film review
Queen & Slim (2019)
★★★★☆
Queen & Slim is a first film fuelled by controlled anger by black female director Melina Matsoukas. It’s always gripping.
The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)
The Personal History of David Copperfield is Armando Iannucci’s quirkily imaginative transformation of Dickens’ novel bringing out its contemporary resonances.
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Atlantics (2019)
★★★★☆
Atlantic (Atlantique) is Mati Diop’s dreamlike feature debut focusing on the women left behind when Senegalese migrant workers take to the seas.
The Two Popes (2019)
★★★★☆
The Two Popes by Fernando Mereilles, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce, is a sparklingly written, joyfully acted, behind-the-scenes imagining of historic events made personal.
La Belle Époque (2019)
★★★★☆
La Belle Époque by Nicolas Bedos has sublime performances from its central characters that combine with a clever, witty, seamless screenplay to create an unashamedly super-enjoyable film.
Judy & Punch (2019)
★★★★☆
Judy & Punch by Mirrah Foulkes is a feminist reimagination and reversal of the traditional, violent seaside Punch and Judy puppet show that takes it back its 16th century origins.
Harriet (2019)
★★★★☆
Harriet, directed by Kasi Lemmons, is a conventionally made biopic of a supremely unconventional and inspirational woman, Harriet Tubman, taking her life story from slave to fearless abolitionist and conductor on the underground railroad to freedom.
Greener Grass (2019)
★★★☆☆
Satirical comedy Greener Grass by, and co-starring Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe, is Stepford Wives on acid.
London Palestine Film Festival: It Must Be Heaven (2019)
★★★★☆
It Must Be Heaven continues Elia Suleiman’s deadpan global quest for recognition of Palestinian identity and homeland.
After the Wedding (2019)
★★★☆☆
In After the Wedding Bart Freundlich piles unlikely event on unlikely event on Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams in a weepie melodrama that reaches emotional overload.
Sorry We Missed You (2019)
★★★★☆
Sorry We Missed you is a coruscating anti-capitalist manifesto from veteran politically engaged filmmaker Ken Loach and his longtime collaborator and screenwriter Paul Laverty.
Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019)
★★★☆☆
Brittany Runs a Marathon is a lovely little film, director Paul Colaizzo’s debut feature. It’s heartwarming, raw, crowd-pleasing and motivating in the nicest possible way.
BFI LFF 2019: Harriet (2019)
★★★☆☆
Harriet, directed by Kasi Lemmons, is a conventionally made biopic of a supremely unconventional and inspirational woman, Harriet Tubman, taking her life story from slave to fearless abolitionist and conductor on the underground railroad to freedom.