Reviews by Jennie Kermode

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  The Artist And The Wall Of Death (2022)

  Review preview for The Artist And The Wall Of Death

  Whilst it has the potential to be an interesting character study, it never gets that deep.

  The unlikely story of a Glaswegian visual artist, Stephen Skrynka, and his dangerous life-long obsession with riding the 'Wall of Death', the traditional fairground motorbike attraction.
• 
  The Art Of Self-Defense (2019)

  Review preview for The Art Of Self-Defense

  For those who get into the rhythm of it, this is an instant classic.

  After being beaten up on the street, an accountant joins a karate studio to learn how to protect himself.
• 
  Asako I & II (2018)

  Review preview for Asako I & II

  Higashide will no doubt attract most attention, impressive in his ability to inhabit two very different characters, yet it's Karata who is the power at the heart of the film.

  Asako is a 21-year-old woman, living in Osaka. She falls in love with Baku who has a free spirit. One day, Baku suddenly disappears. Two years later, Asako now lives in Tokyo and she meets Ryohei. He looks just like her ex-boyfriend Baku, but he has a completely different personality.
• 
  Ash (2025)

  Review preview for Ash

  Lotus may love pretty things, but he doesn’t hold back on the gore.

  A woman wakes up on a distant planet and finds the crew of her space station viciously killed. Her investigation into what happened sets in motion a terrifying chain of events.
• 
  Ashfall (2019)

  Review preview for Ashfall

  Against the odds, Ashfall works at a dramatic level, largely thanks to the hard work of its cast and a real sense of commitment to the story that holds no matter how silly things get.

  When Baekdu Mountain unexpectedly erupts and threatens to cause an earthquake that could devastate the Korean peninsula, a South Korean team must enter North Korea and steal American-guarded nuclear material in order to stop it.
• 
  Ashgrove (2022)

  Review preview for Ashgrove

  Little details like sipping rather than drinking whole mouthfuls, or marking bottles to keep track of how much one has consumed, are so familiar to the characters that viewers too will quickly start taking them for granted.

  An exhausted scientist working on a desperate project to save humanity is required to take leave on a country farm in order to recover her mental faculties.
• 
  Ashley (2020)

  Review preview for Ashley

  Crewe's success lies in managing all this uncertainty whilst maintaining a sense of directional narrative and keeping the film interesting to watch.

  A troubled individual searches for understanding on a weekend away in the wilderness.
• 
  Ashmina (2018)

  Review preview for Ashmina

  With an intense central performance from newcomer Dikshya Karki, this is a film about the people whose lives pass by unseen.

  A 13-year-old girl spends her working life helping others have fun, but longs for more.
• 
  Assassination Nation (2018)

  Review preview for Assassination Nation

  Older viewers may find it too much but it's spot on for what it's trying to achieve.

  This is a 1000 percent a true story about how the quiet, all-American town of Salem, absolutely lost its mind.
• 
  Assimilate (2019)

  Review preview for Assimilate

  There's some nice work around the physical threat posed by women, which Finney would have approved of.

  Three friends making a web series about their town discover that their neighbours are being killed and replaced by creatures who are perfect copies of their victims.
• 
  Asteroid (2021)

  Review preview for Asteroid

  Writer/director Mehdi Hosseinivand knows when to dial back on the big eyes and the soft golden light to remind us that this isn’t a quaint fantasy, it’s a picture of millions of children’s real day to day lives.

  A 12-year-old boy takes odd jobs to support his family after his older brother and father disappear.
• 
  Astronaut (2019)

  Review preview for Astronaut

  Astronaut is a charming fable given life by Dreyfuss' spirited performance.

  A lonely widower's dream of going into space is reignited by a nationwide contest.
• 
  The Astronaut (2022)

  Review preview for The Astronaut

  The combination of Disney-style chasing the dream narrative and gritty realism at work here is a thing to behold.

  An aeronautical engineer at Ariane Espace, Jim has devoted himself for years to a secret project: building his own rocket and accomplishing the first manned space flight as an amateur. But to realise his dream, he must learn to share it.
• Asylum Birds (2005)

  Review preview for Asylum Birds

  Asylum Birds is one of those rare cinematic gems which marks the appearance of a truly remarkable new talent.

  A poetic exploration of the concept of freedom.
• 
  As In Heaven, So On Earth (2020)

  Review preview for As In Heaven, So On Earth

  A film unlike anything else you’ll see this year.

  1275 a.C. - A young girl is imprisoned in the dungeons of an abbey where an alchemist uses her for his strange experiments. Only a young amanuensis will try to free her at any cost. 2011 a.C. - A couple of young teenagers, Cris and Jessy, go missing in the woods while a young woman comes out from the middle of nowhere.
• 
  As The Earth Turns (2019)

  Review preview for As The Earth Turns

  For those with an interest in the history of special effects, it's compelling viewing.

