Reviews by Jennie Kermode

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Rewrite (2025)

  Review preview for Rewrite

  Not just a clever puzzle, Rewrite challenges the cosy nostalgia of much popular Japanese romantic fiction.

  Transfer student Yasuhiko has had an amazing 21 days with Miyuki and their shared secret, that Yasuhiko comes from the future, binds them even closer.
• 
  The Bearded Girl (2025)

  Review preview for The Bearded Girl

  A marvellous piece of storytelling.

  Cleo is ready to spread her wings and, tired of tradition and feeling like an oddball, she leaves her sheltered carnival life to find love and adventure.
• 
  Hold The Fort (2025)

  Review preview for Hold The Fort

  It’s a bit of lightweight fluff, but it has no pretensions, and its heroes are easy to like.

  After moving to the suburbs, a young couple are trapped in an epic battle between their new HOA and an onslaught of monsters from hell.
• 
  The Shadow Scholars (2024)

  Review preview for The Shadow Scholars

  At each point when one might think that the key to this fascinating subject has been found, another door is opened, leading to yet more unexplored angles.

  Oxford professor Patricia Kingori uncovers Kenya's hidden essay mills where highly educated yet underemployed writers produce academic papers for wealthy Western students.
• 
  Four Letters Of Love (2024)

  Review preview for Four Letters Of Love

  Williams’ work is heavily invested in the ambiguities of coincidence...In literature, where there is room to play, this is one thing, but when condensed in a film it starts to feel like clumsy contrivance.

  The story of events leading up to what might be a fateful meeting, if the young man and woman involved haven't left it too late.
• 
  The African Run (1982)

  Review preview for The African Run

  All the ingredients are present for a classic thriller, except the budget. Some of the sets are as shaky as the dialogue.

  Cliff is the owner of Omega Bar, a place for criminals and diamond dealers. When his friend Grigg runs into trouble, he agrees to help him in exchange for a handful of diamonds.
• 
  #skoden (2025)

  Review preview for #skoden

  Eagle Bear does an impressive job, often by focusing on feelings first and addressing moments which speak to character rather than trying to amass a linear assemblage of facts.

  A documentary about Pernell Bad Arm, who was briefly famous for standing up to racism.
• 
  Hidden Master: The Legacy Of George Platt Lynes (2023)

  Review preview for Hidden Master: The Legacy Of George Platt Lynes

  A thorough, well-told tale intertwined with many of the key social and artistic movements of that century – and dotted with its luminaries – Hidden Master brings Lynes back out into the light.

  A documentary about the fashion photographer whose rare artistic vision became apparent when he focused his attention on male nudes.
• 
  Hot Spring Shark Attack (2024)

  Review preview for Hot Spring Shark Attack

  This is not, it must be admitted, the most scientifically accurate of shark films.

  There have been cases of mysterious disappearances of onsen visitors in Atsumi city in S prefecture. The victims were eventually found dead with signs of severe injuries to their bodies resembling a vicious shark attack.
• 
  Hot Milk (2025)

  Review preview for Hot Milk

  Mackey is a simmering, sullen, potent lead, keeping viewers on edge even as she lounges in the sun.

  Rose and her daughter Sofia journey to a Spanish seaside town to meet an enigmatic healer. As Sofia embraces an affair with an alluring stranger, tensions with her overbearing mother threaten their fragile bond.
• 
  Strange Journey: The Rocky Horror Story (2025)

  Review preview for Strange Journey: The Rocky Horror Story

  There are some great stories here, and whilst fans will already be familiar with many of them, they include a few surprises.

  The story of the cult musical phenomenon, its transfer from stage to screen and its enduring liberatory legacy.
• 
  A State Of Passion (2024)

  Review preview for A State Of Passion

  Whilst the film sets out to explore the psychology that drives people to do this sort of work, what emerges is more complicated.

