Reviews by Amber Wilkinson

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Piccolo Piccolo (2026)

  Review preview for Piccolo Piccolo

  With its collage-style animation, you feel as though you could almost reach out and touch the mountain landscapes and characters.

  A tiny mouse, wanting to forget her little worries, decides one day to climb a very high mountain.
• 
  The Naughty Seat (2025)

  Review preview for The Naughty Seat

  There’s plenty going on but this story of naughtiness and friendship unfolds in a way that is easy to follow for even the youngest audiences.

  Never trust a penguin with your soup.
• 
  Letters from the Silenced Country (2026)

  Review preview for Letters from the Silenced Country

  Fear... runs through Letters like a dangerous and unpredictable electric current, emphasised by the stark black and white animation, the black crosshatching and sharp strokes of which feel like distilled violence in themselves.

  A hybrid documentary portraying contemporary Belarus through the individuals who have endured imprisonment, repression, and exile — voices from a silenced country, suffocated by the regime.
• 
  Bats & Bugs (2026)

  Review preview for Bats & Bugs

  This is the sort of cast of characters that deserves its own TV series.

  When a streetlamp lights up on a country road in the jungle, a group of insects goes crazy – which proves to be handy for the hungry bats in a nearby cave.
• 
  The Comet (2026)

  Review preview for The Comet

  The 2D artwork, which uses oil pastel, gives the animation a "shimmering" style that fills every frame with movement

  Eight-year-old Émile is enjoying the last of the warm summer evenings with his sister Françoise. While they are eagerly scanning the night sky for shooting stars, they are suddenly interrupted by a despicably cruel act.
• 
  All Rivers Spill Their Stories To The Sea (2026)

  Review preview for All Rivers Spill Their Stories To The Sea

  Full of anger and love in equal measure.

  When thousands of dead crabs wash ashore along England's North East coast, fisherman Stan Rennie finds himself leading a grassroots fight for answers and a future.
• 
  What Belongs To Others (2026)

  Review preview for What Belongs To Others

  In his modern world of apartment blocks and estranged family members, even comfort is cold.

  Kasia earns her living by breaking into other people's homes. One day on the job she finds a dead body of a man and decides to move into his apartment and find out who he was. As she starts to piece together his memories, relationships and secrets, it awakens in her a dream of another life and gives her strength to make changes in her own.
• 
  The Debut (2026)

  Review preview for The Debut

  Eisenberg’s obvious love of amateur dramatics provides The Debut with a foundation that feels akin to a warm hug.

  A shy housewife is unexpectedly cast in a local am-dram original musical. Under the spell of the strong-willed and enigmatic director, she loses herself in the role.
• 
  Tender Loving Care (2026)

  Review preview for Tender Loving Care

  Tender Loving Care is all about the little bits of conversation that make the world a bit more comfy for others.

  In contemporary London, social workers Amy and Rosie navigate the stressors and joys of life together, be that work, family or messy dating lives.
• 
  Florid (2026)

  Review preview for Florid

  Clear-sighted perspective, coupled with carefully calibrated sound design from Dario Swade, doesn’t make light of what Jamal experiences, but nor does it sensationalise them.

  A young man in supported housing tries to juggle his musical aspirations and mental health issues.
• 
  NAZA (2026)

  Review preview for NAZA

  Abraham and Szor’s approach is systematic and sobering.

  Reveals the systems behind Israel’s bombing of Gaza and its mass killing of Palestinian civilians.
• 
  Ink (2026)

  Review preview for Ink

  Danny Boyle brings his customary energy to James Graham’s adaptation of his own stage play, which flies along quicker than paper through a printing press.

  Drama charting Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of The Sun newspaper and its upturning of the landscape under editor Larry Lamb in 1969.
• 
  Heart Of The Beast (2026)

  Review preview for Heart Of The Beast

  Imagine all the Terrible/Awesome Clichés That Could Happen In The American Wilderness and construct a mental bingo card to tick them off. Spoiler warning: There's a good chance you're going to get a full house.

  After a harrowing plane crash, Special Forces officer James Belmont and his combat dog, Odin, find themselves stranded deep in the Alaskan wilderness. Together, they are forced into a brutal fight for survival against the elements.
• 
  Brace Your Heart (2026)

  Review preview for Brace Your Heart

  Kernell’s drama feels embedded within the community and the landscape.

  Ejva inherits her late father's reindeer herd. As she struggles to keep the herd thriving, local leader Heaika falls for her, and though hesitant, she feels compelled to accept. But everything changes when Nejla, Heaika's cousin, arrives.
• 
  5 More Minutes (2026)

  Review preview for 5 More Minutes

  The five-minute nature of the loop is perfect for escalating humour.

  A husband and wife in an ailing marriage discover that actions really do have consequences in this twist on the time loop motif.
• 
  Salvation (2026)

  Review preview for Salvation

  Nicoll also shows skill at balancing the mood; black comedy is employed but never allowed to put the tension out of business.

