Bones and All film review by UK film critic Hope Madden. Starring Taylor Russell, Timothee Chalamet, Mark Rylance directed by Luca Guadagnino. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Bones and All Film Review average rating is 4 out of 5 Critic: Hope Madden | Posted on: Nov 22, 2022 Directed by: Luca Guadagnino Written by: David Kajganich, Camille DeAngelis Starring: Taylor Russell, Timothee Chalamet, Mark Rylance You might be surprised to know there is some cinematic precedent for cannibal romances. Julia Ducourneau’s Raw equated coming-of-age with the lust for human flesh. Claire Denis did something similar with her 2001 French horror Trouble Every Day , and Ana Lily Amirpour’s 2017 The Bad Batch chewed that same bone. And of course, there’s Joe D’Amato’s 1977 softcore Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals , although I don’t recommend that one. I do recommend Luca Guadagnino’s latest, based on Camille DeAngelis’s popular YA novel, Bones and All . The film follows Maren (an absorbing Taylor Russell, Waves ) , coming of age on the fringes of Reagan-era America. She meets and slowly falls for another outcast with similar tastes, Lee (Timothée Chalamet), and the two take to the road. Given what the handsome young lovers have in common, you might expect a sort of meat lovers’ Badlands to follow. But Bones and All is less concerned with the carnage left in a wake than in what’s awakening in these characters themselves. And all the characters are quite something. Michael Stuhlbarg, David Gordon Green, Chloë Sevigny, Sean Bridgers and especially Mark Rylance populate an America easily corrupted by invalidation, loneliness, otherness. “This world of love has no love for a monster.” These characters range from creepy to terrifying, their potential danger even more unnerving than the violence they exact. They become the obstacles along Maren and Lee’s romantic journey, but Guadagnino (Suspiria , Call Me By Your Name ) and a terrific cast never let them amount only to that. Bones and All is a tough one to categorize. I suppose it’s a horror film, a romance, and a road picture – not three labels you often find on the same movie. In Guadagnino’s hands, it’s more than that, though. He embraces the strength of the solid YA theme that you have to be who you are, no matter how ugly the world may tell you that is. You have to be you, bones and all. Finding Maren’s way to that epiphany is heartbreaking and bloody but heroic, too. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Hope Madden Theatrical Release < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Supergirl film review by UK film critic George Wolf. Starring Milly Alcock, Eve Ridley, Matthias Schoenaerts directed by Craig Gillespie. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Supergirl Film Review average rating is 3 out of 5 Critic: George Wolf | Posted on: Jun 25, 2026 Directed by: Craig Gillespie Written by: Ana Nogueira, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster Starring: Milly Alcock, Eve Ridley, Matthias Schoenaerts Look, Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock) isn’t some goody-goody like her cousin Superman, okay? She’s a hard partying rock chick rockin’ a Blondie t-shirt and a wiseass attitude on her 23rd birthday, so F-you! She’s not about go and join young Ruthye’s (Eve Ridley) quest to avenge her parents’ death at the cold-blooded hands of space villain Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts). But then Krem shoots Krypto full of a slow-acting poison, and suddenly Kara’s got 72 hours to find Krem, get the antidote, and save her beloved dog from back home. There’s also a sex trafficking ring to bust up, so add Fury Road to John Wick, Star Wars, Alien , multiple Westerns and various other inspirations you may spot. And while at this point, finding an entirely original stylistic angle for your superhero film may be damn near impossible, this familiarity is one of the things keeping a pretty satisfying adventure from reaching the stratosphere. Director Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Lars and the Real Girl, The Finest Hours ) overcomes some occasionally wonky CGI to craft several winning sequences of action, backstory and world building, but often undercuts the growing momentum by bailing out too soon. The surprising dive into the demise of Krypton adds narrative heft, but dropping it between the grimness of The Dark Knight and the giddy excess of Birds of Prey keeps any distinct tone elusive. Through all of it, Alcock (House of the Dragon ) keeps our titular hero wonderfully grounded. Writer Ana Nogueira’s debut screenplay may be filled with familiar themes of grief, destiny, revenge and female rage, but Kara has specific