  An account of a British-Palestinian surgeon who has become a vital witness to the devastation wreaked by Israel’s bombing of Gaza.
• 
  Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)

  Review preview for Desperately Seeking Susan

  New York in the Eighties contributes some of the film’s iconic imagery, but it’s Santo Loquasto’s costumes that are perhaps the most memorable element.

  A bored New Jersey suburban housewife's fascination with a free-spirited woman she has read about in the personal columns leads to her being mistaken for the woman herself.
• 
  From Hilde, With Love (2024)

  Review preview for From Hilde, With Love

  This non-sensationalist approach allows much more room to address the psychological effects of prison life itself, whilst emphasising the mundanity of much of what happened under the Nazis.

  In Berlin 1942, Hilde finds her place within an anti-Nazi resistance group as gradually as she falls in love with one of its members. The two spend an unforgettable summer until they get caught by the Gestapo and Hilde is imprisoned, eight months pregnant.
• 
  Operation Bogeyman (2025)

  Review preview for Operation Bogeyman

  Aeppli’s work brings scams, superstition, abuses of power, real world horrors and the magic of storytelling together in one heady brew.

  An essay film that navigates the intersections of folklore, horror, and psychological warfare during the Troubles and encompasses a bizarre propaganda operation in which the British army staged fake black magic rituals to smear the IRA as ‘Satanists’.
• 
  The Road To Patagonia (2024)

  Review preview for The Road To Patagonia

  The film is a charmer, full of wonder at the world.

  A documentary following a young man who decides to leave his office job behind and travel down the west coast of the Americas in search of a better way of living.
• 
  Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)

  Review preview for Sukiyaki Western Django

  With arrows, in particular, Miike keeps one-upping himself, aided by his trademark commitment to going all the way with action sequences no matter how silly they may become.

  A nameless gunfighter arrives in a town ripped apart by rival gangs and, though courted by both to join, chooses his own path.
• 
  NiiMisSak: Sisters In Film (2024)

  Review preview for NiiMisSak: Sisters In Film

  Simple in structure, with a series of interviews supported by clips of film, the documentary finds its power in the accumulation of ideas across its running time.

  A documentary delving into the journeys of IsKweWak (women) storytellers navigating the film and television industry.
• 
  Pins And Needles (2024)

  Review preview for Pins And Needles

  A fairly standard scenario is humanised and refreshed, making for much more engaging viewing.

  A student finds herself trapped in a remote house where a ruthless couple are conducting medical experiments.
• 
  Red Path (2024)

  Review preview for Red Path

  Achour does a fine job of binding us to his adolescent hero’s perspective, as the boy tries to process the death and what it means within the limited framework of ideas available to him.

  After two young shepherds are attacked on a mountainside, Achraf, 14, is ordered to take the severed head of his cousin Nizar back to their family as a macabre message.
• 
  Holloway (2024)

  Review preview for Holloway

  All the women are going through a process of change. As the prison decays, so do the structures that have constrained their lives.

  Six former inmates revisit HM Prison Holloway in the period between its closure and its destruction.
• 
  Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (2024)

  Review preview for Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story

  If you don’t have a clear sense of who she is when you go in, you may come out feeling none the wiser.

  A documentary about Liza Minelli and the key individuals who influenced her career.
• 
  Protein (2024)

  Review preview for Protein

  There’s a deep vein of black comedy running through what might otherwise be a relentlessly grim film, and yet one never feels that Burke lacks sympathy with the people of this benighted Welsh town.

  A traumatised ex-squaddie and serial killer returns to South Wales to escape his demons. There he becomes workout and gym-obsessed and eats a local drug dealer for their protein. Compelled to kill again, he sends shockwaves through the local criminal underworld.
• 
  In The Lost Lands (2025)

  Review preview for In The Lost Lands

  If all you’re after is monsters, chases, CGI explosions, fighting and two popular action stars (who do get an opportunity to fight each other, never fear), then this may well work for you.

  A queen sends the powerful and feared sorceress Gray Alys to the ghostly wilderness of the Lost Lands in search of a magical power.
• 
  Juliet & Romeo (2025)

  Review preview for Juliet & Romeo

  Alas, what we see does not meet its match in what we hear.

