Reviews by Jane Fae

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Jan Palach (2018)

  Review preview for Jan Palach

  The film is both intense and frustrating.

  A reconstruction of the final months of Palach´s life, describing his path to becoming 'Torch Number One'.
• 
  Jesus Shows You The Way To The Highway (2019)

  Review preview for Jesus Shows You The Way To The Highway

  Jesus Shows You The Way To The Highway reboots the genre by both using and subverting its conventions.

  Two CIA agents are tasked with the perilous mission of destroying the Soviet Union, but as they enter a VR simulation their mission turns into a delirious trap, with the fabric of reality unravelling around them
• 
  Jonathan (2018)

  Review preview for Jonathan

  It is carefully crafted, the work of a film-maker who is very in charge of what he is doing.

  Jonathan is a young man with a strange condition that only his brother understands. But when he begins to yearn for a different life, their unique bond becomes increasingly tested.
• 
  Josephine Baker: The Story Of An Awakening (2018)

  Review preview for Josephine Baker: The Story Of An Awakening

  A strong narrative voice-over is cut with insights from black commentators, providing a far more interesting, more rounded picture of Baker than I had before.

  Portrait of the life and activism of the famous Parisian dancer.
• 
  Julia Scotti: Funny That Way (2020)

  Review preview for Julia Scotti: Funny That Way

  Whatever your own personal circumstance, if you are trans, there is much here that you are likely to find very recognisable.

  Documentary tracking Julia’s comeback, the rough life on the comedy circuit, and the return of her children after a 15-year estrangement.
• 
  John Wick (2014)

  Review preview for John Wick

  Engaging in approximately the same way that a shoot-em-up arcade game is engaging.

  A retired hitman pursues the men who killed the dog given to him by his dead wife.
• 
  Jurassic World (2015)

  Review preview for Jurassic World

  It’s nonsense. Tolerable nonsense, but nonsense nonetheless.

  The addition of a new creature to the Jurassic World theme park leads to trouble.
• 
  Kajillionaire (2020)

  Review preview for Kajillionaire

  Kajillionaire is strong, disturbing stuff.

  Low-stakes grifters, Old Dolio and her parents invite a chipper young woman into their insular clan, only to have their entire world turned upside down.
• 
  Kill Ben Lyk (2018)

  Review preview for Kill Ben Lyk

  You need to feel some sympathy for someone, not be so irritated by the constant screaming and panicking that you can’t wait for the killer to arrive and finish them off.

  A YouTuber named Ben Lyk is put in a safe house with his namesakes after they start getting bumped off one by one.
• 
  Kittens In A Cage (2015)

  Review preview for Kittens In A Cage

  Revel in dialogue that will either have you reaching for the off-button within seconds - or in stitches, throughout.

  Ukulele-playing bad girl Junie Butler gets muscled into prison by her rat fink friends. Abandoned by all, she turns to the warm embrace of her pyromaniac cellmate as they plot to escape.
• 
  The Lady In The Van (2015)

  Review preview for The Lady In The Van

  By locating its own dedicated critic within the action of the film, it is possible to point out the triteness and question whether life can be so simply encapsulated within the tidy confines of literature.

  A man forms an unexpected bond with a transient woman living in her car that's parked on his driveway.
• 
  The Lady In The Portrait (2016)

  Review preview for The Lady In The Portrait

  This is an intelligent, sumptuous period piece, shining an intriguing light into the corners of the 18th-century Imperial Court of China.

  An empress commissions a painting of herself from a French outsider and Jesuit priest in hopes of stirring her husband's interest in this lavish period piece.
• 
  Lemebel (2019)

  Review preview for Lemebel

  This is not conventional narrative, start to end, born in, schooled at, died documentary.

  A multi-layered portrait of one of South America’s most important and most provocative artists, a tireless fighter in dictatorial Chile and an uncomfortable gay activist who spoke out – right up to the end of his life.
• 
  #Like (2019)

  Review preview for #Like

  Pirozek knows exactly what she is doing and while this film will likely attract loud and widespread cries of #NotAllMen from the less fair sex, women will understand very well what is happening here.

  A young woman vows revenge on the man who sexually exploited and bullied her sister online.
• 
  Little Miss Westie (2018)

  Review preview for Little Miss Westie

  This is very much fly-on-the-wall documentary, with explanations and expiation left up to those involved.

  Story of Ren, the first out transgirl to compete in the Little Miss Westie Pageant. Coaching her through the competition is her older brother Luca, who previously took part in the pageant when he lived as a girl.
• 
  Lola And The Sea (2019)

  Review preview for Lola And The Sea

  Above all else, this is a film about parenting and the barriers that can be erected between parent and child.

