Reviews by Jennie Kermode

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Being Evel (2015)

  Review preview for Being Evel

  This is very much a warts and all portrait, but in the process it brings us much closer to its subject, feeds a depth of appreciation many fans of those stunt shows will not have felt before.

  An candid portrait of American icon Robert "Evel" Knievel and his legacy.
• 
  Believe (2013)

  Review preview for Believe

  Parents whose eight year olds have just gone crazy watching their first World Cup would be well advised to take them along, as they'll probably love it.

  Matt Busby comes out of retirement to help a young football team.
• 
  Bella (2006)

  Review preview for Bella

  If you're looking for something gently romantic which is as much about friendship as sex or destiny, you might well appreciate its warmth.

  A waitress facing a crisis in her personal and work life makes an unexpected discovery about the chef who takes her side.
• 
  Bella Maddo (2010)

  Review preview for Bella Maddo

  Played absolutely straight, it finds its comedy - and its horror - in the obsessions that underscore many real lives.

  A pregnant woman goes to extreme lengths to stay glamorous and thin.
• 
  Belleville Rendez-Vous (2002)

  Review preview for Belleville Rendez-Vous

  Belleville Rendez-vous is willfully grotesque, and certainly not for the faint hearted.

  Animated tale of a boy who loves cycling, his supportive Gran and a dog called Bruno.
• 
  Belle Toujours (2006)

  Review preview for Belle Toujours

  If Belle De Jour was an examination of 'feminine mystique', this film is an examination of male obsession with it.

  Forty years later, two of the characters from Belle De Jour are reunited, with a vengeful Henri determined to make Séverine face up to the past.
• 
  Below Her Mouth (2016)

  Review preview for Below Her Mouth

  A simple story told well, this is an affecting piece of cinema that punches well above its weight.

  Two women embark on a passionate affair that derails their lives.
• 
  Bel Ami (2012)

  Review preview for Bel Ami

  This is a fantastic chance to see some of the industry's greatest talents at the top of their game.

  An ambitious young man seeks to attain power in 1890s Paris by seducing and manipulating the bored wives of important men.
• 
  Benavidez's Case (2016)

  Review preview for Benavidez's Case

  Working with a tightly restricted budget, Casabé has created a film that looks magnificent.

  Frustrated art teacher Benavidez is sick of living in the shadow of his formidable artist father and seeks refuge at his psychiatrist’s house where equally tormented creative spirits live in the basement in return for producing artworks sold at elite auction.
• 
  Benda Bilili! (2010)

  Review preview for Benda Bilili!

  Renaud Barret treads a careful path, resulting in a film that captures wider realities whilst providing an engaging, entertaining story of one band's search for fame.

  A group of homeless blues musicians disabled by childhood polio join forces with a street kid with a home made instrument and make plans to tour Europe.
• 
  Bending The Arc (2017)

  Review preview for Bending The Arc

  Nobody - even if experienced in medicine - will come away from it without having learned something.

  A documentary about a group of doctors whose lifesaving work in a rural Haitian village inspired them to campaign for access to healthcare for all.
• 
  Beneath The Blindfold (2012)

  Review preview for Beneath The Blindfold

  It's a testament to the bravery of the participants in this film that they have been willing to face their suffering again in order to communicate the scale of the problem.

  A documentary focusing on the enduring physical and psychological effects of torture.
• 
  The Bengali Detective (2011)

  Review preview for The Bengali Detective

  Rajesh is a real life private detective, the founder of Always Investigatings and Security Concern, and he runs it as if he learned everything he needed to know from Seventies TV shows.

  A private detective with a passion for disco tries to clean up the streets of Kolkata in a documentary like no other.
• 
  Beowulf (2007)

  Review preview for Beowulf

  Literary responsibilities and moral ambiguities aside, Beowulf remains a rollicking good story of man versus monsters, full of gory violence, sexy women, heavy drinking, treasure and shouting.

  An imaginative retelling of the Old English story about a hero who saves a kingdom from a monster and its mother.
• 
  Best Kept Secret (2013)

  Review preview for Best Kept Secret

  This is one secret that deserves to be shouted about.

  A teacher working with young people who have severe learning difficulties attempts to prepare them for life in the wider world.
• 
  The Best Offer (2013)

  Review preview for The Best Offer

  Tornatore's film makes deft use of cinematic cliché to lead viewers astray.