reasons to be wounded. Alcock makes sure we appreciate the character arc that turns Kara’s defense mechanisms into Supergirl’s defense of truth, justice, and…you know. Alcock finds a way to make us care about the girl, whether hunting down Krem (Schoenaerts is a wonderful, facially-studded psycho), fighting alongside Lobo (Jason Mamoa, gleefully hamming it up) or feeling sweetly big sisterly to the resourceful Ruthye. And more importantly, Alcock’s scenes with David Corenswet’s Superman cement the film’s biggest win: giving Kara the agency for her hero to stand as more than just a sidekick. This girl’s truth is separate from her famous cousin. Supergirl makes no apologies for making that clear, with an uneven but ultimately effective introduction. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic George Wolf Theatrical Release < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Help! My Gumshoe's an Idiot! film review by UK film critic Isaac Parkinson. Starring Arnie Pantoja, Rachele Brooke Smith, Aaron V. Williamson directed by Michael Webb. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Help! My Gumshoe's an Idiot! Film Review average rating is 1 out of 5 Critic: Isaac Parkinson | Posted on: Jul 25, 2022 Directed by: Michael Webb Written by: Michael Webb Starring: Arnie Pantoja, Rachele Brooke Smith, Aaron V. Williamson A detective spoof with gags that are fast-paced but flat. There was a time when the genre spoof was dominant. Scary Movie, Walk Hard, and Disaster Movie among others all proved to be hugely successful financially. In recent years the genre has faded. Comedy generally seems to no longer exist as a distinct category, instead being folded into the far more popular hybrids of superhero adventure and indie horror. So when we do get a straight-up comedy, particularly a spoof which is entirely dependent on its gags, there’s an added pressure to make us laugh. This did not. Its thin overall premise follows a down-on-his-luck New Orleans private eye, Biff Basham, as he gets caught up in a web of conspiracy. First approached by Krista, wife of champion boxer Mauler Maretti and blackmail victim, Biff follows leads that takes him from local murders to international espionage. The story sticks to the traditional beats of a detective caper through winding paths of clues and hints. Pantoja is good as Biff, effecting a good balance between physical comedy and hapless detective. His attire and mannerisms hearken back to PI’s of the ‘40s, with Bogart’s fedora and trenchcoat combination. At times his distinct way of speaking leads others to question his incongruity with the present day. Yet other moments suggest everyone is committed to this old-timey pastiche. Some sight gags work, capitalising on surprise to make a visual pun come from nowhere. For instance, Biff walking listlessly down the street internally pondering on how the “case was about to take a nasty turn,” while two paramedics wheel a suitcase past him on a gurney. At a certain point though, these jokes come so thick and fast that the film becomes oversaturated, preventing any real reaction to each of them. Some other attempts at absurdism were just confusing and too wilfully random to be anything other than alienating. Obviously what’s funny is subjective. It’s impossible to say what is and isn’t in any definitive way, but it’s not a good sign when there are 94 minutes and 0 laughs. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Isaac Parkinson Indie Feature Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Write Here - BFI Flare film review by UK film critic Amber Jackson. Starring Rolando Inocencio, Bodjie Pascua directed by Jake Muñoz Consing. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Write Here - BFI Flare Film Review average rating is 3 out of 5 Critic: Amber Jackson | Posted on: Mar 18, 2023 Directed by: Jake Muñoz Consing Written by: Jake Muñoz Consing Starring: Rolando Inocencio, Bodjie Pascua ‘Having your memories slip away can be terrifying, especially when they are your only way of holding on to your spouse.’ A short and saddening film, Write Here is a BFI Flare selection from The Philippines that documents a brief story about an older gentleman clinging desperately to his memories, despite them being etched with trauma. This is a heart-wrenching film that focuses on a man in the throes of Alzheimer’s and finds it incredibly distressing not to remember everything at the same time. Particularly as his partner has passed away, the man has no other way to remember his love and so tries to invent ways to keep him alive, only to find uncomfortable and distressing thoughts from the past return to haunt him in the process. This man had absolute power through his memories of love and loss and so, when this begins to fail him, he turns to other frantic measures to prevent himself from forgetting. Each scene cuts to the next in a jarring way as if to represent fragments of memory, but yet the film itself is very sensitively filmed and edited together. Plenty of nostalgia fills the screen as this man is permitted to occasionally reminisce on his past - there are many happy memories of his life and love, as well as sad moments as he remembers who he lost. The viewer sees a man who wants to keep his mind active and in the process, continue to take ownership over his life and thoughts. Despite the distress that this man is caused by the pain of his past, this is a gentle moving short film that keeps the viewer comfortable in his company. It is as though the protagonist has invited us into his home and the camera gives us his eye line perspective as well as keeping everything on our level. Yet, his solitude can be felt very deeply as the viewer can read between the lines to infer this man’s backstory and who he is as a gay man, as he remembers and must relive the pain all over again. This is a very hard-hitting and emotional film that recognises that LGBTQ+ people grow old too and have all the real lived experiences of humanity such as losing a partner. Write Here is an incredibly tear-jerking viewing experience that highlights the fear and pain of memory loss. It is rare to see conditions like Alzheimers be authentically portrayed from an LGBTQ+ perspective and this film has beautifully conceptualized these themes in a sensitive, well-written short. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Amber Jackson Short Film, LGBTQ+, Film Festival, World Cinema < All Reviews Next Film Review >

The Backway film review by UK film critic William Hemingway. Starring Cherno Jagne, Babou Ceesay, Mariama Colley, Sheikh Tijan Sonko directed by Cherno Jagne. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS The Backway Film Review average rating is 4 out of 5 Critic: William Hemingway | Posted on: Feb 19, 2025 Directed by: Cherno Jagne Written by: Cherno Jagne Starring: Cherno Jagne, Babou Ceesay, Mariama Colley, Sheikh Tijan Sonko After being deported from the UK a young Gambian man finds it difficult to integrate and be accepted back in his homeland as the family that risked everything to get him there show only disappointment and resentment at his return. As an illegal immigrant, Momodou (Jagne) is being deported from the UK and sent back to his homeland of Gambia. Taking the dangerous and risky route of ‘The Backway’ out of Gambia, across the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, Momodou was sent to Britain with as much money and best wishes as his family could muster. Momodou’s father even sold the family home to help pay for his crossing, safe in the belief that he was sending his son on to a better life and a better world, where he could then make enough money to send back and keep the family afloat. Nobody’s wishes came true, however, and Momodou now has to come to terms with being right back where he started, in the same situation that caused him to become an economic migrant in the first place, with no money, no job and no prospects, and now with the added ire of his family, especially his brother Alieu (Ceesay). The only person happy to see Momodou is his sister, Safi (Colley) and she tries her best to keep the peace between the men of the household, although with only limited results. Momodou’s father (Sonko) is now bedridden, with his health deteriorating rapidly and dementia robbing him of any family relationships he could still have had left. Seeing the dire circumstances that he left his family in, Momodou must try to deal with his shame and his guilt while Alieu makes it very clear that he is no longer welcome within the family household. It is this conflict which lies at the heart of The Backway and which is the focus of writer, director, producer and star, Cherno Jagne. Throughout The Backway we are treated to some glorious visuals of life in Gambia, although Jagne is careful to keep things muted and somewhat enclosed for the sake of his story. Cinematographer, Alain Philippe Cross takes in the people and surroundings with as much light and colour as he can get away with, but always there are metaphorical dark clouds hanging over the characters and their situation. The expressions on people’s faces are almost exclusively sombre and negative, while the backstreets and indoor settings are used to show the limited scope of their lives. In the end this engenders a feeling of claustrophobia in the viewer which allows us to identify and empathise with Momodou’s predicament. The original music from composer Adriano Aponte also adds an extra layer on top of