Reviews by Amber Wilkinson

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  9to5: The Story Of A Movement (2020)

  Review preview for 9to5: The Story Of A Movement

  Breezy and informative

  Story of a Seventies movement that saw gender equality campaigning and workers' rights activism intersect.
• 
  Abacus: Small Enough To Jail (2016)

  Review preview for Abacus: Small Enough To Jail

  Despite his besst intentions, James never really fully achieves the cinematic element that would lift this above being a well-illustrated encyclopaedia article.

  Chronicle of the legal battle between the Manhattan DA’s Office and Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, the only bank that was actually prosecuted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
• 
  Aberdeen (2014)

  Review preview for Aberdeen

  Family ties and the way that the past can affect the present are playfully - and sometimes poignantly - explored.

  Three generations of a well-to-do family face the burdens and pleasures of daily life in Hong Kong.
• 
  About Elly (2009)

  Review preview for About Elly

  By allowing a slow-build to his drama, he ensures we get a feel for the extended family dynamic before wrong-footing the characters and his audience with the suddeness and deftness of a heartbeat.

  A matchmaking trip to the coast leads to tragedy.
• 
  About Endlessness (2019)

  Review preview for About Endlessness

  There is more melancholy in About Endlessness, however, than in his preceding 'Living Trilogy', as despite moments of humour and hopefulness, its dominant themes are regret and loss.

  Guided by a Scheherazade-like narrator, the film reflects on human life through a series of vignettes - from war-torn Cologne to smaller incidents like the tying of shoelaces.
• 
  Abou Leila (2019)

  Review preview for Abou Leila

  This is a long way off the beaten track of traditional narrative, but it is nonetheless engaging and affecting.

  Two men take an increasingly surreal trip into the desert against the backdrop of Civil War.
• 
  Above Suspicion (2019)

  Review preview for Above Suspicion

  The pacing means the plot doesn't sizzle so much as stew, with only the basic psychological drivers explored.

  The story of an informant who was killed by an FBI agent.
• 
  Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016)

  Review preview for Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

  Whenever she and Lumley leave the screen the energy level sags faster than 60-year-old eye bags without Botox.

  Edina and Patsy flee to France after pushing Kate Moss in the Thames.
• 
  Acasa, My Home (2020)

  Review preview for Acasa, My Home

  Ciorniciuc maintains an admirable ambivalence about the situation, showing both the good and bad aspects of the family's rural existence as well as the positives and negatives of city life.

  In the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, nine children and their parents lived in perfect harmony with nature for 20 years – until they are chased out and forced to adapt to life in the big city.
• 
  Accept The Call (2018)

  Review preview for Accept The Call

  What Lau discovers is a web of tension, which asks questions both of those within the community looking out and those outside looking in.

  A look at the forces that drive radicalisation through the prism of a single father and son relationship.
• 
  Accidents Happen (2009)

  Review preview for Accidents Happen

  What emotional life there is in this set up - and with so much is going on, there isn't much - is crushed by dreadful narration.

  The struggles of a dysfunctional family in the years following a tragic accident.
• 
  The Act (2021)

  Review preview for The Act

  There's something primal at work here that offers compensation for the lack of narrative structure.

  With the world in suspension Dante meets Ava, a woman who offers him her affection to facilitate his crossing over to the other side.
• 
  The Actor (2015)

  Review preview for The Actor

  Through it all Yasuda brings an excellent game.

  An actor falls for a woman in a bar where he is on location.
• 
  Act Of Valor (2012)

  Review preview for Act Of Valor

  Act Of Valor essentially marries platitude with attitude, veering from the realms of wholesome all-American family life to bullets-raging battle scenes.

  An elite team of Navy SEALs embark on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent and stop a suicide bomb plot.
• 
  Adam (2019)

  Review preview for Adam

  Touzani has no time for throwing a pity party for these women, she shows instead that they deserve our admiration rather than our sympathy.

  A widow takes in a heavily pregnant young woman.
• 
  The Adderall Diaries (2015)

  Review preview for The Adderall Diaries

  The emotions of the characters can barely find any wiggle room.

  A blocked writer with a difficult personal life becomes obsesssed by a real-life murder trial.
• 
  Addicted To Fresno (2015)

  Review preview for Addicted To Fresno

  If the male characters are on the flimsy side, at least it makes a change from the women being relegated.

