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P — 109 results

  • The Panola Project (2022)
    Review preview for The Panola Project

    The directors also capture the day of the inoculations, which is likely to serve a secondary purpose to jab-hesitant viewers, since it shows people receiving the vaccine in minutes with no ill-effects.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    Profile of Dorothy Oliver and her tireless work to get residents of the town of Panola vaccinated against Covid.
  • Paperman (2012)
    Review preview for Paperman

    Perhaps it's talking about destiny. It's still asking a lot of its audience.

    Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
    A office worker seems to be the target of a conspiracy by pieces of paper to win him the woman of his dreams.
  • Paraphernalia (2009)
    Review preview for Paraphernalia

    Paraphernalia is a product of a significant team effort, and it shows in its quality.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    Atari struggles with his useless robot, but his real struggle is more complex.
  • Pareidolia (2023)
    Review preview for Pareidolia

    There are, as it were, multiple dimensions to Aaron and Aiden Truss’ deliciously creepy little film.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A woman alone in her house can't be sure if the changing pictures and shapes around her are real, or whether something is watching her.
  • Party Day (2019)
    Review preview for Party Day

    while the scripting feels naturalistic, the decision to infer almost everything about Mena's, without being specific, feels frustratingly oblique in places.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    Mena organises a birthday party for a daughter. But after a phone call from her mother, she becomes distraught.
  • Passage Upon The Plume (2011)
    Review preview for Passage Upon The Plume

    There's a suggestion that this is out of time, a zephyr inconstant, a mystery of the air and the shifting sands.

    Andrew Robertson · 2.5 out of 5
    A series of observations of buildings and inventions, everything rising up into the sky.
  • The Pearl Comb (2025)
    Review preview for The Pearl Comb

    It draws on old Cornish stories about merfolk but is an original work, with well developed characters and actors who bring them to life superbly in the brief time they have.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    When a Cornish fisherman's wife performs a medical miracle, a doctor goes to investigate, but discovers a lot more than he bargained for.
  • The Pedestrian (2010)
    Review preview for The Pedestrian

    While the Pedestrian is humorous and confidently acted it still manages to slow in places.

    Andrew Robertson · 3 out of 5
    Jonathon Collins has never been beaten at any walking competition, and joins them eagerly on his daily commute. But could his obsession jeopardise a possible romance with a young woman who walks for charity?
  • Peggy (2018)
    Review preview for Peggy

    Writer and director Justin O'Neal Miller walks a careful line in this cheery yet tense little comedy.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    Peggy's social graces are put to the test when she throws a birthday party for her eight-year-old son.
  • Pendulum (2017)
    Review preview for Pendulum

    There's a strong idea here and it keeps things interesting despite the film's structural issues.

    Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
    Two friends seek spiritual salvation in India, away from their hedonistic and disconnected London lives, in advance of the impending collapse of the cosmos.
  • Percebes (2024)
    Review preview for Percebes

    A simple but elegant conceit.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    The story of culinary treasure the goose barnacle and its influence on life in the Algarve.
  • Perfectly A Strangeness (2024)
    Review preview for Perfectly A Strangeness

    Perfectly A Strangeness is an experiment in the documentary form, its innovative storytelling inviting viewers to engage with the world from a fresh perspective.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    In the dazzling incandescence of an unknown desert, three donkeys discover an abandoned astronomical observatory and the universe.
  • The Perfect Fit (2011)
    Review preview for The Perfect Fit

    It takes a special kind of documentarian to look behind the right curtain.

    Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
    A look at the craft of making ballet shoes and the damage done in the pursuit of art.
  • The Perpetrators (2022)
    Review preview for The Perpetrators

    The animation interconnects, sometimes in the same image, with a beautifully recreated Eighties suburban world.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Suburban London, the 1980s. A stranger in the family becomes a ghost child and awakens the monsters and desires of a queer childhood.
  • Pete (2022)
    Review preview for Pete

    A sweet little tale about the value of hope and solidarity.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A little film about gender identity, Little League baseball, the people who inspire change by trying to be themselves, and the superheroes who allow that change to happen.
  • Petite Avarie (2018)
    Review preview for Petite Avarie

    This film is likely to be adored by many cancer patients themselves, capturing exactly the kind of black humour one encounters on cancer wards.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    When Laura learns that she has breast cancer, her partner Sylvain doesn't respond in the way she might have hoped.
  • Petriarch (2012)
    Review preview for Petriarch

    Elton and Menary's film is a slight but poignant snapshot of grief, exploring the particular difficulty of grieving for somebody who is still alive.

    Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
    A young man tries to explain to his ailing father a vision that he may not understand himself.
  • Photograph Of Jesus (2008)
    Review preview for Photograph Of Jesus

    It’s all entertaining enough – but, perhaps inevitably given the context, it does have the feel of a promo film.

    Jeff Robson · 3 out of 5
    Documentary focusing on the bizarre requests by the Getty Images picture archive.
  • Piccolo Piccolo (2026)
    Review preview for Piccolo Piccolo

    With its collage-style animation, you feel as though you could almost reach out and touch the mountain landscapes and characters.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A tiny mouse, wanting to forget her little worries, decides one day to climb a very high mountain.
  • Pictures On Wax (2009)
    Review preview for Pictures On Wax

    The dancers have a grasp that is no longer than their reach, so whatever gets onto camera is done well.

    Chris · 4 out of 5
    Music video showcasing dance.
  • Picture Day (2022)
    Review preview for Picture Day

    Making a short film requires compact storytelling and Pike delivers a great deal in just 16 minutes.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A 12-year-old girl gets into arguments with her mother ahead of getting her annual school photo taken.
  • Pile Of Salt (2021)
    Review preview for Pile Of Salt

    Marc Camardon's film, co-written with Jordi Tortosa, explores familiar themes with verve.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    A diligent and faithful Catholic seminarist, experiences a crisis after meeting a fellow student.
  • Pitch Black Heist (2011)
    Review preview for Pitch Black Heist

    Shot in lush, vivid black and white, the film carries a sense of age and expectation.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Two men team up to rob an office safe but they must work around a light-triggered alarm system.
  • La Place (2026)
    Review preview for La Place

    Violence is always lurking at the edge of the narrative.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A quarrel over a parking space pulls a couple into an unexpected confrontation with a stranger.
  • A Place To Come (2011)
    Review preview for A Place To Come

    An intriguing piece.

    Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
    Descriptions and realities are at odds in this experimental short.
  • Playing God (2024)
    Review preview for Playing God

    It’s really a multiplicity of interconnected stories.

    Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
    Fragile clay sculptures come to life in a bare workshop, craving more than just existence. When their sculptor abandons them, they must discover the power of belonging.
  • Play It Safe (2021)
    Review preview for Play It Safe

    Jonathjan Ajayi is superb.

    Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
    Coaxed into playing a racial typecast in a fellow student's play, Jonathan is faced to either challenge prejudice or play it safe.
  • Please Speak Continuously And Describe Your Experiences As They Come To You (2019)
    Review preview for Please Speak Continuously And Describe Your Experiences As They Come To You

    He shows almost as much affection for body horror as his father David, and uses food to deliberately disgusting effect.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    Emily is a patient at an experimental psychiatric facility where a brain implant prototype allows her to relive her dreams.
  • Podesta Island (2020)
    Review preview for Podesta Island

    Stephanie Roland's film exists in a space between spaces, a liminal latitude, languorous longitude, a tropic of candour.

    Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
    In a hyperconnected and mapped world, are there still unknown areas?
  • Ponyboi (2019)
    Review preview for Ponyboi

    There's a sense of the magic that cinema makes possible not only through escapism but through inviting us to reach out for more.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A young intersex person searches for love and a better life.
  • Pornography (2009)
    Review preview for Pornography

    In her directorial debut, Jo McInnes shows a confident touch and a keen eye.

    Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
    A brother and sister experience crises together.
  • Postcode Lottery (2012)
    Review preview for Postcode Lottery

    This isn't a conventional life-affirming cancer narrative, this is angrier, more personal.

    Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
    Unable to access cancer treatment, Jed resorts to desperate measures.
  • Pouters (2012)
    Review preview for Pouters

    There are some stunning shots, neat personal moments.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    Two longtime rivals battle for the title of Doo Fleein Champion in the East End of Glasgow.
  • Practice (2022)
    Review preview for Practice

    It's rare to see the near-naked intimacy here outwith a documentary context.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    A man tries to pluck up the courage to get into the dating game, but his nerves get the better of him.
  • The Present (2020)
    Review preview for The Present

    It's the moments where ordinary, ubiquitous concerns meet the specific terrors of living with checkpoints like this that the film draws its power from.

    Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
    On his wedding anniversary, a man, accompanied by his small daughter, goes into town to buy his wife a present - but this is occupied Palestine and nothing is that simple.
  • A Present Light (2021)
    Review preview for A Present Light

    Jorge Quintela's cinematography finds grandeur in what could be grime.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    On a rainy night, a sad man leaves his home to deliver a letter to someone who recently left him.
  • The Press & the People, Part I (2022)
    Review preview for The Press & the People, Part I

    The mood, as you would expect, is sombre, serious. The message clear.

    Jane Fae · 3.5 out of 5
    The stories of people who faced press abuse after losing someone close to them.
  • Presto (2008)
    Review preview for Presto

    Rabbit versus magician may be an ancient and arcane struggle, but rarely has it been so kinetically depicted.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    A stage magician's rabbit rebels. Showing with WALL·E.
  • Prey (2011)
    Review preview for Prey

    There's little imagination in the story but the characters are well drawn and convincingly portrayed, whilst the overall look of the film is stunning given that it was shot on a budget of just £500.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    Awakening after a dimly remembered one night stand, Tom can't shake the feeling that something terrible has happened - or is about to happen.
  • Prey Alone (2004)
    Review preview for Prey Alone

    A chase scene that would cost thousands if it were shot with actual actors and props is so realistic that you can taste the exhaust fumes.

    Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
    Police chase a fugitive in whistle-stop.
  • Pride (2021)
    Review preview for Pride

    For all its universalities, this is something rooted in the very particular terroir of American further education.

    Andrew Robertson · 3 out of 5
    Set in Charlottesville during the early 1990s, Pride follows an aspiring writer as she finalises stories for the latest issue of Pride, a student run newspaper at the University of Virginia.
  • Psalms Of The People
    Review preview for Psalms Of The People

    It’s in the moment, in the process, in the commingling of voices that something divine is found.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A documentary about Scotland’s cultural heritage of traditional Gaelic psalm singing.
  • Public Enemy Number One (2019)
    Review preview for Public Enemy Number One

    Spanning such a long period of time, the film has the advantage of having several interviewees whose views have changed and who are prepared to talk about that.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A history of the US War on Drugs.
  • Le Pupille (2022)
    Review preview for Le Pupille

    There's a majestic "English pudding" at the centre of this Oscar-nominated short - but really this latest from Alice Rohrwacher is an enjoyable trifle.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    Christmas rebellion brews at an all-girls Catholic boarding school.
  • Puppet Master (2018)
    Review preview for Puppet Master

    The film is expertly performed.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A lonely woman allows a man to transform her into a puppet.
  • Pussy (2016)
    Review preview for Pussy

    Sometimes intensely erotic, sometimes side-splittingly funny, Gasiorowska's film is beautifully observed.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Alone at home one evening, a woman decides to have a solo pleasure session — but not everything goes according to plan.
  • The Pyramids Of Egypt (2013)
    Review preview for The Pyramids Of Egypt

    This short is bright and brisk at less than four minutes but the wit is as dry as the desert and there's never a dull moment.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    An archaeologist and his camel find something interesting at a dig.
  • Prayers For Peace (2009)
    Review preview for Prayers For Peace

    Illustrated by tremendous visuals, it's affecting, moving.

    Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
    Stop-motion animation confronting the memory of the artist's younger brother killed in the Iraq conflict.
  • Pretty Dress (2002)
    Review preview for Pretty Dress

    Tiny, tiny, tiny and yet picturesquely perfect!

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
    Two killer babies start The Custard Wars.
  • Primary (2007)
    Review preview for Primary

    Seeing children get the chance to take control like this makes for impressive cinema.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Primary school children express their feelings about their refugee and asylum seeker classmates.

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