Reviews by Richard Mowe

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2019)

  Review preview for Portrait Of A Lady On Fire

  What could have been a traditionally lavish costume drama has been pared down to highlight the erotic tension and sensuality

  On an isolated island in Bretagne at the end of the 18th century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
• 
  Port Authority (2019)

  Review preview for Port Authority

  Danielle Lessovitz’s first feature exudes a quiet confidence in her material.

  A love story about a Midwesterner and a trans woman, set in New York's Kiki ballroom scene.
• 
  Pretty Babies (2026)

  Review preview for Pretty Babies

  The performances of Lind and Stanley capture the close intimacy of female friendship and support with an easy chemistry

  Two young girls flee their hometown drawn by the seductive promise of the Hollywood but their American Dream soon fractures.
• 
  Proxima (2019)

  Review preview for Proxima

  The narrative manages to balance the personal with the wider world of space exploration while dealing with the issues of domesticity and family demands and the conflicts of pursuing a demanding work arc.

  A female astronaut finds the demands of work take their toll on her single-mum relationship with her young daughter.
• 
  The Priest's Children (2012)

  Review preview for The Priest's Children

  Extremely engaging and frequently side-splittingly funny

  A young priest is appalled at the very low birthrate in his new community. When the confession of a local tobacconist reveals the reason why, he opts for a rather unusual method for rectifying the situation.
• 
  The Princess of France (2014)

  Review preview for The Princess of France

  It only lasts an economical 70 minutes but seems considerably longer

  A year after his father’s death, Victor returns to Buenos Aires in order to reconquer the life he was forced to abandon. He brings a new project with him for his former theater company: a radio-play of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost.
• 
  Queen And Country (2014)

  Review preview for Queen And Country

  Boorman evokes a world he knows intimately with skill and affection.

  An Englishman signs up to fight in the Korean War.
• 
  Queen At Sea (2026)

  Review preview for Queen At Sea

  Lance Hammer’s drama confronts its subject unsentimentally head on with no holds barred.

  As advanced dementia erodes an older woman’s ability to communicate her inner life, her husband and daughter struggle to act in her best interests, navigating love and the fragile boundaries between care, protection and autonomy.
• 
  Rams (2015)

  Review preview for Rams

  Hákonarson proves himself a master of his material - a sort of rural Ken Loach - shooting sparingly yet dramatically against extreme weather conditions.

  In a remote Icelandic farming valley, two brothers who haven't spoken in 40 years have to come together in order to save what's dearest to them - their sheep.
• 
  Redoubtable (2017)

  Review preview for Redoubtable

  Hazanavicius directs with flair for the style and mood of the Sixties.

  Paris 1967. Jean-Luc Godard, the leading filmmaker of his generation, is shooting La Chinoise with the woman he loves, Anne Wiazemsky, 20 years his junior. They are happy, attractive, in love, they marry. But the film’s reception unleashes a profound self-examination in Jean-Luc.
• 
  Rocks In My Pockets (2014)

  Review preview for Rocks In My Pockets

  It is funny and serious by turns... full of striking and humorous images.

  An animated film exploring living with illness.
• 
  Reawakening (2023)

  Review preview for Reawakening

  The narrative deals profoundly with grief as well as loss which will assuredly resonate with most of us.

  Tension mounts for a couple when a woman claiming to be their daughter, who went missing 10 years before, arrives back in their lives.
• 
  Rebuilding (2025)

  Review preview for Rebuilding

  It could not be more apposite in exploring how whose who have lost everything in such environmental disasters, find resilience in human connections.

  After a wildfire takes the family farm, a rancher seeks a way forward.
• 
  Red Rooms (2023)

  Review preview for Red Rooms

  It is an assured and relentless exposé.

  A woman becomes obsessed with the trial of a murderer.
• 
  Ricki And The Flash (2015)

  Review preview for Ricki And The Flash

  There’s lot of music along the way, thrown in to the mix in a none too subtle manner, although Streep manages to carry off most of it with verve and true grit.

  A rock star tries to make things right with the family she sacrificed for the sake of her career.
• 
  Rumours (2024)

  Review preview for Rumours

  The writing is sharp and succinct.

