Reviews by Sunil Chauhan

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  As Light As Air (2026)

  Review preview for As Light As Air

  Primarily a patchwork piece devoted to conveying an enigmatic sense of place, rather than following a clear through line.

  Documentary about Sufi pilgrims.
• 
  The Cats Of Gokogu Shrine (2024)

  Review preview for The Cats Of Gokogu Shrine

  As ever, Soda’s style is patient, unintrusive, and warmly curious.

  Documentary about the cats that have set up home around the Shinto shrine in Ushimado.
• 
  L'Homme-Vertige: Tales Of A City (2024)

  Review preview for L'Homme-Vertige: Tales Of A City

  L’Homme Vertige forces you to lament changing cityscapes and the fate of residents at the mercy of local authorities and property developers

  Documentary about Point-a-Pitre in Guadeloupe.
• 
  Architecton (2024)

  Review preview for Architecton

  As much as Architecton rues humanity’s depletion of our resources, it also marvels at our ability to harness materials for our own ends.

  A documentary meditation on architecture and how the design and construction of buildings from the ancient past reveals our destruction - and offers hope for survival.
• 
  Dahomey (2024)

  Review preview for Dahomey

  Vigorously covering all bases, Diop cuts elegantly to give each position ample space.

  Documentary about the return of artworks to Benin that were looted by French colonisers.
• 
  Mangosteen (2023)

  Review preview for Mangosteen

  The film is compellingly, playfully wayward, a documentary-leaning piece so sincere you might not entirely believe it to be a fictional construction until the credits roll.

  Beginning at a mangosteen juice factory on the east coast of the gulf of Thailand, we follow brother and sister as their interior worlds reach out to meet one another.
• 
  The Taste Of Mango (2023)

  Review preview for The Taste Of Mango

  The brutality of the abuse is never played down or shied away from, but nor is it considered insurmountable.

  Three generations, spanning London to Sri Lanka, weave together in this documentary considering a history of abuse.
• 
  An Asian Ghost Story (2023)

  Review preview for An Asian Ghost Story

  Wang’s affection for his subject matter is clear, but he also seems to delight in inviting the viewer to question what’s relayed.

  Documentary exploring the haunting memories of Asia’s late 20th-century modernisation through the large-scale export of wigs during the Cold War.
• 
  Nowhere Near (2023)

  Review preview for Nowhere Near

  It's never a difficult watch, both because of, and despite its refusal to sit with anything too long.

  Documentary reflecting the filmmaker’s attempts to understand his and his family’s experiences as undocumented Filipino immigrants in the US.
• 
  Tokyo Uber Blues (2022)

  Review preview for Tokyo Uber Blues

  As its wryer, original title Tokyo Bicycle Festival suggests, Aoyagi’s film is never heavy-handed.

  Documentarian records his work as an Uber delivery guy in the pandemic.
• 
  White Nanny Black Child (2023)

  Review preview for White Nanny Black Child

  White Nanny Black Child strikes a reparative chord, but might leave the inquisitive viewer wondering about those at the periphery of the film

  A group of adults find solace in sharing their experiences of growing up as the children of Black Nigerian immigrants who were fostered by white British families.
• 
  If Only Night Wouldn't Fall (2023)

  Review preview for If Only Night Wouldn't Fall

  Deliberately resisting anything that might appear too straightforward or obvious, this somehow has the effect of making it seem peculiarly uncurious.

  Three Western countries’ attempts to grapple with anxiety, depression and psychosis.
• 
  Subject (2022)

  Review preview for Subject

  While Subject works as a catch-up with the stars of some of the most captivating docs of the past 10 to 20 years, it also offers plenty of food for thought.

  Unpacks the ethics and responsibility inherent in documentary filmmaking by examining well-known documentaries of the past decade and revealing the impact their commercial success has had on the lives of the onscreen subjects.
• 
  Hidden Letters (2022)

  Review preview for Hidden Letters

  A timely, moving, frequently beautiful multi-layered portrait.