  A young trans woman hopes to reconcile with her estranged father as they share the journey to scatter her mother's ashes.
• 
  Loners (2019)

  Review preview for Loners

  Overall the film is competent, witty, intelligent.

  A group of introverts forced to socialise after the government declares a War of Loneliness must join together to fight for the right to be alone.
• 
  Lowdown Dirty Criminals (2020)

  Review preview for Lowdown Dirty Criminals

  It made me laugh, a lot, on a day when I wasn’t otherwise laughing.

  A black comedy about two incompetent friends who prove inept at delivering pizza and decide to try their luck at crime.
• 
  Lucky Grandma (2019)

  Review preview for Lucky Grandma

  Grandma is neither sweet nor innocent: a hard smoking, confrontational battleaxe with, nonetheless a heart of gold.

  Set in New York City’s Chinatown, the film follows an ornery, chain-smoking Chinese grandma who goes all in at the casino, landing herself on the wrong side of luck… and in the middle of a gang war.
• 
  A Mermaid's Tale (2016)

  Review preview for A Mermaid's Tale

  If you are a teenager – and probably a teen girl - looking for a little non-challenging light relief, and a tale with an upbeat ending, you won't do much better than this.

  A lonely 12-year-old girl befriends a mermaid.
• 
  Minions (2015)

  Review preview for Minions

  Minions is very funny.

  Minions Stuart, Kevin and Bob are recruited by Scarlet Overkill, a super-villain who, alongside her inventor husband Herb, hatches a plot to take over the world.
• 
  Miss Sloane (2016)

  Review preview for Miss Sloane

  One admires the cleverness of it, while wondering if there really are people who live like this.

  A ruthless Washington lobbyist takes on gun control.
• 
  Madame (2017)

  Review preview for Madame

  The script is cleverly done, the key relationships well and economically drawn; and while this is clearly comedy, it does not pull its punches.

  A wealthy American persuades her Spanish maid to pretend to be a noblewoman in order to make up the numbers at dinner, only to have an English aristocrat fall in love with her.
• 
  Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil (2019)

  Review preview for Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil

  An interesting side to this film is how Disney continue to stick two fingers up to the reactionaries.

  The Disney villain battles to save her realm.
• 
  Man Under Table (2021)

  Review preview for Man Under Table

  The film was so clever, so sharp that after the first five minutes I had the impression of a project paper-cutting itself to death.

  In an anachronistic dystopian landscape, a beleaguered young man attempts to navigate his way through the indie film scene in LA.
• 
  The Man Who Saved The World (2014)

  Review preview for The Man Who Saved The World

  The story of Stanislas Petrov is one that needs to be told and The Man Who Saved The World is a near perfect telling of it.

  The story of why Stanislav Petrov saved the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
• 
  Maquia: When The Promised Flower Blooms (2018)

  Review preview for Maquia: When The Promised Flower Blooms

  An impressive score and imaginative visuals.

  An immortal girl and mortal boy meet and become friends, sharing a bond that lasts throughout the years.
• 
  Markie In Milwaukee (2019)

  Review preview for Markie In Milwaukee

  With its light touch, candid camera approach, this documentary gets under the skin of the issue.

  A documentary about a midwestern trans woman who struggles with the prospect of de-transitioning under the pressures of her fundamentalist church, family and community.
• 
  Mary Magdalene (2018)

  Review preview for Mary Magdalene

  At times one suspects that what the director really wanted was to dispense with dialogue altogether and substitute a plot in which Mary and Jesus spend two hours gazing meaningfully into one another's eyes.

  An interpretation of the Biblical story of the woman who travelled with Jesus.
• 
  Meet Me By The Water (2016)

  Review preview for Meet Me By The Water

  This is a sweet little film about the dangers of caring too much.

  In a small fishing town on the West Coast of Scotland a young Asian woman must decide whether to leave home and family for a new life in South America.
• 
  Millie Lies Low (2021)

  Review preview for Millie Lies Low

  The entire tenor of the film is downbeat.

  Anxious architecture graduate Millie is about to fly from Wellington to New York for a prestigious internship but has a panic attack before departure and gets off the plane. Unable to afford another flight, she hides out in her hometown, posting fake Big Apple updates to Instagram while trying to raise the money for a replacement ticket.
• 
  Mirai (2018)

  Review preview for Mirai

  Thumbs up here for graphics that are colourful, inventive and always interesting.

