DRAMARAMA is a comedy-drama about the secrets within a clique of conservative Christian theatre-kids. The film has a real truth to how it represents the drama of puritanical Christian teenagers that unfortunately makes all the characters quite annoying.
Bryan Fogel’s new documentary feature, THE DISSIDENT, dives into the timeline of Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination, looking behind the curtain at the political powers at play in Saudi Arabia. Much like Fogel’s Oscar-winning documentary ICARUS, he goes to dangerous levels to expose the political grit under the surface.
Coming-of-age stories set against monumental national or world events are a cinematic constant. BEANS excels at both portions of its story, even if it sometimes struggles to connect them.
Goulet’s balancing act between social horror and mythic hope is a masterful cinematic parable.
Taking a decidedly more casual approach to its noirish stylings than Diao Yi’nan’s THE WILD GOOSE LAKE (or even the second chapter of Jia Zhang-ke’s ASH IS PUREST WHITE), Li Xiaofeng’s BACK TO THE WHARF has a quality that could trip a viewer up on occasion.
DREAMS ON FIRE is a film about graft, inspiration, camaraderie and the struggles of flourishing in the real world; in all its awful and wonderful surrealness. Clara Strachan reviews at Glasgow Film Festival.
On top of Kacey Rohl’s mesmerising Katie, the performances are all realistic and well-judged and the technical credits impressive in WHITE LIE.
THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY has grand ambitions but skirts around too many weighty topics. Murray Ferguson reviews.
While some areas of THE MAURITANIAN are slightly rough around the edges, it is more than certainly a film of merit; as an informed, thought-provoking and emotionally charged piece of cinema.
CREATION STORIES occasionally hits a good note, but after the cacophonous entropy it generates getting tuned up, it struggles to recover anything harmonious from its orchestra of creative talents.
