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Cheltenham International Film Festival · 2021

Cheltenham International Film Festival 2021

Features

Programme

33 films · 14 reviews

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Aristocrats

Two young women, struggling to follow their own destinies against class-defined expectations, form an unlikely friendship.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2020; Director: Yukiko Sode; Writer: Yukiko Sode, based on the book by Mariko Yamauchi; Stars: Mugi Kadowaki, Kiko Mizuhara, Kengo Kora, Shizuka Ishibashi)

The Atlantic City Story

Review preview for The Atlantic City Story

Butash brings us close to these characters when they are at their most raw and exposed.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Hitting Atlantic City, Jane forms an unlikely bond with a young gambler. But she can’t run from her marriage forever.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Henry Butash; Writer: Henry Butash; Stars: Jessica Hecht, Mike Faist, Gary Wilmes, Nina Hellman, Emily Donahoe)

Full review

Brighton

Two British working-class couples return to Brighton after 40 years and struggle to accept changes in society and themselves.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Stephen Cookson; Writer: Stephen Cookson and Melanie Harris, based on the play by Steven Berkoff; Stars: Phil Davis, Adjoa Andoh, Lesley Sharp, Marion Bailey, Larry Lamb)

Dinner In America

Review preview for Dinner In America

Adam Rehmeier's latest film arrives with the anarchic energy of a cherry bomb tossed into the bathroom toilet of Middle America.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
An on-the-lam punk rocker and a young woman he meets by chance embark on an offbeat romance.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Adam Rehmeier; Writer: Adam Rehmeier; Stars: Kyle Gallner, Emily Skeggs, Lea Thompson, Hannah Marks, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Griffin Gluck, Nick Chinlund, Ryan Malgarini, Pat Healy, Nico Greetham, David Yow, Brittany Sheets, Brian Andrus, Robert Laenen, Ricky Wayne)

Full review See: Adam Rehmeier on control, the pandemic and dinner in America

Disclosure

Two couples chat beside a suburban pool, but the unease mounts as they turn to a recent incident involving their young kids.

(Year: 2020; Director: Michael Bentham; Writer: Michael Bentham; Stars: Geraldine Hakewill, Tom Wren, Matilda Ridgway, Mark Leonard Winter, Greg Stone)

Eden

Three teenagers, one clever, one confident and one timid, come under the influence of a slightly older zealot at a religious summer camp.

(Country: Finland; Year: 2020; Director: Ulla Heikkilä; Writer: Ulla Heikkilä; Stars: Essi Patrakka, Aamu Milonoff, Linnea Skog, Bruno Baer, Alisa Röyttä)

The Father

Review preview for The Father

Zeller elegantly and scarily fuses dream logic with markers of past trauma.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Anthony is 80 years old. He lives alone in London and refuses the caregivers that his daughter tries to impose upon him. Yet his need for help is becoming more pressing.

(Country: UK; Year: 2020; Director: Florian Zeller; Writer: Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller; Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell, Olivia Williams)

Full review

Father (Otac)

Review preview for Father

Golubovic wants us to feel the weight of all this, and we certainly do, as cinematographer Aleksandar Ilic not only captures the countryside of Serbia but also a sense of dilapidation.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Nikola’s children are taken away from him after social services decide that he is too poor to provide them with a decent living environment. He sets off on foot to lodge a complaint in Belgrade.

(Country: Serbia, France, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Year: 2020; Director: Srdan Golubovic; Writer: Srdan Golubovic, Ognjen Svilicic; Stars: Goran Bogdan, Ajla Santic, Muharem Hamzic, Boris Isakovic, Nada Sargin, Milica Janevski, Vahid Dzankovic, Jovo Maksic, Nikola Rakocevic, Milan Maric, Ljubomir Bandovic, Mirko Vlahovic, Goran Bogdan, Ajla Santic, Muharem Hamzic)

Full review

The Garden Left Behind

Review preview for The Garden Left Behind

With beautifully drawn relationships and a fine central performance, The Garden Left Behind takes frequently politicised subject matter and reminds us of the human side of it.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A story about the relationship between a young trans woman and her grandmother as they navigate transition and struggle to build a life for themselves as undocumented immigrants in New York City.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Flavio Alves; Writer: Flavio Alves, John Rotondo; Stars: Michael Madsen, Edward Asner, Carlie Guevara)

Full review See: Interview with Flavio Alves about The Garden Left Behind, part two , Interview with Flavio Alves about The Garden Left Behind, part one

High Ground

Review preview for High Ground

Taking natural sounds from the landscape, Chris Goodes has constructed a soundscape which shifts perfectly with the mood of the film, contributing to the sense of the balance of power and who is or is not an outsider.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
The sole survivor of a massacre as a child, Gutjuk is recruited 12 years later to hunt for a violent Aboriginal warrior.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2020; Director: Stephen Johnson; Writer: Stephen Johnson, David Jowsey, Wityana Marika, Maggie Miles, Greer Simpkin; Stars: Simon Baker, Jacob Junior Nayinggul, Jack Thompson, Callan Mulvey, Caren Pistorius, Sean Mununggurr, Witiyana Marika)

Full review

How To Be A Good Wife (La Bonne Epouse)

A dutiful wife rises up, inspired by the Spirit of May '68 and by the secret her dead husband bequeaths her.