  In modern-day China, two women strive to preserve Nushu, an ancient secret language that bonded generations of Chinese women together through centuries of oppression in a clandestine support system of sisterhood and survival.
• 
  Liquor Store Dreams (2022)

  Review preview for Liquor Store Dreams

  Often tender, charming and moving

  A portrait of two Korean American children of liquor store owners reconciling their dreams with those of their immigrant parents, against the backdrop of struggles for racial equity in Los Angeles.
• 
  Meet Me In The Bathroom (2022)

  Review preview for Meet Me In The Bathroom

  Southern and Lovelace stick to a fashionable, tastefully minimalist aesthetic, but they play it too safe – this is a film that deserves maximalist energy.

  An immersive journey through the New York music scene of the early 2000s. Set against the backdrop of 9/11, the film tells the story of how a new generation kickstarted a musical rebirth for New York City that reverberated around the world. Inspired by the book by Lizzy Goodman
• 
  The Happy Worker - Or How Work Was Sabotaged (2022)

  Review preview for The Happy Worker - Or How Work Was Sabotaged

  The film ends up becoming tonally unresolved, stuck a little awkwardly between heart-on-sleeve candour, humour and attempts at creating a rollicking, carefree air of cool knowingness.

  Exploring the transformation of the workplace.
• 
  Ladies Only (2021)

  Review preview for Ladies Only

  If the aim was to ensure no fixed, easy portrait of Indian women emerges, Liz John is successful.

  In the women-only compartments of Mumbai’s complex local train network, passengers share their anger, aspirations and stories of womanhood.
• 
  8 Bar - The Evolution of Grime (2021)

  Review preview for 8 Bar - The Evolution of Grime

  8 Bar makes light work of sketching the conditions that shaped the music, betraying a canny understanding of the music industry’s politics, as well as the changing shape of music sales in the 00s.

  Documentary tracking the history of Grime music.
• 
  Film, The Living Record Of Our Memory (2021)

  Review preview for Film, The Living Record Of Our Memory

  Inés Toharia’s documentary will make you consider the restoration process with fresh eyes.

  Documentary considering our audiovisual heritage and what is being done to preserve it.
• 
  Grain (2021)

  Review preview for Grain

  Grain is a passionate tribute to the camera men and women eschewing digital convenience for film’s time-honoured texture.

  Explores the stories of those committed to using physical film in the digital era.
• 
  Lost Course (2019)

  Review preview for Lost Course

  Lost Course maintains an observational purity, expertly tracking developments as they happen through a tapestry of views.

  A documentary about a a grassroots democratic movement in the southern Chinese village of Wukan.
• 
  Invisible Demons (2021)

  Review preview for Invisible Demons

  Invincible Demons is a film that understands the aesthetic appeal of environmental abuse, but it doesn’t titillate with images of eco-collapse or sensationalise interviews with long-suffering Delhi citizens.

  In the sprawling mega city of Delhi where the dangers of climate change are present not future, the film shows a world on the brink.
• 
  Bigger Than Us (2020)

  Review preview for Bigger Than Us

  Bigger Than Us uses individuals to show how young people across the globe are stepping in - often against powerful opposition - where authorities aren’t.

  Documentary about young environmental activists around the globe.
• 
  The Filmmaker's House (2020)

  Review preview for The Filmmaker's House

  In an overlap of documentary convention and semi-scripted faux-realism that offers a playful, frivolous edge to proceedings, even if the aim of its hybrid make-up isn’t always obvious, we have a defiant rejoinder to narrative and crime-led docs

  When the Filmmaker is told his next film must be about crime, sex or celebrity to get funded, he takes matters into his own hands and begins shooting in his home with a cast of characters connected to his own life.
• 
  MLK/FBI (2020)

  Review preview for MLK/FBI

  Pollard casts fresh light on the Bureau’s attempts to discredit King as a threat to the American social order as well as the organisation’s inner workings.

