Film Reviews

Venice Review: Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg seethe in the Mexican heat of Michel Franco’s ‘Sundown’ [Grade: B]

Michel Franco returns to the Lido just one year after his New Order won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize,… Read More

September 5, 2021

Venice Review: ‘Scenes from a Marriage’ is a worthy retread with staggering performances from Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain [Grade: B+]

It’s not common for me to advise readers to watch a 294-minute limited series in one go. But Scenes from… Read More

September 4, 2021

Venice review: ‘True Things’ cements Harry Wootliff as the master of new British drama [Grade: A-]

Three years after premiering her BAFTA-nominated debut feature, Only You, British filmmaker Harry Wootliff returns to the festival circuit with… Read More

September 4, 2021

Venice review: Isabelle Huppert rivets in this razor-sharp political drama, ‘Promises (Les promesses)’ [Grade B+]

Isabelle Huppert battles to keep her place in the mayoral office in Thomas Kruithof's Les Promesses, also known by its… Read More

September 3, 2021

Venice Review: With ‘The Lost Daughter,’ Maggie Gyllenhaal exposes mother-daughter relations in their vile, discomforting essence [Grade: B]

Leda, a middle-aged comp-lit professor, arrives at a lavish Greek island accompanied solely by her books. Played by an overwrought… Read More

September 3, 2021

Venice review: Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ is a gripping and visually arresting opener to an exciting universe [Grade: A]

The two most important lines in Dune come at the very beginning and the very end. First, when Duke Leto… Read More

September 3, 2021

Venice review: Kristen Stewart delivers a career-best performance in a fitting and fantastic look at an accidental revolutionary in ‘Spencer’ [Grade: A]

A spiky icon and a gentle iconoclast, Diana Spencer occupies a place in the public consciousness of Britain and the… Read More

September 3, 2021

Venice Review: ‘The Hand of God’ is Paolo Sorrentino’s sublime masterpiece [Grade: A]

“Thank you to my sources of inspiration: Federico Fellini, Talking Heads, Martin Scorsese and Diego Armando Maradona.” When Paolo Sorrentino… Read More

September 2, 2021

Venice Review: With ‘The Power of the Dog,’ Jane Campion and her cast do justice to a literary masterpiece

“Deliver my soul from the sword. My love from the power of the dog” (Psalms, 22:20, David’s address to God… Read More

September 2, 2021

Venice Review: ‘Parallel Mothers (Madres Paralelas)’ is a powerful portrayal of mothers in Almodóvar’s most political film

No matter how hard we try to escape it, we’re all children of history. It defines the life of a… Read More

September 2, 2021

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