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South by Southwest — A–Z of films

2026

  • 0

  • Crash Land
    Review preview for Crash Land

    There’s a considerable sensitivity and intelligence to this film, underlying its glorious stupidity.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    Three friends have spent their childhoods drinking, wreaking havoc, and filming crude stunts in their small town. Everyone hates them. Wanting to finally prove their lives have meaning, they decide to make a 'real movie'.

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  • Edie Arnold Is A Loser
    Review preview for Edie Arnold Is A Loser

    Making a band work isn’t easy when your mother gives you a strict curfew, your headmistress thinks punk is Satanic, and you don’t have any instruments.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A timid dork accidentally takes the spotlight when she starts a punk band with her fellow 'turds', becoming an icon to the rest of the losers at her all-girls Catholic school while managing to piss off the hot girls, the nuns, and a horny altar boy.
  • Eructation
    Review preview for Eructation

    Trow's approach has a pleasing Wes Anderson vibe

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    Documentary about a woman's attempts to break the world record for the loudest burp.
  • Fifteen
    Review preview for Fifteen

    Ricardo Álvarez Canales and Andrzej Rattinger’s dialogue is wonderfully observed and the two leads give lively, fresh performances which make them feel like real 14-year-old girls, looking at the world in a way most adults forget.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A reimagining of the quinceañera as a chaotic mix of comedy and creature horror.
  • Grind
    Review preview for Grind

    We move from one subject and set of characters to another, but the pacing, energy, horror and humour are perfectly in key, and the whole is a perfect delight.

    Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
    A horror anthology tackling the modern work landscape through four timely perspectives – the hustle culture of an MLM, the endless repetitiveness of a food delivery driver, the online horrors of a content moderator, and the unionisation of a coffee shop.

  • I

  • I Love Boosters
    Review preview for I Love Boosters

    I suspected there'd be ideas introduced that lesser films would attempt to spin out while this grabbed another and another and another, and so it came to pass.

    Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
    A crew of professional shoplifters takes aim at a cutthroat fashion maven.
  • Kill Me
    Review preview for Kill Me

    The story goes to some difficult places and is by no means all about laughs, but its comedic elements will likely appeal most strongly to those with lived experience.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    Jimmy wakes up in a bathtub filled with his own blood, his wrists slit and his life rapidly nearing completion. This would be a textbook failed suicide attempt, but he's pretty sure he didn't do it.

  • M

  • Never After Dark
    Review preview for Never After Dark

    Like all the best supernatural tales, it keeps the rules simple but still manages to wrongfoot viewers.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A wandering medium, Airi spends her life guiding restless spirits out of the world of the living. Summoned to an isolated country house, she comes face to face with a grotesque apparition with powers that defy her experience - but the biggest danger she faces comes from the living.
  • Obsession
    Review preview for Obsession

    Obsession is not just a real indicator of talent but an absolute treat.

    Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
    A desperate wish for love goes terribly wrong.
  • The Peril At Pincer Point
    Review preview for The Peril At Pincer Point

    Joseph Field Eccles and Nick Smyth’s sound design...is magnificent from start to finish, and full of playful touches.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A lazy sound designer is sent to the remote island where a film was shot to capture a sound powerful enough to elevate its finale. Once there, eerie local fables surface: for years, ambitious and headstrong youth have lost their souls to a ghostly sea captain for his spectral crew.
  • Pizza Movie
    Review preview for Pizza Movie

    It’s an uneven film, emerging as a series of comedy skits before gradually melding them into a coherent story.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    It’s a Friday night and two college students plan to do drugs and order pizza. But when the home-made drug they ingest turns out to be wilder than expected, the simple journey down two flights of stairs becomes a mind-bogglingly transformative quest.
  • Power Ballad
    Review preview for Power Ballad

    Taking care of business is rarely as emotional, but it's part of Power Ballad's exploration of authenticity.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    When a past-his-prime wedding singer meets a fading boy-band star during a gig, the two bond over music and a late-night jam session, but then the former star turns one of the wedding singer’s songs into the hit that reignites his career.

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  • A Safe Distance
    Review preview for A Safe Distance

    An accomplished first feature for director Gloria Mercer.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A woman abandoned in the woods by her boyfriend after she turns down his marriage proposal is taken in by a mysterious couple.
  • The Snake
    Review preview for The Snake

    Although it’s dealing with potentially grim situations – homelessness, codependency, petty crime – the film is consistently entertaining.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    When an ungovernable fortysomething wild child collides with her venomous mother, her life blows up spectacularly, leaving her evicted and single.
  • Their Town
    Review preview for Their Town

    Astutely observed and sensitively performed.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    When Abby’s boyfriend drops out of the high school play, she finds herself helping a school outlier step into the role opposite her. They spend a long night wandering around their town, examining their futures and unearthing surprises from their past.