Reviews by Jennie Kermode

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  The Boogeywoman (2019)

  Review preview for The Boogeywoman

  Scoggins' use of low lighting and shifting frames of reference adds a dreamlike quality to the whole affair.

  For a teenager in a small town, menarche brings an encounter with the local urban legend.
• 
  Bookworm (2024)

  Review preview for Bookworm

  Fisher and Wood achieve a great rapport, and there’s some entertaining supporting work even though much of our time is spent in the middle of nowhere.

  11 year old Mildred's world is turned upside-down when her estranged father, the washed-up magician Strawn Wise comes to look after her and agrees to take her camping to find a mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther.
• 
  The Book Of Birdie (2017)

  Review preview for The Book Of Birdie

  Everything here hinges on the central performance and Memedovski acquits herself well.

  A girl placed in the care of a convent has supernatural experiences.
• 
  Book Of Monsters (2018)

  Review preview for Book Of Monsters

  Craine puts a lot of passion into her performance, making for a gutsy lead we can keep rooting for even when other aspects of the film are weak.

  Six kickass women must fight off a horde of terrifying monsters at an 18th birthday party.
• 
  Boom (2022)

  Review preview for Boom

  The tension contributes to the comedy, which is beautifully structured and will keep you on your toes.

  A couple of birds try to save their eggs from a volcanic eruption.
• 
  Boom For Real The Late Teenage Years Of Jean-Michel Basquiat (2017)

  Review preview for Boom For Real The Late Teenage Years Of Jean-Michel Basquiat

  A life like this is never tidy and neither is Driver's documentary.

  A documentary exploring the pre-fame years of the celebrated American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and how New York City shaped his vision.
• 
  Boorman And The Devil (2025)

  Review preview for Boorman And The Devil

  Boorman has an extraordinary openness about him which would make him a compelling subject even if he’d never made a film in his life.

  After directing Point Blank and Deliverance, John Boorman was offered to direct The Exorcist II. The film became a massive failure, nearly ending his career. Years later, cast and filmmakers discuss its ambition and artistic value.
• 
  Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

  Review preview for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

  It becomes more interesting when it gets out of the comfort zone provided by familiar cynicism and finds warmth in unexpected places.

  Fiction and documentary blur as a Kazakh journalist sets out to win favour with the US government on behalf of his nation.
• 
  Borderline (2016)

  Review preview for Borderline

  Here, the physical intensity of dance does a lot of the heavy lifting, showing the turbulence of life with this condition, the strength required to manage it, and the strain that creates.

  Lynn Shaw is a dancer from Aberdeen. Charismatic, but sometimes chaotic. After a long history of turbulent life events she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
• 
  Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster (2021)

  Review preview for Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster

  Simple in its form, this film is nonetheless engaging throughout, shot through with interesting anecdotes and observations about what was going on behind the scenes.

  Karloff, examining his illustrious 60-year career in the entertainment industry and his enduring legacy as one of the icons of 20th century popular culture.
• 
  Born To Be (2019)

  Review preview for Born To Be

  Born To Be is an important contribution to public understanding.

  Documentary, charting the emotional and physical journey of surgical transitioning, as experienced by patients at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital.
• 
  The Boston Strangler (1968)

  Review preview for The Boston Strangler

  This is a film made entirely from hints and suggestions, red herrings and glimpses of a world in which nothing is orderly.

  A fictionalised take on the story of the notorious serial killer and rapist.
• 
  Bottle George (2024)

  Review preview for Bottle George

  Supported by Takagi Hajime’s evocative sound design, this persistently inventive little film creates a thoroughly lived-in world with hints of a maritime past and an uncertain future.

  A stop motion animated short film about the darkness of addiction and the strength of family.
• 
  Boudica (2023)

  Review preview for Boudica

  That we stick with her through this is down to the magnetism of Kurylenko’s performance.

  The story of the legendary Iceni queen who led a revolt against Roman occupiers.
• 
  Boudu Saved From Drowning (1932)

  Review preview for Boudu Saved From Drowning

  No-one has ever come close to Simon's performance as the original screen Boudu.

  A suicidal tramp rescued from the Seine seduces his middle class saviour's wife and maid.
• 
  Boutique: To Preserve And Collect (2024)

  Review preview for Boutique: To Preserve And Collect

  Levey’s enthusiasm for his subject is infectious.

  A documentary about the history of physical media, the rise of boutique specialty collector labels and the role they have played in film restoration, preservation and elevation of underrepresented voices.
• 
  Bowels Of Hell (2026)

  Review preview for Bowels Of Hell

  The production values here are a cut above what one would normally expect for something with this theme and these characters.

  A mother battling trauma faces a surreal nightmare when toilets mysteriously transform into killer beings, forcing her to confront both her personal demons and these bizarre supernatural threats.
• 
  Boy (2010)

  Review preview for Boy

  It's relentlessly funny but depends in equal part on the charm of its characters and on Boy's sense of wonder at the world.