  An auctioneer becomes obsessed by a reclusive heiress who collects fine art.
• 
  Best Worst Movie (2009)

  Review preview for Best Worst Movie

  Not just for Troll 2 fans, it comments on the much wider culture surrounding the love of bad movies.

  Documentary about Troll 2 - considered by many to be the worst film ever made.
• 
  Better Watch Out (2016)

  Review preview for Better Watch Out

  Miller is outstanding.

  As a 12-year-old prepares to confess his romantic feelings for his babysitter one Christmas Eve, something starts trying to break into the house.
• 
  Beyond Hatred (2005)

  A documentary portrait of a family's experiences following the homophobic murder of their son.
• 
  Beyond The Fire (2009)

  Review preview for Beyond The Fire

  This film might have worked better if it hadn't taken on quite as much.

  A survivor of rape begins a tentative relationship with a former priest, only to discover that he has a troubled past of his own.
• 
  Beyond The Gates (2016)

  Review preview for Beyond The Gates

  Crampton is clearly having a whale of a time.

  Two brothers get into trouble playing the old VCR board game that led to their father's disappearance.
• 
  Beyond The Pole (2009)

  Review preview for Beyond The Pole

  A gentle comedy that targets its jokes at environmentalists rather than the usual targets, with beautifully drawn characters you can't help but feel for.

  Two friends decide to save the planet by undertaking the first ever carbon-neutral, organic, vegetarian expedition to the North Pole.
• 
  Beyond the Valley Of The Dolls (1970)

  Review preview for Beyond the Valley Of The Dolls

  Uncompromising, visionary and enormously enjoyable to watch.

  Three ambitious young women look for stardom in Hollywood but find sex, drugs and rock'roll instead.
• 
  Beyond The Walls (2012)

  Review preview for Beyond The Walls

  Paolo's skittishness and studied lack of depth makes him difficult to get close to as a central character but the film comes alive when Gouix is on screen.

  A pianist and a double-bass player find their new love tested.
• 
  Be Afraid (2017)

  Review preview for Be Afraid

  All the actors are invested in their roles and there are great supporting turns from Michelle Hurd and the always reliable Louis Herthum.

  After moving to a new home, a man starts seeing otherworldly entities when he has sleep paralysis, and goes on to learn that they have a terrible purpose.
• 
  The Big Something (2011)

  Review preview for The Big Something

  There is nary a scene where the clumsiness of the performances doesn't get in the way of the story.

  When his boss dies mysteriously and the police write it off as suicide, a record store clerk becomes determined to find out the truth.
• 
  Big Sonia (2016)

  Review preview for Big Sonia

  More than just a portrait of one woman's life or a remembrance of that awful time, Big Sonia is a film about history, how we carry it with us and why it matters.

  A Holocaust survivor with an outsized personality faces her biggest fear: retirement.
• 
  Bikes Vs Cars (2015)

  Review preview for Bikes Vs Cars

  Is it enough to criticise?

  A documentary about traffic problems in cities around the world and the push by bike enthusiasts for a new way of thinking about transport.
• 
  Bikini (2004)

  Review preview for Bikini

  Stories of this sort are so often presented as tragedies that it's delightful to watch this very different take.

  An angstful adolescent finds a new lust for life upon daring to wear a bikini.
• 
  Binn Bunny Goes Green (2009)

  Review preview for Binn Bunny Goes Green

  The plasticine animation here is delightful, not least for its flaws.

  The inhabitants of Wayward Wood work hard in an effort to win the Wood Of The Year competition.
• 
  Birdman (2014)

  Review preview for Birdman

  There's some great black comedy here, at times spectacularly cruel.

  A washed-up actor makes a bid on Broadway to reclaim his former glory.
• 
  Birthright: A War Story (2017)

  Review preview for Birthright: A War Story

  It's a bold attempt to get beyond the usual polarised politics and look at how laws intended to reduce abortion impact wider society.

  A documentary about the legal and political situation around abortion, miscarriage and women's rights in America.
• 
  The Birth Of A Nation (2016)

  Review preview for The Birth Of A Nation

  Parker's reductive approach, more concerned with creating a hero than depicting a man, means it never achieves the impact that it ought to.

