Vague Visages’ Stockade review contains minor spoilers. Eric McGinty’s 2023 movie features Sarah Bitar, Bahar Beihaghi and Guy de Lancey. Check out the VV home page for more film criticism, movie reviews and film essays.

Stockade, promoted as an “immigrant noir thriller,” is too smart for its own good. Written and directed by Eric McGinty (who released his acclaimed feature debut in 2014 with Wallabout), the film stars Sarah Bitar as Ahlam — a Lebanese artist living in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn (New York) who transports an Iraqi relic to the infamous Hudson Valley for much-needed rent money, only to learn that she’s a pawn in the game. McGinty stays consistent with his filmmaking approach throughout the indie production, along with cinematographer Guy de Lancey (who co-headlines as a mysterious art dealer named Paul), though the narrative itself will frustrate viewers with its cryptic dialogue and lack of clarity.

From a critical art house perspective, Stockade demands a second viewing. But from a casual moviegoer’s point of view, many people will presumably scratch their heads after watching McGinty’s second feature. The entire film betrays the “immigrant noir” promotion, as the cinematography doesn’t vibe with traditional noir or neo-noir (aside from one standout dance sequence), nor does the writer-director expand on surface-level concepts about immigrants, modern medicine and NYC’s art world (the protagonist, a neo-expressionist artist, is positioned as an anti-vaxxer, but she reveals little about her actual worldview). Fortunately, Stockade stands on its own as a transgressive piece of cinematic art, as McGinty introduces various ideas that will spark discussions about the immigrant experience in America for artists. (I recommend pairing Stockade with Brady Corbet’s 2024 film The Brutalist — an impressive drama with some obvious flaws about a Polish architect/Holocaust survivor trying to find his way in America during the late 1940s and early 1950s.)

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Stockade will polarize viewers with its flimsy cultural commentaries. Overall, there’s plenty of narrative depth between the Lebanese protagonist, her South African associate (the aforementioned de Lancey as Paul) and an Iranian minimalist artist named Zora (the intriguing Bahar Beihaghi), but when the action shifts from New York City to the Hudson Valley, McGinty struggles with his character development. There’s a French woman (Caterina Verde as Camille) who shows up briefly and then suddenly reappears during the climax, and there’s also a Korean woman (Ho-Jung as Eun-Me) who is arguably the primary villain but could be written off as just a thinly-written archetype. Despite the overall lack of conceptual clarity in Stockade, there’s enough substance for casual viewers to identify and analyze the filmmaker’s primary themes about art and the immigrant experience in America.

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With all due respect to Stockade’s lead actress, Bitar (who always seems locked into her character), Beihaghi (pictured above) steals a few scenes as Zora, both via her charisma and chemistry with the protagonist. It’s unfortunate that McGinty couldn’t quite bring everything together with his character dialogue. And what exactly is Stockade’s identity as a film? I’m talking to myself now. It’s not quite a neo-noir, and it’s way too cryptic to be marketed as a traditional drama. But for viewers who vibe with the smooth direction/cinematography and the art of suggestion (via the screenplay), there’s much to appreciate and contemplate in Stockade.

Stockade opens in Los Angeles on February 21, 2025 and premieres digitally in North America on February 25, 2025.

Q.V. Hough (@QVHough) is Vague Visages’ founding editor. Thank you for reading film criticism, movie reviews and film essays at Vague Visages.

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