Brief first thoughts on The President's Cake (2025)

Set during the reign of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, this is the story of Lamia, a young girl from a poor family, who is told by her teacher that she must make a cake for the President's birthday or there will be dire consequences. She then is forced to go out to get the ingredients she needs.

This film is on the Oscar Short List this year for Best International Feature. It is a film that has been recommended to me by several friends... and now having seen it it is a film I will need to see again away from the Oscars and the word of mouth. I want to revisit because I need to get the distance from the hype and discussion that made me jump into the film too quickly.

I should say straight up that this is a very good film. I like it, hence the desire to revisit, but I didn't find the greatness that some did, and as a result I am dealing with the collision between the words of people I respect and the the film I saw on the screen.

My issues with the film come from two places:

The first is that while the film is very much about the trials of the young girl at the center, the film isn't about Lamia, the girl at the at the center. What I mean by this is that the quest to get the things to make the cake is simply the reason for writer director Hasan Hadi to explore society, particularly the one that existed under Saddam. The trip is designed to bring the girl into places where things can happen that will be reflected in the story. Why do the things happen? Because the director is trying to tell a larger tale.

While this is an issue it could have been solved had there not been a second problem. The second problem is that the Lamia, played by Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, is little more than just a place holder for the audience.  Yes, Nayyef is good, but the script doesn't give her enough to work with to stand out. Yes she is often the focus of events and is at the center of the screen, but there isn't enough to the character for her to be a fully formed person. I apologize for making this point but right around the time I was making my best of 2025 lists I had a couple of conversations about the difficulty of having a central character who is the "main" one but who isn't. What I mean by that is the central character who exists just to move the story or audience to a place where the events can transpire that the director wants to highlight. You have to create a character that stands out from the rest or alternately have an actor who can hold the center.  I don't think there is enough of a character here for that to happen.

While I don't hate THE PRESIDENT'S CAKE I definitely will need to revist.

A POET (2025)

Oscar, is unemployed and cranky. The world has not gone his way. He considers himself a poet and he sees that as an excuse for the way he is. He is not particularly well liked. He meets a girl with a great talent and he begins to mentor her, which may bring about a change in his life.

Ubeimar Rios plays Oscar with a low key energy and largely one pained facial expression. How you relate to this tragi-comedy will depend on how you relate to the doomed Oscar. I did not connect to Oscar  at all. While I understood why he felt as he did, and why he did the things he did, at the same time I wanted to shake him and make him realze he had to grow up at some point.

I also wasn't certain why this story was being told. What are we supposed to get out of it? On some level I felt that the film didn't particularly like Oscar since it seems to angle toward the ending from the start. This is very much the sort of tale I dislike which is one where the film has to have a tragedy in order to be meaningful, not because the tragedy is organic to the story.

While the film didn't work for me, it may work for you.

My Neighbor Adolf (2022)

In Argentina, a cranky Holocaust survivor thinks that Adolf Hitler has moved in next door to him.

One of the final films from Udo Keir to hit the US (it was actually on the festival circuit in 2022 and released around the world in 2023), this is a frequently funny, if uneven comedy. 

How you react to the film will be determined by how you react to David Hayman as Mr Polsky, the cranky man who finds his life turned upside down. Polsky is the sort of man you both laugh at and want to hit for being so unpleasant. It would have been better if the film found the balance that allowed him to be both funny or annoying, as it plays now he is one or the other.

Keir is, as always, wonderful.

Uneven or no, I liked this film. I laughed and had a good time, especially since this didn't really go as I expected.

Worth a look.

holding liat (2024) opens tomorrow

This is the story of the family of Liat Atzili, an Israeli/American kidnapped by Hamas on October 7. We are focused on Liat's parents who try to push for her release through channels in the US and Israel.

I have been wrestling with this film since I saw it. While I absolutely love the way that this film shows the complicated path that families have to walk to get their loved one's back, and I love how the film doesn't  shy away from showing feelings critical of Israel and the countries handling of the hostage situation, I am not certain that the pacing works as well as it could.  There is a long section where very little happens. While I intellectually like the slow pacing because it mirrors the waiting of the families, it makes it kind of hard to stay fully engaged. My dislike of the pacing/construction is due largely because I know it's going to be make or break for people who are seeing the film. Some people are going to walk away, which is a sad thing.

The truth of the matter this film is infinitely better than any coverage of the hostage situation in the media. Not having to rely on clicks or soundbytes or a definite political position, the film gives us a deeper and more resonate look at the situation in Israel and Gaza.  Things are not black and white but gray. Members of Liat's family question the Israeli hard lining.

