Reviews by Jennie Kermode

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  The Beast Within (2024)

  Review preview for The Beast Within

  Whilst the film could certainly do with tightening up the pace or exploring its themes more deeply, it works well as a character study.

  A ten-year-old girl she starts to question her atypical life in her family's fortified compound in rural England, and he father's strange behaviour.
• 
  Beautiful Blue Eyes (2009)

  Review preview for Beautiful Blue Eyes

  Worth watching for the performances, Beautiful Blue Eyes still feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.

  A retired police officer seeks revenge against an elderly man he's convinced is the Nazi who slaughtered his family during World War Two.
• 
  Beautiful Men (2023)

  Review preview for Beautiful Men

  Selfishness, shame and a fear of connection are underscored by affection. The result is uncomfortable and sometimes very funny.

  Three balding brothers travel to Istanbul to get a hair transplant. Stuck with each other in a hotel far from home, their insecurities grow faster than their hair.
• 
  Beautiful Something Left Behind (2020)

  Review preview for Beautiful Something Left Behind

  Philp directs with a light touch, letting her young subjects lead the way.

  New Jersey’s Good Grief counseling center offers a holistic approach to mourning. This film offers a child's perspective of grief.
• 
  Beauty (2011)

  Review preview for Beauty

  Complex ideas are brought out in part through a brilliant script, in part through brilliant direction.

  Winner of the Queer Palm at Cannes 2011, a disturbing and provocative examination of one man's damaging self-hatred.
• 
  Beauty And The Dogs (2017)

  Review preview for Beauty And The Dogs

  A tremendously powerful piece of cinema.

  A woman meets a mysterious stranger at a party and leaves with him... it's the beginning of a long night in which she will have to fight for her rights and her dignity.
• 
  Because We Are Girls (2019)

  Review preview for Because We Are Girls

  Despite all the ugliness in this story, it emerges as a celebration of the power of sisterhood.

  A documentary set in British Columbia, Canada, about an immigrant Punjabi family who have a dark secret they can finally tell.
• 
  Becoming Cary Grant (2016)

  Review preview for Becoming Cary Grant

  An accomplished portrait that presents something much more human than we're used to in this context.

  The star's own words are used to tell his life story.
• 
  Becoming Iconic (2018)

  Review preview for Becoming Iconic

  It's refreshing to see such a positive take from a newcomer.

  A documentary about the making of Inconceivable, with input from the established Hollywood players who gave its director advice.
• 
  Beetlejuice (1988)

  Review preview for Beetlejuice

  Drawing on the grand guignol horror that its creator had loved since his own childhood, Beetlejuice combines gleefully gory special effects with high camp, sharp wit and irreverent humour.

  A recently deceased couple turn to a sleazy ghost to try and get an obnoxious living family evicted from their beloved home.
• 
  Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (2009)

  Review preview for Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo

  There is no simple linear narrative. Beetle Queen is more like a poem, combining fragments of experience to show us something much more than the sum of its parts.

  A documentary exploring the Japanese fascination with insects, made by an entomologist from New York's Museum of Natural History.
• 
  Before I Change My Mind (2022)

  Review preview for Before I Change My Mind

  A lot of effort has gone into production design, resulting in a film which looks really good for its budget, but the most important factor is Anderson’s eye for the sort of details which stand out to teenagers.

  1987: While the other students wonder if new kid Robin is a boy or a girl, Robin forges a complicated bond with the school bully, making increasingly dangerous choices to fit in.
• 
  Before I Do (2026)

  Review preview for Before I Do

  There’s an intelligent dissection of ideas going on here, and an acknowledgement of the frequent mismatch between ideals and emotions.

  A young man invites his closest group of gay pals to a remote cabin in the Berkshires to celebrate his upcoming marriage, but between the catching up, skinny-dipping, and Meryl Streep karaoke, old flames and new secrets start to come out.
• 
  Before The Fire (2020)

  Review preview for Before The Fire

  There's a lot that goes unspoken here.

  When a global pandemic forces a TV actress to escape to her rural hometown, an intruder from her past proves as dangerous as the encroaching virus.
• 
  Before We Vanish (2017)

  Review preview for Before We Vanish

  Sometimes absurd, sometimes bone-chilling, strikingly original.

  Narumi and her husband Shinji are going through a rocky patch when Shinji suddenly vanishes, returning several days later, utterly transformed. At the same time, a family is brutally murdered, and the town beset by strange phenomena. Journalist Sakurai begins to investigate the mystery…
• 
  Beginners (2010)

  Review preview for Beginners

  A refreshingly intelligent entry in the romance canon that also takes a wide ranging look at human relationships more generally.

