Reviews by Sophie Monks Kaufman

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Beloved (2011)

  Review preview for Beloved

  The higher the emotions are supposed to be stacked, the less enjoyable and more obtuse the story becomes.

  A French musical about the contrasting romantic experiences of a mother and daughter.
• 
  Compliance (2012)

  Review preview for Compliance

  The bottom falls out of sanity in a way that, despite being based on real events, feels deeply unsatisfactory.

  A drama based on the real life case of fast food restaurant employees who abused vulnerable young people on the orders of a stranger on the phone who claimed to be investigating shoplifting.
• 
  Dark Blood (2012)

  Review preview for Dark Blood

  Dark Blood is an offbeat film no one would call formally perfect, yet the depths it gutsily goes for and its strange vein of comedy make it one to think about and enjoy

  When a couple's car breaks down at an former nuclear test site they are rescued and imprisoned by a local hermit.
• 
  Damsels In Distress (2011)

  Review preview for Damsels In Distress

  Touchingly earnest, sublimely ridiculous and thrillingly profound, lines come zinging off the screen and into your eternal quote bank.

  A trio of girls aim to revolutionise a stuffy, former all-male university.
• 
  Eating Out: The Open Weekend (2011)

  Review preview for Eating Out: The Open Weekend

  . Clever dialogue blazes through weaker elements of the production.

  Four gay men figure out their romantic and sexual desires.
• 
  Good Vibrations (2012)

  Review preview for Good Vibrations

  This is a joyous pearl of a film.

  The story of Terri Hooley, Ulster’s Godfather of Punk, and the record shop and music label through which he promoted cult bands.
• 
  Hard Boiled Sweets (2012)

  Review preview for Hard Boiled Sweets

  Ty Glaser, who looks like Sally Hawkins dipped in Footballers Wives, purrs along with devilish charm and Adrian Bower is superbly brutish.

  Gangsters exchange arch lines and hatch desperate plans under the bright lights of Southend.
• 
  The Hunger Games (2012)

  Review preview for The Hunger Games

  a deep and far-reaching meditation on the mechanics of power and humanity

  Set in a dystopian future, a young boy and girl must fight to the death on live television.
• 
  John Dies At The End (2012)

  Review preview for John Dies At The End

  It may sound like a spurious stream-of-consciousness from someone who’s taken too many drugs in their life, but it’s not.

  Two friends use a drug that enables them to warp space time in an attempt to save the world.
• 
  John Carter (2012)

  Review preview for John Carter

  Action moves at a pleasing zip with an early fight scene setting the tone with spectacle but no wall-of-noise aggression.

  Mysteriously transported to Mars, a 19th century cavalryman is caught up in an alien conflict in this adaptation of the classic pulp series.
• 
  The Loves Of Pharaoh (1922)

  Review preview for The Loves Of Pharaoh

  A classical exploration of power, love, violence and misery.

  A dramatic tale of life and love in Ancient Egypt.
• 
  Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present (2011)

  Review preview for Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present

  Matthew Akers’ all-seeing documentary cleverly mimics the form of the museum’s retrospective by saving the most revealing facts about Abramovic until professional and personal context is established.

  Marina Abramović prepares for a major retrospective of her work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York hoping to finally silence four decades of skeptics who proclaim: 'But why is this art?'
• 
  Mother And Child (2009)

  Review preview for Mother And Child

  Bening’s performance is a triumph over leaden writing.

  Tale of three women and maternal love.
• 
  My Brother The Devil (2012)

  Review preview for My Brother The Devil

  El Hosaini is wise to inject visual majesty into her otherwise gritty tale.

  A pair of British Arab brothers trying to get by in gangland London learn the extraordinary courage it takes to be yourself.
• 
  Payback Season (2012)

  Review preview for Payback Season

  An ambitious but flawed story about an estate kid turned football pro that disappears between the two world it wants to depict.

  The world of a hotshot Premiership footballer finds his life turned upside down after a run in with the crew from his old estate.
• 
  Project X (2012)

  Review preview for Project X

  In short: lad fantasy.

  A birthday party spirals out of control.
• 
  Renoir (2012)

  Review preview for Renoir

  It might not be a Renoir, in either of the two historic senses, but it is an elegant and enjoyable drama filled with beauty, passion and a near sublime gentleness of spirit.

  The old age of the artist, exploring his relationship with a model and his son.
• 
  Savages (2012)

  Review preview for Savages

  Leads and support cast alike march their talents off a cliff like the most earnest of lemmings.

  A pair of pot growers clash with a drug cartel after their girlfriend is kidnapped.
• 
  Simon Killer (2011)

  Review preview for Simon Killer

  There’s no reassurance to be found in this cold world but Campos’s talent for getting mood whistling abominably through your ears is worthy of admiration.

  A recent college graduate goes to Paris after breaking up with his girlfriend of five years. Once there, he falls in love with a young prostitute and their fateful journey begins.
• 
  The Sniper (2009)

  Review preview for The Sniper

  Visually, it feels like being in a computer game city.

  A sniper, fresh from jail, goes in search of revenge.
• 
  Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

  Review preview for Safety Not Guaranteed

  Part of SNG’s festival success is down to the sweetness that lies beneath each of the characters.

  A trio of magazine employees investigate a classified ad seeking a partner for time travel.
• 
  The Sessions (2012)

  Review preview for The Sessions

  It takes messy and unresolved dynamics and finds their poetry. Can’t say sexier than that.

  A man in an iron lung hires a sex surrogate to help him lose his virginity.
• 
  A Simple Life (2011)

  Review preview for A Simple Life

  A Simple Life is a two-hour slice of profound wisdom that gently leads you down to a deep place then whispers helpful truths in your ear.

  An existential drama about how two people’s relationship survives after one of them has a stroke.
• 
  The Spirit Of '45 (2013)

  Review preview for The Spirit Of '45

  This is Ken Loach's most personal and generous gift, a gorgeous reminder that part of the cycle of progress is dreaming, which everyone can do – with or without centralised permission.

  A documentary about the spirit of unity that developed in the UK during the Second World War and contributed to the formation of the Welfare State.
• 
  Tall As The Baobab Tree (2012)

  Review preview for Tall As The Baobab Tree

  The authenticity of the characters and the issues they face feels unimpeachable; however the dialogue can, at times, verge into maddening exposition.

  After her brother has an accident, her father is forced to sell her younger sister into an arranged marriage, but Coumba hatches a plan to save her.
• 
  West Of Memphis (2012)

  Review preview for West Of Memphis

  No fictionalised crime drama ever felt as thrilling.

  A documentary team sets out to challenge the conviction of three teenagers, labelled Satanists, for the murder of three boys.
• 
  We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011)

  Review preview for We Need To Talk About Kevin

  This is a heart-breaking film in so many ways.

  The much-anticipated film based on Lionel Shriver's Orange Prize-winning novel about a mother at odds with her dangerous son.
• 
  Zaytoun (2012)

  Review preview for Zaytoun

  Abdallah El Akal channels an unsettling amount of loathing.

  An Israeli hostage and a Palestinian orphan form an uneasy bond as they flee Beirut militias.