Reviews by Richard Mowe

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  The Great Beauty (2013)

  Review preview for The Great Beauty

  Sorrentino dares to tread where the great have gone before and leaves his own distinctive mark.

  An ageing writer recalls the passions of his youth.
• 
  Happy End (2017)

  Review preview for Happy End

  Haneke is a master of his material, revealing just enough to keep the viewer on tenterhooks but not enough to give an easy explanations.

  Story of a bourgeois family, set against the backdrop of the Calais refugee crisis.
• 
  Heil (2015)

  Review preview for Heil

  Certainly there will be those who take offence - but that’s part of the objective in shaking up politically correct preconceptions.

  An African-German Author loses his memory and is used by a modern National Socialist Party as promotion-figure for more political power over Germany.
• 
  A Happy Family (2026)

  Review preview for A Happy Family

  Successfully mixes genres rather purely being a social drama

  A mother finds her life turned upside down after a fire leads to her children being put in foster care and becomes determined to track them down.
• 
  Les Harkis (2022)

  Review preview for Les Harkis

  Moroccan-born Faucon directs with understated skill, never flinching from unpalatable truths.

  At the end of the 1950s, beginning of the 1960s, the war in Algeria continued. Salah, Kaddour and other destitute young Algerians join the French army as harkis.
• 
  A Hidden Life (2019)

  Review preview for A Hidden Life

  One of the flaws of Malick’s film is that the main character goes into introspective mode, thereby depriving us of any real insight in to his thoughts.

  The Austrian Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II.
• 
  The Homesman (2014)

  Review preview for The Homesman

  Jones spares none of the gory details in his depiction of the way the West really was.

  Two pioneers unite to escort three mentally ill women from Nebraska to Iowa.
• 
  Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (2024)

  Review preview for Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

  It has all the hallmarks of a production destined for a television mini-series with apparently three other chapters promised by Costner.

  An epic spanning the Civil War from 1861 to 1865.
• 
  The House That Jack Built (2018)

  Review preview for The House That Jack Built

  Dillon makes a fair fist of the role of Jack.

  A serial killer's life story is told through the murders that defined him.
• 
  How To Have Sex (2023)

  Review preview for How To Have Sex

  A fresh spin on territory that has been frequently explored.

  Three friends contend with peer pressure in their decision to “do it”.
• 
  Hungry Hearts (2014)

  Review preview for Hungry Hearts

  Costanzo’s script goes off the rails at the same time as his heroine.

  New York-set drama about a young couple who tear each other apart over the care of their child.
• 
  Honey (2013)

  Review preview for Honey

  Although other films have dealt with the subject of euthanasia none so far has looked at the emotional difficulties of the perpetrator.

  A woman devoted to promoting euthanasia encounters a man with an invisible malaise.
• 
  Honeymoon (2013)

  Review preview for Honeymoon

  Hřebejk's pacing is perfect with each revelation timed to intrigue and pull you further into the mystery.

  When an uninvited guest turns up, a wedding day turns sour.
• 
  Human Georgraphy (2013)

  Review preview for Human Georgraphy

  The themes of how globalisation affects personal destinies becomes evident as one individual story follows another with geographical and economic pressures impinging on the personal.

  Documentary about the Gare du Nord station in Paris.
• 
  The Image Book (2018)

  Review preview for The Image Book

  Elusively impenetrable stuff that only loosely can be described as cinema.

  Nothing but silence. Nothing but a revolutionary song. A story in five chapters like the five fingers of a hand.
• 
  Irrational Man (2015)

  Review preview for Irrational Man

  The story is not as well-developed as it should have been but it’s an enjoyable enough treat for Allen fans for whom he can do no wrong.

  On a small town college campus, a philosophy professor in existential crisis gives his life new purpose when he enters into a relationship with his student.
• 
  Islands (2025)

  Review preview for Islands

  The actors...own their characters with considerable skill which helps to paper over any deficiencies in the script

  Tom, a tennis coach at a luxury hotel, has his life changed when a new family arrives. Matters take a dark turn when the husband disappears and both Tom and the wife become suspects.
• 
  Ismael's Ghosts (2017)

  Review preview for Ismael's Ghosts

  The writer-director takes great enjoyment in playing around with his various obsessions.