(Year: 2020; Director: Martin Provost; Writer: Severine Werba; Stars: Juliette Binoche, Yolande Moreau, Noemie Lvovsky, Edouard Baer, Francois Berléand, Marie Zabukovec)

Into Dad's Woods (La Forêt De Mon Père)

Gina, 15, struggles with the mental disintegration of her beloved and eccentric nature-loving father.

(Year: 2019; Director: Véro Cratzborn; Writer: Véro Cratzborn, Ève Deboise, François Verjans; Stars: Léonie Souchaud, Ludivine Sagnier, Alban Lenoir, Mathis Bour, Saskia de Melo Dillais, Carl Malapa)

I Never Cry (Jak Najdalej Stad)

Review preview for I Never Cry

The personal is prominent, with Domalewski leaving the viewer to draw their own picture of the broader socio-economic failings of all this.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A woman travels to Ireland to repatriate her father's body after he dies in a workplace accident.

(Country: Poland, Ireland; Year: 2020; Director: Piotr Domalewski; Writer: Piotr Domalewski; Stars: David Pearse, Cosmina Stratan, Tomasz Zietek, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Kinga Preis, Paul Boyle, Zofia Stafiej, Ann-Marie O'Connor, David Pearse, Cosmina Stratan, Tomasz Zietek, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Kinga Preis, Paul Boyle, Zofia Stafiej)

Full review

Kubrick By Kubrick (Kubrik Par Kubrik)

Featuring a treasure trove of unearthed interview recordings from the director himself.

(Country: France; Year: 2020; Director: Gregory Monro; Writer: Gregory Monro)

Madly In Life (Une Vie Démente)

A couple planning to have a child find their plans complicated when one of their mother contracts semantic dementia and begins acting like an unmanageable kid.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2020; Director: Raphaël Balboni, Ann Sirot; Writer: Raphaël Balboni, Ann Sirot; Stars: Lucie Debay, Jo Deseure, Jean Le Peltier, Gilles Remiche, Lucie Debay, Jo Deseure, Jean Le)

Mating

Two Swedish millennials offer up a year of their lives to the camera as they online-date and a romance blossoms.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2019; Director: Lina Mannheimer; Stars: Edvin Kempe, Naomi Carter)

My Wonderful Wanda (Wanda, mein Wunder)

Review preview for My Wonderful Wanda

My Wonderful Wanda picks just the right moments to introduce real emotion into the mix.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Wanda nurses the patriarch of the wealthy Wegmeister-Gloor family. When an unexpected complication arises, family secrets come to light.

(Country: Switzerland; Year: 2020; Director: Bettina Oberli; Writer: Bettina Oberli, Cooky Ziesche; Stars: Marthe Keller, Anatole Taubman, Birgit Minichmayr, Jacob Matschenz, Agnieszka Grochowska, André Jung, Gottfried Breitfuss, Iwo Rajski, Bruno Rajski, Marthe Keller, Anatole Taubman, Birgit Minichmayr, Jacob Matschenz, Agnieszka Grochowska, André Jung)

Full review

The Night Of The Beast

Review preview for The Night Of The Beast

There's a magic about this particular night, something in their air, and you don't have to be a metaller yourself to feel it.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Iron Maiden, Bogota, 1980. A dream come true for two young metalheads who are determined to see the band.

(Country: Colombia, Mexico; Year: 2020; Director: Mauricio Leiva-Cock; Writer: Benjamín Figueroa García, Mauricio Leiva-Cock; Stars: Esteban Galindo, Daniel Esteban Reyes)

Full review

Night Of The Kings (La Nuit Des Rois)

Review preview for Night Of The Kings

Everything here is wrapped in layers of fiction.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A young man is sent to La Maca, a prison of Ivory Coast in the middle of the forest ruled by its prisoners. With the red moon rising, he is designated by the Boss to be the new Roman and must tell a story to the other prisoners.

(Country: France, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire; Year: 2020; Director: Philippe Lacôte; Writer: Philippe Lacôte; Stars: Issaka Sawadogo, Steve Tientcheu, Abdoul Karim Konaté)

Full review

Oskar And Lilli (Where No one Knows Us)

A couple of kids who are due to be deported are separated after she attempts suicide.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2020; Director: Arash T Riahi; Writer: Arash T Riahi, Monika Helfer; Stars: Rosa Zant, Leopold Pallua, Anna Fenderl, Simone Fuith, Viktor Krüger, Ines Miro, Alexandra Maria Nutz, Christine Ostermayer, Sonja Romei, Alice Marie Schneider, Rainer Wöss, Markus Zett, Rosa Zant, Leopold Pallua, Anna Fenderl)

The Outside Story

Having just broken up with his girlfriend, introverted video editor Charles gets locked out of his apartment, accidentally embarking on a transformative odyssey through his neighbourhood.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Casimir Nozkowski; Writer: Casimir Nozkowski; Stars: Brian Tyree Henry, Sonequa Martin-Green, Sunita Mani, Olivia Edward, Asia Kate Dillon, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Michael Cyril Creighton, Matthew Maher, Hannah Bos, Maria Dizzia, Jordan Carlos, Lynda Gravatt, Paul Thureen, Nadia Bowers, Suzette Gunn)

Out In The Open (Intemperie)

Amid the barren landscapes of Andalusia in 1946, abuses of power are part of everyday life. A boy escapes the clutches of a ruthless foreman who will stop at nothing to secure his return. Running for his life, he meets a war veteran and the two become allies.