Sitting down to write this piece a week after seeing the film, and dozens of others, I find I am still wrestling with how I feel about the film. As I said I love that this film does not dumb anything down.  I love that we get a fuller version of the truth. I love it so much that I have taken almost a week and a half to try and work out what to say. I'm still not certain I'm expressing myself correctly.

Ultimately, this is an important film. Its a film that has makes the situation in Israel much more real and relatable. If you want increased insight, see this film.

Recommended.

The Flamingo (2024)

This is a very good, very deliberate portrait of Mary Phillips a 60 something woman who after divorce and years of celibacy decided to change and become intimate with people. Long takes and shots that don't reveal everything paints a portrait of a woman who is living life on her terms. 

This is going to be a film you either click with or don't. You either like the way this is done or you don't. Some people are going to fall madly in love with this and others are going to like this but not love it. (I did some reading after watching and saw people were split).

Realistically this is a really good, off beat portrait of a nice woman, but I don't think this has the legs to advance much farther into the award process. It's not for lack of quality (hell if I saw this ona different day I might rate it higher) however I think the presentation is probably going to hobble it's chances.

The Woman of Stars and Mountains/ MUKÍ SOPALÍRILI ALIGUÉ GAWICHÍ NIRÚGAME (2023)

This begins as a look an a woman named Rita who ended up confined in a mental hospital for years because no one could understand what she was saying (she speaks a rare dialect). The film then changes along the way as things are not what they seem. 

This is more a ride then a desitination. 

Think of it as a film as a journey where we are told a story and slowly come to see the life and the circumstances that people live under. We see notions of racism and how our not knowing things, say an Indgenious dialect, cause problems for people. Rita wasn't really crazy she just couldn't commincate and lashed out. 

There is a lot to take in here. It is a bracing film that forces us to reconsider how we view each other and the things around us. It's an incredible film that I can't believe hasn't been on anyone's radar. This literally just missed beingon my best of 2025 list but the pacing of the film -which mirrors Rita's life- was a bit too slow for the mood I was in in when I watched the film.

Homegrown (2024)

A look at three right wing supporters of Donald Trump in the months up to the January 6 insurrection. 

We get a chance to see them as regular people as they look to the future, explain why they feel what they do and then take part in the events in Washington. It's a bracing look at the right that we don't get in any mainstream media. 

The problem with the film as it is is that recent recent events and the re-election of Donald Trump colors the film and makes you wonder what is coming next.

Obex (2025) opens Friday

This is a black and white nightmare via a retro game. It is a tactile film that has a physical feel, especially if you ever played text computer games. It's a film that I can tell you what it's about, but I can't tell you what it really is.

This is nominally the story of a man who plays a video game and gets inside it and has to kill a demon lord in order to escape. What it actually is something else entirely. Its a character study via horror via a kind of misdirection via an exterimental approach. It's a film you have to experience rather than read about because the film is a trip and it chages over time.

I liked this film. Granted it took me a bit to click with it, but once I did I was willig to go anywhere it was going. This is ot like anything you've seen before, even other off kilter inde scifi films that are just plain weird. Yes this is that occasioally, but more often then not its something else.

If you want something that is very off Hollywood. OBEX is for you.

Nightcap 1/4/26: No, some random questions & comments

Peter will be happy, I've been saying no more.

I've been declining writing up some films because I just don't want to spill the vitriol, others because I can't find the words to make the film not sound awful because it wasn't bad but discussing its good and bad points will make it sound bad.

And I've turned down some festivals because the effort to cover them isn't worth it. For example I am not covering New York Jewish because the last few years they have insisted that reviews only be capsules. I can't honestly spent hours to watch a film to not fully discuss it...when down the road the PR people for the regular release will ask me expand the review, often six or eight months later. I'll just wait for the regular release.

The plan this year is to (mostly) cover what want  rather than what I feel obligated to cover. As a result I will be saying no more. Its something I really started to do in the last six months as my burn out made covering things less a possibility.

Related to that I am also doing it because the slow down in the last few weeks has resulted in some pieces I've been really happy with. The pieces I've been writing better. I want to continue to do that.

I'm still planning on a piece a day, but I don't know how crazy things will be.

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The next few weeks are going to be some films I saw here and there before I get to Dances with Films and then roll into Sundance (I've seen one short so far), Berlin and Rotterdam in whatever order they happen.