  A pop musical version of the story of Verona's legendary star-crossed lovers.
• 
  Little Deer (2023)

  Review preview for Little Deer

  An exquisite piece of short filmmaking.

  Two indigenous girls run away from a Canadian residential school at Christmastime.
• 
  The Haka Party Incident (2024)

  Review preview for The Haka Party Incident

  Moving back and forth between these groups allows the narrative to evolve in a way that takes different perspectives into account without setting them against one another.

  The last New Zealand War happened in 1979. It lasted three minutes. This documentary tells the story.
• 
  Singing Back The Buffalo (2024)

  Review preview for Singing Back The Buffalo

  The film feels at first as if it’s tugging in several different directions, but gradually pulls it all together.

  Indigenous visionaries, scientists and communities are rematriating the buffalo to the heart of the North American plains they once defined, signaling a turning point for Indigenous nations, the ecosystem, and our collective survival.
• 
  We Were Dangerous (2024)

  Review preview for We Were Dangerous

  The darkness in the film is carefully balanced by comedy.

  Three friends attend an institution for delinquent girls on an isolated island In 1950s New Zealand. The trio rail against the system, finding strength in their bond. This is challenged when the school’s matron divides them.
• 
  Dangerous Animals (2025)

  Review preview for Dangerous Animals

  There’s something here that’s distinctive and personal and altogether too much fun.

  When Zephyr, a rebellious surfer, is abducted by a shark-obsessed serial killer and held captive on his boat, she must figure out how to escape.
• 
  Darling (1965)

  Review preview for Darling

  It is precisely Diana’s lack of intellectual sophistication that makes her interesting.

  The rise of a socially ambitious but emotionally frustrated fashion model in Sixties London.
• 
  Cactus Pears (2025)

  Review preview for Cactus Pears

  Although writer/director Rohan Kanawade grew up in the city, there is a deep sense of authenticity about the village setting, and the whole film is handled with a rare degree of sensitivity.

  Anand, a 30-something city dweller compelled to spend a 10-day mourning period for his father in the rugged countryside of western India, tenderly bonds with a local farmer struggling to stay unmarried. As the mourning ends, forcing his return, Anand must decide the fate of his relationship born under duress.
• 
  Ba (2024)

  Review preview for Ba

  It’s not a particularly sophisticated parable, but it doesn’t need to be. The central performances are strong and the bond between father and daughter feels real even when other elements do not.

  A single father is deceived into a treacherous career as the Grim Reaper, while his precocious daughter grows increasingly suspicious of his whereabouts.
• 
  The Encampments (2025)

  Review preview for The Encampments

  Incisive and thorough.

  Students flooded Columbia University's lawn to create the Gaza Solidarity Encampment in order to pressure their university to divest from the US and Israeli weapons companies.
• 
  Tim Travers And The Time Traveler's Paradox (2024)

  Review preview for Tim Travers And The Time Traveler's Paradox

  Successful films like this are few and far between, whilst the genre is littered with the bones of those that didn’t make it.

  A scientist creates a time machine and kills his younger self to see what would happen. That self-obsessed, misanthrope, mad genius of a scientist is Tim Travers, and the universe was bad enough with only one of him.
• 
  Rock, Paper, Scissors (2024)

  Review preview for Rock, Paper, Scissors

  The anonymity of the landscape adds to the sense of alienation from normal landmarks, physical and metaphorical, that often accompanies war.

  A father and son running a makeshift hospital on the front line of war, face a tough decision when a platoon of soldiers approaches their building.
• 
  Target: Eve Island (1983)

  Review preview for Target: Eve Island

  It really looks impressive when you bear in mind that all the cast and crew had to eat during much of the shoot were the coconuts they managed to knock down from trees.

  When a professor who knows secret information is kidnapped and taken to the Caribbean, top agents are dispatched to track her down.
• 
  Marion (2024)

  Review preview for Marion

  Shooting on film, using live footage of a bull jumping event, even the directors didn’t know how it would end.

