Features and reviews

Discover the latest from the BFI, the UK’s lead organisation for film, television and the moving image.

Reviews

Kim Novak’s Vertigo: an intimate audience with a candid Hollywood star

In Alexandre O. Philippe’s documentary, Kim Novak is the one doing the looking, casting a critical eye over her career, her professional relationship with Alfred Hitchcock and the 1958 film that made her name.

By Henry K Miller

Kim Novak’s Vertigo: an intimate audience with a candid Hollywood star

Reviews

D is for Distance: a personal, hallucinatory journey through medical bureaucracy

By Nick Bradshaw

D is for Distance: a personal, hallucinatory journey through medical bureaucracy

Reviews

Fuze: a gripping, unpredictable heist thriller that prizes momentum over depth

By Gayle Sequeira

Fuze: a gripping, unpredictable heist thriller that prizes momentum over depth

Festivals

Pompei: Below the Clouds: documentary tribute to Naples is filled with sepulchral melancholy

By Nick James

Pompei: Below the Clouds: documentary tribute to Naples is filled with sepulchral melancholy

Reviews

Two Prosecutors: bureaucracy is the enemy in this meticulously crafted USSR-set period drama

By Michael Brooke

Two Prosecutors: bureaucracy is the enemy in this meticulously crafted USSR-set period drama

Reviews

Orwell: 2+2=5: Raoul Peck’s portrait of George Orwell dives deep into Nineteen Eighty-Four but finds few new answers

By Abiba Coulibaly

Orwell: 2+2=5: Raoul Peck’s portrait of George Orwell dives deep into Nineteen Eighty-Four but finds few new answers

Reviews

Splitsville: this brilliantly unromantic open marriage comedy pulls no punches

By Kate Stables

Splitsville: this brilliantly unromantic open marriage comedy pulls no punches

Reviews

Broken English: meta Marianne Faithfull doc is a heartbreaking document of her final performance

By Simran Hans

Broken English: meta Marianne Faithfull doc is a heartbreaking document of her final performance

Reviews

Project Hail Mary: Ryan Gosling befriends an alien in a shameless crowd-pleaser

By Henry K Miller

Project Hail Mary: Ryan Gosling befriends an alien in a shameless crowd-pleaser

Reviews

Dead Man’s Wire: Bill Skarsgård sticks it to the man in this nuanced period thriller from Gus Van Sant

By Ben Walters

Dead Man’s Wire: Bill Skarsgård sticks it to the man in this nuanced period thriller from Gus Van Sant

Reviews

Scarlet: a visually striking but narratively frustrating animated adaptation of Hamlet

By Blake Simons

Scarlet: a visually striking but narratively frustrating animated adaptation of Hamlet

Reviews

How to Make a Killing: Glen Powell goes American Psycho in this slick but listless ‘eat the rich’ comedy

By Sophia Satchell-Baeza

How to Make a Killing: Glen Powell goes American Psycho in this slick but listless ‘eat the rich’ comedy

Reviews

The Love that Remains: a family breakdown is treated with a light tragicomic touch in Hlynur Pálmason’s impressive directorial balancing act

By Adam Nayman

The Love that Remains: a family breakdown is treated with a light tragicomic touch in Hlynur Pálmason’s impressive directorial balancing act

Reviews

Resurrection: dreams unlock new social and political realities in Bi Gan’s hypnotic century-spanning travelogue

By Arjun Sajip

Resurrection: dreams unlock new social and political realities in Bi Gan’s hypnotic century-spanning travelogue

Reviews

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man: Tommy Shelby takes on the Nazis in a violent Peaky Blinders spin-off

By Lou Thomas

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man: Tommy Shelby takes on the Nazis in a violent Peaky Blinders spin-off

Reviews

Flies: a lonely retiree and 9-year-old boy find kinship in this charmingly downbeat comedy

By Nicolas Rapold

Flies: a lonely retiree and 9-year-old boy find kinship in this charmingly downbeat comedy

Reviews

Sound of Falling: there’s no escape from patriarchy in this exquisitely crafted tale of German women through time

By Catherine Wheatley

Sound of Falling: there’s no escape from patriarchy in this exquisitely crafted tale of German women through time

Festivals

Queen at Sea: a nuanced and unshowy drama about the moral dilemmas that arise with dementia

By Rachel Pronger

Queen at Sea: a nuanced and unshowy drama about the moral dilemmas that arise with dementia

Festivals

No Good Men: A smartly observed political rom-com set in Afghanistan

By Meenakshi Shedde

No Good Men: A smartly observed political rom-com set in Afghanistan

Festivals

Josephine: a harrowing child’s eye view of the injustice faced by sexual assault survivors

By Rachel Pronger

Josephine: a harrowing child’s eye view of the injustice faced by sexual assault survivors

Reviews

The Testament of Ann Lee: Mona Fastvold delivers an almost spiritual experience in this musical-biopic

By Katie McCabe

The Testament of Ann Lee: Mona Fastvold delivers an almost spiritual experience in this musical-biopic

Reviews

Book review: British Blonde by Lynda Nead examines post-war Britain’s obsession with blondes

By Rachel Pronger

Book review: British Blonde by Lynda Nead examines post-war Britain’s obsession with blondes

Reviews

Collective Monologue: an unconventional and touching portrait of cross-species connection

By Hope Rangaswami

Collective Monologue: an unconventional and touching portrait of cross-species connection

Festivals

Rose: Sandra Hüller is quietly mesmerising in this gender-defying German period drama

By John Bleasdale

Rose: Sandra Hüller is quietly mesmerising in this gender-defying German period drama

Reviews

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die: an AI comedy with just enough satirical bite

By Kambole Campbell

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die: an AI comedy with just enough satirical bite

Reviews

Yellow Letters: Turkish theatremakers face state suppression in this politically-charged Golden Bear winner

By Travis Jeppesen

Yellow Letters: Turkish theatremakers face state suppression in this politically-charged Golden Bear winner

Festivals

Rosebush Pruning: strong performances and stylish visuals can’t save this hollow skewering of the ultra-rich

By Jonathan Romney

Rosebush Pruning: strong performances and stylish visuals can’t save this hollow skewering of the ultra-rich

Reviews

“Wuthering Heights”: Emerald Fennell reimagines Brontë’s classic as a lurid teenage dream

By Catherine Wheatley

“Wuthering Heights”: Emerald Fennell reimagines Brontë’s classic as a lurid teenage dream

Reviews

Whistle: Gnarly kills abound in this knowingly derivative cursed-object horror

By Adam Nayman

Whistle: Gnarly kills abound in this knowingly derivative cursed-object horror

Festivals

The Arab: this symbolic tale of post-revolution Algeria is a powerful update to Camus

By Travis Jeppesen

The Arab: this symbolic tale of post-revolution Algeria is a powerful update to Camus