If Shelley’s novel can be considered the dense and sprawling sheet music for an orchestral symphony of ideas, then Del Toro’s arrangement here is sparser. However, even if the result lacks some of the richness laid out on the page, the tune of FRANKENSTEIN extracts tension, horror and beauty that harmonises with the full version.
With seething social commentary at its centre, BAD APPLES feels contemporary and culturally accurate to the landscape of public education in the UK. Normality becomes quickly warped by extenuating circumstances, and director Jonatan Etzler wields the school setting with skill.
While WAKE UP DEAD MAN may not bring anything novel for newcomers to the series, it’s a treat for KNIVES OUT fans, serving as a corrective for the excesses of GLASS ONION and imbuing the story with meaningful resonance for contemporary Christian politics.
BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER rarely fails to be entertaining, with the visuals and performances taking the film a long way. However, they are fleeting thrills in the service of an unmemorable story. Edward Berger’s film looks like a high roller, but it’s playing with buttons and matchsticks.
TO OUR FRIENDS posits some kind of theory about the tectonic shifts our social worlds go through and forwards that theory with documentarian conventions. In attempting to figure themselves out, people are always making it up as they go along, and their relationships may thrive or suffer in the wake of life’s vicissitudes. Wave after wave might strike us, and all we can really do is just keep treading water.
A PALE VIEW OF HILLS lives up to a strong cinematic legacy of Ishiguro adaptations with its stunning, dreamy aesthetic and the performances of a talented cast across generations, but the script does not achieve the nuances of its preceding adaptations.
Overall, the ARE YOU KIDDING? strand of short films at London Film Festival 2025 has (for the most part) a commanding understanding of tone, pitching the collection into a tradition of morbid, dark and absurd humour.
Equal parts comical and concerning, LEFT-HANDED GIRL is about resilience in a man’s world, with a five-year-old’s innocent questions shattering illusions and bringing about change.
PUT YOUR SOUL ON YOUR HAND AND WALK is not a neutral film by any stretch of the imagination, but it should not be. Farsi’s documentary is urgent, heart-wrenching, and deeply personal, profiling a single life among the tens of thousands lost too soon.
The inaugural edition of the North West Independent Film Festival in Preston used its second day to focus on the theme of ‘Shifting Grounds: Breaking Cycles, Seeking Truths’, showcasing films which hold a spirit of independence and creative ambition.
