@claudioalvesdc.bsky.social
Portuguese film critic & costume designer. Find my writing at The Film Experience, Photogénie, and Magazine HD. Voting member of GALECA and the International Cinephile Society. Gay, He/Him linktr.ee/claudioalvesdc
Obrigado. Fico feliz que tenha gostado e grato pelo elogio ao texto.
It was a struggle. Still, I tried my best to articulate why Kleber Mendonça Filho's THE SECRET AGENT is one of the great cinematic achievements of 2025. Maybe this thing ended up more essay than review, but please give it a read. At The Film Experience:
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/11...
WICKED: FOR GOOD can only rely on its leading ladies up to a point. While Erivo and Grande soar as mightily as in last year's first act, the conclusion to this tale is a descent into the abyss, defying gravity no more.
My review, for The Film Experience:
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/11...
I'm overjoyed that the Gotham Awards recognized Tessa Thompson's tremendous work as the titular diva in HEDDA. I waxed rhapsodic about her in my review of Nia DaCosta's Ibsen reinvention, posted earlier today at The Film Experience. Give it a read!
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/10...
Unsurprisingly, THE MASTERMIND was right up my alley. Kelly Reichardt's ironic take on the heist movie is a deadpan hilarious comedy of failure led by a perfectly pathetic Josh O'Connor. Come read my review at The Film Experience.
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/10...
Pedro Pinho's I ONLY REST IN THE STORM demands the decolonization of our imaginations! Blessed with a magnetic turn by Cleo Diára and great film photography by Ivo Lopes Araújo, it's a rich text, funny as fuck and just as queer.
My #NYFF review:
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/10...
IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU gives a whole new meaning to "send hole pics." Rose Byrne is tremendous as a woman under the influence and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, holding together the tragicomic meditation on motherhood as if her life depended on it.
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/10...
Lucile Hadžihalilovic's THE ICE TOWER, now in theaters, is both a retelling of the Snow Queen fairytale and its echo as a backstage melodrama with a Freudian twist. Marion Cotillard is entrancing while Clara Pacini recalls a young Sandrine Bonnaire. My review:
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/10...
Koberidze's DRY LEAF was shot on a 2008 Sony Ericsson, with a resolution of 240p. It's also the most beautiful film of the cinematic year. Come read this review at The Film Experience, part of my #NYFF coverage.
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/10...
PETER HUJAR'S DAY looks like a very straightforward project at first glance. And yet, I found some fascinating tensions within Ira Sachs' latest, especially regarding portraiture as an artistic practice.
Find my #NYFF review at The Film Experience:
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
The Jennifer Lawrence stans must calm down because Nadia Melliti makes for an amazing Cannes Best Actress winner. I was lucky enough to watch Hafsia Herzi's THE LITTLE SISTER as part of my #TIFF50 experience.
Come read my thoughts at The Film Experience:
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
The troubled legacy of Spanish colonialism in North Africa echoes through three #TIFF50 titles. There is Eimi Imanishi's NOMAD SHADOW, Oliver Laxe's SIRÂT, and Maryam Touzani's CALLE MÁLAGA with a luminous Carmen Maura.
Read my reviews at The Film Experience:
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
Lucía Aleñar Iglesias's FORASTERA is an impressive feature debut that earned its director the FIPRESCI prize at this year's TIFF. It tells the story of a summertime haunting, as a grief-stricken girl starts to assume her dead grandmother's identity.
My review:
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
A POET and KOKUHO both played at #TIFF50 and will represent their countries, Colombia and Japan, at the 98th Academy Awards. For The Film Experience, I reviewed these stories of artists grasping at greatness, jeopardising their dignity and sense of self.
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
It's been two weeks since I saw it at #TIFF50, but I can't stop thinking about THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE. Blessed with a fervent Amanda Seyfried performance and Daniel Blumberg's awe-inspiring song score, Mona Fastvold's experiment is a musical like none other.
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
Angeline Jolie is superb in Alice Winocour's latest. COUTURE is a mural-like look at the Paris Fashion Week that has plenty to say about bodies and their intrinsic fragility. I reviewed it, along with plenty of other #TIFF50 titles, at The Film Experience:
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
Fresh off its #TIFF50 world premiere, Tim Mielant's STEVE is already in theaters. Yeon Sang-ho's THE UGLY isn't too far behind, opening next week for a limited release. I reviewed both titles at The Film Experience.
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
Bursting with outrage at what British imperialism inflicted on the Māori people, MARAMA is an anticolonial spin on a classic Gothic tale. Taratoa Stappard's feature debut had its world premiere at #TIFF50, and here's my review for The Film Experience:
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
Guillermo del Toro's FRANKENSTEIN has amazing costumes, a brilliant Jacob Elordi performance, giddily grotesque effects, a lush score and some nice sets that survive the sabotage of Dan Laustsen's lensing. Nevertheless, it's a lifeless slog.
My #TIFF50 review:
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
Richard Linklater delivered both one of the best and one of the very worst films at TIFF. Can you guess which enchanted me and which one induced a serious need to roll my eyes until they popped out of their sockets?
My reviews of NOUVELLE VAGUE and BLUE MOON:
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
Tamara Kotevska, best known for HONEYLAND, makes her solo directorial debut with THE TALE OF SILYAN. This beautiful documentary is set to represent North Macedonia at the 98th Academy Awards. Here's my review:
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
I know the internet wanted Stone or Seyfried to take home the Best Actress Volpi Cup at this year's Venice Film Festival, but Xin Zhilei makes for a worthy victor. Sadly, the rest of Cai Shangjun's THE SUN RISES ON US ALL isn't at her level.
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
HAMNET made me cry like few films have, but that doesn't mean it's a flawless masterpiece. I tried to reckon with my feelings in this review, ruminating on Chloé Zhao's best work to date, a troublesome last act, a miraculous Buckley and even better Watson.
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/9/...
I'm back at TIFF, for the third year in a row, covering the festival for The Film Experience.
I didn't much care for THE RINGER's list, so I made my own.
letterboxd.com/claudioalves...
I wrote about Shô Miyake's TWO SEASONS, TWO STRANGERS for The Film Experience. This year's Locarno Golden Lion winner is a moving, occasionally humorous, always graceful musing on those lonely souls who experience present life in the past tense.
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/8/...
Obsessing over Amy Madigan in WEAPONS? Then come read my thoughts on her oft-forgotten Oscar-nominated work in TWICE IN A LIFETIME. At The Film Experience, I also reviewed Brenda Vaccaro and James Woods' nominations for two of the worst movies in Oscar history.
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/8/...
I'll be ranking Wes Anderson's feature filmography at The Film Experience, going through the director's oeuvre, one melancholic diorama at a time. This first part concerns travelogues, second drafts, and one of my favorite performances in his body of work.
thefilmexperience.net/blog/2025/7/...
Thank you!
Celebrated my birthday with Glauber Rocha.