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A quick question - at what point did smoking become a character trait?  I ask this because over the last few years a lot of directors  have pushed the fact that a character smokes to the fore front. Its not so much mentioned but flaunted  front and center and not woven into the story. This is especially true of historic film where how smoking was in decades past is presented unnnaturally.

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Is it me or are more and more people on social media following Quentin Tarantino's narrow minded view of cinema and basing it entirely on their film collection? Too many people are not looking backward at films that are in black and white and too many don't realize that others are remakes. 

Seriously too many movie influencers and social media darlings have no idea what they are seeing or how it connects back. to older films or even culture in general.

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Sparked by a conversation with Peter I want to say I am tired of critics and writers doing things that will just get them noticed or things from the studios.  

For many writers it is no longer about the films but the trips and the junkets and what the studio will slip their way. 

This isn't jealousy, but just frustration as writers I like become more and more vapid as they adjust to what the studios want. I don't care about the studios, I care about the good films getting pushed out and the great filmmakers mortgaging their homes to make a short because they have to and no one will pay them to do so. I can't be jealous of bullshit that kills my soul.

Besides I am too entrenched in small films to be anyone that the bigger studios and PR firms care about (Look at my year end lists). I want to just push great films not meet stars (I've turned down numerous interviews with people I'm a fan of because I dislike the film they are in) or get things. I am incapable of doing something just to get noticed- if I get noticed its an accident because I truly said something I feel and it resonated. I genuinely love the small filmmakers and the small films and the thought of selling my soul to push many of the limited taleneted hacks loved by the studios make me ill.

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Going to have to try 28 YEARS LATER, it didn't work for me after 20 minutes,c so I turned it off. The opening bit seemed wrong and once we got to 28 years later it felt odd like it had to explain everything  instead of telling a story and letting us find out.

I will revist

With Arms Raised (2025)

Jon Cvack​'s short film is about a ride share that goes sideways. It follows the awkward conversation between a man in the backseat and the driver.

This is a deeply disturbing film. Even though we can suspect where this is going to go, we can neither look away nor fail to be horrified.

The reason the film works so well is the conversation. The broken, odd occasionally off the rails discussion is exactly the sort of conversation we all have engaged in at some time or another with someone who maybe clear in their mind but who can't make that point clear to other people. It embarrassing and awkward and funny... until it isn't. When it isn't it makes you sit bolt upright and look on in horror.

I was rocked by the film. It is a film you need to experience.

Its a hell of a way to begin the new year.

Highly recommended.

ROW FOR LIFE (2024)

I went in not knowing anything about this film and it kicked my ass.  It was one of the best films of 2025 for me.

The story of rower Angela Madsen and her attempt to row across the Pacific is just great story telling. 

It is not what I expected and I suspect that even if it was it still would have moved me deeply. This is the story of a woman who did what she loved and the people who loved her. While it doesn't reinvent the row boat it does everything else with great skill. 

I have no notes just a desire to see it again. 

Jamarcus Rose & Da 5 Bullet Holes (2026)

Marcellus Cox's follow up to LIQUOR BANK is the story of a major league baseball prospect who spends the day with his new mentor.

This is a super film that hits a lot of the right notes and brings us a side of life that we don't usually see, young African American men just talking about a life that isn't crime related. It's a film that is beautifully acted and wonderfully told. 

The majority of the film is the interaction between a young black man and his mentor. The young man, the Jamarcus Rose of the title, is living with his grandmother because there is no one left for him. Life has dealt him a bad hand and cast him adrift. He doesn't want to talk to his new mentor because he doesn't think it will help. Over the course of the film we watch as the two men connect and bond is forged. I was moved in part because of the interaction between the characters, but also because the discussion that is on screen is not one we see, pretty much at all, on screen be it in a short film or an inde feature (you can forget anything remotely Hollywood because they do not want to show what it's like being an African American and on the fringe.). Like in LIQUOR BANK Marcellus Cox opens the door to real life showing us interactions that other filmmakers would rush through or turn into false high drama if they even decided to show it at all.  The discussions and interactions between surrogate father and son are pulled from life  and we are better for it.

This is great filmmaking, from a great storyteller. 

Recommended.

Tiwahe

This is slices of life at the Fort Belknap reservation in Hays Montana. It's moments in time over a year or more. 

There isn't so much a through line as a passage of time with good people. I really like this film a great deal, however at the same time I know the structure of the film, isolated minutes with the various people on the reservation coming together to form a whole (kind of like cinematic pointelism) may not work for everyone. 