  Marion, the only female bull jumper in France, prepares for her performance in a packed arena.
• 
  Lotus (2024)

  Review preview for Lotus

  Flitting from scene to scene with an increasing disregard for the constraints of logic, the film beguiles hesitant viewers with its gorgeous sets and costumes.

  A silent film director forms a bond with a woman who has a hidden agenda.
• 
  G.B.H. (1983)

  Review preview for G.B.H.

  By any technical measure, G.B.H. is a terrible film. It’s also tremendous fun to watch.

  A bouncer is called in to help fight off a mob boss who is trying to take over local night clubs.
• 
  Girl America (2024)

  Review preview for Girl America

  Exploitation, abuse and neglect are only a part of the story. There is also a fearless pursuit of joy.

  A girl in an orphanage employs fantasy as a means of escape.
• 
  Your Reality (2019)

  Review preview for Your Reality

  Anders’ performance is so fluid, so perfectly judged that over the course of 20 minutes she carries us through a significant psychological shift without doing anything that seems abrupt or out of character.

  After moving in with her boyfriend, a successful young marketing executive becomes increasingly unsure of her ability to trust her own memory.
• 
  The President's Cake (2025)

  Review preview for The President's Cake

  Nayyef and Qasem are marvellous, completely natural and without a hint of self-consciousness.

  While people struggle daily to survive under sanctions in Saddam's Iraq, nine-year-old Lamia must use her wits to gather ingredients for a cake to celebrate President Saddam Hussein's birthday or face the consequences.
• 
  The Severed Sun (2024)

  Review preview for The Severed Sun

  Right and wrong are blurry concepts here. What might mean justice for an individual could be devastating to the community.

  Magpie lives in an isolated church community ruled over by her father, The Pastor. When a man is murdered, paranoia sets in and people start to whisper about a strange 'Beast' that lives in the forest.
• 
  Make It To Munich (2025)

  Review preview for Make It To Munich

  It’s not particularly dramatic and it doesn’t deal in miracles, but it’s a deeply engaging and enjoyable piece of work.

  Scots teenager Ethan Walker as he defies life-threatening injuries to cycle from Glasgow’s Hampden Park to Munich Football Arena for Scotland’s opening Euro24 match.
• 
  Edhi Alice (2024)

  Review preview for Edhi Alice

  Despite its overtly artificial structure, the film captures something that feels very natural, spending time with its subjects until they’re completely at ease.

  A portrait of two South Korean women in transition: Edhi, a modest and cheerful woman who hopes to feel good in her own body after her surgery, and Alice, a quiet personality who is at a different stage in her life and her transition.
• 
  Discordia (2025)

  Review preview for Discordia

  It’s a film with big ambitions and limited means.

  An aging lumberjack lives all alone in desperate, cursed woods. Fifteen years ago, a mysterious tribe killed his wife and kidnapped his daughter. For years, he traveled the continent to find and rescue her, in vain. Years later, she is the one who finds him. But she was followed.
• 
  Liquor Bank (2025)

  Review preview for Liquor Bank

  A solid piece of work from director Marcellus Cox, whose skill in creating atmosphere is well suited to the theme.

  A young man relapses, missing his one year sobriety anniversary party at his local AA support group.
• 
  Motel Destino (2024)

  Review preview for Motel Destino

  In this hothouse, madness easily exerts its grip.

  A young drifter finds shelter in a seedy motel and embarks on a dangerous love affair.
• 
  Seeking Mavis Beacon (2024)

  Review preview for Seeking Mavis Beacon

  Jones and Ross are both strong personalities and the personal aspect of the film is one of its strongest suits.

  Launched in the late Eighties, educational software Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing taught millions globally, but the program's Haitian-born cover model vanished decades ago. Two DIY investigators search for the unsung cultural icon, while questioning notions of digital security, AI, and Black representation in the digital realm.