(Country: Spain, Portugal; Year: 2019; Director: Benito Zambrano; Stars: Luis Tosar, Luis Callejo, Jaime Lopez)

Sisters Apart (Im Feuer)

Rojda, a Kurdish member of the German army, sets out clandestinely to reunite her family, dispersed by Middle Eastern wars.

(Year: 2020; Director: Daphne Charizani; Writer: Daphne Charizani; Stars: Almila Bagriacik, Maryam Boubani, Zübeyde Bulut, Gonca de Haas, Christoph Letkowski, Lucas Prisor)

Surge

A man goes on a bold and reckless journey of self-liberation through London. After he robs a bank he releases a wilder version of himself, ultimately experiencing what it feels like to be alive.

(Country: UK; Year: 2020; Director: Aneil Karia; Writer: Rupert Jones, Rita Kalnejais; Stars: Ben Whishaw, Jasmine Jobson, Ryan McKen, Laurence Spellman, Muna Otaru, Ray Calleja, Paul Blackwell, Abdul Hakim Joy, Jack Pierce, Ranjit Singh Shubh, Yohanna Ephrem, Bradley Taylor, Modupe Adeyeye, Laraine Dix, Haqi Ali)

Sweet Thing

Nico and Billie are not protected by their dysfunctional and irresponsible parents, so the siblings embark on a journey with young Malik – full of cinematic references and intense moments of freedom.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Alexandre Rockwell; Stars: Lana Rockwell, Nico Rockwell, Jabari Watkins, Will Patton, Karyn Parsons)

The Swordsman (Geom-gaek)

Review preview for The Swordsman

A satisfying action thriller.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A blind swordsman fights to protect his daughter and is forced to confront an old enemy.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2020; Director: Choi Jae-hoon; Writer: Choi Jae-hoon; Stars: Hyuk Jang Jeong Man-sik, Angelina Danilova)

Full review

A Tale Of Three Sisters

Three children sent to be foster children/maids in a small town are sent back to their father's house when things go badly.

(Country: Turkey, Germany, Netherlands, Greece; Year: 2019; Director: Emin Alper; Writer: Emin Alper; Stars: Cemre Ebuzziya, Ece Yüksel, Helin Kandemir, Müfit Kayacan, Kayhan Açikgöz, Kubilay Tunçer, Cemre Ebuzziya, Ece Yüksel, Helin Kandemir, Müfit Kayacan, Kayhan Açikgöz, Kubilay Tunçer)

Under The Stars Of Paris (Sous les étoiles de Paris)

A homeless woman tries to help a lost eight-year-old boy from Burkina Faso to find his mother on the streets of Paris.

(Country: France; Year: 2020; Director: Claus Drexel; Writer: Olivier Brunhes, Claus Drexel; Stars: Catherine Frot, Dominique Frot, Mahamadou Yaffa, Catherine Frot, Dominique Frot, Mahamadou Yaffa)

Unidentified

A labyrinthine police thriller in which a flawed but determined detectivebegins to seem ever more flawed.

(Country: Romania; Year: 2020; Director: Bogdan George Apetri; Writer: Bogdan George Apetri, Iulian Postelnicu; Stars: Bogdan Farcas, Dragos Dumitru, Vasile Muraru, Emanuel Parvu, Olimpia Malai, Andrei Aradits)

Wet Season

Review preview for Wet Season

The drama is delicately handled.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
In Singapore, teacher Ling becomes the object of an infatuation when she takes one of her students under her wing.

(Year: 2019; Director: Anthony Chen; Writer: Anthony Chen; Stars: Jia Ler Koh, Yann Yann Yeo, Christopher Ming-Shun Lee, Shi Bin Yang)

Full review

What You Don't Know About Me (Quello Che Non Sai Di Me)

Two people with secrets and from very different backgrounds make an unlikely marriage, something neither was seeking.

(Year: 2019; Director: Rolando Colla; Writer: Marina Guerrini, Roberto Scarpetti; Stars: Koudos Seihon, Linda Olsansky)

Winona

Review preview for Winona

Though there is a strong idea here, Voulgaris never quite succeeds in teasing out its potential.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
Four young women gambol on a beach. A day of play for close friends, it seems, but there's a reason they’re here.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2019; Director: Alexander Voulgaris; Writer: Alexander Voulgaris; Stars: Anthi Efstratiadou, Sofia Kokkali, Iro Bezou, Daphne Patakia)

Full review