Vilnius Film Festival

Latest reviews

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  Alcarràs

  Review preview for Alcarràs

  Simón takes a loose approach to the narrative, letting the small dramas of family play out alongside larger ones, giving as much value to the transient pleasures of fresh peach juice and cooked snails as the tensions between siblings.

  The Solé family spends the summer picking peaches - but this year’s crop may well be their last as new owners plan to replace the peach trees with solar panels and the family’s livelihood is threatened.
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  After Blue

  Review preview for After Blue

  Where narrative fails, look for symbolism; and there are symbols aplenty. It’s just not clear that they mean anything coherent.

  It's a distant future, on a savage planet, where only women can survive. The lonely teenager Roxy frees a criminal buried in the sand. Once freed, the woman, who goes by the name of Kate Bush, starts spreading fear and death again.
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  Speak No Evil

  Review preview for Speak No Evil

  Tafdrup chooses to follow the more familiar route, carrying events to a natural extreme, but in a way this lets the Danish couple off the hook.

  A Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on a holiday. What was supposed to be an idyllic weekend slowly starts unraveling as the Danes try to stay polite in the face of unpleasantness.
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  Hit The Road

  Review preview for Hit The Road

  Panahi and his actors shift through emotions so smoothly, you barely notice them until they have immersed you.

  Drama based around a road trip in a borrowed car.
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  The Good Boss

  Review preview for The Good Boss

  The balance of Javier Bardem's central performance as the CEO of the title is what elevates this from being another run-of-the-mill satire.

  Trouble brews at a factory after a boss finds himself in line for an award for excellence.
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  Songs For A Fox

  Review preview for Songs For A Fox

  Vildziunas' film never slackens in its imagination but it becomes increasingly self-indulgent as things progress.

  After his lover's death, a rock singer studies the art of lucid dreaming and descends into a netherworld in hopes of being together again.
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  Neptune Frost

  Review preview for Neptune Frost

  Set in a futuristic Rwanda, the themes are as old as the hills - with colonialism, identity and self-determination chief among them.

  The love story between an African intersex runaway and a coltan miner, and the virtual marvel born as a result of their union.
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  Mirror

  Review preview for Mirror

  The arc of the film isn't particularly defined, but this is a positive in some ways as the filmmakers aren't trying to 'force' any sort of triumph in adversity narrative.

  Documentary about the lives of a group of acid attack survivors.
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  Boiling Point

  Review preview for Boiling Point

  Given the state of the things, it's fair to say that some of the situations that will arise are telegraphed ahead of time, but that adds rather than detracts from the tension - after all, aren't all satisfying meals in some ways connected to anticipation?

  The shift has hardly begun for head chef Andy and he’s already behind with everything. His restaurant is overbooked, there’s a disgruntled inspector combing the kitchen and, if that weren’t enough, a culinary icon and a respected food critic have turned up for dinner.
• 
  Feature Film About Life

  Review preview for Feature Film About Life

  Generational tensions and expectations are also explored and you can feel Sarutyte's love for all of her characters, each lovingly crafted, no matter how small.

  A woman finds herself in increasingly curious situations after the death of her father.

A–Z of Vilnius Film Festival 2022 reviews →

Features

• Bolivian snapshot
  Alejandro Loayza Grisi on working with non-professional actors, sweeping landscapes and llamas in Utama
• Reflections on courage
  Mirror director Siddhant Sarin on his acid attack survivors documentary
• A postcard from Vilnius
  Some of the highlights from this year's film festival
• Vilnius stands with Ukraine
  Festival hosts day of fundraising screenings ahead of this year's edition
• When they dance
  Nadav Lapid on Ahed’s Knee and his role in Antoine Barraud’s Madeleine Collins
• The new lioness of French cinema
  Happening director Audrey Diwan on abortion, prizes, equality and truth
• The collapse in the dance
  Agnieszka Woszczynska on Silent Land and the fragility of European values
• I see something in your eyes
  Iva Radivojević on Anne Waldman, Jorge Luis Borges, Alain Resnais, Mohammed Dib and Aleph
• Playground politics
  Laura Wandel on bullying and working with children on her first feature
• Cotillard into the unknown with Carax
  Why Cannes opener's singing star was left running scared
• An other reality
  Iva Radivojevic on love, contentment and Aleph

News

• Vilnius Film Festival ends on sombre note
  Minute's silence at awards night for director shot dead in Ukraine