  World leaders become stranded in the woods during a G7 summit.
• 
  The Search (2014)

  Review preview for The Search

  Hazanavicius creates scenes of conflict that have echoes of everything from Apocalypse Now to Full Metal Jacket.

  An NGO worker forms a special relationship with a young boy in war-torn Chechnya.
• 
  The Sea Of Trees (2015)

  Review preview for The Sea Of Trees

  The twists and turns of this narrative fail to ring true with too many implausibilities in the plotting to give any credibility.

  A suicidal American befriends a Japanese man lost in a forest near Mt. Fuji and the two search for a way out.
• 
  The Shelter (2014)

  Review preview for The Shelter

  This may seem like a “local” problem in an affluent town in a privileged country but it is one that has a universal implications.

  Documentary about winter in a emergency shelter for the homeless in Lausanne.
• 
  Short Term 12 (2013)

  Review preview for Short Term 12

  The film’s simplicity is its strength.

  Story of a counsellor at a foster care centre.
• 
  Sicario (2015)

  Review preview for Sicario

  Villeneuve sustains the knife-edge tension without a blip.

  A young female FBI agent joins a secret CIA operation to take down a Mexican cartel boss, a job that ends up pushing her ethical and moral values to the limit.
• 
  The Snake Brothers (2015)

  Review preview for The Snake Brothers

  It is Kryštof Hadek who steals the show.

  Two brothers feel unable to build a life they are happy with.
• 
  The Sound Of Trees (2015)

  Review preview for The Sound Of Trees

  Péloquin delivers an absorbing drama about a ground-breaking period in a teenager’s life.

  At 17 Jérémie dreams of a life different from the one that awaits him at the family sawmill in the small Canadian town where he lives.
• 
  Sources Of Life (2013)

  Review preview for Sources Of Life

  Roehler casts a distinctly critical and jaundiced eye over his compatriots across three generations but he leaves room for compassion and even a touch of sentimentality.

  The destinies of three generations confront German history from the postwar era up until the 1980s.
• 
  The Square (2017)

  Review preview for The Square

  While satirically entertaining in places it has too many threads competing for attention and ultimately runs out of steam.

  An art exhibit invites passers by to altruism, but things don't go as planned for its curator.
• 
  Saint Laurent (2014)

  Review preview for Saint Laurent

  In Gaspard Ulliel, Bonello has found an actor who not only looks the part but eases under Saint Laurent's skin with sensitivity.

  Biopic of Yves Saint Laurent.
• 
  Sea Of Glass (2026)

  Review preview for Sea Of Glass

  Each set-piece revelation is sprung like a physical blow to the solar plexus.

  After experiencing immense family turmoil in the wake of her husband’s death, a woman seeks solace in a quiet seaside town. There, she forms an unexpected bond with a young woman.
• 
  The Second Act (2024)

  Review preview for The Second Act

  Working out where the play-acting stops and the “real” action begins is enough to keep you on the edge of interest.

  Film within a film sees actors squabble at a roadside pub.
• 
  Sextape (2018)

  Review preview for Sextape

  The exchanges all have the ring of truth.

  Two sisters plot blackmail.
• 
  The Shameless (2024)

  Review preview for The Shameless

  Bojanov draws not only a sensitive portrait of the bond between the two women but also exposes the dyn.amics of a deeply conservative and religious society

  Love story between two women who face a struggle against a patriarchal society.
• 
  Shield Of Straw (2013)

  Review preview for Shield Of Straw

  Eminently watchable for those in the mood for simplistic fare who are prepared to suspend disbelief.

  Five police officers struggle to protect a murder suspect afer a powerful man puts a price on his head.
• 
  Shoplifters (2018)

  Review preview for Shoplifters

  Some may be dissuaded by the painstaking pace yet the tone manages to be both humorous and heart-rending at the same time.

  A family of small-time crooks take in a child they find on the street.
• 
  Sing Sing (2023)

  Review preview for Sing Sing

  Using a mix of both professional and amateur actors the film reveals the intimate details and attitudes of these incarcerated individuals

  A theatre group escapes the reality of incarceration through the creativity of staging a play, with a cast that includes actors who have been incarcerated.
• 
  Sink Or Swim (2017)

  Review preview for Sink Or Swim

  The training sessions begin to pall - for the audience as much for the participants - but once the action moves to Norway, the pace and the scenery pick up considerably.

