Reviews by Jennie Kermode

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Adam's Apple (2026)

  Review preview for Adam's Apple

  The ordinary material of growing up mingles here with trans-specific experiences.

  A transgender teen and his mother chronicle their lives, weaving a rare and intimate portrait of a family in transition. Two decades of footage trace a boy's path to manhood and his parents' vulnerability as they reckon with change.
• 
  Adam And Dog (2011)

  Review preview for Adam And Dog

  It's easy to love this animated hound, with his bouncing and his cheerful barking and his wide-eyed affectionate glances.

  In the garden of Eden, Man meets his best friend.
• 
  The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014)

  Review preview for The Admiral: Roaring Currents

  No expense has been spared when it comes to the naval battle itself, which takes up the whole second half of the film and contains enough twists and turns to grip throughout.

  A dramatisation of the historical Battle of Myeongnyang and its star naval admiral Yi Sun-sin, who led a small fleet to improbable victory over a much larger Japanese fleet.
• 
  Adopting Audrey (2021)

  Review preview for Adopting Audrey

  Cinema presents us with no end of films focused on romantic love. This is a different kind of love story, addressing what, for many people, is an equally deep human need.

  An adult woman puts herself up for adoption and forms a bond with the misanthropic patriarch of her adoptive family. Based on a true story.
• 
  Adrianne & The Castle (2024)

  Review preview for Adrianne & The Castle

  The effect is sometimes comical, but true intimacy often looks absurd from the outside.

  A musical documentary about grief and the creative power of love, told through the astonishing story of Alan and Adrianne St-George and their hand-built castle in rural Illinois.
• 
  Adulthood (2025)

  Review preview for Adulthood

  A character-driven approach to the crime caper, which doesn’t let viewers forget that it’s focused on amateurs, Adulthood occasionally flounders but is, overall, a fun watch.

  Siblings Megan and Noah discover a dead body, long buried in their parents' basement, sending them down a rabbit hole of crime and murder.
• 
  Adult Adoption (2022)

  Review preview for Adult Adoption

  Director Karen Knox plays with the tropes of romantic comedy in this different kind of dating game

  A woman who aged out of the group home system tries to find her place in the world.
• 
  Adult Supervision (2026)

  Review preview for Adult Supervision

  There’s an astute understanding of trauma underlying the comedy here, and it informs every aspect of the larger narrative.

  When three fathers volunteer to chaperone their teenage daughters’ school trip, the initially idyllic getaway quickly reveals brutal social dynamics that have them in over their heads.
• 
  Advent (2024)

  Review preview for Advent

  It can be difficult to keep viewers rooting for a naïve character, and Alexander does a decent job of this.

  A young woman acquires a cursed advent calendar and plays a game against the devil in the run up to Christmas.
• 
  The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen (1988)

  Review preview for The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen

  Every scene is brilliantly realised and inhabited by unforgettable characters.

  The unbelievable but (allegedly) true story of the exploits of Hieronymus Karl Frederick Baron von Munchausen and a small girl.
• 
  The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938)

  Review preview for The Adventures Of Robin Hood

  The film is completely unabashed and utterly committed to delivering on its promise of adventure.

  Classic version of the outlaw tale.
• 
  The Advent Calendar (2021)

  Review preview for The Advent Calendar

  There’s a sense of dread here rarely found in modern horror.

  An ex-dancer who now needs a wheelchair is given an old wooden antique advent calendar before Christmas. She realises each window contains a surprise that triggers repercussions in real life: some of them good, but most of them bad - so she will have to choose between getting rid of the calendar or walking again - even if it causes death around her
• 
  The Advocate For Fagdom (2010)

  Review preview for The Advocate For Fagdom

  There's lots of great material and La Bruce himself speaks at length about what his work has meant to him at different stages in his career.

  A look at the rise and rise of gay zombie porn meister BruceLaBruce.
• 
  Aelita: Queen Of Mars (1924)

  Review preview for Aelita: Queen Of Mars

  Remarkably sophisticated for its time, in both narrative and visual technique, Aelita: Queen Of Mars is a clever blend of science fiction and pro-Communist filmmaking, though it's certainly not a straightforward propaganda piece.

  Matinee serial-style space opera set in a crystalline Martian city - a silent film accompanied by new music.
• 
  Affairs Of The Art (2021)

  Review preview for Affairs Of The Art

  The film is a love letter to the sort of women too often squeezed out of cinema.

  A family is obsessed with everything from drawing to taxidermy.
• 
  Affection (2025)

  Review preview for Affection

  There’s a lot of interesting stuff to explore here and it’s a shame that we don’t get into it in more depth.