  A filmmaker's life becomes complicated by the return of a former lover.
• 
  It Follows (2014)

  Review preview for It Follows

  Genuinely gripping and gruesome.

  A teenager finds herself having strange visions and becomes convinced that something dangerous is following her.
• 
  I, Daniel Blake (2016)

  Review preview for I, Daniel Blake

  The film preserves a sense of immediacy and is achingly relevant for our times much in the same way Cathy Come Home was for the Sixties.

  A carpenter suffering from ill health and a young single mum find themselves facing a wall of welfare bureacracy.
• 
  Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

  Review preview for Inside Llewyn Davis

  The pace may seem deliberate but the Coens obviously want us to uncover the character's layers gently rather than him being delivered ready-made.

  One week in the life of a talented, failed singer/songwriter in Greenwich Village, New York, in the Sixties
• 
  Inside Out (2015)

  Review preview for Inside Out

  As usual with Pixar the film operates on twin levels - with one part going straight over the heads and minds of its junior target audience and the other heading directly to their parents.

  When a girl moves to a new home, her emotions are plunged into chaos as they compete for control of her mind.
• 
  It's Only The End Of The World (2016)

  Review preview for It's Only The End Of The World

  The histrionics on display submerge everything else while the narrative pitch throws so much at the spectator that it is impossible to sympathise with anyone.

  A writer returns home after a long absence to tell his family he is terminally ill.
• 
  Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015)

  Review preview for Janis: Little Girl Blue

  The director has uncovered a wealth of archive material.

  Documentary following the main stages of Janis Joplin’s life.
• 
  Jimmy's Hall (2014)

  Review preview for Jimmy's Hall

  Loach gives voice with eloquence to the disenfranchised and celebrates the spirit of working people.

  The story of political activist Jimmy Gralton, deported from Ireland during the country's Red Scare in the 1930s.
• 
  Jeanne Du Barry (2023)

  Review preview for Jeanne Du Barry

  With Maïwenn herself spiritedly taking the role of the courtesan and Johnny Depp enlisted to play the Monarch Louis XV, there should have been more sparks flying.

  The life story of Jeanne Bécu, who was born as the illegitimate daughter of an impoverished seamstress in 1743 and went on to rise through the Court of Louis XV to become his last official mistress.
• 
  JFK Revisited: Through The Looking Glass (2021)

  Review preview for JFK Revisited: Through The Looking Glass

  It’s quite a maze to pick your way through as a viewer and Stone does his best ease the path.

  Thirty years after his film JFK, filmmaker Oliver Stone takes viewers on a journey through recently declassified evidence in the assassination of President Kennedy.
• 
  Jimmy P: Psychotherapy Of A Plains Indian (2013)

  Review preview for Jimmy P: Psychotherapy Of A Plains Indian

  Del Toro and Amalric with contrasting acting styles make a magnetic duo yet the ponderous detail of the therapy occasionally bogs down the film, so much so that even the two actors cannot surmount it completely.

  A Native American man is admitted to hospital after fighting in France and forms an unexpected friendship with the doctor who treats him.
• 
  Joan Of Arc (2019)

  Review preview for Joan Of Arc

  The whole film adheres to the director’s credo that simple story-telling does not mean a lack of depth or subtlety, or roughness around the edges.

  A sequel to The Childhood Of Joan Of Arc.
• 
  June Zero (2022)

  Review preview for June Zero

  A compelling yet gentle ride.

  Drama about the trial of Adolf Eichmann.
• 
  Joe (2013)

  Review preview for Joe

  Cage takes commanding ownership of the somewhat familiar material and milieu.

  When an ex-con meets a teenager who looks to him for inspiration, he has to decide, once and for all, what to do with his life.
• 
  Julieta (2016)

  Review preview for Julieta

  Almodóvar exudes a new found confidence.

  A mother and daughter struggle to come to terms with grief.
• 
  The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017)

  Review preview for The Killing Of A Sacred Deer

  Lanthimos confirms his reputation as one of contemporary cinema’s most original and unsettling directors

  A teenage boy tries to integrate a surgeon into his broken family but his motives become increasingly sinister.
• 
  Killers Of The Flower Moon (2023)

  Review preview for Killers Of The Flower Moon

  De Niro makes a charming and cynical schemer as he aids and abets his protegé.

