra-closeup on occasion, confined, claustrophobic.

    Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
    Three men unpack a mobile discotheque, quietly musing on what is to come.
  • Elephant Boy (2004)
    Review preview for Elephant Boy

    The first part of this film is compelling.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    A disabled Indian beggar dreams of a better life.
  • Emergency Calls (2013)
    Review preview for Emergency Calls

    Powerful stuff.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    An abstracted story based on real life calls to the emergency services.
  • Empty Space (2008)
    Review preview for Empty Space

    It was a bore, and, thankfully, it was short.

    Scott Macdonald · 1 out of 5
    A construction worker tries to escape from reality.
  • The End For Beginners (2007)
    Review preview for The End For Beginners

    As an observational piece, it is very accomplished.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A day in the life of a nursing home... with added children.
  • Enjoy The Drama (2016)
    Review preview for Enjoy The Drama

    Lud Mônaco's camera moves fluidly through the apartment, which is just one of many on a crowded street, any number of which could have witnessed similar love and loss.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Two women clean out their apartment and say goodbye to the life they shared.
  • Enraged Pigs (2012)
    Review preview for Enraged Pigs

    Perfectly contained, the contrast between human concerns and a cultural expression that's at once alien and untranslateable and immediately recognisable is stunning.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    The women of a small village wake up one day to discover that their husbands have turned into raging pigs.
  • A Equals A (2003)
    Review preview for A Equals A

    As a pop video, this has intimations of inventiveness.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
    Pop video uses the concept of a comic strip to tell the story of a robbery.
  • Erotos (2013)
    Review preview for Erotos

    Montaldo has to some extent revealed the horror of the body as a thing itself.

    Andrew Robertson · 2 out of 5
    A couple has a sexual encounter in a car.
  • Escape From Syria: Faiza's Story (2017)
    Review preview for Escape From Syria: Faiza's Story

    The technique keeps the children uppermost in our minds.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    Animation depicting the story of a refugee who fled Syria with her children and taking inspiration from the children's drawings.
  • Europa (2012)
    Review preview for Europa

    The sound is amazing.

    Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
    A vision of Europe's urban landscapes.
  • Eurovision Transcarpathia (2006)
    Review preview for Eurovision Transcarpathia

    A fascinating experiment.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
    Contrasting the Eurovision Song Contest with the memories and music of Transcarpathian peasants.
  • Eva (2005)
    Review preview for Eva

    Perez and Preston put in excellent performances

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    An innocent in the sex industry.

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