After a recent and difficult divorce, Alice hasn't seen her children in two months as she awaits a custody verdict. When her son calls her in the middle of the night, Alice takes action, abducting the children on an illicit charter trip to the Canary Islands.
The complex interactions between the girls are beautifully captured.
Amy, 11 years old, meets a group of dancers called "Cuties”. Fascinated, she initiates herself to a sensual dance, hoping to join their band and escape family dysfunction...
Laura is spending a few days at her beach house to supervise the construction of a barbecue shed. One afternoon, she seduces the chief builder, who never returns. Over the following days, the builders continually invade her home – until Laura grows ferocious.
Magdalena makes a journey to find her son, gone missing on his way to the Mexican border with the US. Her odyssey takes her to meet Miguel, a man recently deported from the US. They travel together, Magdalena looking for her son, and Miguel hoping to see his mother again.
(Country: Mexico, Spain; Year: 2020; Director: Fernanda Valadez; Writer: Fernanda Valadez, Astrid Rondero; Stars: Mercedes Hernández, David Illescas, Juan Jesús Varela, Ana Laura Rodríguez, Laura Elena Ibarra, Xicoténcatl Ulloa)
It's a far from perfect film, but it's a lot better than the critical consensus suggests, and at the heart of it is a fascinating character study.
Jeanne, a shy young woman, works in an amusement park. Fascinated by carousels, she still lives at home with her mother. That’s when Jeanne meets Jumbo, the park’s new flagship attraction...
(Country: France, Luxembourg, Belgium; Year: 2020; Director: Zoé Wittock; Writer: Zoé Wittock; Stars: Noémie Merlant, Emmanuelle Bercot, Sam Louwyck)
Durra isn't looking to make anything so simple as a romantic drama, though that element is there, but instead to consider what lies beneath Hana's words in terms as she grapples in the liminal space between her past and her future.
When British aid worker Hana returns to Luxor, a sleepy city on the banks of the Nile, she comes across Sultan, a talented archeologist and former lover. As she wanders, haunted by the familiar place, she struggles to reconcile the choices of the past with the uncertainty of the present.
(Country: Egypt, UK, United Arab Emirates; Year: 2020; Director: Zeina Durra; Writer: Zeina Durra; Stars: Andrea Riseborough, Karim Saleh, Shahira Fahmy, Sherine Reda, Salima Ikram, Michael Landes, Ahmed Talaat, Indigo Rønlov, Janie Aziz, Trude Reed, Andrea Riseborough, Michael Landes, Karim Saleh, Shahira Fahmy, Sherine Reda)
Cronenberg is most certainly David’s son, and while he’d probably prefers to avoid comparisons, his proclivity towards jarring imagery and shocking material instantly calls to mind his father's work.
Vasya is a corporate agent who uses brain-implant technology to inhabit other people’s bodies, driving them to commit assassinations for the benefit of the company. When something goes wrong on a routine job, she finds herself trapped inside a man whose identity threatens to obliterate her own.
(Country: UK, Canada; Year: 2020; Director: Brandon Cronenberg; Writer: Brandon Cronenberg; Stars: Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Rossif Sutherland, Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean, Jennifer Jason Leigh)
Rodrigo is a solitary teenager, a king in the private world he shares with his mother. Things change when she takes her new boyfriend home to live. He must decide if he fights for his throne and crushes the happiness of the person he loves the most.
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)
Review preview for This Is Not A Burial, It's A Resurrection
Mosese uses the structure of myth – the story repeated in language, culture and oral tradition.
When her village is threatened with forced resettlement due to reservoir construction, an 80-year-old widow finds a new will to live and ignites the spirit of resilience within her community.
(Country: Lesotho; Year: 2019; Director: Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese; Writer: Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese; Stars: Jerry Mofokeng, Tseko Monaheng, Makhaola Ndebele, Siphiwe Nzima-Ntskhe, Mary Twala, Jerry Mofokeng, Tseko Monaheng, Makhaola Ndebele, Siphiwe Nzima-Ntskhe, Mary Twala)
Maryam accidentally killed her husband Nasser and is sentenced to death. The only person who can save her is Mona, Nasser's daughter. All Mona has to do is appear on a TV show and forgive Maryam. But forgiveness proves difficult when they are forced to relive the past.