I also freely admit that there are moments that are better than the whole (I love the dog on the roof of the car). My thoughts on the film are kind of split right now. I am thrilled to have discovered the film  and I'm kind of lost as to why this film has almost no word on the internet. 

This is a film deserving of an audience.(Though I suspect it hasn't gone to too many big festivals) At the same time I admit this isn't for everyone.

Thanksgiving, Again?! (2025)

A woman is forced to relive Thanksgiving over and over again. 

Yes, the premise of the film is similar to the Billy Murray classic GROUNDHOG DAY. This is a largely  a series of replays of the big day.  It's a film that takes the premise and bends it in some interesting ways.  There is also some wickedly funny dialog and some great interplay.

The problem here is the script's structure is uneven. The film takes too long to set things up at the start with the result that Samantha Cevasco is not given anything to really do for about  half of the film. Her role is simply doing things kind of machanically with all of her dialog focused on moving the narrative through Thanksgiving, and allowing everyone to be a character around her, but not create a character of her own. She is given so little to do that I wasn't sure if it was the script  or that she was bad. The truth is that it's the script because once we get into the second half and in the final half hour she  finally is allowed to actually do something.

I like the film, but as I said there are issues, but there are funny moments. Truthfully, I wish the film had a better start. That said there is enough here that if you are patient I think you might like this as well.

A Body to Live In

A look at Fakir Musafar and body modification. 

This is in no way exploitive and is a deep dive trip into the world of altering ones body that stays very much on intellectual and spiritual territory. This is the path some people take to enlightenment. It's a look into a world that is going to scare and disturb many people. 

And here lies the rub - this film is not for everyone and the devisive nature of the subject is going to make this title a difficult one to sell. Personally I think this film is brilliant. I think it is a perfect look at Fakir Musafar, some one who I have encountered in my explorations of "fringe" topics over the years. I love that the film is also an exploration of a different spiritual path to god/nirvana. This is another subject that interests me. For me this was a great film that for the most part I just went with.

On the other hand people are going to have issues with the piercings (not just ears and nipples but weights on fish hooks and more), graphic discussions of acts, of sex, and things most people don't discuss. Even once I knew the film was about Fakir Musafar and I knew where this was going I still was rattled by some things. I don't know how anyone else is going to react to the film. 

Objectively - on it's own terms as something outside of a larger picture- I think it's brilliant. As a film to just review and let it find it's audience on its own I love it. At the same time I'm not sure how many others will want to go to the places this goes and I don't know if this will find enough people who can go there wide eyed to make it anything but a fringe film.

THE MOTHER AND THE BEAR (2024) opens Friday

A Korean mother flies to Canada to be with her daughter after she is put into a coma after an accident. As she spends time in a new country, she finds things out about her daughter and herself.

My first film review of a film released in the US is a charmer. This is a small little comedy drama that will, ultimately warm your heart.

To be completely honest this film doesn’t do anything that isn’t wholly unexpected it does take a few wonderful turns that make the film stand out. I will not tell you what they are because I don’t want to spoil them. The best way to describe this film is as something that will entertain the hell out of you on a cold January afternoon or evening.

Beyond that I don’t have much to say. That isn’t a knock, it’s simply that THE MOTHER AND THE BEAR does what it is supposed to do well and gets off. In an age where so many films are filled with pretentions, it’s just nice to see one that just is solid and good.

Recommended.

BEST OF THE BEST 2025

BANR (Dear Departed) - The story of a long-term couple dealing with tragedy. She has Alzheimer's and is slipping away...and then he dies. Painful, real and two of the best performances of the last decade. Its fantastic- and I never want to see it again. It was one of the first films I saw in 2025 and it has haunted me ever since. For sheer staying power and haunting effect this is probably the best film of 2025.

SAFE- at 59 seconds this may be the greatest film of 2025.

GLEEFUL BEASTS the series of short puppet films is just magic

THE GREAT HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY is a one of a kind animated film that maybe the greatest midnight film of all time-just 50 years too late 

LOVE LETTERS -  an unexpected joy has a lesbian couple expecting their first child and working to get the necessary paperwork to allow the non biological mother to adopt. Its magic 

THE WOLF THE FOX AND THE LEOPARD not what you expect film about a feral girl. Trust me you have not seen this before and its deeply affecting in all sorts of ways. This is one of the peaks of 2025

SNOW BEAR lovely animated film about a lonely bear who makes a friend. The final shot makes the film and will reduce you to tears

OH YEAH - The story of Yello is magnificent

The first third of SINNERS is among the greatest storytelling I've ever seen. The problem is the film slides into a very good horror film- but that first third is glorious.

