Skip to main content

Flare · 2022

Flare 2022

Hearts

Programme

16 films · 8 reviews

Jump to a film

Besties (Les Meilleures)

Two young women from different gangs meet on a Paris council estate and experience an instant attraction.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Marion Desseigne Ravel; Writer: Marion Desseigne Ravel; Stars: Lina El Arabi, Esther Rollande)

Boulevard! A Hollywood Story

Two young songwriters and romantic partners, find themselves caught in movie star Gloria Swanson's web when she hires them to write a musical version of Sunset Boulevard.

(Year: 2021; Director: Jeffrey Schwarz; Stars: Muhammad Ali, Steve Allen, Brooke Anderson)

Cop Secret

Review preview for Cop Secret

This film is nothing if not derivative. Except, therein lies its beauty.

Jane Fae · 4 out of 5
Mismatched buddy cop spoof.

(Country: Iceland; Year: 2021; Director: Hannes Þór Halldórsson; Writer: Auðunn Blöndal, Egill Einarsson, Hannes Þór Halldórsson, Hannes Þór Halldórsson, Nína Pedersen, Sverrir Þór Sverrisson; Stars: Auðunn Blöndal, Egill Einarsson, Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir, Vivian Ólafsdóttir, Sverrir Þór Sverrisson, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Júlíana Sara Gunnarsdóttir, Steinþór Hróar Steinþórsson, Gunnar Hansson, Jón Gnarr, Auðunn Blöndal, Egill Einarsson, Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir, Vivian Ólafsdóttir, Sverrir Þór Sverrisson)

Full review See: Hannes Þór Halldórsson on his directorial debut Cop Secret , Auðunn Blöndal, Egill Einarsson and Bjorn Hlynur Haraldsson on Cop Secret

Dakan

Two young men who met at high school find it impossible to set aside their feelings for each other.

(Country: Guinea, France; Year: 1997; Director: Mohamed Camara; Writer: Mohamed Camara; Stars: Mohamed Camara, Cécile Bois, Mamady Mory Camara)

Dawn, Her Dad & The Tractor

When a young woman with a startling resemblance to his wife Miranda appears days before her funeral, a man begins an odyssey towards understanding.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Shelley Thompson; Writer: Shelley Thompson; Stars: Maya Henry, Robb Wells, Amy Groening, Reid Price)

In From The Side

When an injured player from the A-team is selected to play with the Bs as part of his recovery, tensions are already high. Initial suspicion turns to physical lust for two of the team members and personal loyalties are stretched as they try to conceal the affair, not only from their own partners but also their teammates.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Matt Carter; Writer: Matt Carter, Adam Silver; Stars: Alexander Lincoln, Alexander King, Will Hearle)

I Want to Talk About Duras

Review preview for I Want to Talk About Duras

Swann Arlaud as Yann Andréa and Emmanuelle Devos as Michèle Manceaux give tremendous performances that circle around discoveries of deep personal truths.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Portrait of the complex romantic relationship between epochal experimental novelist and filmmaker Marguerite Duras and her much younger, homosexual partner, Yann Andréa.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Claire Simon; Writer: Claire Simon, based on the book by Yann Andréa; Stars: Emmanuelle Devos, Swann Arlaud)

Full review

Jimmy In Saigon

Review preview for Jimmy In Saigon

Deftly edited with an eye for detail, this is a personal story which reminds us that history is comprised not simply of great events but of human experiences.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
The director goes in search of the truth about his brother Jimmy, a Vietnam veteran, who died in Saigon at the age of 24 and whose parents never explained how it happened, rarely mentioning his name.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Peter McDowell; Writer: Peter McDowell)

Full review

The Outlaws

An older drifter and younger man forge a partnership.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2021; Director: Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken; Writer: Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken; Stars: Filip Berg, Lia Boysen, Samuel Fröler, Benjamin Helstad, Ingar Helge Gimle, Cecilie A. Mosli, Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes, Mattis Herman Nyquist, Kai Kolstad Rødseth, Oskar Sandven Lundevold, Åsmund Høeg, Hadrian Libell, Stein Winge, Geir Kaspersen)

Private Desert (Deserto Particular)

Review preview for Private Desert

A potent rejoinder to the hypermasculine, explicitly transphobic values of the Bolsonaro regime.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Daniel has been suspended from active police work and is under internal investigation for violence. When Sara, his internet love affair, stops answering his texts he decides to drive north in search of her.

(Country: Brazil, Portugal; Year: 2021; Director: Aly Muritiba; Writer: Henrique Dos Santos, Aly Muritiba; Stars: Antonio Saboia, Pedro Fasanaro, Luthero Almeida, Thomas Aquino, Laila Garin, Sandro Guerra, Otavio Linhares, Zezita Matos, Cynthia Senek, Antonio Saboia, Pedro Fasanaro, Luthero Almeida, Thomas Aquino, Laila Garin, Sandro Guerra)

Full review

Sublime

Review preview for Sublime

What really lights up the film is the chemistry between the boys and their wider circle of friends.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A teenager in a rock band falls for his best friend, who is also one of his bandmates, while acting as his confidante and listening to his plans to impress girls.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2022; Director: Mariano Biasin; Writer: Mariano Biasin; Stars: Martín Miller, Teo Inama Chiabrando, Azul Mazzeo)

Full review See: Interview with Mariano Biasin about Sublime

The Swimmer

Review preview for The Swimmer

It’s Kalderon's intimate understanding of the sport and its psychology that give this film its strength.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Having earned himself a coveted spot at an elite training camp, talented swimmer Erez finds himself thrust into an unforgiving world of sporting rivalry, battling against his peers for a place on the Israeli Olympic swimming team - while falling for a teammate.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2021; Director: Adam Kalderon; Writer: Adam Kalderon; Stars: Omer Perelman Striks, Asaf Jonas, Nadia Kucher)

Full review See: Interview with Adam Kalderon about The Swimmer

Ultraviolette And The Blood-Spitters Gang

The director unravels the story of his grandmother's teenage lesbian sweetheart who was admitted to a sanatorium with tuberculosis and started a gang.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Robin Hunzinger)

Walk With Me

A young mother leaves her husband to find her footing in the world. As she finds her way, she stumbles into unexpected love with another woman.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Isabel del Rosal; Writer: Isabel del Rosal; Stars: Devin Dunne Cannon, Bridget Barkan, Catrina Ganey, Daniel Fox)

Wildhood

Review preview for Wildhood

Trust in strangers is a big theme in this sweet-natured film.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Link does his best to protect his younger half-brother Travis from their father’s violent rages. But one night he discovers a dark family secret and realises that he must leave his father, who symbolises the violent cultural evisceration of European colonisation.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Bretten Hannam; Writer: Bretten Hannam; Stars: Philip Lewitski, Joshua Odjick, Avery Winters-Anthony)

Full review See: Interview with Phillip Lewitski and Joshua Odjick about Wildhood