Sight and Sound magazine

The Ice Tower review: Through the looking glass Marion Cotillard’s impressive performance as a glacial screen diva is matched by newcomer Clara Pacini in Hadžihalilović’s coolly calibrated vision of The Snow Queen.

Marion Cotillard’s impressive performance as a glacial screen diva is matched by newcomer Clara Pacini in Lucile Hadžihalilović’s coolly calibrated vision of The Snow Queen.

@leighsinger.bsky.social reviews The Ice Tower, out today. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

The Thing with Feathers review: Crow business Benedict Cumberbatch throws himself into the role of the newly widowed dad from Max Porter’s novella, but the presence of a menacing seven-foot Crow and excessive use of jump scares makes this meditat...

“Max Porter’s slender book, sharp-eyed in its treatment of bereavement, becomes an intense and oppressive battle between man and crow which yokes supernatural horror to mind-bending grief”
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Odyssey review: Enemy of the estate agent Gerard Johnson delivers another violent journey through a distinctly London brand of low life with a film about an estate agent in debt to gangsters.

“[Gerard Johnson is] the most underrated director currently working at the top of his game in Britain – his films home in on distinctly London strands of lowlife which are explored with hallucinatory vividness”

@AnnoDracula reviews Odyssey www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Left-Handed Girl review: the devil is in the digits A five-year-old girl in Taipei becomes convinced the devil is working through her left hand in Shih-Ching Tsou’s debut feature, an electric family drama co-written and edited by Sean Baker.

“Careful the things you say; children will listen. That’s the well-trodden and evocative theme of Shih-Ching Tsou’s solo debut feature”

@brofromanother.bsky.social reviews Left-Handed Girl, in cinemas today. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

The Running Man review: Killer ratings Edgar Wright’s faithful adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novel about a deadly cross-country chase TV gameshow starring Glen Powell as fugitive Ben Richards is crammed with skilful action sequences, w...

Edgar Wright’s faithful adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novel about a deadly cross-country chase TV gameshow is crammed with skilful action sequences, winking gags and a surprisingly topical strand of social commentary.

Kate Stables reviews. Out now. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Left-Handed Girl review: the devil is in the digits A five-year-old girl in Taipei becomes convinced the devil is working through her left hand in Shih-Ching Tsou’s debut feature, an electric family drama co-written and edited by Sean Baker.

“Careful the things you say; children will listen. That’s the well-trodden and evocative theme of Shih-Ching Tsou’s solo debut feature”

@brofromanother.bsky.social reviews Left-Handed Girl, in cinemas today. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Train Dreams review: Ballad of a railroad man Joel Edgerton gives a career-best performance as a travelling labourer in Clint Bentley’s extraordinary film about a period of extraordinary change in early 20th century America.

“Above all, Train Dreams is the tale of the end of one era and the dawning of another, as the land of Emerson, Thoreau and Frost bleeds into that of Steinbeck, Evans and Agee.”

Catherine Wheatley reviews. Out now. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Escape artist: Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar As Die My Love hits UK cinemas this week, we revisit Lynne Ramsay's second feature Morvern Callar, a modern-day fairytale infused with music, magic and metamorphosis. From our October 2002 issue.

With Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love out now, we revisit the director’s second feature Morvern Callar, a modern-day fairytale infused with music, magic and metamorphosis

www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Anemone review: Brothers grim Daniel Day-Lewis brings potent realism to an otherwise uneven debut about a broken veteran, directed by the actor’s son Ronan Day-Lewis.

“Daniel Day-Lewis throughout feels like glimpsing someone in public in the aftermath of a fight or a cry; he bristles with the real”

@nicolasrapold.bsky.social reviews Anemone. Out now. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Stephen King in conversation with Edgar Wright: “When I wrote The Running Man, 2025 seemed so far in the future that I couldn’t even grasp it in my mind” In a bumper year for screen adaptations of Stephen King’s work, the director of The Running Man, a dystopian thriller about a bloodthirsty TV gameshow, talks to the author about media manipulation, th...

“When I wrote The Running Man, 2025 seemed so far in the future that I couldn’t even grasp it in my mind”

We bring together @stephenking.bsky.social and @edgarwright.bsky.social for an exclusive conversation, ahead of the release of Wright’s #RunningManMovie

www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Stephen King in conversation with Edgar Wright: “When I wrote The Running Man, 2025 seemed so far in the future that I couldn’t even grasp it in my mind” In a bumper year for screen adaptations of Stephen King’s work, the director of The Running Man, a dystopian thriller about a bloodthirsty TV gameshow, talks to the author about media manipulation, th...

“When I wrote The Running Man, 2025 seemed so far in the future that I couldn’t even grasp it in my mind”

We bring together @stephenking.bsky.social and @edgarwright.bsky.social for an exclusive conversation, ahead of the release of Wright’s #RunningManMovie

www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Train Dreams review: Ballad of a railroad man Joel Edgerton gives a career-best performance as a travelling labourer in Clint Bentley’s extraordinary film about a period of extraordinary change in early 20th century America.