  A woman tries to help her sex addict sister.
• 
  Addicted To Sheep (2015)

  Review preview for Addicted To Sheep

  Pettier slips into the measured rhythms of the farm and shows the amount of hard work and effort that the family put in rather than getting bogged down in the balance sheet.

  Documentary about a Teesdale family of tenant farmers.
• 
  Adore (2013)

  Review preview for Adore

  The situation is played with an off-hand glibness that barely leaves a lipstick mark on the surface of what the quartet are doing.

  A pair of lifelong friends fall for one another's sons.
• 
  Advantageous (2015)

  Review preview for Advantageous

  As with the best science fiction, the technology of the future is used to explore the human condition of the present.

  In a near-future city, a mother faces a stark choice about her future.
• 
  Advocate (2019)

  Review preview for Advocate

  The very nature of Tsemel's passion for her projects makes this a compelling watch

  Biographical documentary about Lea Tsemel who defends Palestinians: from feminists to fundamentalists, from non-violent demonstrators to armed militants.
• 
  Ad Astra (2019)

  Review preview for Ad Astra

  Gray's film is so visually stunning in places, you'll wish that Roy would pipe down a bit and let you enjoy it.

  An astronaut travels to the outer edge of the solar system in a bid to find his missing father and ensure the survival of the planet.
• 
  Afghan Star (2008)

  Review preview for Afghan Star

  Although not breaking new ground in terms of the way it is shot and edited, this is a compelling story and features some excellent archive footage.

  Four hopefuls compete to become pop idols in post-Taliban Afghanistan.
• 
  The African Queen (1951)

  Review preview for The African Queen

  I can think of few films with so small a cast, yet the character development and swift-moving storyline carry you along

  A prim missionary and boozy river trader sail a boat through Africa.
• 
  Aftershock (2022)

  Review preview for Aftershock

  While all of the statistics - and Eiselt and Lee ensure they keep on coming - are brutal, the positive energy of activism is at the heart of this documentary.

  Following the preventable deaths of their partners due to childbirth complications, two bereaved fathers galvanise activists, birth-workers and physicians to reckon with one of the most pressing American crises of our time – the US maternal health crisis.
• 
  Aftersun (2022)

  Review preview for Aftersun

  Wells shows how interactions that were solid within their own moment become more ambiguous as time has gone by and the adult understanding of Sophie has grown.

  Sometime in the Nineties, somewhere in a Turkish coastal resort, a young, divorced father is spending the vacation with his daughter pre-teen daughter Sophie.
• 
  After Lucía (2012)

  Review preview for After Lucía

  After Lucia is an uncomfortable and disturbing experience with a vengeful sting in the tail.

  The story of a bullied teenager.
• 
  After Work (2023)

  Review preview for After Work

  There is a lot going on here, but Gandini offers a breezy and thought-provoking ride

  A consideration of the changing landscape of work and our attitudes towards it.
• 
  After Yang (2021)

  Review preview for After Yang

  Kogonada is the directorial equivalent of a careful tea maker himself, he knows how to infuse his films with complex ideas without getting preachy or overtechnical about it.

  In a near future, a family reckons with questions of love, connection, and loss after its A.I. helper unexpectedly breaks down.
• 
  Against The Tide (2023)

  Review preview for Against The Tide

  Although this is a melancholic film there is hopefulness in friendship and tradition.

  The threats facing India's Koli fishing community are explored through the story of two friends with very different approaches to their tradition.
• 
  Agent Of Happiness (2024)

  Review preview for Agent Of Happiness

  As the surveys continue, different ideas of happiness emerge along with moments of shared humanity.

  Amber is one of the many agents working for the Bhutanese government to measure people’s happiness levels among the remote Himalayan mountains. But will he find his own along the way?
• 
  Ailey (2021)

  Review preview for Ailey

  He was known as an enigmatic type when alive and the film retains this air of mystery, which might prove frustrating for some hoping for a deeper dig.

  Alvin Ailey was a visionary artist who found salvation through dance. Told in his own words and through the creation of a dance inspired by his life, this immersive portrait follows a man who, when confronted by a world that refused to embrace him, determined to build one that would.
• 
  Akashinga (2020)

  Review preview for Akashinga

  The emphasis is not on the elephants but on the sisterhood, solidarity and empowerment of the women who patrol the parkland where they live.

