Festival Review: Don’t Call Me Son (2016)
★★★☆☆
Depicting the impossible situation of teenagers reclaimed by birth parents, Anna Muylaert’s Don’t Call Me Son clothes her emotion in a plain black smock.
Brazil
Festival Review: A Guy From Fenyang (2014)
★★★☆☆
Uncovering the life and works of Jia Zhangke in his home city, Walter Salles’ A Guy From Fenyang reveals the metropolis behind the man.
The Second Mother / Que Horas Ela Volta? (2015)
★★★★☆
With a cracking performance from Regina Casé and a sharp script, Anna Muylaert’s The Second Mother is a well polished gem of class friction in Brazil.
Future Beach / Praia do Futuro (2014)
★★★★☆
A sumptuous gay love story in Brazil and Berlin, Karim Aïnouz’s Future Beach is a provocative and sensual tale of maleness, same-sex love and self-discovery.
Festival Review: The Second Mother / Que Horas Ela Volta?
★★★★☆
The glorious story of one woman’s emancipation, Anna Muylaert’s The Second Mother is a hilarious and quietly devastating parable of modern Brazil.
Festival Review: Blue Blood / Sangue Azul (2015)
★★★☆☆
A mesmerising portrait of the loneliness of the beautiful, Lírio Ferreira’s Blue Blood is an enigmatic blend of circus, ballet and cinema.
The Way He Looks / Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (2014)
★★★☆☆
A Brazilian tale of blind love, Daniel Ribeiro’s The Way He Looks is a lyrical mood piece of adolescent self-discovery but short on feeling.
Reaching For The Moon / Flores Raras (2013)
★★★☆☆
Bringing to light the sexual blossoming of American poet Elizabeth Bishop in Brazil, Bruno Barreto’s Reaching For The Moon loses its way in an overload of story.
Viramundo (2013)
★★★☆☆
On tour through the globe’s indigenous and marginalised peoples in Pierre-Yves Borgeaud’s Viramundo, Gilberto Gil is turning the world upside-down.