  An overly confident man pursues a career as a life coach, but the road to wealth proves more treacherous than expected, particularly in Inverclyde.
• 
  Moonfish (2026)

  Review preview for Moonfish

  Simplicity is the name of the game, and he makes a virtue of it

  A grieving astronaut trying to make a mining quota, finds his grip on reality start to slide.
• 
  Diane In The Loop (2026)

  Review preview for Diane In The Loop

  Unexpectedly playful given the weight of the subject

  When a woman discovers her mum was raped some years before she was born, she plans vengeance, but her mother has other ideas. Things become complicated.
• 
  Dear Ajayi (2026)

  Review preview for Dear Ajayi

  Orimogunje captures the way that generating pain can be seen as a way to ameliorate your own suffering

  In 1990s Nigeria, two estranged sisters forced to live under the same roof while caring for their paralysed mother navigate grief, ambition, love, and the fragile bonds of family.
• 
  Bucking Fastard (2026)

  Review preview for Bucking Fastard

  For all the strangeness of the premise there’s not a lot of meat on the bones of this story.

  The adventures of a pair of twins whose speech is synchronised and lives co-dependent.
• 
  The Difficult Bride (2026)

  Review preview for The Difficult Bride

  Hossain keeps the mood claustrophobic.

  In contemporary Dhaka, a bride-to-be preparing for her dream wedding begins to lose control of her body as beauty rituals, social expectations, and supernatural forces collide, transforming her journey toward marriage into an unsettling search for freedom.
• 
  Boatbuilders (2026)

  Review preview for Boatbuilders

  Lorentzen is not looking to question the process but to admire it and, acting as his own cinematographer, he elegantly achieves that goal.

  Consideration of a community of boatbuilders in Maine.
• 
  The Girl With The Leica (2026)

  Review preview for The Girl With The Leica

  Marazzi is so focused on the frame of her life that the picture of Taro itself feels lost in the shuffle.

  Paris, July 14, 1937. Gerda Taro spends her final day before returning to the Spanish front with her Leica alongside Robert Capa - one of the great loves of her life - and the friends with whom she fled Nazi Germany.
• 
  Al Baraneya (2026)

  Review preview for Al Baraneya

  Loose and responsive camerawork from cinematographer Douwe Hennink makes his camera feel as though it is part of the family.

  Drama focused on a pregnant young woman and her family in a village just outside Cairo.
• 
  Bouchra (2025)

  Review preview for Bouchra

  This isn’t about rejection but about navigating the difficulties full acceptance bring.

  A New York-based filmmaker writes an autobiographical script about a fictional double, while also appearing in animated form as a coyote moving through a city of furry creatures.
• 
  Better Together: Furman's Championship Quest (2024)

  Review preview for Better Together: Furman's Championship Quest

  Maximum positivity is the name of the game and Weaver’s pacy approach means the series never drags.

  Documentary following college basketball team Furman across the 2023-24 season.
• 
  Victorian Psycho (2026)

  Review preview for Victorian Psycho

  Wigon’s film is arch as a proscenium from the start

  Trouble brews at a gothic manor after they hire a governess.
• 
  The Young Ones (1961)

  Review preview for The Young Ones

  As sweet, warm and wholesome as a cup of your granny’s tea.

  A group of friends try to stop a property magnate tearing down their youth club.
• 
  Fruit Gathering (2026)

  Review preview for Fruit Gathering

  Men are infrequently seen in Fruit Gathering, which is more interested in women’s status and struggle.

  Two women in a textile factory dream of intimacy and escape.
• 
  The Last One For The Road (2025)

  Review preview for The Last One For The Road

  Blends a shaggy dog story with a road trip.

  Carlobianchi and Doriano, two broke fiftysomethings with a “never skip the last drink” philosophy, meet Giulio, a shy architecture student adrift in life. What starts as a chance encounter turns into a chaotic road trip through the Venetian plains.
• 
  Rain Catcher (2026)

  Review preview for Rain Catcher

  A stylish and twisty psychological thriller that easily goes the distance in terms of plot, even if the scripting is uneven in places

  A photographer takes snapshots of strangers, sharing them online as 'Rain Catcher' but he is unsettled when he spots a mysterious woman who is photographing him.
• 
  A Woman's Life (2026)

  Review preview for A Woman's Life

  Director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet weaves an intricate life for Gabrielle without making it feel like a melodrama

  A dedicated surgeon whose private life is under strain because of the demands of her work finds things beginning to shift when a novelist comes to observe her work for a book.
• 
  Memorizu (2026)

  Review preview for Memorizu

  Miiku Sakanishi’s gentle debut builds a movingly humanistic consideration of family and community relationships, while also musing on our connection to photography itself.

  A man goes to help his photographer father-in-law, who has fractured his leg, in a rural town, keeping in touch with his wife and young daughter via spontaneous phone snaps and videos.
• 
  Songbird (2018)

  Review preview for Songbird

  The biggest let down, however, is that as a 360-degree experience, it is very front-focused, not exploiting the 'in the round' possibilities offered by VR as it should.