  Members of the Osage tribe in the United States are murdered under mysterious circumstances in the 1920s, sparking a major FBI investigation involving J Edgar Hoover.
• 
  Killing Season (2013)

  Review preview for Killing Season

  The nagging thought during the 90 minutes is how far two these one-time Hollywood’s A-listers have fallen.

  American and Serb soldiers who fought on opposite sides in the Bosnia War clash once again in a tense, action-packed game of cat and mouse set in the gorgeous yet inaccessible Appalachian Mountains.
• 
  Kinds Of Kindness (2024)

  Review preview for Kinds Of Kindness

  The entire cast, especially Stone, who has admitted that Lanthimos is a muse, enter into the grand guignol spirit of the proceedings with gusto.

  A triptych fable, following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.
• 
  Knight Of Cups (2015)

  Review preview for Knight Of Cups

  Malick and his cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, if nothing else, deliver stunningly beautiful vistas and backdrops for his narratives and characters, yet like the characters, there seems to be something empty at its core.

  Targeting the world of showbusiness.
• 
  The Last Diamond (2014)

  Review preview for The Last Diamond

  Both Bejo and Attal offer strong charismatic performances which hold your attention even if sometimes you have to suspend your disbelief.

  A thief on parole agrees to one last job.
• 
  Listen Up Philip (2014)

  Review preview for Listen Up Philip

  The moments of distinctly sub-Woody Allenesque humour make you dream of what might have been.

  An angry writer and his relationships.
• 
  Lara (2019)

  Review preview for Lara

  Only really comes alive in the last ten minutes.

  Lara has just turned 60; it’s a very special day that will culminate in a career-defining piano concert given by her son. Viktor remains elusive, however, and his mother’s repeated attempts to get through to him come to nothing.
• 
  Leave One Day (2025)

  Review preview for Leave One Day

  The narrative bowls along from one set piece-chanson to another.

  Cécile is about to open her own gourmet restaurant, finally making her dream come true, when suddenly her father has a heart attack and she is called back to the village where she was born... and runs into her teenage crush.
• 
  Lee (2023)

  Review preview for Lee

  Winslet performance holds a powerful sway, embracing Lee’s abrasive and conflicted personality and viewing the horrors with an analytical eye and a sense of bravado as well as despair.

  The story of photographer Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller, a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during the Second World War.
• 
  Let There Be Light (2019)

  Review preview for Let There Be Light

  Set against a perpetually snowy background the film paces itself perfectly with a gathering sense of an impending implosion.

  A Slovakian man, who works in Germany, returns home for Christmas to discover some brutal truths about his eldest son.
• 
  Let The Sunshine In (2017)

  Review preview for Let The Sunshine In

  Denis and Binoche take a perceptive and light approach to what could have been hackneyed material.

  Isabelle, single mum, divorced artist with one child, is looking for love. True love at last.
• 
  Lucy (2014)

  Review preview for Lucy

  Besson proves he can still concoct a roller coaster ride that harnesses special effects to his creativity in a way that proves stimulating, arresting – and great fun.

  A woman transforms into a super-warrior.
• 
  The Lobster (2015)

  Review preview for The Lobster

  Lanthimos satirises our obsession with relationships and modern day electronic dating rituals although the results are not nearly as funny and knowing as the director clearly thinks.

  In a dystopian near future, single people are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days or are transformed into animals and released into the woods.
• 
  Lost River (2014)

  Review preview for Lost River

  The plot quickly runs out of narrative drive, preferring to deluge the senses with symbolic and surrealistic images.

  A single mother is swept into a dark underworld, while her teenage son discovers a road that leads him to a secret underwater town.
• 
  Louder Than Bombs (2015)

  Review preview for Louder Than Bombs

  Trier has difficulty holding it all together as he examines themes of grief, parenting, family, and coming of age.

  Three years after the death of a war photographer, secrets begin to emerge.
• 
  Love (2015)

  Review preview for Love

  None of the characters seem grounded in any kind of reality.

  A sexual melodrama about a boy and a girl and another girl; a love story which celebrates sex in a joyous way.
• 
  Lovers (2013)

  Review preview for Lovers

  Une Autre Vie marks a distinct change of register.

  An exhausted women tries to rebuild her life but finds obstacles intentionally placed in the way of her happiness.