  A spoiled boy has to cope with the arrival of a new baby sister - and much more.
• 
  The Misandrists (2017)

  Review preview for The Misandrists

  Something like a cross between Carry On Solanas! and The Beguiled

  A radical female ‘army of lovers’ is preparing itself to fight for a world without men.
• 
  Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children (2016)

  Review preview for Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

  Overall, the film doesn't quite achieve the level of dramatic tension it should.

  A boy who discovers a magical place that spans worlds and times comes to realise that it's under threat - and perhaps only he can save it.
• 
  Modern Life Is Rubbish (2017)

  Review preview for Modern Life Is Rubbish

  If you were a fan of Blur, Oasis or Radiohead, there is much here to like and relate to.

  Rom-com sees a couple whose relationship is on the rocks who find a shared love of music makes breaking up hard to do.
• 
  Motherhood (2018)

  Review preview for Motherhood

  This is a feminist film in every sense of the word.

  Two couples and a surrogate lay bare the complications, contradictions, heartbreak, and absurdities implicit in how we think about motherhood.
• 
  Mrs Hyde (2017)

  Review preview for Mrs Hyde

  Although we alight at many points of interest throughout the journey, we never stop long enough anywhere to explore.

  After a teacher is struck by lightning, she discovers a powerful and dangerous alter ego.
• 
  Much Ado (2022)

  Review preview for Much Ado

  There are moments when the principal characters manage to lift the film, but these are few and far between.

  Rom com based on the Shakespeare play.
• 
  My Big Beating Voice (2018)

  Review preview for My Big Beating Voice

  The great thing about it is the sense and maturity that they bring to difficult debates.

  Young women discuss race and gender inequality.
• 
  Napping Princess (2017)

  Review preview for Napping Princess

  There is much to like here: plenty of action, dazzling animation and a score that backs up the action without being intrusive.

  A sleepy girl's dreams of life as a princess with the power to bring the inanimate to life begin to intrude on the real world.
• 
  Night Is Short, Walk On Girl (2016)

  Review preview for Night Is Short, Walk On Girl

  Do not go looking for logical narrative in this wild assortment of larger than life characters.

  A college student tries to work out how to approach the girl of his dreams on a wild night full of strange events.
• 
  Naughty Books (2020)

  Review preview for Naughty Books

  It's a little bit of an eye-opener and, if you have not considered this issue before, it will provide you with new perspective and new insights into a topic not much explored in the mainstream.

  A documentary about the boom of self-published romance novels in the wake of Fifty Shades of Grey.
• 
  Nine Bullets (2022)

  Review preview for Nine Bullets

  Nine Bullets is not just an action film, which it is…but a film in which characters develop, learn and learn to get along.

  A burlesque dancer must go on the run to save a neighbour boy whose life is threatened by her ex-lover.
• 
  No Box For Me. An Intersex Story (2018)

  Review preview for No Box For Me. An Intersex Story

  By nodding in, by not forcing the pace, this documentary allows intersex voices to be heard.

  A burgeoning movement aims to demystify intersex identities and stop the practice of forced surgical interventions.
• 
  No Fathers In Kashmir (2019)

  Review preview for No Fathers In Kashmir

  A film that bears watching and watching again.

  A teenage British Kashmiri, Noor, retraces her roots. She is joined by Majid, a local Kashmiri boy who is more smitten by her exotic foreignness than her obsession with unravelling the mysteries of their disappeared fathers.
• 
  Only The Dead (2015)

  Review preview for Only The Dead

  A dark and disturbing exploration of war and, darker still, the impact of reporting on war - a textbook illustration of what happens when you look into the abyss.

  A journalist's frontline snapshot of the war in Iraq.
• 
  Only You (2018)

  Review preview for Only You

  A seriously intelligent script.

  A couple who fall in love at first sight face problems when they try to conceive.
• 
  Out Of Death (2021)

  Review preview for Out Of Death

  Jaime King is great as much put-upon innocent, gritted teeth, reluctant heroine.

  A corrupt Sheriff's department in a rural mountain town comes undone when an unintended witness throws a wrench into its shady operations.
• 
  Pandora (2019)

  Review preview for Pandora

  On the plus side, this is a series targeted at a young audience, and it might just fill a niche of sorts.

  Science-fiction series about a young woman who enrols at Earth's Space Training Academy.
• 
  Parallel (2018)

  Review preview for Parallel

  I found myself quickly gripped by Parallel.

  A group of young tech developers discover a portal to a multiverse and use it for work, but they're meddling with powers they don't understand.