The sensitive and affecting film Adam takes a close up look at two women from a poor Casablanca neighbourhood caught in an emotional maelstrom. Abla (Lubna Azabal) is a dour widowed mother who can’t get over the untimely death of her husband. Meanwhile, Samia (Nisrin Erradi) faces the imminent birth of a child alone and…
In the opening scene of Fatima, a scared 10-year-old girl has a vision that would shape the course of her life. That was in 1917, shortly after Portugal had become a Republic and turned anti-clerical. Next, the film cuts to a convent in the city of Coimbra in 1989. That girl, now an ageing nun…
An ambitious but unusual take on the superhero/high concept sci-fi genre, Project Power has quickly become one of the most watched movies on the streaming giant Netflix platform. This slick action film seems to be setting itself up for a potential franchise. On the streets of New Orleans an experimental new drug known as Power…
In writer-director Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables, cop Stéphane (Damien Bonnard) has just moved to Paris. He’s joined a tough unit – an anti-crime squad, patrolling the impoverished Paris suburbs of Montfermeil*, where many residents live in crowded high-rise apartments. His immediate superior, Chris (Alexis Manenti), is a piece of work. He starts by giving Stéphane…
If you can imagine James Bond, mixed with Harry Potter and topped with Edge of Tomorrow, you might have some idea what Christopher Nolan’s new epic Tenet is all about. In terms of scope and ambition, this is one of Nolan’s grandest films. But the big ideas get lost in an overly complicated script and…
For those of you still missing the soaring strings of a certain English drama, try Belgravia. Set in the early Victoria era, a time in which the aristocracy was losing its treasured sons to the Napoleanic wars, Belgravia is a lavish and grandiose production in which evidently no expense has been spared. Beginning with the…
Not everything is spelt out in writer-director Itay Tal’s drama God of the Piano. In Israel, Anat (Naama Preis), makes a shocking decision in hospital after receiving unexpected news following the birth of her son. The daughter of an elite piano teacher, Arieh (Ze’ev Shimshoni) Anat never reached his heights, despite her talent. She never…
“Dead bodies usually mean something bad…” It’s 1945, towards the send of WWII. The German navy are even sinking hospital ships. When the film opens, a group of survivors from a sunken hospital ship are adrift somewhere in the North Atlantic. Tensions are high as they are desperately short of food and water. This motley…
The lure of Italy is strong – especially for filmmakers. It seems every story of transformative discovery needs to play out against a sun-dappled backdrop in Sicily or the Veneto. But of course, Tuscany is particularly beloved (see Under the Tuscan Sun, and its ilk). So it’s not exactly surprising that British writer-director James D’Arcy…
An ostensibly by-the-book police procedural, Force of Nature nevertheless has a few surprises that give it a kick along. In New York, Detective Cardillo (Emile Hirsch) is making out with his cop partner (and fiancé). Against the woman’s protestations, Cardillo answers a call of duty and everything changes. Then we cut to Puerto Rico, where…