  Ellie is stuck in a cyclical nightmare grappling with a medical condition that erratically resets her memory. Left unable to remember her loving husband or young daughter, each reset leaves her disoriented and haunted with vivid memories and scattered recollections of an unfamiliar life she’s never lived. What is the cause of her rare illness, and can her husband really help cope with her affliction?
• 
  Afghanistan 1979: The War That Changed The World (2014)

  Review preview for Afghanistan 1979: The War That Changed The World

  Mirzoeva has acquired a great deal of strong interview material to support the lesson, most notably a very frank and melancholy contribution from Mikhail Gorbachev.

  A documentary about the ten year Soviet presence in Afghanistan and its impact on world politics.
• 
  Afghan Cycles (2018)

  Review preview for Afghan Cycles

  A much more complex, multi-layered portrait of Afghanistan than has been see in the West for many a year.

  Young Afghan women fight for the right to ride bicycles.
• 
  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.
• 
  The After (2023)

  Review preview for The After

  The performance is everything.

  A grieving rideshare driver picks up a passenger who helps him confront the past.
• 
  Aftermath (2012)

  Review preview for Aftermath

  The humanity it brings to its characters is refreshing for the genre, as is its unadorned realism.

  After a nuclear holocaust a group of survivors retreats to a cellar in a desperate attempt to survive.
• 
  Afterward (2018)

  Review preview for Afterward

  It takes a certain personal courage for Bloch to do what she does here, at times physically inserting herself between groups on the verge of conflict.

  Disturbed by the resurgence of fascism and anti-Semitism around the world, a psychoanalyst based in New York travels to Germany, Israel, and Palestine to confront her own deep-seated feelings about Germans and Palestinians, and the tensions between the Holocaust and the Nakba.
• 
  After Midnight (2019)

  Review preview for After Midnight

  The sweetness in this film and its lightness of touch are utterly beguiling. Nothing you can do will prepare you for the way it ends.

  A man struggles with loneliness, the possible collapse of his relationship and the fact that every night a monster tries to break into his house.
• 
  After The Apocalypse (2010)

  Review preview for After The Apocalypse

  I'm not sure that I have ever seen a film as horrific as this.

  A look at the suffering caused by Russia's nuclear testing programme in Kazakhstan, where villagers who knew nothing of what was happening have suffered appalling, generational effects of radiation poisoning.
• 
  After The Hunt (2025)

  Review preview for After The Hunt

  Guadagnino is tilting at windmills and there isn’t even any wind.

  A college professor finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.
• 
  Agatha And The Truth Of Murder (2018)

  Review preview for Agatha And The Truth Of Murder

  A light but cleverly constructed fantasy which fans of traditional drawing room whodunnits will love.

  In 1926, with her personal life in tatters and her writing in crisis, a young Agatha Christie decides to solve a real-life murder.
• 
  Agnes (2021)

  Review preview for Agnes

  Reece is very much an actors’ director and he draws out splendid performances from his cast.

  Rumours of demonic possession at a religious convent prompts a church investigation into the strange goings-on among its nuns. A disaffected priest and his neophyte are confronted with temptation, bloodshed and a crisis of faith.
• 
  Agnes Joy (2019)

  Review preview for Agnes Joy

  A nicely observed drama with rounded, sympathetic characters.

  Mother-daughter drama sees the fractious pair face a challenge when a new neighbour turns up on their doorstep.
• 
  Agony (2020)

  Review preview for Agony

  Michele Civetta's début has all the elements of the Gothic in their proper places, with a hint of giallo, but there is simply no narrative glue to hold them together.

  A discontented New York family woman called unexpectedly to Tuscany to execute her estranged mother's will. There, she deciphers visions of her forgotten childhood and confronts a terrifying spectre.
• 
  A-ha The Movie (2021)

  Review preview for A-ha The Movie

  Few music documentaries get as close to the mechanics of interactive creative processes as this, and few enjoy such candid input from their subjects.

  Documentary portrait of the band behind Take On Me.
• 
  Air Doll (2009)

  Review preview for Air Doll

  Delicately scored by Katsuhiko Maeda, the early part of the film has a real magic about it, its sweet-natured heroine conveying an infectious sense of wonder.

  A blow-up sex doll develops a sense of self and begins to explore the world around her.
• 
  Aisha (2022)

  Review preview for Aisha

  Wright’s performance is among the very best of the year to date.

  A young Nigerian woman seeking asylum in Ireland flounders in a maze of social services and bureaucracy as her situation becomes increasingly dire.
• 
  Aiyai: Wrathful Soul (2020)

  Review preview for Aiyai: Wrathful Soul

  Singh is a capable lead and brings pathos to a character who never really seems to get a break.

  A funeral parlour assistant is possessed by a spirit which is seeking revenge.
• 
  AJ Goes To The Dog Park (2024)

  Review preview for AJ Goes To The Dog Park

  It’s a decidedly quirky tale of the sort that will infuriate some viewers, who will feel they’ve been egregiously ripped off – but if you like that sort of thing, you’ll be in your element.