HI-FIVE one of the best superhero films ever made. It puts the Fantastic Four to shame

HOKEKO AKBANE'S BODYGUARDS- a manga adaption that feels like way more

SHE DANCES- Steve Zahn and his daughter play father & daughter and kill it- with a note perfect ending that says volumes about the love between a father and daughter.

DEPECHE MODE M - the last third is so much like going to a Deche Mode concert I went twice

ANGRY CARS-Modern looney tunes from Shaun Clark one of the best filmmakers working today

A SECOND LIFE- a woman in Paris during the Olympics ponders life- Who would have thought that William Lustig would have to beat me into submission to see one of the best films of the year

CUBA AND ALASKA - two friends go to war

ITS DOROTHY- the reason the wizard of oz touches people

CHAIN REACTIONS- one of the greatest films on film ever is about TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE as seen by 5 creators who explain the film in relation to their lives, that of society and culture

FLOP HOUSE AMERICA- equal to last year's masterpiece INHERITENCE about several years in a life. I want to see the sequel.

PREDATOR BADLANDS- A big budget Hollywood movie that works on all levels

STITCH HEAD - Glorious animated film about fitting in and family

WHALE 52- Bill Plympton produced animated short is as good as films get.

MR SCORSESE -everything (except HUGO) that you wanted to know about the man and his movies

TIM BURTON LIFE ON THE LINE - I saw the first epsiode last year. This year I got to finish it. This is a glorious look not so much the movies created but how one man creates wondrous things and makes everyone around him better.

KUKUHO- the sort of grand epic of a life that no one does any more- sequences reduced me to tears with their sheer beauty.

STRANGE JOURNEY- A bio of Richard O'Brien which explains why Rocky Horror Matters

THE VOICE ON HIND RAHAB - the true story of the insanity of war that rightly crushes your soul

Catch Up Capsules: SIRAT, and WAKE UP DEAD MAN

SIRAT
This is just a quick note. Peter's review is perfect. I just want to add that I loved this film. I also wanted to say that you need to either see this is a theater with great sound, with headphones or on a home system with great sound. I say that because the sound coupled with the image enhances the film thematically. The sound and image create a head space that adds to the film. This is a one of a kind film and rcommended.

WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY
The best of the Knives Out films is the story of a murder on Good Friday where the new priest is the suspect.  While the mystery is interesting, the film is more of interest for the discussion of faith and belief that is floating around it. (That stuff is magnificent) The reason I say that is the film's early goofy edge seems to have been artifically inserted into the mystery. I'm not saying the humor doesn't belong, I'm just saying that the over the top/ cartoony nature gave me the wrong sort of distance for the first half of the film. (The plotting also has a few odd turns that wobbles things -but I can't discuss that without wrecking the mystery)

That said, I liked it as a film and loved it as an exploration of faith and it is the only one I will watch again.

Recommended.

Best of 2025- the Performances

There were too many performances needing to be mentioned not to give them a place to be in the spotlight

I want to begin with Kristen Stewart. While her direction of CHRONOLOGY OF WATER was not a performance it does reveal that she can do anything. Her turn as a feature director was glorious and shows that she can do anything.

John Lithgow in the RULE OF JENNY PEN is pure evil. Lithgow’s turn is one of the vilest villains ever put on screen and has to be seen to be despised.

VALLEY OF SHADOW OF DEATH has Anthony Wong crushing your heart because sometimes you can't forgive. Wong is one of the greatest actors in the world and it is a terrible thing that Hollywood has only noticed him occasionally in thankless roles. His turn as minister trying to forgive while living in the abyss of grief is shattering because in it we see ourselves and the gulf between us and god's ideal.

SOVERGEIN should have put Nick Offerman into the Oscar race, but Oscar doesn’t notice small films, even with great performances. His turn as an everyman who never understood how the world work is masterful. It will erase him as a comedy genius from your mind.

Ethan Hawke is the reason to see BLUE MOON. His performance is light years better than the run of the mill script. He turns what should have been an okay theater piece into pure cinema. 

Sean Beane in ANOMONE is the film. Bean plays his part small until he doesn't and then he fills the screen and pushes Daniel Day Lewis into the next room. While Bean normally plays action heroes, we forget how good he really is.

Amanda Seyfried (Testament of Ann Lee)/ Jennifer Lawrence (Die My Love) are women on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Their performances in their respective films are hypnotic, raw and the reason to see both films. They leave nothing to the imagination and remind us just how good they both are. 