  A comedy drama about a male synchronised swimming team.
• 
  Sirât (2025)

  Review preview for Sirât

  The film looks amazing, but it sounds even more incredible.

  A father arrives at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco with his son, looking for his daughter who has been missing for months.
• 
  Skintown (2026)

  Review preview for Skintown

  The film accurately portrays a generation in the crossfire which hasn’t been seen before.

  During the 1994 IRA ceasefire, two best friends try to escape their lives in a small Irish town.
• 
  Slack Bay (2016)

  Review preview for Slack Bay

  The humour falls almost as flat as the inflatable policeman.

  Period comedy, set in 1910, about the investigation into disappearances from beaches in France.
• 
  Slalom (2020)

  Review preview for Slalom

  Favier dials down the histrionics to concentrate on the manipulative way the coach plays around with the girl’s fragile emotions, reducing her to a despairing wreck.

  Coming-of-age tale about a young skier who is drawn into an abusive relationship.
• 
  Sorry Angel (2018)

  Review preview for Sorry Angel

  Honoré handles the strands with considerable agility and admirable lack of cliché or sentimentality employing camerawork that is clean and uncluttered.

  Two gay men struggle with love in the shadow of mortality.
• 
  Sorry We Missed You (2019)

  Review preview for Sorry We Missed You

  A narrative that hits your emotional solar plexus with the raw power of the performances and the deceptive simplicity of the story.

  A hard-up delivery driver and his wife struggle to get by in modern-day England.
• 
  The Stranger (2025)

  Review preview for The Stranger

  Ozon remains faithful to the source and keeps its sense of mystery but has strengthened the female characters

  Adaptation of Camus' classic.
• 
  Stranger By The Lake (2013)

  Review preview for Stranger By The Lake

  The investigation has a surreal aspect to it that stretches credulity while the final resolution seems unsatisfactorily far-fetched.

  After a shocking incident takes place at a cruising spot, a young man is caught in the throes of a dangerous passion.
• 
  A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things (2024)

  Review preview for A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things

  A fascinating portrait of a woman ahead of her time.

  Consideration of the painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.
• 
  The Swallows Of Kabul (2019)

  Review preview for The Swallows Of Kabul

  Visually arresting and emotionally engaging.

  Summer 1998 - Kabul under Taliban rule. Zunaira and Mohsen are young and in love. Despite the daily violence and misery, they hope for a better future. One day, a foolish gesture causes life to take an irrevocable turn.
• 
  La Syndicaliste (2022)

  Review preview for La Syndicaliste

  Sustained by a bravura performance from Isabelle Huppert in a total change of register from her last comedic outing with the same director Mama Weed, the new collaboration never puts a frame out of place.

  The true story of of a whistleblower who shook the French nuclear industry.
• 
  Standing Tall (2015)

  Review preview for Standing Tall

  With heart-rending emotion and considerable physical punch Emmanuelle Bercot immerses us in French young offenders’ procedures.

  The story of a young delinquent and the woman who sets out to try to change his destiny.
• 
  Staying Vertical (2016)

  Review preview for Staying Vertical

  He may provide too much shock detail for some audiences but the director proves himself a master story-teller.

  A man is seduced by a free-spirited shepherdess and finds himself left holding the baby.
• 
  The Sweeney: Paris (2015)

  Review preview for The Sweeney: Paris

  It suffers from an air of deja vu.

  French remake sees the squad try to catch a gang of jewel thieves.
• 
  Sweet Bean (2015)

  Review preview for Sweet Bean

  An intimate and immensely moving portrait of three lost people who come together and learn to find some direction in their lives.

  A baker forms a bond with an elderly woman over their love of pastry.
• 
  Tale Of Tales (2015)

  Review preview for Tale Of Tales

  On balance, the dexterity of Garrone’s vision papers over the cracks and finds the poetic dimensions of the magical material.

  Collection of fairy tales. In one, Salma Hayek is a jealous queen and in another Vincent Cassel plays a king who encounters two mysterious sisters. In a third a king raises a gigantic flea.