  An apocalyptic future war that could destroy the planet is explored in this silent film, shot in 1938.
• 
  The Atlantic City Story (2020)

  Review preview for The Atlantic City Story

  Butash brings us close to these characters when they are at their most raw and exposed.

  Hitting Atlantic City, Jane forms an unlikely bond with a young gambler. But she can’t run from her marriage forever.
• 
  Atlantis (2019)

  Review preview for Atlantis

  A film full of despair and tortured masculinity.

  In a near-future war-torn Ukraine a man with PTSD takes a volunteer job exhuming the dead.
• 
  Atomic Hope (2022)

  Review preview for Atomic Hope

  Atomic Hope is intriguing as a portrait of a movement, but falls well short as an interrogation of a scientific proposition.

  Is nuclear energy the solution to the climate crisis? Whether it is the only carbon-neutral technology capable of tackling the crisis or a fatally convenient stopgap, time is running out.
• 
  Atomic Hubbub (2009)

  Review preview for Atomic Hubbub

  Irwin's film is populated by an assortment of creatures who seem not quite human in the first place.

  Helpful advice on what to do to survive a nuclear attack.
• 
  Atomised (2006)

  Review preview for Atomised

  It explores its existential themes with a confidence which sometimes verges on vulgarity but which never descends into mere pretension.

  Two lonely brothers struggle to come to terms with life.
• 
  The Atom: A Love Affair (2020)

  Review preview for The Atom: A Love Affair

  This cutesy framing doesn't do much to conceal its otherwise very straightforward narrative structure, but there's nothing necessarily wrong with that.

  Documentary about humanity's love affair with nuclear power.
• 
  Atonement (2007)

  Review preview for Atonement

  You'll be lucky to see another film this year as absorbing and evocative as Atonement.

  A young couple are torn apart by a confused girl's accusation, by class prejudice and by war.
• 
  Atrocious (2010)

  Review preview for Atrocious

  What it lacks in structural coherence, Atrocious makes up for in atmosphere.

  "Found footage" horror seeking the truth behind the murders of a family at an isolated house in the woods.
• 
  Attachment (2022)

  Review preview for Attachment

  Sofie Gråbøl is superb as the troubled Chana.

  Maja and Leah’s new relationship is interrupted when mysterious things start happening in their London flat. It seems that Leah’s disapproving mother, who lives downstairs, is using Jewish folklore to come between them
• 
  Attack Of The Adult Babies (2017)

  Review preview for Attack Of The Adult Babies

  There's a joyousness about this kind of filmmaking, unrestricted as it is by any concern for convention.

  A home invasion forces two teenagers to break into a remote country manor little realising it is a retreat for middle-aged men who like to dress in nappies... and who have a sinister plot.
• 
  Attack Of The Bat Monsters (1999)

  Review preview for Attack Of The Bat Monsters

  Its warmth and good humour make it easy to like and there’s a playfulness about it that keeps it engaging.

  A group of low-budget filmmakers make a horror movie.
• 
  Attack Of The Monsters (1969)

  Review preview for Attack Of The Monsters

  For those looking for monster on monster action, this isn't the best Gamera film, but it does have a couple of good battles.

  Two boys fall prey to charming but dangerous aliens. Can the famous monster Gamera save them in time?
• 
  Attack Of The Southern Fried Zombies (2017)

  Review preview for Attack Of The Southern Fried Zombies

  This is art masquerading as trash, and doing so with sufficient flair to appeal to fans of both.

  Lonnie, a crop duster pilot, must lead a mismatched group of survivors to escape the deadly zombie horde after an experimental chemical, intended to control the invasive kudzu vine, transforms the citizens of Charleston, MS into zombies.
• 
  Attack On Finland (2021)

  Review preview for Attack On Finland

  Fans of action and espionage will find a good deal to enjoy.

  As an attack on Finland's Independence Day celebrations leads to a hostage crisis, one special agent is desperate to ensure that his colleague is not abandoned to her fate.
• 
  Attack On Paradise (2026)

  Review preview for Attack On Paradise

  Director Bob Colaers shows us the strain in the way that Boumazoughe fights, which is its own kind of impressive.

  Newly released after seven years in prison, Suleyman only wishes to return to Antwerp’s Paradise apartment complex and spend time with his ailing mother, but to protect her, he's going to need to fight cops and criminals alike.
• 
  Attack On Titan: The Roar Of Awakening (2018)

  Review preview for Attack On Titan: The Roar Of Awakening

  Whilst the titans themselves are cartoonish grotesques, scenes soaked in blood and gore still manage to disturb.