  A Boy and his brother find their fantasy version of their dad is somewhat different to the real deal.
• 
  Boys (2021)

  Review preview for Boys

  Benward shoots from the boys’ height so that adults become looming figures, sometimes threatening, sometimes a source of authority which it seems impossible to resist.

  Two boys let their imagination run wild in a barren desert, but the fun and games come to a shocking halt.
• 
  Boys Go To Jupiter (2024)

  Review preview for Boys Go To Jupiter

  Though likely a little too whimsical for some, Boys Go To Jupiter seems destined to develop a cult following.

  Suburban Florida is transformed into a 3D animated wonderland in this musical comedy.
• 
  Boy #5 (2020)

  Review preview for Boy #5

  A haunting and ambiguous take on the vampire myth.

  A social worker takes a withdrawn homeless boy into her care, not suspecting that he is a kind of mutant vampire.
• 
  The Boy Behind The Door (2020)

  Review preview for The Boy Behind The Door

  Things here don't work the way they do in most action movies. People get tired. Wounds keep hurting. Sometimes Bobby taken on tasks that prove too much for him.

  When two boys are kidnapped, one manages to escape, but he's determined not to abandon his friend.
• 
  Boy Erased (2018)

  Review preview for Boy Erased

  This is, as a whole, a finely crafted piece of cinema which handles its explosive subject with great delicacy.

  The son of a Baptist preacher is forced to participate in a church-supported gay conversion program after being forcibly outed to his parents.
• 
  Boy Meets Boy (2021)

  Review preview for Boy Meets Boy

  Frequent close-ups build on the chemistry between the actors to capture that feeling when one individual suddenly seems bigger and brighter and louder than everything else in the world.

  A brief encounter in a Berlin nightclub changes the course of two lives.
• 
  The Boy With White Skin (2024)

  Review preview for The Boy With White Skin

  With no means of situating events in a larger context, it’s all the easier to be overwhelmed by the sensory experience.

  Entrusted by his father to a group of gold-miners, an albino child embodies all of their hopes.
• 
  Braid (2018)

  Review preview for Braid

  The iconography of the feminine is twisted into something deadly.

  Two drug dealers on the lam seek refuge inside their mentally unstable friend’s mansion. But in order to stay, they have to participate in her elaborate, and increasingly dangerous, game of permanent make-believe.
• 
  Braindead (1992)

  Review preview for Braindead

  Braindead is the original and still the best.

  Young Lionel's mother won't leave him alone - even after she's dead.
• 
  Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (2022)

  Review preview for Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power

  Densely packed as this film is, only so much can be squeezed into an hour and 47 minutes. Menkes succeeds, however, in delivering a pretty thorough primer.

  Based on Nina Menkes' acclaimed talk "Sex & Power: The Visual Language of Cinema", a mesmerising journey into how shot design intersects with the twin epidemics of sexual abuse/assault and employment discrimination against women.
• 
  Brain Freeze (2021)

  Review preview for Brain Freeze

  The film is pretty hit and miss.

  A fertiliser used in a rich gated community becomes the source of a genetic mutation that transforms its residents into zombies. Can a teenager and his baby sister break free from the quarantined island before turning into grass?
• 
  The Brain That Wouldn't Die (2020)

  Review preview for The Brain That Wouldn't Die

  There are some fantastic laugh-out-loud moments here and some wonderful design work.

  A doctor experiments with transplant techniques to keep his girlfriend's head alive after she is decapitated in a car crash.
• 
  Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

  Review preview for Bram Stoker's Dracula

  Coppola's aesthetic is all about excess and lacks the self awareness that let Hammer Horror films get away with this.

  A loose adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, with the vampire Count seeking the reincarnation of his lost love.
• 
  Brazil (1985)

  Review preview for Brazil

  With dazzling visual effects and stunning sets, Brazil is a film that you should see on the biggest screen possible.

  A typo leads to an innocent man being confused with a revolutionary, plunging the life of a small time bureaucrat into chaos.
• 
  The Breach (2022)

  Review preview for The Breach

  What really holds it all together is Hawco’s down to earth performance as a detective striving to retain his focus on the practical side of the job.

  John Hawkins, who is set to retire as police chief is tucked away in deep wood. Following the discovery of a gruesome body with uncanny injuries, he's pulled into an investigation to solve the horrifying mystery, which evades explanation.
• 
  The Breadwinner (2017)

  Review preview for The Breadwinner

  Intelligent, humane and multi-layered, The Breadwinner is a much more substantial film than its central heroic narrative might suggest.

  A young girl in Afghanistan disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family.
• 
  Bread And Salt (2022)

  Review preview for Bread And Salt

  At key moments, director Damian Kocur slows his camera right down. We drift through the estate, through the sort of spaces which an architect might have thought would look pretty, with no idea how disaffected young people would use them.