the visuals to bring the audience into Momodou’s life in Gambia. The extended chords and sombre tones add texture to the narrative and complement the emotions underpinning the story with remarkable accuracy. The performances, too, from Jagne himself, but mostly from Babou Ceesay as Alieu, really ground the reality of Momodou’s story into something tangible and concrete, taking a situation which may not be known to most and making it real for us on screen. The final moments of the film are an absolute testament to the power and the personal nature of these performances. At only seventeen minutes long, The Backway fits plenty of backstory into its runtime and offers the audience enough relationships and interaction to believe in its characters and its narrative. It is a very well shot and put together film with all the technical elements coming together seamlessly to provide a very polished result. Cherno Jagne is a filmmaker and talent who obviously understands and loves his craft, and when the product of his endeavours is something like The Backway , we should all be happy to look forward to seeing what he is capable of bringing us next. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic William Hemingway Digital / DVD Release, Short Film, World Cinema < All Reviews Next Film Review >

The Last Ranger film review by UK film critic William Hemingway. Starring Liyabona Mroqoza, Avumile Qongqo, Makhaola Ndebele, David S. Lee directed by Cindy Lee. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS The Last Ranger Film Review average rating is 5 out of 5 Critic: William Hemingway | Posted on: Dec 3, 2024 Directed by: Cindy Lee Written by: David S. Lee, Darwin Shaw and Will Hawkes Starring: Liyabona Mroqoza, Avumile Qongqo, Makhaola Ndebele, David S. Lee A young girl in South Africa is taken on a journey by her ranger friend to see some real, live rhinos, but when poachers turn up to cut the rhino’s horn the girl’s life takes a dramatic turn. From Six Feet Films and Kindred Films, The Last Ranger is the second production in a proposed series of twenty-four from the When The World Stopped series. The idea, from co-founders and producers Darwin Shaw and Will Hawkes, is to make these films in collaboration with local artists around the world in order to tell the stories most relevant to the issues these communities were facing during the global pandemic. In this, the South African entry into the anthology, we follow Litha (Mroqoza) as she spends a day like no other, unknowingly being inducted into the way of the wildlife ranger, which will have far-reaching consequences for her and her future. Litha lives with her father and her grandmother. They are poor and have become desperately more so since the pandemic hit, stopping as it did, all tourism and any money coming into the community. Litha’s father, Thabo (Ndebele) must leave for a while to go and find some work, though he does not say where he is going. In the meantime, Litha must get herself out of her grandmother’s hair, knowing herself to be, and having being told so many times – just ‘too wild’ to be underfoot. So, Litha picks up the wooden animal figurines which her father has carved and resolves to take them to one of the lodges to sell for cash. On the way she meets Khuselwa (Qongqo), the last local ranger who has been protecting and recording the numbers of rhino in the area. Khuselwa tells Litha that the lodges are closed because of the pandemic and will not open for many months, then, seeing the despair in the child’s eyes, offers to take her to see some real rhinos who also live wild and free, just as she does. The relationship between Khuselwa and Litha is very open and honest and builds quickly as they traverse the land in their jeep. Litha has never used a video camera before and when she sees herself in the viewfinder, as Khuselwa records, a tender moment of childhood innocence is shared. Litha marvels at the sight of the wildlife surrounding her, learning the English name for ‘giraffe’ and being introduced to the rare white rhino. One female rhino in particular, Thandi, is known to Khuselwa and she listens to the voices of the two women in the jeep as they continue their conversation around her. It is only when Thandi starts ‘dancing’ in a strange way that the reality of the situation is revealed and Khuselwa must do everything she can to keep both Thandi and Litha safe. Throughout The Last Ranger we are treated to some incredible shots of the South African landscape from director Cindy Lee and cinematographer James Adey. There are plenty of tracking shots across the ground, along with aerial shots from above, which really pull the audience into the South African veldt and set the scene beautifully. There is plenty