“Above all, Train Dreams is the tale of the end of one era and the dawning of another, as the land of Emerson, Thoreau and Frost bleeds into that of Steinbeck, Evans and Agee.”

Catherine Wheatley reviews. In cinemas today. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Kinda love the impossible-to-love DIE MY LOVE

Die My Love review: a ferocious film from Lynne Ramsay The intense relationship between newlyweds Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) and Jackson (Robert Pattinson) drastically unravels after the birth of their baby in Lynne Ramsay’s ferociously maximalist psychodr...

“The story is a thin, juddering downward spiral, told in the cinema of smithereens, with the energy of a bottle hurled at a mirror.”

@jessicakiang.bsky.social reviews Die My Love, out Friday. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Palestine 36 review: an engaging historical drama Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s sweeping period film tackles a moment of profound change: the year 1936, when the Great Palestinian Revolt broke through the complacency of British rule.

“Palestine 36 addresses [Annemarie Jacir’s] trademark themes – identity, the weight of history – on a much larger scale, combining the conventions of classic period drama with a thorough unpacking of the geopolitical failures”

Rachel Pronger reviews. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

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CRITICAL THINKING: THE LAURA MULVEY INTERVIEW

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

ONCE UPON A CRIME

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

PINCH ME!

Harry Lighton’s electrifying feature debut Pillion explores the brutality and tenderness of a BDSM love affair. 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.

ENEMY OF THE STATE

Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning It Was Just an Accident feels like the dissident filmmaker’s most direct attack on the regime to date. He discusses underground filmmaking, his refusal to submit to oppression and the social movement transforming his country. By Jonathan Romney

SHOOT TO THRILL

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. By Henry K. Miller

Out now!

Check the 🧵 below to peek inside…

Relay review: Riz Ahmed is an action hero enigma Ahmed stars as Ash, a go-between for corporate whistleblowers, in Justin Piasecki and David Mackenzie’s smart surveillance conspiracy plot.

Riz Ahmed stars as Ash, a go-between for corporate whistleblowers, in Justin Piasecki and David Mackenzie’s smart surveillance conspiracy.

Kim Newman reviews Relay, out now. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Peter Watkins obituary: radical British filmmaker behind The War Game and Punishment Park The maverick filmmaker and pioneer of the docudrama, whose anti-establishment works redefined political cinema and challenged the very language of mass media, has died aged 90.

Peter Watkins, 1935-2025

The maverick filmmaker and pioneer of the docudrama, whose anti-establishment works redefined political cinema and challenged the very language of mass media, has died aged 90

www.bfi.org.uk/features/pet...

NEW ISSUE! 🧨

Action auteur Kathryn Bigelow on A House of Dynamite

+ Laura Mulvey, Jafar Panahi, Lynne Ramsay, Pillion, True Crime and more

On sale now, out on Monday

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Bugonia review: Help! I think my CEO is an alien Emma Stone stars as a CEO who is kidnapped and accused of being an alien in Lanthimos’s dark and schlocky class-warfare thriller.

“Satire is arguably the most difficult mode to pull off in narrative, and Lanthimos has clearly mastered its blackest, most classic principles”

Travis Jeppesen reviews Bugonia, out now. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Kontinental ’25 review: ballad of the sad bailiff Romanian director Radu Jude's spiky social satire about a bailiff who faces a crisis of conscience when one of her evictees dies by suicide may be his most radical and despairing film yet.

“Radu Jude continues with an ongoing project of including what might be referred to as the trash of life – the absurd indignities and intrusions of the modern condition”

@nicolasrapold.bsky.social reviews Kontinental ’25, out Friday. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Frankenstein review: del Toro’s grand gothic fairytale Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi are superb as Victor Frankenstein and the creature in del Toro’s lavish, melodramatic adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic.

“Guillermo del Toro joins the Frankencanon with a messy but gloriously visceral melodrama which understands that at its core Frankenstein is a cautionary tale about awful parenting”

Catherine Bray reviews www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

The Stranger review: an insightful re-reading of Camus Actor Benjamin Voisin stars as Camus’ naive anti-hero Mersault, a man who is ill at ease with his desire, in this beautifully shot black and white rendition of this classic of existentialism.

“François Ozon’s The Stranger is a faithful adaptation of Albert Camus’s 1942 novella, yet with a subtle revisionist slant”

Jonathan Romney reviews. Playing tonight at #LFF2025 www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Hall of mirrors: the ending of All About Eve The final shot of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s glorious, barbed 1950 masterpiece sneakily suggests that the real villain is not Eve Harrington herself but female ambition in general.

The final shot of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s glorious, barbed 1950 masterpiece sneakily suggests that the real villain is not Eve Harrington herself but female ambition in general. By @jessicakiang.bsky.social

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