  A pianist returns to his home town, where he finds a new kebab bar in town, which begins to generate friction between the employees and local youths.
• 
  Breaking Fast (2020)

  Review preview for Breaking Fast

  A sweet-natured romcom, Breaking Fast takes on some difficult issues around what it takes to love somebody and to accept love.

  Mo, a practising Muslim living in West Hollywood, is learning to navigate life post heartbreak. Enter Kal, an All-American guy who surprises Mo by offering to break fast with him during the holy month of Ramadan.
• 
  Breaking Infinity (2023)

  Review preview for Breaking Infinity

  It’s impressively polished given its modest budget, and is elevated by a score which adds an epic element to scenes with only a handful of people in them.

  Liam is a scientific researcher who has been unstuck in time, as his jumps through time get more extreme, he is guided to the future by a mysterious old man where he witnesses the end of the world that he may have caused.
• 
  Break Free (2026)

  Review preview for Break Free

  Fujii is a trained dancer very much at ease in the role, but it’s his ability to be both po-faced and charismatic that really makes this work.

  A middle-aged yakuza gangster finds a new direction in life after an improvised dance-off goes viral on TikTok.
• 
  Breathing In (2023)

  Review preview for Breathing In

  Succeeds in creating and maintaining a chilly atmosphere of the sort rarely found in modern cinema.

  A young soldier fighting in the Second Boer War finds himself ill at ease when sheltering in a hut with a mysterious woman and her beautiful daughter.
• 
  Breathless (1960)

  Review preview for Breathless

  A visually innovative film... Godard has done a masterful job, and his witty script never struggles to hold audience attention.

  A young criminal hides out with a woman who can't decide whether or not she loves him. Plus read our exclusive interview with assistant director Pierre Rissient.
• 
  Breeder (2019)

  Review preview for Breeder

  Dahl wants to make a certain type of film but Sissel Dalsgaard Thomsen's script just isn't right for it.

  A renowned health supplement company, run by a ruthless businesswoman, is selecting and abducting young women as part of an experiment bio-hacking babies’ DNA to enable her clients to reverse the ageing process
• 
  Brian Banks (2018)

  Review preview for Brian Banks

  Shadyac and screenwriter Doug Atchison really over-egg the pudding.

  A football player's dreams of playing in the NFL are halted when he is wrongly convicted and sent to prison. Years later, he fights to clear his name within an unjust system.
• 
  The Bricklayer (2023)

  Review preview for The Bricklayer

  The dialogue is terrible but it has enough energy and spirit to entertain many viewers nonetheless.

  An ex-CIA agent is reactivated when an extortionist targets the agency.
• 
  Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)

  Review preview for Bride Of Frankenstein

  Although there are grand themes at work here, the real power of the piece – as often in the Gothic, comes from the ways in which they clash, rather than from something built out of their unity.

  Doctor Frankenstein's creation persuades him to make him a mate.
• 
  Bride Of Violence (2018)

  Review preview for Bride Of Violence

  Wilde gives the strongest performance of the three and it's her slow transformation that provides the emotional heart of the film.

  A young Christian couple who are about to be married are terrorised by an escaped convict in a remote wilderness.
• 
  The Bride Who Has Returned From Hell (1965)

  Review preview for The Bride Who Has Returned From Hell

  Jin makes a strong lead and the romance is nicely developed, feeling like something organic despite the short time in which it emerges.

  A young woman investigates the mysterious death of her sister.
• 
  The Brilliant Terror (2021)

  Review preview for The Brilliant Terror

  This is an impressively thorough piece of work which manages to fit in a great deal whilst remaining fun to watch.

  A documentary about the grassroots horror phenomenon, the filmmakers, the fascination and the brilliant terror.
• 
  The Brink (2019)

  Review preview for The Brink

  Whilst one cannot imagine that the film provides quite the propaganda he might have hoped for, understanding the subtlety of what Klayman has created requires a type of empathy that it's not clear he possesses.

  Following former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon through the 2018 mid-term elections.
• 
  Broadcast Signal Intrusion (2021)

  Review preview for Broadcast Signal Intrusion

  Timely in its exploration of how we determine what’s real and how easy it is for what seems like legitimate research to become unbalanced and lead to strange places.

  In the late Nineties, a video archivist unearths a series of sinister pirate broadcasts and becomes obsessed with uncovering the dark conspiracy behind them.
• 
  Broil (2020)

  Review preview for Broil

  A handsome setting, gorgeous costumes by Nataliya Fedulova and a sumptuous score by Hugh Wielenga give this film a real touch of class.

  A bored girl is sentenced to live with her draconian grandfather, August, after a violent incident at school. Locked inside the sprawling Sinclair Estate, she begins to question the source of her family's immense wealth and power.