Reviews by Amber Wilkinson

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Dandelion's Odyssey (2025)

  Review preview for Dandelion's Odyssey

  Animator Momoko Seto primarily deserves praise for imbuing each seed with a distinctive personality so that although the film is without dialogue we always know which of our adventurers we’re observing.

  Dendelion, Baraban, Léonto and Taraxa - four dandelion achenes that survive from a series of nuclear explosions destroying Earth - are propelled into the cosmos. After crash-landing on an unknown planet, they set out in search of soil where their species might survive.
• 
  When The Geese Flew (2025)

  Review preview for When The Geese Flew

  When things happen, the director pays close attention to Cyrus’ reaction, with Kerr nailing a range of mixed emotions his character experiences

  A teenager finds his life shifting as his sister prepares to leave home.
• 
  A Beast In The Mangrove (2025)

  Review preview for A Beast In The Mangrove

  Strongly elemental.

  A woman undergoes a transformation after an encounter with 'a beast'.
• 
  How To Read The Wind (2025)

  Review preview for How To Read The Wind

  An impressive exercise in world creation.

  An elderly traditional healer mentors a younger woman to pick up the torch.
• 
  The Cowgirl, The Showgirl And The Pig (2025)

  Review preview for The Cowgirl, The Showgirl And The Pig

  The sound design.. is the stand-out element.

  A surreal western showdown in a bar.
• 
  Directors' Factory - Brazil (2025)

  Review preview for Directors' Factory - Brazil

  The shorts are all by emerging filmmakers.

  Showcase of short films by emerging filmmakers set in Brazil.
• 
  Blind Spot (2025)

  Review preview for Blind Spot

  Blind Spot makes the point that witnessing something is not sufficient and can lead to passivity and problems if you don’t speak out.

  A day in the life of a woman working at the Fortaleza docks in Brazil.
• 
  Wild Foxes (2025)

  Review preview for Wild Foxes

  The Belgian filmmaker quickly proves to be a director who is quite nimble with a feint in his own terms, so that when his punches come they often hit in unexpected places.

  At a sports boarding school, talented young boxer Camille is knocked back by an accident that starts to make him question his place inside the ring.
• 
  A Useful Ghost (2025)

  Review preview for A Useful Ghost

  Not only ambitious – a term often used to damn films with faint praise – but successfully so.

  March is mourning his wife Nat who has recently passed away due to dust pollution. He discovers her spirit has returned by possessing the vacuum cleaner. But to become a useful ghost, she first needs to get rid of the useless ones.
• 
  Riefenstahl (2024)

  Review preview for Riefenstahl

  Selective memory was something Riefenstahl excelled at and, as a director, she was also adept at staying on message in the face of counter evidence, something which Veiel scrutinises throughout.

  An exploration of Leni Riefenstahl’s life and her attempts to rehabilitate her image.
• 
  River Of Grass (2025)

  Review preview for River Of Grass

  Although it begins with talk of the impact of Hurricane Ian, we’ll come to learn that it’s humans who are the architects of the area’s greatest problems.

  An ode to the Florida Everglades that explores its historical and ongoing challenges through the writings and testimonies of environmentalists, educators and current residents.
• 
  Spare My Bones, Coyote! (2025)

  Review preview for Spare My Bones, Coyote!

  A no-nonsense and non-sensationalist approach that is respectful of the dead.

  Observational documentary about the work of a search-and-rescue team in the US borderlands.
• 
  New Beginnings (2025)

  Review preview for New Beginnings

  What feels special about New Beginnings is its emotional immediacy and unpredictability.

  A Native American Vietnam war veteran considers his life and philosophy as he heads across the US to a reunion.
• 
  April (2024)

  Review preview for April

  It’s not unusual to say that something cuts through the silence but in Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April it’s the silence that cuts through us.

  After a newborn dies during delivery, the morals and professionalism of an ob-gyn, Nina, come under scrutiny amid rumors that she performs illegal abortions for those in need.
• 
  Emergent City (2024)

  Review preview for Emergent City

  While there’s no doubt the directors have a sympathetic slant towards the community, this is a film that is interested in exploring all the angles.

  A series of connected industrial buildings within a primarily immigrant, working class community in Brooklyn - conflicting views draw battlelines between residents, city officials and master planners as the fate of the city and contemporary urban development hangs in the balance.
• 
  ¡Quba! (2024)

  Review preview for ¡Quba!

  Anno, while acknowledging the history through the use of archive and via her interviewees, firmly accentuates the positives and the strides that have been made.

  Consideration of LGBTQ+ activism in Cuba in the run up to a historic vote on same-sex marriage.
• 
  Paleontology Lesson (2025)

  Review preview for Paleontology Lesson

  Feels like a bite-sized companion piece to The Invasion

  Short documentary following a children's visit to a natural history museum.
• 
  Shadows (2024)

  Review preview for Shadows

  The anxious impact of the airport is also brought home to us by the crowded nature of the animation, its expressionist rendering emphasising the strangeness of this environment.

