Belfast Film Festival

Latest reviews

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  The Ballad Of Suzanne Césaire

  Review preview for The Ballad Of Suzanne Césaire

  The word ballad is a good choice in the title because Hunt-Ehrlich’s film is a rhythms and muse affair.

  Hybrid biopic about the Martinican writer and activist.
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  A Real Pain

  Review preview for A Real Pain

  Eisenberg takes us through the entire journey in a brisk 90 minutes, but the film never feels rushed.

  Mismatched cousins David and Benji reunite for a tour through Poland to honour their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.
• 
  Nightbitch

  Review preview for Nightbitch

  Nightbitch is of an ilk that is off-kilter. It is unreliable and unstable. It is visceral and dark. It is taxidermy and what I think are freezer potato pancakes.

  A woman pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mother, but soon her domesticity takes a surreal turn.
• 
  Flow

  Review preview for Flow

  Cat’s viewpoint predominates, and Zilbalodis has an acute understanding of how the world looks from its point of view, of what catches its attention and how its body follows instinctively.

  An animated adventure about a group of animals who must work together to survive a catastrophe in a post-human world.
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  The Spin

  Review preview for The Spin

  The warmth between the two leads keeps us rooting for them as everything seems to be going against them, often due to their own poor decisions.

  Two men go on a road trip across Ireland in search of a priceless record.
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  Hard Truths

  Review preview for Hard Truths

  It’s funny to begin with, watching Pansy rant with no filter, sharing her negative thoughts on everything from baby clothes with pockets to sofa salespeople, but gradually we realise just how close to the edge she is.

  Life's a constant struggle for Pansy. Racked with physical and mental pain, her dealings with the world are channeled through anger and confrontation - only her sister understands and is able to help her.
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  Familiar Touch

  Review preview for Familiar Touch

  The writer/director also zeroes in on the importance of physical contact for Ruth - something concrete in a world that is now full of things that she can’t always grasp.

  Follows an octogenarian woman’s transition to life in assisted living as she contends with her conflicting relationship to herself and her caregivers amidst her shifting memory, age identity, and desires.
• 
  To Kill A Mongolian Horse

  Review preview for To Kill A Mongolian Horse

  What emerges is a carefully calibrated, bleak but elegiac picture of an environment where people are being forced to perform rather than allowed to live on their own terms.

  Saina, a herdsman by day and horseback performer by night, is torn between two worlds.
• 
  Fréwaka

  Review preview for Fréwaka

  Clarke’s utilisation of eerie Irish lore and the supernatural to explore very real horror, and the lifelong lingering aftermath of a single, damning moment, is a potent and unsettling brew.

  A troubled home carer finds her grip on reality starts to slip after she goes to help an elderly agoraphobic.
• 
  Armand

  Review preview for Armand

  Less concerned with scrutinising the playground than the dangerous games adults can play with one another.

  A mother is called into her child's infant school after he faces an accusation.

A–Z of Belfast Film Festival 2024 reviews →

Features

• Reflections of a cat
  Gints Zilbalodis on Hayao Miyazaki, fairy tales and Latvia’s Oscar submission, Flow
• Leaning to darkness
  Aislinn Clarke on the Na Sidhe, Ireland's troubled history, and Fréwaka
• At last Maddin makes mischief in Cannes
  G7 satire star power for Rumours filmmaker