Sight and Sound: the December 2025 Issue

On the cover: Multi-award-winning action auteur Kathryn Bigelow on her most compelling film yet, the tense political thriller A House of Dynamite.

Inside the issue: An in-depth interview with Bigelow as she discusses her commitment to authenticity and her switch to journalistic realism. A celebration of film theory icon Laura Mulvey as she receives a BFI Fellowship; Iranian director Jafar Panahi on his Palme d’Or-winning It Was Just an Accident and underground filmmaking; Pillion director Harry Lighton on his feature debut exploring a BDSM love affair; and the directors of Zodiac Killer Project and Predators discuss the dangerous allure of true-crime tales. Plus, reviews of new releases and a look back at Todd Haynes’s Far from Heaven.

“Art can cross all cultural lines.”
-         Kathryn Bigelow in the new issue of Sight and Sound.

Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite, a tense political thriller hinging on the threat of nuclear annihilation, is the most compelling film of her career. She discusses her commitment to authenticity and her mid-career switch to journalistic realism following the genre delights of Blue Steel, Point Break and Strange Days. By Henry K. Miller.

Inspired by his experience of being interrogated in prison in Iran, Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-wi ning It Was Just an Accident feels like the dissident filmmaker’s most direct attack on the regime to date. Here he discusses underground filmmaking, his refusal to submit to oppression and the social movement transforming his country. By Jonathan Romney.

Harry Lighton’s electrifying feature debut, the romantic comedy drama Pillion, explores the brutality and tenderness of a BDSM love affair between a nerdy traffic warden and a hunky motorbike rider. He talks about his conversion to cinephilia, steering clear of classic biker movies and the thrill of the film’s triumphant reception. By Jane Giles.

The past decade has seen an explosion of interest in true-crime tales, often repackaged in safe, predictable forms for streaming consumption. Zodiac Killer Project director Charlie Shackleton and Predators director David Osit talk to Nick Bradshaw about their efforts to test the parameters of true-crime documentaries by interrogating the dangerous allure of the form itself. By Nick Bradshaw.

Over half a century and around the globe, Laura Mulvey’s influence on thinking about film, through her writing and her own filmmaking practice, has been unparalleled. As she receives a BFI Fellowship, she talks to Sight and Sound about her career and her influences. By Isabel Stevens.

The unveiling of ‘AI actress’ Tilly Norwood has prompted a mix of anger and concern within the industry, but are there ways for filmmakers to use the technology to their advantage without employing stolen labour? By Dominic Lees.

Recommendations from the Sight and Sound team.

New films from Alexandre Koberidze, Koreeda Hirokazu and Michael Almereyda. By Hope Rangaswami.

A forthcoming film season in London presenting images of land as a political, ecological and aesthetic form invites us to look carefully and ask questions. Whose land is it? Whose perspective? By Becca Voelcker.

Die My Love stars Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson as a couple who find their passion curdling after the birth of their first child. The director explains how she created an intimate, feral portrait of love on the rocks. By Catherine Bray.

Keaton was a performer who would let us laugh both with her and at her; the shortcomings she felt in herself became strengths on screen. By Hannah McGill.

Drew Struzan’s portraiture was the key to his dazzling poster work for a series of classic films. By Hope Rangaswami.

The Long Take

The Mastermind revels in the gentle pleasures of the heist film, but the real crimes are happening elsewhere. By Pamela Hutchinson.

Flick Lit

Ari Aster’s Eddington and J.G. Ballard’s Super-Cannes explore the link between paranoia, boredom and violence. By Nicole Flattery.

TV Eye

Ted Danson and Shelley Long raised the bar for the other actors in the best episodes of the classic sitcom Cheers. By Andrew Male.

Editorial

Tilly Norwood: unexpected item in Hollywood. By Mike Williams.

Lost and Found: Evdokia

This deeply sensuous, doomed romance between a soldier and a sex worker, set in Greece under the regime of the Colonels, is recognised at home as one of the greatest Greek films. It’s about time the rest of the world caught up. By Christina Newland.

The Chronicles of Tilda

An exhibition in Amsterdam focusing on the life and work of Tilda Swinton, one of the most versatile actors of the modern age, is as much a celebration of the collective art of filmmaking as it is a tribute to a dazzling artist. By Rachel Pronger.

High and Low

The legacy of an antimalarial project in colonial-era Sierra Leone is explored in Liverpool. By Ben Nicholson. 

On the eve of a major BFI season of classic film melodramas, we revisit Todd Haynes’s Far from Heaven, a sumptuous exploration of repression that lovingly recreates the narrative preoccupations, acting styles and colour palette of the films of Douglas Sirk. By Richard Falcon.

Films

Our critics review: Left-Handed Girl, The Ice Tower, The Thing With Feathers, Palestine 36, Park Avenue, The Choral, Predators, The Lost Bus, Train Dreams, Blue Moon, Alpha, Jay Kelly, Pillion, Anemone, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, The Perfect Neighbour, I Swear, Zodiac Killer Project, It Was Just An Accident, Die My Love.

DVD and Blu-Ray

Our critics review: Daiei Gothic Vol. 2: Japanese Ghost Stories, Le Quai des brumes, Martyrs, Object Z, Kaizō Hayashi’s Maiku Hama Trilogy, Altered States, Malpertuis, Manthan.

Books

Our critics review: Last Week in the End Times Cinema, Film Critics and British Film Culture, The Carbon Arc: A Collection of Essays on Cinema.