  An ornithologist travels into a cloud forest to try to capture the sight and song of the last remaining ʻōʻō bird.
• 
  The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953)

  Review preview for The Titfield Thunderbolt

  The whole thing is shot with verve by the ever-reliable Douglas Slocombe, who captures runaway train scenes with fluidity and character business with care.

  After the closure of a line is announced, the local community make a bid to run it themselves.
• 
  Filthy (2026)

  Review preview for Filthy

  A gripping and powerfully argued work.

  When an actress goes looking for the man who assaulted her, she turns her trauma into art and asks the question nobody wanted her to: why didn't you do anything?
• 
  Hope Is A Word (2026)

  Review preview for Hope Is A Word

  Poetry itself provides strong punctuation for the film.

  In Nigeria's Niger Delta, where oil extraction has poisoned the land for decades, poet and activist Nnimmo Bassey nurtures a new generation of writers to fight back.
• 
  Colors Of White Rock (2026)

  Review preview for Colors Of White Rock

  Choijoovanchig strikes a fine balance, using drone shots to illustrate the bigger picture while retaining the intimacy of the cab and home environment.

  Documentary following Maikhuu one of the country's only female truck drivers in Mongolia's Gobi Desert.
• 
  Full Phil (2026)

  Review preview for Full Phil

  As with many Dupieux films, beneath the laughter there’s a fair bit of insight into the absurdity of human relationships.

  Absurdist comedy centring on a wealthy American industrialist trying to reconnect with his daughter on a luxury trip.
• 
  Species (2026)

  Review preview for Species

  Le Coroller’s horror is at its best when it focuses on Margot’s psychological meltdown as she works against the clock.

  Margot dreams of becoming a life-saving doctor. But as an intern at the most competitive ER in the country, she has trouble keeping up. Soon, young burnt out patients come to her with unusual symptoms, just as she starts developing a strange metamorphosis…
• 
  Sheep In The Box (2026)

  Review preview for Sheep In The Box

  Suffers from an underdeveloped subplot and over-indulged length.

  A couple take a humanoid robot into their home as a replacement for their dead son.
• 
  I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning (2025)

  Review preview for I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning

  Comes at you like a pint of lager with a Jäger bomb chaser and a packet of crisps – strong, energising, salty and sharp, you feel the headiness and the kick.

  Childhood friends Patrick, Shiv, Rian, Oli, and Conor played together, skipped school together, and dreamt of the lives they would have one day. Now they’re thirty, and the future they imagined is slipping quietly out of reach.
• 
  Hen (2025)

  Review preview for Hen

  You’re unlikely to see anything quite like it any time soon.

  A hen seeks refuge, where she becomes an innocent observer of a human trafficking gang.
• 
  Dernsie: The Amazing Life Of Bruce Dern (2026)

  Review preview for Dernsie: The Amazing Life Of Bruce Dern

  It’s somewhat odd that Mendez has opted for several different styles for this, but every one is enjoyable.

  A documentary examining the life and cinematic achievements of the celebrated actor.
• 
  Tin Castle (2026)

  Review preview for Tin Castle

  Murphy lets the family’s lives shine out without romanticising the situation.

  Along a long-forgotten road, the O’Reillys live in a rundown trailer stranded in the middle of the fields. Pa’, Lisa, and their ten children weather the seasons in their tin castle, heirs to a way of life on borrowed time. Under threat of eviction, their tenuous balance falters, yet – steadfast in their tradition – they resist.
• 
  Paper Tiger (2026)

  Review preview for Paper Tiger

  The issue is that if you strip out the elevated craft and A-list performances, what is left is the sort of bread-and-butter plot arc Cagney & Lacey used to rely on back in the day.

  Two brothers pursue the American Dream but get entangled in a dangerous Russian mafia scheme.
• 
  Gentle Monster (2026)

  Review preview for Gentle Monster

  Seydoux takes us into the maelstrom with Lucy, determined and doubtful, angry and grief-stricken, fearful and belligerent all at the same time.

  A woman struggles with her feelings after discovering her husband's grim secret.
• 
  Blaise (2026)

  Review preview for Blaise

  Planchon shows plenty of skill as he layers on the absurdity until several of the plotlines begin to coalesce.

  The Sauvage family just wants to be loved. Carole is trying to improve her poor reputation among her employees, while Jacques is trying to do the same with his friends. As for their son Blaise, politely, he's about to embark on a revolutionary, violent, and completely impromptu crusade for a girl.
• 
  Dua (2026)

  Review preview for Dua

  Matoshi is brilliantly cast, her expressive performance showing the many facets of fear.

  Prishtina, Kosovo, late 1990s. As war looms and ethnic tensions escalate, 13-year-old Dua struggles to find her place among her peers and within her changing body.
• 
  Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma (2026)

  Review preview for Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma

  Anderson and Einbinder are a terrific pairing.

  When the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed to a new director, she visits the original movie's star only to fall into a blood-soaked world of desire and delirium.