  A young man is rocked by two announcements from his elderly father: that he has terminal cancer, and that he has a young male lover.
• 
  Begotten (1989)

  Review preview for Begotten

  A genuinely intriguing experiment.

  Presented in a surreal, gory and entirely visual manner, Begotten tells of the death of religion, the abuse of nature by Man and a nihilistic outlook on what life ultimately is.
• 
  Behind The Mountains (2023)

  Review preview for Behind The Mountains

  A magical realist tale which invites us to reassess what’s possible within the paradigms of science and Islam, to recognise the importance of entertaining wild ideas even as we see the danger of it.

  The story of a man who violently breaks free from his banal environment, evading society with its principles, codes and institutions.
• 
  Behind You (2020)

  Review preview for Behind You

  With marvellous performances from its young leads, the film very effectively builds up an atmosphere of dread.

  Two young sisters find that all the mirrors in their estranged aunt's house are covered or hidden. When one of them happens upon a mirror in the basement, she unknowingly releases a malicious demon.
• 
  Being Frank (2018)

  Review preview for Being Frank

  Miranda Bailey struggles with pacing but strikes a good balance between comedy and acknowledgement of the awfulness at the story's core.

  A teenager is shocked to discover that his father has a secret second family.
• 
  Being Ola (2023)

  Review preview for Being Ola

  This is a vision of a much more inclusive, healthier world – one which prioritises happiness.

  A portrait of a man with an intellectual disability, and the community he lives in.
• 
  Being Thunder (2021)

  Review preview for Being Thunder

  Through her focus on what might seem like a narrow issue, Lamorre mines a rich vein of history.

  A a two-spirit genderqueer teenager from the Narragansett tribe in Rhode Island, explores what it means to be a queer Indigenous person in a world bound by binary gender roles.
• 
  Belly Of The Beast (2020)

  Review preview for Belly Of The Beast

  Thorough and incisive, this is a documentary which restrains its anger to focus on the evidence.

  Documentary about the involuntary sterilisation of women in the US federal prison system.
• 
  Beloved (2022)

  Review preview for Beloved

  Handsomely crafted and delicately delivered, Beloved approaches a familiar subject with particularity and grace.

  A young couple struggles to come to terms with the reality of marriage once the romance dissipates.
• 
  Bel Canto (2018)

  Review preview for Bel Canto

  Newcomer María Mercedes Coroy is a standout, even within this accomplished cast.

  A world-renown opera singer becomes trapped in a hostage situation when she's invited to perform for a wealthy industrialist in South America.
• 
  Benedetta (2021)

  Review preview for Benedetta

  The interplay of the spiritual and the sensual is vital here.

  A 17th-century nun in Italy suffers from disturbing religious and erotic visions. She is assisted by a companion, and the relationship between the two women develops into a romantic love affair.
• 
  Ben And Suzanne, A Reunion In 4 Parts (2024)

  Review preview for Ben And Suzanne, A Reunion In 4 Parts

  Awkwardness is the order of the day, but it’s addressed in a graceful, fluid style that lifts this above the usual run of indie romances.

  The romantic reunion of Ben Santhanaraj and Suzanne Hopper is thwarted when Suzanne's boss asks her to work during their holiday road trip in Sri Lanka.
• 
  Bergman Island (2021)

  Review preview for Bergman Island

  The film unfolds at an easy pace, Hansen-Løve making everything matter of fact and yet beguiling, thereby softening viewers up to accept the fantastic or surreal aspects of the narrative as normal.

  An American filmmaking couple retreat to the island for the summer to write screenplays for their upcoming films in an act of pilgrimage to the place that inspired Bergman. As the summer and their screenplays advance, the lines between reality and fiction start to blur against the backdrop of the island's wild landscape.
• 
  Berta (2024)

  Review preview for Berta

  Segarra takes a mature approach throughout, and her preference for realism over easy wit or stylishness still leaves room for humour – even in the darkest of places.

  A woman decides to put her trauma to rest by dealing with the man who hurt her, once and for all.
• 
  Bethany (2017)

  Review preview for Bethany

  So much plot is spoken within the first 15 minutes that it's a wonder the characters find time for anything else.

  Moving into the home of her dead mother, a woman starts seeing things. Is she remembering the past, losing her mind or being haunted?
• 
  Better This World (2011)

  Review preview for Better This World

  The film effectively outlines a very worrying situation.

  A dramatic story of idealism, loyalty, and betrayal that reveals a great deal about the culture of protest and the paranoia of post-9/11 America.
• 
  Betty Blue (1986)

  Review preview for Betty Blue

  Betty Blue is a film that hurls itself into being, brash and unbridled and now.

  A struggling writer embars on a passionate love affair with a beautiful, vivacious woman who is gradually losing her mind.
• 
  Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008)

  Review preview for Beverly Hills Chihuahua

  Kids will love it and attendant parents, if they let themselves, may end up enjoying the ride.