  Animation showing a child bride's flight from Iraq.
• 
  The Return (2024)

  Review preview for The Return

  Fiennes is lean in look and in performance, bringing an intensity that proves compelling.

  Odysseus washes up on the shores of Ithaca after returning from the Trojan war.
• 
  Everyone Deserves A Slice Of The Pie (2025)

  Review preview for Everyone Deserves A Slice Of The Pie

  With so much going on the only shame is that at this length the pirouettes in various directions are so brief, giving us a taste for ideas that are begging to be dug into further.

  A celebration of pie throwing... and activism.
• 
  Anamocot (2025)

  Review preview for Anamocot

  The observational approach works against the director, slowing down proceedings and making it hard to see the wood for the trees

  After a 20-year long fruitless search in the Cameroonian forest, Frenchman Michel Ballot is on the verge of giving up his lifelong quest to find the mysterious creature known as the Mokélé-Mbembé. Turning to local initiates for help, and torn between ancestral wisdom and scientific evidence, he embarks on a final journey into powers, knowledge and the unseen.
• 
  The Mountain Won't Move (2025)

  Review preview for The Mountain Won't Move

  The filmmaker and her crew deserve a lot of credit for even managing to capture this lifestyle – not to mention following it for five years.

  Documentary following a family of shepherds in a mountainous area of North Macedonia.
• 
  A Short Film About Kids (2023)

  Review preview for A Short Film About Kids

  The pace of the action helps Handal to pack a lot in and his framing is inventive.

  A group of children plot a trip to the beach.
• 
  The Other World (2025)

  Review preview for The Other World

  History comes alive in the voices of those who remember it.

  Documentary about the sanatorium of Les Fontilles, which used to be a sanctuary for people suffering from leprosy.
• 
  Unstable Rocks (2024)

  Review preview for Unstable Rocks

  The colour elements prove all the more striking when in contrast to black and white.

  Bolex camera contemplation of rural Portugal.
• 
  The Lions By The River Tigris (2025)

  Review preview for The Lions By The River Tigris

  Ahmed doesn’t need to include war footage for us to feel its weight and understand its shadow.

  Three men in Mosul try to rebuild the city, left devastated by the rule and ousting of Islamic State.
• 
  Leila And The Wolves (1984)

  Review preview for Leila And The Wolves

  It’s also striking to think that when Leila is looking forward into the future, she is already, in some senses, looking at our recent past, which only reinforces the sense of the cyclical and ongoing nature of her themes.

  A woman goes on a time-travelling consideration of colonialism and oppression faced by women in Palestine and Lebanon.
• 
  The Last Ambassador (2025)

  Review preview for The Last Ambassador

  Manizha Bakhtari may not be a household name but after watching Natalie Halla’s documentary you’re likely to think she ought to be.

  Profile of the Afghan ambassador in Vienna, Manizha Bakhtari, as she defies the incoming Taliban government and fights for women's rights.
• 
  The Problem Of The Hero (2023)

  Review preview for The Problem Of The Hero

  The film, directed by feature debutant Shaun Dozier, retains the density of dialogue you might expect from a stage play but, by leaning into the theatrical nature of the proceedings, Dozier is in some ways able to make this into a virtue.

  Native Son author Richard Wright and his playwright collaborator Paul Green lock horns over the ending to the stage adaptation of the book ahead of its premiere.
• 
  Tornado (2025)

  Review preview for Tornado

  The script is lean, the sword edges keen and the characters mean.

  A Japanese puppeteer's daughter gets caught up with criminals when their show crosses paths with a crime gang, led by Sugarman and his son Little Sugar.
• 
  When Autumn Falls (2024)

  Review preview for When Autumn Falls

  The delight of the drama stems from the well crafted characters, while its heft hinges on toxicity that may not be immediately obvious.

  Michelle, a model grandmother, is enjoying peaceful retirement in a Burgundy village, close to her best friend Marie-Claude. On All Saints' Day, her daughter Valérie arrives to drop off her grandson Lucas for the school holiday week. But nothing will go to plan.
• 
  Trans Memoria (2024)

  Review preview for Trans Memoria

  While Verseau talks about how crucial the surgery was to her mental health, the complexity of the emotions experienced afterwards is also made clear.

  An intimate documentary diary, which sees the director return to Thailand and to the year 2012, when she underwent gender-affirming surgery.
• 
  Paul (2025)

  Review preview for Paul

  In what is probably Côté's most straightforwardly observational film to date, the fictions come baked in.

  Subject to depression and social anxiety, Paul has found refuge in serving women who invite him to clean their homes. By sharing his gently eccentric routines on social media, he combats loneliness and takes it one day at a time.
• 
  Zodiac Killer Project (2025)

  Review preview for Zodiac Killer Project

  A surprisingly droll deconstruction of crime reconstruction.

  A filmmaker describes his abandoned Zodiac Killer documentary and probes the inner workings of a genre at saturation point.
• 
  On Falling (2024)

  Review preview for On Falling

  Carreira shows how quiet desperation can be eroding

  Trapped between the confines of her workplace and the solitude of her flat-share, a Portuguese warehouse picker in Scotland seeks to resist the loneliness, alienation and ensuing small talk which begin to threaten her sense of self.
• 
  Village Rockstars 2 (2024)

  Review preview for Village Rockstars 2

  Naturalism is the lifeblood of Das’ films and this one is no different

  A teenage girl continues to follow her music dream.
• 
  The Seed Of The Sacred Fig (2024)

  Review preview for The Seed Of The Sacred Fig

  Grittily compelling

  Investigating judge Iman grapples with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran. When his gun vanishes, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures that strain family ties as societal rules crumble.
• 
  Dreams (2024)

  Review preview for Dreams

  Øverbye makes a compelling lead, taking on the chunks of voiceover without any problem but also excelling in terms of conveying her character’s moods via body language

  Johanne’s intimate writings about her crush on her teacher ignite both tension and self-reflection within her family, as her mother and grandmother confront their own unfulfilled dreams and desires.
• 
  The Message (2025)

  Review preview for The Message

  Fund encourages us to tune in to the energies of the trio, the subtle shifts of mood, shared moments of understanding or joy.

  A young girl and her grandparents travel the Argentinian countryside as she gives pet owners psychic readings of their animals.
• 
  Blue Moon (2025)

  Review preview for Blue Moon

  As Blue Moon progresses it becomes clear that the one thing Hart really wants is to be wanted.

  On the evening of March 31, 1943, legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart confronts his shattered self-confidence in Sardi’s bar as his former collaborator Richard Rodgers celebrates the opening night of his groundbreaking hit musical Oklahoma!.
• 
  The Blue Trail (2025)

  Review preview for The Blue Trail

  When you get old, hope you find someone who looks at you the way Mascaro looks at Tereza and Roberta.

  To maximise economic productivity, the government orders the elderly to relocate to distant housing colonies. Tereza, 77, refuses – and instead embarks on a journey through the Amazon that will change her destiny forever.
• 
  Yalla Parkour (2025)

  Review preview for Yalla Parkour

  A thoughtful consideration of not just physical prowess but the emotional agility and resilience demonstrated by those growing up in Gaza.

  A documentarian revisits Gaza where she encounters a young athlete leading her to embark on a journey through Gaza's devastated landscape.
• 
  Pyre (2024)

  Review preview for Pyre

  The only thing worse than death for these two is the thought of being left entirely alone.

  In the Himalayan Mountain range, a rural village loses its inhabitants to the city’s allure while an elderly couple, Padam Singh and Tulsi, live in desolate isolation.
• 
  Khartoum (2025)

  Review preview for Khartoum

  Throughout you can see the ways in which the filmmakers are going the extra mile to empower their subjects.

  Forced to leave Sudan for East Africa following the outbreak of war, five citizens of Khartoum - a civil servant, a tea lady, a resistance committee volunteer, and two young bottle collectors - reenact their stories of survival and freedom through dreams, revolution, and civil war.
• 
  Omaha (2024)

  Review preview for Omaha

  There may be a rumbling of trouble in the background, but Machoian and Webley capture the way that this doesn’t impinge on the feeling of joy that can come in a moment.

  After a family tragedy, siblings Ella and Charlie are unexpectedly woken up by their dad and taken on a journey across the country, experiencing a world they’ve never seen before. As their adventure unfolds, Ella begins to understand that things might not be what they seem.
• 
  The Virgin Of The Quarry Lake (2025)

  Review preview for The Virgin Of The Quarry Lake

  The heat of summer pulses beneath the action and we can virtually smell the sweat and decay as the sound of flies or a gathering storm punctuate the soundtrack.

  In 2001, three teenagers from the outskirts of Buenos Aires all fall in love with Diego. Natalia has always had the most chemistry with him, but when it seems inevitable that their friendship will turn into something more, the older and more experienced Silvia appears and soon captures Diego’s attention.
• 
  Jimpa (2025)

  Review preview for Jimpa

  The film’s initial loose and enjoyable construction gradually drifts towards a drawn-out and repetitive melodramatic conclusion.

  Hannah takes her nonbinary teenager, Frances, to Amsterdam to visit their gay grandfather, Jim - lovingly known as Jimpa. But Frances’ desire to stay abroad with Jimpa for a year means Hannah is forced to reconsider her beliefs about parenting and finally confront old stories about the past.
• 
  A Complete Unknown (2024)

  Review preview for A Complete Unknown

  The world Dylan and the others inhabit...feels properly lived in.

  Biopic - following Bob Dylan from folk-singer to a worldwide sensation
• 
  We Beg To Differ (2024)

  Review preview for We Beg To Differ

  Bradley brings loss and adrenaline rush forcefully together.

  Exploration of the car hobby of 'diffing' and its attraction to those who participate
• 
  Karavidhe (2024)

  Review preview for Karavidhe

  The film becomes a warm celebration of resilience.

  A day in the life of two Albanian immigrants, which doesn't quite turn out as expected.