  Survey Corps members are faced with a second Titan invasion.
• 
  Attack The Block (2011)

  Review preview for Attack The Block

  That it succeeds is due to Cornish's lightness of touch and terrifically naturalistic performances from all the young people involved.

  A gang of dissolute teenagers protect their block of flats from an alien attack.
• 
  Attraction (2017)

  Review preview for Attraction

  Fedor Bonarchuk blends blockbuster stylings with a cultural critique which, he has said, he considers to have present day relevance far beyond Russia's borders.

  The teenage daughter of a military chief bonds with an alien after his spacecraft is shot down.
• 
  At Eternity's Gate (2018)

  Review preview for At Eternity's Gate

  For those who know and love Van Gogh's work, the effect is hypnotic, a translation of his vision into a new medium.

  The last days of Vincent van Gogh.
• 
  At The End Of The Day (2018)

  Review preview for At The End Of The Day

  Martin delivers a finely tuned performance that retains audience sympathy without sliding into apologism.

  A conservative Christian professor who experiences a profound change when he goes undercover and infiltrates a gay support group to stop their plans to open an LGBTQ youth shelter in their small town.
• 
  At The Heart Of Gold: Inside The US Gymnastics Scandal (2019)

  Review preview for At The Heart Of Gold: Inside The US Gymnastics Scandal

  This isn't just a film about sexual abuse and the culture of stigma and doubt that surrounds it. It's an examination of the wider issues around the vulnerability of children.

  A documentary about a US Olympic gymnastics coach who abused young trainees, and the cover-up that followed.
• 
  Audition (1999)

  Review preview for Audition

  Scenes of torture may turn the stomach, but underlying them is a greater psychological horror.

  A widower becomes infatuated with a shy ex-ballet dancer and her mysterious past.
• 
  August 1991 (2005)

  Review preview for August 1991

  Raag has succeeded in capturing the surreal sense of a world where the rules have suddenly been thrown out.

  A dramatisation of the events that took place when Soviet tanks rolled into Estonia in 1991.
• 
  Aurore (2018)

  Review preview for Aurore

  The technical work is very good but more than matched only by the quality of the acting.

  A teenager discovers that she can put her fingers in places where they shouldn't go.
• 
  Autumn Blood (2011)

  Review preview for Autumn Blood

  A superb piece of work.

  Two orphans living high in the mountains are threatened by a gang of local men and must face a brutal struggle to survive.
• 
  Au Revoir Mon Monde (2023)

  Review preview for Au Revoir Mon Monde

  Even destruction on this scale can only be taken so seriously when our focus is on a fish pelting down the street on a tiny scooter.

  As the world nears its end, a man stuck in a fish costume races against the clock towards a mysterious tower.
• 
  Avé (2011)

  Review preview for Avé

  Both young actors are impressive here, fully invested in their roles.

  A young hitchhiker meets an intriguing girl with a penchant for fabulous lies.
• 
  Ava (2017)

  Review preview for Ava

  Beautifully observed, Sadaf Foroughi's feature début explores the way that, even in societies explicitly controlled by men, it's often women who enforce social rules and seek to control one another's behaviour.

  A youngster in Iran begins to rebel.
• 
  Avalanche Sharks (2013)

  Review preview for Avalanche Sharks

  There's a good deal of spurting blood to provide visual accompaniment to the off-key screaming.

  The terror of the seas hits the slopes.
• 
  Avatar: Fire And Ash (2025)

  Review preview for Avatar: Fire And Ash

  Where the story stumbles, the film is carried forward by action.

  Our heroes grapple with grief and encounter a new, aggressive Na'vi tribe, the Ash People, as the conflict on Pandora escalates.
• 
  The Avocado (2018)

  Review preview for The Avocado

  Modest and unassuming, brilliantly composed, El Aguacate delivers a punch to the gut.

  An elderly man prepares to ask a co-worker out on a date.
• 
  Av: The Hunt (2020)

  Review preview for Av: The Hunt

  Through the simple act of showing us Ayse's far right from the start - along with her lover's attempts to defend her - director Emre Akay places viewers instinctively on her side.

  A thriller about honour killing.
• 
  Await Further Instructions (2018)

  Review preview for Await Further Instructions

  Await Further Instructions succeeds on all counts.

  It's Christmas Day and the Milgram family wake to find a mysterious black substance surrounding their house.
• 
  The Awakening (2011)

  Review preview for The Awakening

  The Awakening is a film that will keep you guesing as multiple possible solutions to its puzzles appear and disappear.

  A woman devoted to exposing psychic hoaxes is invited to investigate ghostly sightings at a remote boarding school.