  Based on newly declassified files, Sam Pollard's documentary explores the US government's surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King Jr.
• 
  The Last Blockbuster (2020)

  Review preview for The Last Blockbuster

  The Last Blockbuster seems aware that it is exploring a niche interest, taking an irreverent, slightly self-deprecating tone towards its subject.

  A documentary about the last remaining Blockbuster Video in Bend, Oregon.
• 
  Tommaso (2019)

  Review preview for Tommaso

  Like many of Ferrara’s films, Tommaso starts out with seemingly insignificant details, but stacks them until they mount ominously.

  An American film director in Rome tries to understand where life has taken him.
• 
  Push (2019)

  Review preview for Push

  Push skips along briskly, making light, incisive work of an area that’s all too often mystified, but it feels like a pilot, rather than a self-contained work.

  An international look at the global housing crisis in our cities.
• 
  Present.Perfect. (2019)

  Review preview for Present.Perfect.

  Rather than an expose of the dark side of live streaming, or focusing on its superstars, Zhu gravitates towards marginalized voices: those in rural areas, the disabled, single mothers.

  A documentary portrait of Chinese society by focusing on the most marginalised - a chain-smoking burn victim, an uncoordinated street dancer, a man with growth-hormone deficiency, a cattle farm worker, and many others.
• 
  White Riot (2019)

  Review preview for White Riot

  White Riot is as brisk, to the point and direct as any punk song of the period.

  Profiling punk reggae protest movement Rock Against Racism.
• 
  Tell Me Who I Am (2019)

  Review preview for Tell Me Who I Am

  A film about how our identities are shaped and how formative experiences shape our notions of normality.

  Story of a twin who lost his memory after an accident and the brother who was his only link to his memories - and who faced ethical choices as a result.
• 
  Muscle (2019)

  Review preview for Muscle

  This is another downward spiralling character piece with the same bruising toughness of its predecessor, but handled with a tauter, darkly playful control.

  A directionless call centre salesman gets more than he bargained for when he joins a local gym
• 
  Solidarity (2019)

  Review preview for Solidarity

  It’s when she interviews female members from activist groups and unions who formed relationships with undercover police that Solidarity acquires a deeper heft, its hitherto simmering threads now boiling to the surface.

  Solidarity looks at blacklisting in the construction industry where thousands of workers were denied employment for involvement in trade union activism and workplace disputes.
• 
  Shelter: Farewell To Eden (2019)

  Review preview for Shelter: Farewell To Eden

  You get the sense Masi wants Pepsi to be a pivot for the issues engulfing modern Europe, but in the process he often loses sight of her own story.

  The thoughts and life of Pepsi, a transgender woman born in the Philippines, now living in Italy.
• 
  Absence (2019)

  Review preview for Absence

  A meditative twilight piece best seen late at night.

  A lyrical portrait, inspired by Indian poet Shiv Kumasi Batalvi, of the people left behind when men leave to work in big cities.
• 
  Property (2019)

  Review preview for Property

  Lintner is good at gaining access to his fellow residents, though often assumes the viewer has the same understanding of these people as he does, offering what is a surface-level obso-doc on their interactions.

  A look at the residents of a Berlin apartment building designated for redevelopment.
• 
  Burning (2018)

  Review preview for Burning

  Lee works the narrative with an ambivalence that borders on the inscrutable

  Jong-soo, a part-time worker, bumps into Hae-mi while delivering, who used to live in the same neighborhood. Hae-mi asks him to look after her cat while she's on a trip to Africa.
• 
  The Blood Of Hussain (1980)

  Review preview for The Blood Of Hussain

  The Blood of Hussain retains a bracing power nearly 40 years after its release.

  The annual mourning procession for the murdered Hussain, grandson of the prophet Muhammad, is the setting for an allegorical tale of revolutionary struggle against injustice and oppression
• 
  Angkar (2018)

  Review preview for Angkar

  Not just an intimate excavation of Cambodian history, but a film about the scarred puzzles of family histories, becoming an exploration of how memories are often not passed down from one generation to the next like heirlooms, but locked away, never to be

  A documentarian follows her father as he goes on a journey to confront former Khmer Rouge executioners.