  Short documentary about female anti-poaching rangers in Zimbabwe.
• 
  The Alabama Solution (2025)

  Review preview for The Alabama Solution

  No other Oscar nominee will make you feel angrier this year.

  Clandestine phone footage and interviews reveals the shocking conditions inside Alabama's prison system.
• 
  Aladdin (2019)

  Review preview for Aladdin

  If I had a magic lamp and three wishes, after the whole ending war and famine stuff, I'd use one to wish that Disney think long and hard about these live-action remakes.

  Live-action remake of the Disney animation about a thief who gets his hands on a magic lamp.
• 
  Albert Maysles: 3 Shorts (1966)

  Review preview for Albert Maysles: 3 Shorts

  The Maysles brothers cleverly capture the vacuousness of the interviewers, clearly chosen more for their looks than their incisive questioning skills.

  Short documentary records interviews with Marlon Brando, Truman Capote and Muhammad Ali.
• 
  Alcarràs (2022)

  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.
• 
  Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)

  Review preview for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

  Scorsese's direction isn't showy but he keeps his camera fluid, giving scenes a sense of movement even when the characters are static.

  A widowed single mum goes on a road trip with her son in a bid to reignite her singing career.
• 
  Alice In Wonderland (2010)

  Review preview for Alice In Wonderland

  Wonderland? I'm afraid this Alice has gone for a Burton.

  Re-imagining of Alice as a teenager.
• 
  Ali, The Goat And Ibrahim (2016)

  Review preview for Ali, The Goat And Ibrahim

  Although the film has plenty of broad comedy, there is also a deal of artistry at work.

  A buddy comedy road-trip with two men and their four-legged friend.
• 
  All In Favor (2021)

  Review preview for All In Favor

  The themes, while highlighting everyday prejudice many people with mental health issues face, are heavily handled.

  A tenants' vote turns sour after a revelation.
• 
  All Is Well (2018)

  Review preview for All Is Well

  Trobisch lets the normality bite.

  A woman keeps silent after a rape.
• 
  All Man: The International Male Story (2022)

  Review preview for All Man: The International Male Story

  There are a lot of interesting ideas swirling around in this film.

  A peek behind the pages and personalities of International Male, one of the most ubiquitous and sought-after US mail-order catalogues of the Eighties and Nineties.
• 
  All Of Us (2017)

  Review preview for All Of Us

  Benrath does an excellent job of building tension in double-quick time, also finding room for other, less easily evoked emotions, such as regret and doubt.

  When terrorists attack a bus, the passengers make a choice.
• 
  All Over Brazil (2003)

  Review preview for All Over Brazil

  A thoroughly enjoyable exploration of family life, without mum, and neatly encapsulates an era.

  World Cup summer of 1974 and all 13-year-old Steve wants to be is a glam rocker.
• 
  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.
• 
  All That Breathes (2022)

  Review preview for All That Breathes

  Sen could easily just have made an observational documentary about the brothers' day-to-day work or simply focused on the kites themselves but he stretches its wings much further than that.

  Against the darkening backdrop of Delhi's apocalyptic air and escalating violence, two brothers devote their lives to protect one casualty of the turbulent times: the bird known as the black kite.
• 
  All That She Wants (2008)

  Review preview for All That She Wants

  The black and white film perfectly evokes the sense of a place caught in aspic.

  A woman dreams of escape from her remote Canadian town.
• 
  All These Sons (2021)

  Review preview for All These Sons

  The problems with gun violence in Chicago are well documented, so the directors don't have to do much to set the scene here, which means they can immediately shift the focus to the men at the projects' heart.

  On Chicago’s South and West sides, the scourge of guns and gangs is destroying countless lives. Taking matters into their own hands, two men dedicate their lives educating, empowering and healing young black men at high risk for being victims or perpetrators of deadly gun-violence.
• 
  All The Memory Of The World (1957)

  Review preview for All The Memory Of The World

  The smooth roving camera work - occasionally broken with quick cuts - gives the film a dramatic edge, amped up by the Maurice Jarre's stirring and playful lorchestral score.

  Documenting France's national library.