  When a spoiled chihuahua 'heiress' gets out of her depth in Mexico, she finds a friend in a gruff former police dog, and a longtime admirer sets out to search for her.
• 
  The Beyond (1981)

  Review preview for The Beyond

  The inventiveness of the crew and Lucio Fulci's singular vision raise it well above most genre work of the period and make it well worth checking out.

  A woman inherits a New Orleans hotel with a sinister secret, and horror commences.
• 
  Beyond (2010)

  Review preview for Beyond

  Rapace delivers a powerhouse performance that carries it from beginning to end.

  A woman's reluctant visit to her dying mother brings up memories of the violent home she grew up in.
• 
  Beyond (2014)

  Review preview for Beyond

  MacGregor delivers a tour de force.

  As an object of uncertain origin hurtles towards Earth, a young couple struggle to face the future.
• 
  Beyond Driven (2020)

  Review preview for Beyond Driven

  Although we spend a lot of time away from the race track, the film never loses that throbbing energy and sense of danger.

  The story of Lella Lombardi, who, at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix, became the first and only woman ever to score a point in Formula One - and a look at the legacy she left for others.
• 
  Beyond Ed Buck (2022)

  Review preview for Beyond Ed Buck

  Beyond Ed Buck will make many viewers uncomfortable, as it should, and will make for distressing viewing for others, but it’s an important watch.

  A documentary which follows the tragic murders that took place at the hands of a well-known Democratic political donor.
• 
  Beyond Silence (2024)

  Review preview for Beyond Silence

  Carefully constructed and ably performed.

  Two women of different generations share similar trauma. After decades of silence for one and months for another, their paths diverge - one stays quiet post-confrontation, one speaks up.
• 
  Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes (2021)

  Review preview for Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes

  High concept films like this can easily go awry, but Makoto Ueda’s script somehow manages to stay on the ball throughout.

  A café owner discovers that the TV in his café suddenly shows images from the future, but only two minutes into the future.
• 
  Be My Cat: A Film For Anne (2015)

  Review preview for Be My Cat: A Film For Anne

  It's difficult to know how much acting is involved in this film - and that, of course, is part of what makes it work.

  A filmmaker sets out to impress the actress Anne Hathaway, with disturbing results.
• 
  Be Natural: The Untold Story Of Alice Guy-Blaché (2019)

  Review preview for Be Natural: The Untold Story Of Alice Guy-Blaché

  Green's richly detailed documentary is a portrait of a remarkable woman, a love letter to early cinema and a fascinating detective story all in one.

  Documentary about the first woman director, producer and director of a studio in the history of cinema.
• 
  Bias (2018)

  Review preview for Bias

  Although much of the film is comprised of talking heads, Hauser keeps it visually interesting, demonstrating an eye for detail.

  A filmmaker explores her own unconscious prejudices and how such thinking arises.
• 
  The Bibi Files (2024)

  Review preview for The Bibi Files

  Draws a clear line between Netanyahu’s ideas and behaviour and those of other Israelis; between the far right and the wider citizenry

  An inside look into the corruption charges against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu through leaked police interrogation videos.
• 
  Bienvenida A Nueva York (2020)

  Review preview for Bienvenida A Nueva York

  The abruptness of it all and the in-your-face direction will have you on the edge of your seat.

  Sara has just arrived in NYC from Colombia when she witnesses a crime and is forced to flee from the perpetrator.
• 
  The Biggest Little Farm (2018)

  Review preview for The Biggest Little Farm

  The real joy in the film lies in watching what started out as barren land gradually bloom over the years.

  Filmmaker chronicles his own efforts and that of his wife, to trade in their city life for a small farm dream.
• 
  The Big Bad Fox And Other Tales (2017)

  Review preview for The Big Bad Fox And Other Tales

  This simple yet charming film is perfect for young children.

  A triptych of animated adventures.
• 
  Big Break (2026)

  Review preview for Big Break

  The real test here will come down to how you feel about the characters.

  Years after Simple Town split up, three comics reunite with their successful ex-collaborator, leading to a fight for their lives (and careers) as it is revealed that one of them has become a serial killer.
• 
  Big Crow (2022)

  Review preview for Big Crow

  Such is the enthusiasm about SuAnne on the res, where almost everything in this film was shot, that Kaczor has his work cut out to maintain his objectivity.

  The story of high school basketball state champion SuAnne Big Crow and how her spirit inspires hope for the Oglala Lakota people of the The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to reclaim their culture.
• 
  The Big Short (2015)

  Review preview for The Big Short

  Christian Bale delivers his best performance for years as fund manager Michael Burry.

  The story of the banking scandals behind the 2008 global economic crash.