EIFF 2025 Review: Mas Bouzidi’s ‘Concessions’
“‘Concessions’ is essentially a collage, taking bits of other films and sticking them together to make something pretty. But it struggles when it comes to time to say something of its own.”
Ross McIndoe
EIFF 2025 Review: Ondine Viñao’s ‘Two Neighbors’
“Sadly, ‘Two Neighbors’ turns out to be one of those parties where the people don’t really mix and the event seems to drag on forever.”
EIFF 2025 Review: Jan-Ole Gerster’s ‘Islands’
“‘Islands’ smoothly makes the transition from a romantic drama to an understated thriller, and it’s utterly intoxicating.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Uberto Pasolini’s ‘The Return’
“Using striking, elemental images, ‘The Return’ taps into the ancient power of Homer’s epic story.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Yugo Sakamoto’s ‘Baby Assassins: Nice Days’
“The secret weapon of ‘Baby Assassins: Nice Days,’ as with the other franchise films, is Mahiro and Chisato’s chemistry.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: John Maclean’s ‘Tornado’
“‘Tornado’ is thoroughly gripping, often gorgeous and altogether unique…”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Emma Westenberg’s ‘Bleeding Love’
“Emma Westenberg’s father-daughter drama ‘Bleeding Love’ is a travel movie that sticks closely to previous genre routes.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Sean Garrity’s ‘The Burning Season’
“The prickly, nuanced performances from Chernick and Canning help drive The Burning Season’s mystery.”
Edinburgh Film Festival Review: Daniel Bandeira’s ‘Propriedade’
“As a pure piece of genre filmmaking, ‘Propriedade’ is highly successful.”
Edinburgh Film Festival Review: Devashish Makhija’s ‘Joram’
“‘Joram’ is effectively a new version of ‘The Fugitive’ (and a rather good one at that).”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Muta’Ali Muhammad’s ‘Cassius X: Becoming Ali’
“Thanks to some sharp, propulsive editing and a highly intriguing set of speakers, ‘Cassius X: Becoming Ali’ makes for an easily entertaining watch.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Ethan Eng’s ‘Therapy Dogs’
“‘Therapy Dogs’ skitters around far too freely to be restrained by any sort of conventional coming-of-age narrative.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Claire Denis’ ‘Fire’
“Denis drenches every scene in ‘Fire’ with such a sultry sadness; the film stays captivating even as a drastic turn never seems to arrive.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Justin Kurzel’s ‘Nitram’
“In ‘Nitram,’ even the simplest domestic scenes inside the Bryant family home seem to have had the light and life sucked from them. And even in the film’s gentlest moments, Kurzel never lets the audience forget the film’s hopeless destination.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Min-Ho Woo’s ‘The Man Standing Next’
“Both emotionally and narratively, ‘The Man Standing Next’ is an easy story to get lost in.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Eui-Jeong Hong’s ‘Voice of Silence’
“Rather than using the violence itself as a punchline, ‘Voice of Silence’ builds a comedy of manners out of Chang-bok and his colleagues’ sensibilities.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Nick Rowland’s ‘Calm with Horses’
“Rowland’s direction throughout is clean and deliberate, rarely showy. He evokes the kind of barren small town where there is almost nothing to fight over, although some still find a way. There’s a bleakness to all of it, a greyness.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Jung Da-won’s ‘Miss & Mrs. Cops’
“‘Miss & Mrs. Cops’ is a genuinely light-hearted movie which never strays into the emotional register of real life or real pain.”
There’s No One Driving the Car: ‘Hustlers’ as Neo-Noir
“From the moment Ramona first appears, ‘Hustlers’ announces itself as a new addition to the neo-noir cannon — a film about bright lights in dark places.”
Fight Like a Man: ‘Rocky V’ and ‘Rocky Balboa’
“Fathers make sense when we can reduce them to symbols, but the actual business of parenting is so defined by ‘feminine’ qualities — emotional openness, compassion, gentleness, patience — that we often struggle to correlate them with a father figure.”