M, 103 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury Scoop opens on a clear winter’s day in New York in 2010 at the apartment of a tabloid photographer contemplating a list of potential assignments. Instead of celebrities fallen on hard times or the activities of Arabian royalty, he follows a lead nearby in Manhattan… Continue reading Scoop
Tag: 4 Stars
Perfect Days
PG, 125 minutes Four Stars Review by © Jane Freebury Simplicity and lyrical fluidity are hallmarks of the style of veteran German filmmaker, Wim Wenders. So are the faces of the actors who inhabit his characters, seen through an inquisitive, searching camera. This long and languorous character study of a Tokyo man in late middle… Continue reading Perfect Days
Io Capitano
MA 15+, 122 minutes Four Stars Review by © Jane Freebury This story out of Africa is drawn from first-person accounts by survivors of the harrowing overland journey across the continent to Europe. If people managed to reach the port of Tripoli, Libya, one more leg remained. A boat trip across the Mediterranean under perilously… Continue reading Io Capitano
How To Have Sex
MA 15+, 91 minutes Four Stars Review by © Jane Freebury If a sense of déjà vu begins to develop as the best holiday ever descends into the worst nightmare, this rite of passage story takes shape as a counter-narrative. How To Have Sex charts the course of a young woman on a schoolies binge… Continue reading How To Have Sex
Fallen Leaves
M, 81 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury It’s not yet winter in this new film from Finland, but a chill in the air has you reaching for an extra layer of clothing. There seems little warmth or connection between people by way of compensation either, especially in the lives of the odd… Continue reading Fallen Leaves
Riceboy Sleeps
M, 117 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury After watching this migrant story about leaving Korea behind and building a new life in Canada, I found food was frequently mentioned in my viewing notes. Eating, alone or in company, frequently has key significance in some of the key scenes in this film with… Continue reading Riceboy Sleeps
Two Tickets to Greece
M, 111 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury Blazing sunlight, deep blue seas, white-washed walls and plenty of space on the beach for everyone to do their own thing. The siren call of the Greek islands is timeless, but the enticing holiday destination is put under serious strain with an incompatible travel companion.… Continue reading Two Tickets to Greece
Maestro
M, 129 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury It is curious that, after relatively little on screen about the subject, there have in the last year been two high-profile movie portraits of the lives of orchestra conductors. The dramatic potential is a revelation. Who knew? The conductor played by Cate Blanchett in last… Continue reading Maestro
Napoleon
MA 15+, 158 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury The defiant, scowling figure slouching on the French throne on the flyers that advertise Ridley Scott’s latest epic, need not feel too defensive about the latest film made about him. As a biopic, it barely scratches the surface and leaves so many questions about… Continue reading Napoleon
Paris Memories
M, 103 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury It is hardly surprising that filmmaker Alice Winocour felt the need to tell a story connected with the Paris terrorist attacks of November 2015, when her younger brother, Jeremie, had witnessed it first-hand. He was at the rock concert at the Bataclan on the night… Continue reading Paris Memories
Killers of the Flower Moon
M, 206 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury The latest movie from living legend, Martin Scorsese, brings together two of the actors that he has made famous, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, but the character at the centre of Killers of the Flower Moon is a calm, softly spoken First Nations woman… Continue reading Killers of the Flower Moon
Nyad
M, 120 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury While a film about a long-distance swimmer wasn’t a subject that you might expect to hold your interest over the course of a feature length movie, it’s a fair bet that a documentary about a rock climber wasn’t either, until Free Solo appeared a short… Continue reading Nyad
Shayda
M, 118 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury As a woman trying to escape an abusive marriage and start over in a new land, the actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi gives a delicate, transcendent performance. It is perhaps informed by her own experience of having to flee Iran in her twenties and build a… Continue reading Shayda
Past Lives
M, 106 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury This subtle, understated romantic drama involves three people who we first see having a drink together at a bar in New York. A voiceover playfully suggests that others are watching on, wondering what prompts the animated conversation and why one of the trio, the… Continue reading Past Lives
Asteroid City
M, 105 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury To reassure anyone who may get lost along the way, the new film from Wes Anderson begins with a droll explanatory prologue delivered in sonorous tones by its host, Bryan Cranston. There are chapter intertitles along the way and there is even an epilogue of… Continue reading Asteroid City
Barbie
PG, 114 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury Just how does a professional bimbo some say set the feminist movement back 50 years get to be the centrepiece of a must-see movie? Even those who swore against watching it, now want to know what all the fuss is about as Barbie storms box-office… Continue reading Barbie
Alcarras
M, 120 minutes, subtitled 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury From deep within a farm in Catalonia where peaches grow in abundance, there is little to see of the outside world in this intergenerational family drama, though it does make its presence felt. There are festivals in town and there are clubs and bars… Continue reading Alcarras
Other People’s Children
M, 107 minutes, subtitles 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury This gentle, relatable relationship drama set in the city of love and romance explores a sadly common situation. A 40-year-old Parisian teacher who spends each working day with other people’s teenage children, comes to quickly realises how much she will miss out on if… Continue reading Other People’s Children
Reality
M, 83 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury The name of the young security contractor at the centre of this tense, meticulously plotted drama comes as a surprise, likely to catch filmgoers unawares. And when an FBI agent questioning her suddenly addresses her by name, we may wonder if we missed it earlier.… Continue reading Reality
You Hurt My Feelings
You Hurt My Feelings film review by Jane Freebury