BFI Flare: Cherub (2024)
★★★★☆
Lonely scientist Harvey lives a solitary life but discovering Cherub, a magazine for larger men and their admirers, leads to unexpected confidence and joy in writer-director Devin Shears’ Cherub.
festivals
Misericordia (2024) (Miséricorde)
★★★☆☆
Misericordia by Alain Guiraudie is an entertaining and disturbing mixture of sex and death.
BFI Flare: Hot Milk (2025)
★☆☆☆☆
Sofia and Rose have relocated to Spain to try and cure Rose’s mysterious health condition. While supporting her mother, Sofia falls for the enigmatic Ingrid in Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s directorial debut Hot Milk.
The Stimming Pool (2024)
★★★☆☆
April is Autism Acceptance Month and Peckhamplex has a special screening of The Stimming Pool, made by The Neurocultures Collective.
BFI Flare: Summer’s Camera (2024)
★★★★☆
A year after losing her father, teenager Summer falls for a football star, coming to learn about both herself and her late father in the process, in writer/director Divine Sung’s sensitive coming-of -age drama Summer’s Camera.
When Autumn Falls (2024) Quand vient l’automne
★★★★☆
When Autumn Falls by François Ozon is a beguiling mixture of genres, suspense, love and beauty.
On Falling (2024)
★★★★☆
On Falling, a first feature directed by Laura Carreira, is a worthy addition to the Ken Loach trilogy on Sixteen Films: the lives of people struggling on low-wage or zero-hours contracts.
The Summer With Carmen (2023)
★★★☆☆
During a hot day at the beach, friends Demosthenes and Nikitas work on a screenplay about the summer two years earlier in director Zacharias Mavroeidis’ sexy comedy The Summer with Carmen.
Berlinale: The Message (El Mensaje) (2025)
★★★☆☆
The Message is a beguiling, opaque film in Competition at the Berlinale.
Berlinale: Paternal Leave (2025)
★★★★☆
Paternal Leave is charming and heartbreaking at the same time. It’s the debut feature written and directed by Alissa Jung.
Berlin Film Festival 2025: 13-23 February: Line-up
★★★★☆
Berlin Film Festival 2025
A Complete Unknown (2024)
★★★★☆
A Complete Unknown is an excellently written and acted, star-studded (Timothée Chalamet) biopic directed by James Mangold of four crucial early years in the life of iconoclastic genius, musician and poet, Nobel Prize-winning Bob Dylan.
Maria (2024)
★★★★☆
Maria, an emotional biopic, directed by Pablo Larrain, starring an incredible performance by Angelina Jolie as the iconic Maria Callas.
Oscars FYC: From Ground Zero (2024)
★★★☆☆
Oscars 2025: From Ground Zero compiled by Rashid Masharawi is a compilation of short films showing everyday life in a destroyed Gaza.