  The story of Nat Turner's slave uprising.
• 
  Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014)

  Review preview for Black Coal, Thin Ice

  A painstakingly deliberate neo-noir, heavy on atmosphere and taking its time to build.

  A detective falls in love with a woman linked to the murder victims of his current investigation.
• 
  Black Code (2016)

  Review preview for Black Code

  Nicholas de Pencier's film is cinema for the internet age.

  Examining the human rights pros and cons of the internet in terms of citizen journalism and global surveillance.
• 
  Black Gold (2006)

  Review preview for Black Gold

  Black Gold presents a richly detailed portrait of the coffee industry, all the way from Ethiopia to the barista competitions and fashionable coffee houses of the West.

  A documentary examining the inequities of the coffee trade.
• 
  Black November (2012)

  Review preview for Black November

  Mbong Amata's powerful performance anchors it.

  A group of hostage takers in America desperately tries to save the life of a community activist sentenced to death in Nigeria.
• 
  Black Sheep (2006)

  Review preview for Black Sheep

  Black Sheep has a certain charm which enables it to keep its one joke going all the way through.

  Genetic experiments aimed at producing the perfect sheep go horribly wrong...
• 
  Black Souls (2014)

  Review preview for Black Souls

  What Black Souls does very well is to recapture the essential primitivism of conflicts based upon honour, fear of insult and the desire for revenge.

  Mafia tale, based on a true story.
• 
  Black Sunday (1960)

  Review preview for Black Sunday

  Every horror film of this type needs a strong villain and here Barbara Steele gives it her all.

  A witch plots to return as a vampire after 200 years in her tomb and possess the body of the princess who shares her appearance.
• 
  A Blade In The Dark (1983)

  Review preview for A Blade In The Dark

  As so often in giallo, the gore is where the director's style really comes into its own.

  As a composer works on the score for a new horror film, a series of brutal murders occurs.
• 
  Blade Of The Immortal (2017)

  Review preview for Blade Of The Immortal

  Samurai revenge stories are not exactly thin on the ground and it takes something special to get attention today, but Blade Of The Immortal is just that.

  Manga tale of an immortal warrior, who cannot be released from his torment until he has killed 10000 evil-doers.
• 
  Blake's 7 (1978)

  Review preview for Blake's 7

  It took popular science fiction into a very dark place but did so with a wit and energy that would make it a longstanding cult favourite.

  A small group of rebels takes on a corrupt galactic federation.
• 
  Blind (2017)

  Review preview for Blind

  Moore, so often miscast in her youth, has been waiting a long time for a role like the one she has here.

  A novelist blinded in a car crash falls for the wife of an indicted businessman.
• 
  Blind Loves (2008)

  Review preview for Blind Loves

  Juraj Lehotský's Blind Loves not only succeeds in describing the world as blind people really experience it but, in so doing, presents the sighted viewer with a fascinating insight into a different way of living.

  The complexities of love and relationships as experienced by various visually impaired people.
• 
  The Bloodstained Butterfly (1971)

  Review preview for The Bloodstained Butterfly

  Though Tessari's film is not entirely successful it is innovative, ambitious and a must see for anyone interested in the history of the genre.

  A young woman is murdered in a park. A man is tried and convicted for the crime but afterwards the killings continue.
• 
  Bloodsucking Bosses (2015)

  Review preview for Bloodsucking Bosses

  The best combination of loser comedy and gore since Shaun Of The Dead.

  A vampire infestation in the office is the last thing our hard-pressed hero needs.
• 
  Blood And Black Lace (1964)

  Review preview for Blood And Black Lace

  One of the most startlingly erotic mass market films of its era.

  Six models are stalked by a psychopath.
• 
  Blood Country (2017)

  Review preview for Blood Country

  The film has a very distinctive look that gives it something of the quality of myth despite fitting with the styles of the time.

  A true story of murder, injustice and disorder in Mississippi following the US Civil War.
• 
  Blood From The Mummy's Tomb (1971)

  Review preview for Blood From The Mummy's Tomb

  Leon's formidable presence is a match for any of Hammer's celebrated male leads.

  A beautiful jewel taken from a tomb holds the secret to renewed life for a murderous Ancient Egyptian princess.