Reviews by Richard Mowe

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  11.6 (2013)

  Review preview for 11.6

  Immensely satisfying and riveting.

  Psychological exploration of a security driver who pulled of a multimillion euro heist.
• 
  120 BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017)

  Review preview for 120 BPM (Beats Per Minute)

  Campillo has a weakness in not knowing when to trim all the talking.

  Portrait of the ACT UP activist group, a direct action collective aiming to impact the lives of people with AIDS.
• 
  99 Homes (2014)

  Review preview for 99 Homes

  The narrative is paced with the urgency of a thriller.

  A man struggles to get back the home that his family was evicted from by working for the greedy real-estate broker who's the source of his frustration.
• 
  After The Wedding (2019)

  Review preview for After The Wedding

  It’s all watchable enough if lacking real dramatic tension.

  When a woman seeking funds for an Indian orphanage heads to NYC to meet a wealthy benefactor, the past collides with the present.
• 
  All Is Lost (2013)

  Review preview for All Is Lost

  It's a courageous performance in more ways than one.

  One man must battle to survive after his boat sinks in the ocean.
• 
  America (2022)

  Review preview for America

  The performances are subtly realised by the three main stars.

  Eli works as a swimming coach in Chicago but news of his father’s death necessitates his return to his native Israel. His decision to contact a friend from his childhood sets in motion a series of events that have a lasting impact on everyone’s lives.
• 
  The Angel (2018)

  Review preview for The Angel

  It should come as no surprise, given the kitsch and extravagant props and costumes, that the film has been co-produced by Pedro Almodovar and his brother Augustin.

  The story of a real life teenage serial killer in Argentina.
• 
  The Animal Kingdom (2023)

  Review preview for The Animal Kingdom

  The aerial shots of the forest and the believable transformations with feathers, wings, beaks and claws as well as fish scales, make for riveting viewing.

  Sci-fi adventure set in a world where humans are mutating into "creatures".
• 
  Armageddon Time (2022)

  Review preview for Armageddon Time

  The film is full of beautifully observed and detailed conversations as well as silences that speak volumes.

  Coming-of-age drama set against the backdrop of the Reagan era.
• 
  Asteroid City (2023)

  Review preview for Asteroid City

  If you’re a Wes Anderson disciple then you won’t be disappointed by this latest offering.

  The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer convention is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
• 
  August Winds (2014)

  Review preview for August Winds

  Through an intimate story of a close-knit community, Mascaro takes on wider themes of global warming in a subtle way.

  A teenager finds adventure when she leaves the city to look after her grandmother.
• 
  All Yours (2014)

  Review preview for All Yours

  Lambert laces this potentially volatile concoction with plenty of humour.

  Lucas arrives in Belgium to visit local bakery owner Henry, who has fallen in love with him via the internet. Their ideas about living together, however, differ greatly.
• 
  American Honey (2016)

  Review preview for American Honey

  Full of passing vistas, moments of lyricism, raw sex and emotions – all building to a portrait of youths trying to bond together to survive.

  A teenager joins a travelling magazine sales crew and gets swept up in hard partying and young love.
• 
  Barbara (2017)

  Review preview for Barbara

  The best way to get the most out of the film is to succumb completely to the singer’s breathless voice, sultry eyes and her volatile genius.

  Filmmaking and real life start to blur for a director making a biopic about female singer Barbara.
• 
  Beanpole (2019)

  Review preview for Beanpole

  The evocation of 1945 Leningrad is brilliantly captured with crumbling buildings and over-crowed trams but too often the dramatic set pieces fail to register

  Two young women search for meaning and hope in the struggle to rebuild their lives amongst the ruins of Leningrad after the Second World War.
• 
  Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

  Review preview for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

  Burton pieces together the components with a demonic rigour that belies its sequel status.

  After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife.
• 
  Behind The Candelabra (2013)

  Review preview for Behind The Candelabra

  It is quite something to witness Douglas and Damon embrace the characters quite so authentically.

  The story of legendarily flamboyant entertainer Liberace and the man who loved him.
• 
  The Best Years Of A Life (2019)

  Review preview for The Best Years Of A Life

  Dreams, memories and reality all intermingle to rather intoxicating effect

  A sequel, set decades later, to Un Homme Et Une Femme.
• 
  Between Two Worlds (2021)

  Review preview for Between Two Worlds

  Binoche gives her all, stripping away any vestiges of actressy pretence to assimilate herself in the community while at the same time investing her performance with an authentic conviction.

