Reviews by Amber Wilkinson

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  We Live In Time (2024)

  Review preview for We Live In Time

  A perfect example of just how much the stars of a film can elevate mediocre material by the strength of their performances.

  Almut and Tobias are brought together in a surprise encounter that changes their lives.
• 
  Iranian Yellow Pages (2024)

  Review preview for Iranian Yellow Pages

  Snowball adds movement and colour to her film with kaleidoscopic animation, and makes good use of framing to ensure we really look at Reza directly and consider his life.

  An Iranian migrant to London dreams of creating a soup business.
• 
  The Universal Theory (2023)

  Review preview for The Universal Theory

  Multiverses have become a box office staple lately, courtesy of Marvel and the like, but they are rarely as elegantly mounted as this retro and twisty little mystery from Timm Kröger.

  1962. A physics congress in the Alps. An Iranian guest. A mysterious pianist. A bizarre cloud formation in the sky and a booming mystery under the mountain.
• 
  Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)

  Review preview for Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

  One of the irresistible charms of Wallace And Gromit for many fans is not just that they are quintessentially British but that they are unmistakably northern.

  Diamond thief Feathers McGraw puts a spanner in Wallace's smart gnome plans.
• 
  Hitchcock: The Beginning (2024)

  Review preview for Hitchcock: The Beginning

  A comprehensive presentation of his work, showing the origins of several of the elements that he would go on to capitalise on in his later work

  Collection of early Alfred Hitchcock films, released to celebrate the 125th anniversary of his birth.
• 
  Juno And The Paycock (1929)

  Review preview for Juno And The Paycock

  This adaptation of Sean O’Casey’s play about a Dublin family trying to get by might best be described as one for completists, in terms of Alfred Hitchock’s body of work.

  A Dublin family on the breadline think their luck may be about to change when they hear about an inheritance.
• 
  Becoming Hitchcock - The Legacy Of Blackmail (2024)

  Review preview for Becoming Hitchcock - The Legacy Of Blackmail

  Using split screen, the director is able to articulate the way that the auteur grasped the opportunities that were presented to him by sound.

  A consideration of themes that run through the works of Alfred Hitchcock, focusing on the turning point of Blackmail.
• 
  Queer (2024)

  Review preview for Queer

  There’s also an emperor’s new clothes feeling to the general style, look closely and there's very little there.

  A louche older man pursues a younger boy toy in Mexico City before the pair go on the hunt for psychedelics in Ecuador.
• 
  Number Seventeen (1932)

  Review preview for Number Seventeen

  The house, with its prominent staircase is a perfect environment for atmospheric expressionistic chiaroscuro.

  A necklace leads to mystery and revelation in this crime satire.
• 
  The Waiting Game (2024)

  Review preview for The Waiting Game

  Delivers a warm dose of nostalgia for fans while revealing the chilly reality for many former players.

  Documentary charting the pension fight of former American Basketball Association players.
• 
  On Becoming A Guinea Fowl (2024)

  Review preview for On Becoming A Guinea Fowl

  Nyoni expertly controls her narrative so that it glides effortlessly between the reality of the funeral preparations to the more surreal psychological trauma Shula is working through.

  Absurdist drama sees family secrets gradually revealed during the preparations for a funeral.
• 
  Porcelain War (2024)

  Review preview for Porcelain War

  A tactile and colour-infused film.

  Under roaring fighter jets and missile strikes, Ukrainian artists Slava, Anya, and Andrey choose to stay behind and fight, contending with the soldiers they have become. Defiantly finding beauty amid destruction, they show that although it’s easy to make people afraid, it’s hard to destroy their passion for living.
• 
  When The Walnut Leaves Turn Yellow (2024)

  Review preview for When The Walnut Leaves Turn Yellow

  For all its naturalism, there are also cleverly worked dream sequences and spiritual encounters that offer a more psychological dimension.

  A Kurdish village chief tries to navigate societal pressures and his relationship with his son while facing ill health.
• 
  Smaragda: I Got Thick Skin And I Can't Jump

  Review preview for Smaragda: I Got Thick Skin And I Can't Jump

  Avraam doesn’t spoon-feed us details, letting the various issues Smaragda is facing emerge organically.

  Portrait of a middle-aged woman facing choices and change.
• 
  The Boy With Pink Trousers (2024)

  Review preview for The Boy With Pink Trousers

  Illustrates how heartfelt and fastidious commitment to a story doesn't always make for engaging cinema, no matter how good the intent

  Film based on the story of a real cyberbullying incident in Italy.
• 
  Pink Lady (2024)

  Review preview for Pink Lady

  It’s the hopefulness at the heart of their tragedy that really kills you.

  An ultra-Orthodox couple try to save their marriage after the husband is blackmailed for being gay.
• 
  Drowning Dry (2024)

  Review preview for Drowning Dry

  By withholding information from us, Bareisa puts us in a similar headspace to the main characters.

  Two familes try to cope with trauma after a weekend getaway turns sour.
• 
  Spilt Milk (2024)

  Review preview for Spilt Milk

  There isn’t an ornament that feels out of place and you can almost smell the kitchen chip fat and butterfly bun icing as you gaze around Bobby’s home, with its orange pine and associated shades of brown.