  A man who finds contentment in the simple pleasures - buttered toast, bicycle rides and walking his dog - discovers that his beloved dog park has been transformed into a 'blog park', a digital sanctuary where youths gather to open their laptops. He feels compelled to take action, to set things right.
• 
  Albatross Soup (2018)

  Review preview for Albatross Soup

  Masayoshi Nakamura's vibrant hand-drawn artwork - based on illustrations by Fiona Smyth - evolves in a fluid, dizzying fashion, playfully drawing out different themes.

  A group of people tries to solve a riddle.
• 
  Albert Nobbs (2011)

  Review preview for Albert Nobbs

  What really makes the film work is the ambiguity around its central character.

  Albert is a servant with a secret, born as a girl but living and working as a man in a world where everybody seems to be hiding something.
• 
  The Alexander Complex (2024)

  Review preview for The Alexander Complex

  There’s a lot to keep track of in a narrative which keeps finding new sharks to jump and yet, somehow, keeps us believing.

  An international group of 'gentlemanly explorers', all with pseudonyms to protect their identities, come together in a quest to solve the mystery of the missing tomb of Alexander the Great.
• 
  Alienoid (2022)

  Review preview for Alienoid

  All very big and spectacular and in your face.

  The door of time opens between the swordsman who wants to seize the legendary divine sword at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty and those who chase after an alien prisoner imprisoned in a human body in 2022.
• 
  Alienoid: Return To The Future (2024)

  Review preview for Alienoid: Return To The Future

  It’s all wildly incoherent, and will seem all the more so if you don’t have a grounding in the rules of Korean fantasy magic, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had.

  Ancient Taoists and aliens travel through time and space in an effort to obtain a crystal blade which could determine the future of the Earth.
• 
  Alien Country (2024)

  Review preview for Alien Country

  An irreverent, warm-hearted comedy in the tradition of Tremors.

  Reeling from the news of an unexpected pregnancy, Jimmy and Everly unknowingly release an alien invasion in their small town and learn to work together in order to save each other, their town and evidently, the entire galaxy.
• 
  Alien On Stage (2020)

  Review preview for Alien On Stage

  Nothing is taken too seriously - there's plenty of teasing within the group itself - but respect is shown for the effort that has gone into all this.

  The story of the Dorset Bus Drivers whose amateur dramatics group created a serious stage adaptation of the science fiction horror classic Alien and ended up performing in London's West End.
• 
  Alien Vs Predator (2004)

  Alien vs Predator, with man in the middle.
• 
  Aligned (2023)

  Review preview for Aligned

  The unspoken thing developing between them is expressed through brief glances, and through the dances they perform together and apart.

  Two dancers find a connection that goes beyond their art.
• 
  Alive (2018)

  Review preview for Alive

  This is Alive in name only.

  A severely injured man and woman awake in an abandoned sanitarium only to discover that a sadistic caretaker holds the keys to their freedom and the horrific answers as to their real identity.
• 
  Alligator (1980)

  Review preview for Alligator

  Forster pours himself into the role as if it were Oscar-worthy material, playing it with dedication and sincerity throughout, and this gives the film a touch of class even in its silliest moments.

  A discarded baby alligator grows into a giant in the sewers of Chicago and then emerges to go on a rampage.
• 
  Allure (2017)

  Review preview for Allure

  Allure is a film full of claustrophobic tension.

  When adult Laura offers teenage Eva an escape from her repressive home life, the unbalanced pairing brings into question dynamics of age and maturity, dominance and submission.
• 
  All Creatures Here Below (2018)

  Review preview for All Creatures Here Below

  All Creatures Here Below is remarkable not just in the way that it makes us root for characters who would be treated like monsters in most films, but in the way that it carries us along despite all the bumps in the road.

  A desperate young couple go on the run with a stolen baby.
• 
  All In: The Fight For Democracy (2020)

  Review preview for All In: The Fight For Democracy

  If you've been confused by what you've seen of US politics recently and are looking to learn more about it, this is a great place to start.

  A documentary about the history of voter suppression in the United States.
• 
  All I See Is You (2016)

  Review preview for All I See Is You

  The success of this film stems from its delicate balance, its neatly woven subplots and avoidance of the direct confrontations usually associated with such tales.

  A blind woman's relationship with her husband changes when she regains her sight and discovers disturbing details about the two of them.
• 
  All Jacked Up And Full Of Worms (2022)

  Review preview for All Jacked Up And Full Of Worms

  Whilst the film may appear chaotic, there’s real artistry behind the scenes, and not just when it comes to special effects.

  A wriggling, drug-induced creature feature.