  Marianne Winckler, a well-known author, goes to live in northern France to research for her new book on the subject of job insecurity. Without revealing her true identity, she gets hired as a cleaner, working with a group of other women.
• 
  The BFG (2016)

  Review preview for The BFG

  The wide-eyed young girl Sophie, who possesses a wisdom and bravura beyond her years, is beautifully caught by newcomer Ruby Barnhill.

  A little girl befriends a giant.
• 
  Bird (2024)

  Review preview for Bird

  Amid all the deprivation Arnold, as is her style, uncovers elements that lift the action out of the ordinary and into the realms of fantasy and magical realism.

  12-year-old Bailey lives with her single dad Bug and brother Hunter in a squat in North Kent. Bug doesn’t have much time for his kids and Bailey who is approaching puberty seeks attention and adventure elsewhere.
• 
  Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (2023)

  Review preview for Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry

  The unadorned observation of the physical aspects of the relationship in which middle-aged bodies are shown without artifice is one of the most hypnotic aspect of Naveriani’s vision.

  The story of a 40something in a dead-end town who discovers love for the first time.
• 
  BlacKkKlansman (2018)

  Review preview for BlacKkKlansman

  This emerges as a piece of bravura filmmaking that tackles huge themes with style and intelligence while providing a compelling narrative drive.

  Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer from Colorado, successfully managed to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan and became the head of the local chapter.
• 
  Black Flies (2023)

  Review preview for Black Flies

  The pace is relentless and raucous - so much so that many viewers will feel alienated.

  A young paramedic makes his way through his first year on the job in New York City.
• 
  Black Money For White Nights (2026)

  Review preview for Black Money For White Nights

  The directors with their fifth feature take a humane view of the plight of their subjects but spare us any over-sentimentality

  After years of saving money from the small bribes they collect, 60-year-old Marina and her husband Gosha from Bulgaria are preparing for their dream trip to St Petersburg to witness the White Nights. But when Russia invades Ukraine and the travel agency vanishes with all their savings, the couple’s dream collapses.
• 
  Bleeding Love (2023)

  Review preview for Bleeding Love

  The acting and the visuals are of the highest order, especially given the sensitive and personal nature of some of the revelations.

  After overdosing on benzodiazepines and opioids, a young woman is picked up from the hospital by her father and the two embark on a road trip together. He was absent during most of her childhood due to addiction. In a last ditch effort to save her, he attempts to convince her to get sober.
• 
  The Bling Ring (2013)

  Review preview for The Bling Ring

  There are times when Sofia Coppola can be a very mannered and annoying director. Here she is less so and confidently on home turf with an exposé of youthful LA celebrity culture

  A group of teenage fans monitors celebrities' activities over the internet in order to rob their homes.
• 
  Blue Is The Warmest Colour (2013)

  Review preview for Blue Is The Warmest Colour

  The way the mild-mannered Kechiche pulls you in to the nuances of the relationship makes most screen attempts at portraying intimacy and feelings pale into insignificance.

  Two young women fall unexpectedly and passionately in love.
• 
  Bono: Stories Of Surrender (2025)

  Review preview for Bono: Stories Of Surrender

  The amount of material is impressive.

  A vivid reimagining of Bono’s critically acclaimed one-man stage show, Stories of Surrender: An Evening of Words, Music and Some Mischief…
• 
  Border (2018)

  Review preview for Border

  An original and highly ambitious premise that maintains its grip your attention and imagination.

  When a border guard with a sixth sense for identifying smugglers encounters the first person she cannot prove is guilty, their relationship forces her to confront terrifying revelations about herself and humankind.
• 
  Borges And Me (2026)

  Review preview for Borges And Me

  Offers a wealth of engaging detail

  In the early 1970s writer and student Jay Parini finds himself committed to driving blind poet Jorge Luis Borges across the Scottish countryside. The pair form a bond over the journey.
• 
  Brother And Sister (2022)

  Review preview for Brother And Sister

  Desplechin fires off too many salvoes which hit wide of the mark

  The death of a pair of siblings' parents forces them to cross paths after 20 years of avoiding one another.
• 
  The Beguiled (2017)

  Review preview for The Beguiled

  Coppola’s desire for a new “soft” approach seems to have emasculated the original material while failing to engross our senses with her storytelling techniques.