  A wannabe detective's hunt for his older brother reveals a dangerous side of Eighties Dublin.
• 
  Gladiator II (2024)

  Review preview for Gladiator II

  David Scarpa’s screenplay wisely keeps the political machinations on a slow simmer, so that they are easily followed and don’t get in the way of the nicely worked set-pieces Scott has in store.

  A man seeks vengeance as a gladiator in Rome after his wife is killed in a raid.
• 
  Gekas (2024)

  Review preview for Gekas

  Although this is only 25 minutes long, it is lean and immersive and, while it feels complete in itself, could easily form the foundation for an equally strong longer feature in the Ken Loach mould.

  A young boy's dad is determined that he learns how to hunt.
• 
  Concrete Rodents (2024)

  Review preview for Concrete Rodents

  Working as his own cinematographer, Gkanatsios turns up the atmosphere with the inky blues, aquamarine greens and high neons of night.

  A group of friends embark on a risky plan.
• 
  Black Box Diaries (2024)

  Review preview for Black Box Diaries

  Documentaries don’t get much more personal or intimate than this

  Journalist Shiori Ito embarks on a courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an improbable attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country’s outdated judicial and societal systems.
• 
  The Low End Theory (2024)

  Review preview for The Low End Theory

  A satisfyingly twisty plot that plays by the established rules of cross and double-cross while still being unpredictable.

  An ex-marine, who money launders for a drug lord feels the heat after falling for a femme fatale.
• 
  Since Yesterday: The Untold Story Of Scotland's Girl Bands (2024)

  Review preview for Since Yesterday: The Untold Story Of Scotland's Girl Bands

  What comes across, despite the hurdles, is the immense camaraderie and collectivism that has strengthened down the years.

  Documentary about the history of Scottish girl bands from the Sixties to the present.
• 
  In Her Place (2024)

  Review preview for In Her Place

  Much of this is played for whimsical comedy, although there are some barbs where you might not expect them.

  Chile, 1955. When the popular writer María Carolina Geel kills her lover, the case captivates court secretary Mercedes, who begins to question her life.
• 
  The Last Of The Sea Women (2024)

  Review preview for The Last Of The Sea Women

  Too often scoots over things when it should take a breath and better look.

  Portait of the endangered tradition of haenyeo fishing and the threats it faces today.
• 
  Hard Truths (2024)

  Review preview for Hard Truths

  It’s funny to begin with, watching Pansy rant with no filter, sharing her negative thoughts on everything from baby clothes with pockets to sofa salespeople, but gradually we realise just how close to the edge she is.

  Life's a constant struggle for Pansy. Racked with physical and mental pain, her dealings with the world are channeled through anger and confrontation - only her sister understands and is able to help her.
• 
  Familiar Touch (2024)

  Review preview for Familiar Touch

  The writer/director also zeroes in on the importance of physical contact for Ruth - something concrete in a world that is now full of things that she can’t always grasp.

  Follows an octogenarian woman’s transition to life in assisted living as she contends with her conflicting relationship to herself and her caregivers amidst her shifting memory, age identity, and desires.
• 
  The Battle For Laikipia (2024)

  Review preview for The Battle For Laikipia

  The documentarians invested several years in the project and it pays off in this impressively balanced assessment of a conflict over land that has been exacerbated by climate change and drought.

  Unresolved historical injustices and climate change raise the stakes in a generations-old conflict between Indigenous pastoralists and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, a wildlife conservation haven.
• 
  Joker: Folie À Deux (2024)

  Review preview for Joker: Folie À Deux

  The animation is just part of the film’s major selling point, which is unpredictability.

  Failed comedian Arthur Fleck meets the love of his life as his murder trial begins.
• 
  The Last Showgirl (2024)

  Review preview for The Last Showgirl

  Coppola has style, but sometimes employs too much of it.

  A seasoned showgirl must plan for her future when her show closes abruptly after a 30-year run.
• 
  I'm Still Here (2024)

  Review preview for I'm Still Here

  This is a tactile retelling, inviting us to imagine the sticky feel of Coca-Cola on hot skin in the sun or the heat of a sheepskin coat and the love that goes with it being passed from mum to daughter ahead of a trip abroad.

  Brazil, 1971: a country in the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family’s life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence.
• 
  The End (2024)

  Review preview for The End

  It’s ironic that a film about a family who have built a perfect facsimile of a life for themselves should feel so overly constructed itself

  After the sudden arrival of a stranger, Girl, threatens Mother and Father's family’s luxurious compound deep underground, Son begins to question their seemingly perfect existence.
• 
  I Am Nevanka (2024)

  Review preview for I Am Nevanka

  With elements that are sadly all too recognisable, the familiar story is elevated by the strength of the performances and the decent pace and no-nonsense approach adopted by Bollaín.

