Return to Silent Hill (Christophe Gans, 2026): 0.5/5
“In my restless dream, I see that town. Silent Hill. You promised you'd take me there again someday. But instead, you took me to a shitty movie adaptation of it, James.”
WTF did they even TRY to make this a good movie????
Her Name is Sabine (Sandrine Bonnaire, 2007): 4/5
A rather touching documentary by renowned French actress Sandrine Bonnaire.
As the title suggests, HER NAME IS SABINE is about her sister who, after many years of being undiagnosed, now has a severe case of autism. Intercutting between Sabine's daily life in a care home where she's working on her independence, to VHS family tapes of her as a young teen full of life and joy, the contrast is simply devastating. After previously being institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital for five years, Sabine's personality that defined her has now vanished and throughout the film, Bonnaire uncomfortably invites us to contemplate on Sabine's circumstances and whether they were avoidable by the healthcare system, and herself.
As a filmmaker, Bonnaire is unobtrusive in her approach, allowing events to gently unfold which provides a tone that is mediative but also detached. Even if Sabine walks into frame, whilst interviewing a relative or care worker, in order to ask a question, Bonnaire always tries to take the matter off-camera in order to politely not interfere but likewise provides a glimpse of Sabine's behavior.
Although the film is about Sabine, it also wants to discuss autism in a wider context, especially how society represents it and how doctors treat it. When interviewing one of Sabine's care workers, Bonnaire asks how they define autism, with one of the answers being, 'it's an annihilation of the self'. It's a quote that seems outdated so many years later, but there's something deeply disturbing about it in relation to how we're perceiving this common disability.
A melancholic watch that will either enlighten you or break you.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Nia Da Costa, 2025): 3/5
Did I want to wallow into sadism and psychopathy? Not really.(That's what keeping up with ICE is for!) Did I want this to quickly descend into HOSTEL-level torture porn? Nope-a-roni.
But by that point THE BONE TEMPLE has already established that it's about showing the spectrum of human possibility, and that it's also going to be about Ralph Fiennes' Dr. Ian being kind and goofy and awesome and hanging out with Samson and his manhood.
Oh, and DaCosta? Not as frenetic and unhinged as Boyle (quelle surprise), which is good and bad. Stylistically, it never threatens to go off the rails, which feels more quietly confident and lets the crazy stuff be what it is without being overtly crazier. However, it also means the aforementioned sadism is entirely unleavened with any distracting aesthetic flourishes. Hopefully, both her and the franchise won't wallow in those waters in what's to come. (I know humans are capable of awful things, Alex. I'm sentient.)
The Unknown Country (Morrisa Maltz, 2022): 3/5
Gladstone is remarkable and luminous as usual, and it’s wonderful to see her play the lead in a contemporary film. Her expressive face which would have made her a star in the silent era usually tells us more than her character Tana is willing to commit to words.
Apples (Christos Nikou, 2020): 3/5
You mean this carefully shot satire of conventional social values with a surrealistic conceit and mannered performances is a *Greek* film?!?
Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable (Rikki Hughes, 2025): 3/5
I only laughed a couple of times but his storytelling of history and personal experiences get better every time and he drops some insane lore here.
Resurrection (Bi Gan, 2025): 3/5
Has Shu Qi even aged a day since MILLENIUM MAMBO?
I kind of struggled to get onto Bi Gan’s wavelength here. Which for an almost 3 hour film… Not ideal.
Each of the five chapters is a technical marvel, including an astonishing 40 minute one-take, and each blends culture and history into a specific genre with fearless invention. Yet as the film went on, my engagement began to dwindle. While the visual storytelling remains consistently captivating, the stories themselves did not invite the same rapture.
These are not traditional narratives built around arcs. They function more as states of mind, guided by dream logic rather than causality. That approach is intellectually compelling, but emotionally uneven. I won’t pretend I understood everything, and that openness to interpretation is part of the film’s appeal. RESURRECTION welcomes revisiting and rewards contemplation. Even so, for all its beauty and ambition, I found myself wishing for a bit more bite.
Peter Hujar's Day (Ira Sachs, 2025): 3/5
A lovely reminder that two friends talking in an apartment is just as much the stuff of cinema as a car chase or an army blowing up a bridge. Found myself thinking of the Proustian concept of Lost Time and art’s ability to regain it. A conversation in 1974 recorded and now it’s a film that will immortalize this fleeting moment in a way theater cannot.
Falcon Lake (Charlotte Le Bon, 2022): 4/5
"I just feel it. This is my proof."
A brooding exploration of first love, during that time when we first begin to feel such emotions so intensely. Perhaps the film’s ending is inevitable, but much like all of our relationships, it is the journey, not the destination, that matters most.