of colour and light coming into the picture from the sun and the vegetation, and once the real, live animals start coming into the frame it really does feel like you’re on safari. The music, too, from composer John Powell, uses local sounds and instruments along with the empowering voices of the Thanda Choir to round out the experience of being enveloped by the wild South African landscape. It is this marriage of the power of the visuals and the strength of the narrative which stands The Last Ranger out as a tour de force in independent filmmaking. As we are brought into Litha, Khuselwa and Thandi’s story we get to share their hopes and fears in up-close and personal detail. The quick turns offer smiles and tears in equal measure and despite the short time we have to get to know them, the characters spare no emotion in helping us to identify with their plight. Each actor does a great job in their own right but it is Liyabona Mroqoza as Litha who really holds the heart of this film, delivering a stunningly visceral performance that is well beyond her years to tell us just what this story means. The Last Ranger is an important and insightful film which tells its story with immediacy and integrity. It is a visual spectacle as well as a well-crafted narrative joy, where the audience can experience their heart beating solidly in their chest whilst also having the bitter taste of blood in their mouth. The strong message behind The Last Ranger resonates far beyond the plains of South Africa, and as such it is one of the most useful lockdown films to have been made by anyone thus far. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic William Hemingway Short Film, World Cinema, Digital / DVD Release < All Reviews Next Film Review >

House of Darkness film review by UK film critic Hope Madden. Starring Kate Bosworth, Justin Long directed by Neil LaBute. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS House of Darkness Film Review average rating is 2 out of 5 Critic: Hope Madden | Posted on: Sep 8, 2022 Directed by: Neil LaBute Written by: Neil LaBute Starring: Kate Bosworth, Justin Long Who hurt Neil LaBute? Would it surprise you to find that the latest from the writer/director behind In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors (as well as the less impressive Wicker Man reboot and others) is a meditation on sexual dynamics, power and agency? That it’s brimming with psychosexual wordplay? That it’s bitter and a bit misguided? How many times can we disassemble the mating ritual to judge and shame those involved? Sometimes LaBute does it well—so well that it’s tough not to look forward to whatever he releases. House of Darkness sees the filmmaker again exploring his favorite topic, this time within a horror context. Justin Long riffs on his nice guy persona, his character Hap actually referring to himself at one point as “one of the good ones.” (Had Hap seen Promising Young Women , he might have had sense enough not to make such a claim.) Hap’s been lured into the stately gothic manor of the lovely Mina, played with controlled ferocity by Kate Bosworth. Bosworth seems to relish the directness of her character. Mina’s disinterest in accommodating Hap’s insecurities is glorious—a reminder of how casually brutal LaBute’s work can be. Perhaps because he started his career as a playwright, each of LaBute’s films rise or fall on dialog. House of Darkness is a chamber piece – it could easily be a stage play (though it’s likely a Covid production). Limited performers pepper scenes with double entendres in an awkward dance of “will we or won’t we” sexual politics. The difference this time around is the genre trapping, a first for the filmmaker. The look is lush and effective, particularly the more fantastical sequences. Long — a genre veteran — delivers a bit of nuance, his Hap never entirely sympathetic but definitely hard to hate. The story builds effectively enough. It’s just that nothing is ever in question. The genre tropes are more threadbare from use than LaBute’s banter-driven power game. Worse, the point rings hollow, like a disingenuous, cash-grab reversal of In the Company of Men . Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Hope Madden Theatrical Release < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Truth film review by UK film critic Jason Knight. Starring Eleanor Grainger, James Craister, Alan Davison directed by Gabriel Brown. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Truth Film Review average rating is 5 out of 5 Critic: Jason Knight | Posted on: Jul 1, 2023 Directed by: Gabriel Brown Written by: Sam Richardson Starring: Eleanor Grainger, James Craister, Alan Davison A man exacts vicious revenge on his cheating wife. Amy (Grainger) wakes up in a garage, with her hands tied. Her partner Henry (Craister) has brought her here and he is furious. Henry accuses her of having had an affair with a guy named John and now he wants to get even. Amy pleads with him to let her go, however, it is soon proven that things have past the point of no return. This short is an adultery/revenge thriller that is filled with tension and dread from start to finish. The screenplay places the viewer in Amy's shoes, who is trapped in a desperate situation. At the mercy of Henry, she constantly begs him to stop and that she is remorseful for her actions. However, her captor is beyond the point of forgiveness and has turned into a bloodthirsty monster. He threatens her with a knife, repeatedly and angrily blames her for having destroyed their lives and demonstrates just how far he has gone. The atmosphere gets worse and worse and it is evident that things are going to end terribly. Then, the plot twist arrives, one that belongs in the same category as The Usual Suspects , one that makes the audience question everything they witnessed previously. It might be hard to know which character to side with, as both Amy and Henry have done terrible things. Amy has betrayed her husband and Henry has kidnapped her and threatens her life. Although Amy is the one who primarily comes across as the victim, as she is the one who is tied up and tearfully begging for her life, Henry is also a victim, a victim to her selfish cheating. Both Grainger and Craister deliver very strong performances. The film gains from a beautiful cinematography thanks to Caleb Chambers and Brown creates some well-executed long takes. The sinister and dramatic music by Lucy Green is a great addition and crucial when it comes to developing a menacing and dreadful atmosphere. This short grabs the viewer's attention right from the beginning and never loses its grip. The dramatic protagonists, intriguing plot, dreadful atmosphere and unpredictable ending make this quite a memorable experience. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Jason Knight Short Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Extraterrestrial Message film review by UK film critic William Hemingway. Starring D-ID directed by Jean-Baptiste Martinoli. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Extraterrestrial Message Film Review average rating is 2 out of 5 Critic: William Hemingway | Posted on: Sep 9, 2022 Directed by: Jean-Baptiste Martinoli Written by: Jean-Baptiste Martinoli Starring: D-ID If you're into that sort of thing you may have noticed a recent explosion in the availability of AI art generators that you can use to make some pretty funky pictures with minimal prompting and absolutely no effort on your part. You can download these apps onto your phone and immediately start creating visual imagery that would blow the socks off anything you could probably do in real life – and it only takes a few seconds to create each one. If your finger's really on the pulse then you can also ride the new wave of art acquisition and register the AI representations of your twisted brain juice as NFT's then sell them over the internets for squillions at a time – probably. Some of the most popular AI art generators are The Night Machine, Dream by WOMBO and Dall-E, but the one which seems to stand out at the moment, and the one which is on display here in the short film Extraterrestrial Message is MidJourney. Partnering up with AI camera software from Cre8tive AI as well as music genreator Soundraw AI, production company Digitonaut along with director Jean-Baptiste Martinoli have fused these computer creations together to bring us a message from a galaxy far, far away – not that one; it's a different one. Captain Daria is a future human on the starship something or other which has a weird name that wasn't made clear. She's received an Extraterrestrial Message from an alien whose name sounds an awful lot like Oreo, but probably isn't. He comes from the planet Multiformi, which sounds suspiciously Latin for a world that's so distant from Earth that we could never reach it, and it resides in the blah-de-blah galaxy which again has a name that can't be made clear. He wants to show us some holiday snaps from his homeworld and is eager for us to see the incredible beauty and impressive technology that exists there. It kinda just feels like he's boasting, to be honest. What follows is a quick fly-through of the best bits of Multiformi as Oreo and his sidekick narrate just what gets their alien juices going. There's some expansive explorer/adventurer music blaring all the time as the images play, and everything is all gushingly beautiful, but in terms of story or anything else, that's your lot I'm afraid. This short is only three minutes long and because of its absence of any sort of plot, it's not really a film at all but more of a showreel for what the technology can do. It's all very nice and a real eye-opener for anyone who's not come across this sort of AI before, but just showing a series of nice images does not a film make. In the age of Avatar (2009) it's nice to see that the common man can now also have the opportunity to create their own Poundland virtual worlds, but by all accounts it looks like come Christmas time ole Jim-boy Cameron is going to blow all this stuff back out of the water and we're all going to need to start again. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic William Hemingway Digital / DVD Release, Short Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Small Time film review by UK film critic Christie Robb. Starring Audrey Grace Marshall directed by Niav Conty. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Small Time Film Review average rating is 4 out of 5 Critic: Christie Robb | Posted on: Nov 10, 2021 Directed by: Niav Conty Written by: Niav Conty Starring: Audrey Grace Marshall Writer/director Naiv Conty certainly does not look back on childhood with a rose colored tint. Her film Small Time follows elementary school student Emma as she pinballs around from unfit home to unfit home. It’s an emotionally honest portrait of neglect that keeps us uncomfortably aware of the tightrope Emma is unaware that she is walking. She’s constantly suspended above disaster—one overlooked gas stove, one loaded handgun, one move from a leering perv away from lasting trauma. But Emma’s still sustaining damage all the time, just in tinier, more banal, ways. Hard-core drug and alcohol abuse by the adults around her is a normal part of her life. She’s loaded up with religious baggage. She’s expected to parent the grown-ups in her life. In the whole movie, no one is there to give her a cuddle or reassurance that looks like it is going to truly have a positive effect. But most of the adults do seem to be doing their best. It’s just that their best isn’t that great. You know you are in for a heavy film when, only 13 minutes in, your pint-sized heroine has attended her primary caregiver’s funeral and tried repeatedly to “wake up” her mom from an OD. Still, Emma is a scrappy, upbeat, smart little thing, her interior light dimmed surprisingly little by the shit she has to deal with. Audrey Grace Marshall plays her very straightforwardly. There’s nothing saccharine about her, nothing overwrought. She takes things as they come. The movie plays a little bit with the timeline and shows events somewhat out of order. This didn’t become clear to me until relatively far into the film. It was filmed over a three-and-a-half-year period to give Marshall time to grow and mature between the three major periods depicted. These chronological jumps are not clearly signaled by musical or obvious visual cues so it can be a bit disorienting. But the lack of exposition does center us in Emma’s experience as she flashes back to previous experiences and tries to make the best of the terrible hand she’s been dealt. Small Time isn’t an easy film to watch, but it’s a good one. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Christie Robb Digital / DVD Release, Indie Feature Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Frankenstein film review by UK film critic Jack Salvadori. Starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth directed by Guillermo del Toro. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Frankenstein Film Review average rating is 2 out of 5 Critic: Jack Salvadori | Posted on: Aug 30, 2025 Directed by: Guillermo del Toro Written by: Guillermo del Toro Starring: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is the cinematic equivalent of watching a child let loose in a toy shop: you can’t deny the glee, but you can question whether he actually needed all the toys. This is clearly his passion project, his gothic playground, his shrine to Mary Shelley. And while it’s undeniable that he adores the aesthetics (he probably stuffed his living room with most the props), perhaps one shouldn’t play so lovingly with one’s heroes. Sometimes devotion smothers invention. The film is slavishly faithful to the book, at least at first, quoting Shelley verbatim like a student too nervous to paraphrase. But in its eagerness to cram the entire novel into two and a half dense hours, the film never gets the chance to breathe. The protagonists, played by Oscar Isaac as the mad scientist and Jacob Elordi as his revitalised creature, speak in solemn Victorian maxims that clang on screen like museum plaques. And that leads to a vast, creaking cliché, strangely devoid of original