  In the year 2000, Nevenka Fernández, the Finance Councillor of Ponferrada Town Council, is relentlessly hounded by the mayor, a man used to getting his way both politically and personally. Nevenka decides to report him, knowing that it will cost her dearly. Based on true events.
• 
  Santosh (2024)

  Review preview for Santosh

  Writer/director Sandhya Suri - who has a documentary background - is keen to show that everyone plays their part in the prejudices and corruption of the legal system.

  Newly widowed Santosh inherits her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of Northern India. When a low caste girl is found raped and murdered, she is pulled into the investigation under the wing of charismatic feminist inspector Sharma.
• 
  Maldoror (2024)

  Review preview for Maldoror

  Although this is set in the Nineties, the gritty feel makes it redolent of Seventies-set thrillers, a mood reinforced by the way that du Welz embeds us in Paul’s life from the start.

  Two girls vanish. Police recruit Paul Chartier joins a covert unit tracking a sex offender. After the operation falters, Chartier pursues the perpetrators independently, disillusioned with legal constraints.
• 
  Mistress Dispeller (2024)

  Review preview for Mistress Dispeller

  A film that is built upon patience and which takes a philosophical rather than judgmental stance.

  Desperate to save her marriage, a woman in China hires a professional to go undercover and break up her husband's affair.
• 
  To Kill A Mongolian Horse (2024)

  Review preview for To Kill A Mongolian Horse

  What emerges is a carefully calibrated, bleak but elegiac picture of an environment where people are being forced to perform rather than allowed to live on their own terms.

  Saina, a herdsman by day and horseback performer by night, is torn between two worlds.
• 
  Kora (2024)

  Review preview for Kora

  Allowing each woman’s testimony to play out uninterrupted means they gather weight, not just as individual stories but as a meditation on the nature of memory and our desire to preserve it.

  Refugee women living in Portugal tell their stories.
• 
  Vittoria (2024)

  Review preview for Vittoria

  Cassigoli and Kauffman capture the muscle of family life as it bends, stretches and, from time to time strains, to accommodate all of its members.

  A hairdresser from Naples with three loving sons and a devoted husband risks everything to pursue her dream of having a daughter.
• 
  Pooja, Sir (2024)

  Review preview for Pooja, Sir

  The close proximity camerawork employed by Sheldon Chau, coupled with the fact that the frame is often reduced by foreground intrusions, lend Pooja, Sir an intense and often claustrophobic feel.

  When two boys are kidnapped in a border town in Nepal, Detective Inspector Pooja is sent from Kathmandu to solve the case. However, upon her arrival, the brewing political unrest and violent protests throw her off course, compelling her to seek help from Mamata, a local Madhesi policewoman.
• 
  Feeling Better (2024)

  Review preview for Feeling Better

  While the end result doesn’t fully deliver on its excellent premise, being a little too light of touch, heavy on montage and spare in its scripting, this is nevertheless one of the more accessible cinematic takes on existentialism.

  A hospitalised man finds his life shifting after the arrival of a new patient.
• 
  My Favourite Cake (2024)

  Review preview for My Favourite Cake

  While many other films feel as though they are really staking out a deliberate political stance against the Iranian regime or coming at it from deep within metaphor, My Favourite Cake is casually, but almost constantly, rebellious in small ways.

  A 70-year-old decides to break her solitary routine and revitalise her love life.
• 
  Black Dog (2024)

  Review preview for Black Dog

  Visually, Guan never puts a frame wrong, whether he’s setting up a physical comedy set-piece, idly incorporating a solar eclipse or letting the dogs steal a scene.

  A man forges a bond with a dog after returning to his hometown following a spell in prison.
• 
  Hymn Of The Plague (2024)

  Review preview for Hymn Of The Plague

  Small children reciting old rhymes is surely one of the oldest tricks in the book for generating atmosphere but Ataka51 employ it with the smoothness of a tried and tested magician.

  Strange things happen at a recording studio.
• 
  Bogancloch (2024)

  Review preview for Bogancloch

  If it wasn’t for the excellent, immersive sound design from Chu-Li Shewring, you could easily believe you were watching a piece of silent movie found footage.

  Documentary sequel about a former sailor and his off-the-grid life.
• 
  Lollipop (2024)

  Review preview for Lollipop

  Although the emotions in this story are raw, she approaches them with sensitivity and a strong respect for people who are trying hard even if they don’t always succeed.

  A mum is desperate to regain custody of her children after release from jail.
• 
  Timestalker (2024)

  Review preview for Timestalker

  Lowe’s approach is an exhiliarating, if sometimes a bit scrappy, mix of high and low brow.

  A woman continuously seeks out the presumed love of her life across time, in one incarnation after another.
• 
  Mexico 86 (2024)

  Review preview for Mexico 86

  Diaz has drawn partially on his relationship with his own mother and the specificity of place and time also help the tensions to feel authentic.

  A woman tries to juggle being a revolutionary with motherhood.
• 
  B(l)ind The Sacrifice (2024)

  Review preview for B(l)ind The Sacrifice

  There's ambition here that suggests this is the fragment of a feature that Nakhane has in mind.

  A father's faith could fracture his nomadic family.