Charlie Creede-Myles and Alan Cumming in the RIDE BACK HOME are beyond amazing. It’s not so much that they give great performances, rather it is that they become brothers. The act like brothers, they interact as brothers, and they let the silences that creep in between brothers exist. These guys are brothers as I know them. There is love and anger and humor and resentment and life well lived between them, I have rarely seen better.

We need to talk about Raquel Sciacca in HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION. Sciacca is performing on a level beyond her years. There is a real reason that I am including her in a list of some of the greatest actors and actresses in the world today and that is she belongs there. Her turn as a young girl dealing with a family dealing with a tough time in their lives required something Herculean because she not only had to be our eyes, but she also had to be part of the story. Too often in a role like this the performer will take the easy road and let things happen around them, Sciacca never does this, she is always front and center making the film truly her story. I cannot tell you how magnificent this performance is.  Yes, it’s frequently small and quiet, but that is what the film requires, but in stepping back she never relinquishes the screen, instead she holds the frame. One has to credit director Ken Frank for both writing a complex role for a young adult, and for letting the actress he picked to do what she had to do and get the hell out of the way. Sciacca is a generational talent. Her ability to act not only big, but small, is beyond my ability to describe.   The work of Raquel Sciacca in HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION is an indication as to why people need to be watching the small inde films and micro budgeted films- namely some of the best work in cinema history is being done for films few people will ever see because it isn’t a big budget Hollywood film with money to burn on PR. This is not hyperbole, but the truth. You need to start to watch small films. If you doubt my words then go watch HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION since it’s on Amazon and then tell me I’m wrong.

Best of 2025 Part 1

BEST OF THE YEAR PART ONE

THE OTHER- a look at the Israel/Palestine schism from through the words of people trying to bridge the chasm. This film is moving.

BIG JOHNSON is the story of Dean Johnson a tall bald queer man who made music, threw parties and did some amazing things. While not for all audiences it is quite simply a glorious celebration of life.

SUNDAYS WITH DAD- a lovely film about a man having lunch with his father.  A delight.

STANDOUT : THE BEN KJAR STORY - glorious and deeply moving of a man born with a genetic defect who over came it to become a champion wrestler. It earns every damn emotion it makes you feel.

LEIBNIZ - a chamber piece about painters painting a noted philosopher and discussing life, art and god.  

CORINA - young woman who doesn't want to leave her block finds she has to make a trip to save her job and company. We've seen similar films before but nothing quite as charming as this.

SPARE MY BONES COYOTE! - a moving look at the people trying to return the bodies of dead migrants to their families

GIRL AMERICA one of a kind memory play of a film about a woman looking back on her life and trying to make sense of it. One part head trip, one part theater, one part Tarsem Singh film.

LIQUOR BANK - a short simple film about two men and addiction that is perfectly made and heralds the arrival of a great director- Marcellus Cox

RISE- a small boy wants to box. A boxing film that is about so much more. You will tear up at the end 

SCHOOL DUEL - bleak dystopian tale of bullied kid who decides to try and be king. Hunger Games and Battle Royal are jokes compared to this.

ANNA KIRI is a film I don't know if I like it but this caper gone wrong tale is brilliantly told

REDUX REDUX is a multi-verse tale done right. This is the bar.

I AM FRANKEDLA is glorious animated tale

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON glorious live action remake made my inner six year old come out

HOLD THE FORT- a blending of horror and comedy as the HOA has to fight off monsters coming through a portal

JAPANESE AVANT GARDE PONEERS - glorious art huge

The needle drop at the end of DEAD LANGUAGE lifts this up to the moon

THE FIN- a dystopian world we've never imagined before

BODY TO LIVE IN- story of extremembody modification. Not for everyoine, but it's great for those it clicks with

ROW FOR LIFE - the life of a woman who loved to row long distances. A glorious portrait of a life

MY SUNNYSIDE - proof that what gender you are doesn't matter, its who you are inside

IMAGES FROM TUVALU a look at climate change and how we react to the facts (and why we are doomed)

NO MERCY- kick ass film where kick ass women talk about making movies

PIN DE FARTIE -Beckett's ENDGAME taken apart and put together

THE VILE- unexpected, under the radar horror gets under your skin and breaks out

ATOMIC BOWL- amazing look at afootball game in the atomic ruins of Japan

SECRET AGENT- under the political rule of Brazil one man tries to remain free

HAMNET- A love affair tested by tragedy. I sobbed