  Civil War drama about an injured Yankee soldier who seeks refuge in girls' boarding school.
• 
  Blood Ties (2013)

  Review preview for Blood Ties

  There is a distinct lack of energy and focus especially for the first hour, when nothing much happens.

  Brothers on opposite sides of the law come into conflict in Seventies Brooklyn.
• 
  Bluebird (2012)

  Review preview for Bluebird

  The story-telling is low key and muted, as befits the characters, but the unremitting sense of melancholia weighs heavily on the film and the viewer.

  A small incident spirals into tragedy.
• 
  Borgman (2013)

  Review preview for Borgman

  The director's uncompromising approach and rigour pulls us along at least until the half way point when the pace begins to falter and its lack of obvious intentions starts to grate.

  The Devil moves into a suburban street and turns the lives of its inhabitants upside-down.
• 
  Breaking News (2017)

  Review preview for Breaking News

  Deals with a human story rather than making political points.

  A TV reporter is tasked with painting memorial portrait for a coworker who died in a tragic accident that he survived. His colleague’s daughter becomes his guide.
• 
  The Captive (2014)

  Review preview for The Captive

  Egoyan has made an edgy and contemporary psychological thriller.

  A father tries to find his kidnapped daughter.
• 
  A Castle In Italy (2013)

  Review preview for A Castle In Italy

  Everyone is allowed to over-act, not least herself, who runs the gamut of wet-eyed self-pity to hysteria.

  A family are forced to sell their Italian home.
• 
  Catch Me Daddy (2014)

  Review preview for Catch Me Daddy

  An authentic, no-holds barred roller coaster ride, which gives fresh hope for a new wave of British cinema.

  A young woman on the run from her family finds herself in danger when her brother comes looking for her.
• 
  Café Society (2016)

  Review preview for Café Society

  A fluffy and charming confection that has an enticing exterior without much substance on the inside.

  A man comes to Hollywood with aspirations of working in film, only to fall in love.
• 
  The Cakemaker (2017)

  Review preview for The Cakemaker

  As a metaphor for the way the world views changing relationships and mores the film is affecting.

  After the death of his lover, Thomas heads to Israel – the birthplace of the man he adored. He becomes a pastry chef for the widow of the deceased.
• 
  Carol (2015)

  Review preview for Carol

  A beautifully crafted piece.

  A department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.
• 
  Case 137 (2025)

  Review preview for Case 137

  It’s Drucker’s mesmerising performance that papers over the cracks.

  Stéphanie, a police officer working for Internal Affairs, is assigned to a case involving a young man severely wounded during a tense and chaotic demonstration in Paris. While she finds no evidence of illegitimate police violence, the case takes a personal turn when she discovers the victim is from her hometown.
• 
  Chica Checa (2026)

  Review preview for Chica Checa

  A testament to tolerance, forgiveness and the ability of the characters to overcome differences.

  A postwoman tries to fulfil the last wish of her ailing mother.
• 
  Christy (2025)

  Review preview for Christy

  Touching, compelling and full of humanity.

  Two estranged brothers with chequered childhoods in the care system suddenly find themselves living under the same roof.
• 
  The Climb (2019)

  Review preview for The Climb

  The acutely caught observational humour is what gives The Climb its motor.

  A look at the friendship between two guys that spans many years.
• 
  Club Zero (2023)

  Review preview for Club Zero

  The narrative proceeds at a controlled pace set to a jangling score of percussion and chants, which is enough to set viewers on edge without the disturbing scenes of food being tentatively eaten and then disgorged.

  A teacher takes a job at an elite school and forms a strong bond with five students - a relationship which eventually takes a dangerous turn.
• 
  Cold War (2018)

  Review preview for Cold War

  Beautifully shot and articulated.

  A passionate love story between two people of different backgrounds and temperaments, who are fatally mismatched and yet fatefully condemned to each other.
• 
  Crescendo (2026)

  Review preview for Crescendo

  Crescendo has a buoyant sense of fun

  Satire sees the cast of an opera rocked by an accusation of sexual assault.