touch. We have the classic, as well as countless remakes… did we really need yet another version that has nothing to add? Worse still, del Toro snips out one of the novel’s most vital beats: the creature’s murder of a child. Not for pacing, not for brevity, but seemingly out of reluctance to stain his beloved monster. While the trick worked with arguably all his previous works, the dedication to sympathise with the monster is, quite frankly, redundant in Frankenstein. Without that act of brutality, the creature loses his contradictions, his tragic duality. He becomes a simplistic hollow statue of sorrow, robbed of the layers Shelley carved into him. So what we’re left with is just stuffed flesh: a lifeless, decomposed work, dead at birth. A Frankenstein film so interested in the aesthetics of thunderstorms and steampunk mechanics that, ironically, forgets to spark itself alive. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Jack Salvadori Theatrical Release < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Fishtank film review by UK film critic James Learoyd. Starring Tiffany Chu, Isaac Jay directed by Wendi Tang. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Fishtank Film Review average rating is 5 out of 5 Critic: James Learoyd | Posted on: Aug 2, 2024 Directed by: Wendi Tang Written by: Wendi Tang Starring: Tiffany Chu, Isaac Jay There’s a unique poetry to Wendi Tang’s near-perfect new drama Fishtank which is slightly difficult to define. It’s a film as hypnotic as it is absurd; sincere as it is painful, and deeply introspective from beginning to end. Centred around the character of Jules (played excellently by Tiffany Chu), this 17-minute short is a strikingly perceptive examination of a woman’s life following alcohol addiction, and the bizarre, metaphorically imbued occurrence that’s taken over her life since being sober. What might that occurrence be, you ask? Well, poor Jules has been vomiting up goldfish for some time now and thought best to take care of her new-found friends by keeping them in the titular fishtank, of course. It’s an unusual conceit for sure; one bound to put some viewers off – particularly those who aren’t willing to follow a plot whose logic is bound by that of the mind as opposed to the real world. But for those who are willing to submit themselves to the journey will discover that the movie’s dealings in the absurdist provide an affecting, poignant mode of discussion. Allow us to get the obvious out the way. In terms of audio and visuals, this piece is exemplary. A lot of my love for Fishtank starts with its gorgeous look - the cinematography really never puts a foot wrong. It has a wonderfully soft, vibrant, grainy, film feel about it; operating subtly, but veering into the expressionistic when called for. This must be one of the most beautiful looking shorts I've seen in a long time, and for that it deserves a great deal of recognition. The film's technical and stylistic sensibilities - extending, of course, to the superb sound design - are astoundingly refined and well-considered throughout. And yet, having praised all this, it is the picture's exploration of its theme as well as the audacious, surreal nature of the narrative which keeps us glued to the screen. This is not a conventional film, and it doesn't care to be; but through that artistic bravery comes some truthful messaging. There are many evocative little details and ideas which elevate the concept from being gimmicky to profound. For instance, you may find that in some ways it's about the experience of having someone else try to fix a person’s trauma for them; the damage that can be caused by playing the hero and disrupting the healing process. Then again, you could also view it as a story about the numb response to big events following the period of substance abuse -- as the protagonist at one point states, "Not everything happens for a reason". Towards the end, a dramatic tonal shift occurs which I can imagine may not go over so well with some audiences; however, when viewing it through the lens of a recovering alcoholic's emotional world and psychological responses, one may find that the movie's sudden darkness rings true. And the important thing is that you have no choice but to admire these big swings, for it certainly feels like a completely original and uncompromised vision. I hope the team who produced the short continue to collaborate together, perhaps even in a range of genres since the craft and ability is so clearly there. Keep an eye out for Fishtank because it’s a rare gem and one of the most powerful short-form works I’ve seen in some time. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic James Learoyd Short Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >