Filmrecensies van Eric Hillis

The scenes shared between Lustig and Niborski have a lot of charm, the father and son adorably resembling differing layers of a Matroska doll as they walk side by side in their traditional garb. Recensie

There's no bag of cash, no femme fatale, and no guns are brandished, but Bloody Milk is as tense as any neon lit urban thriller. Recensie

If Asensio's goal was to gain notice as an actress by creating a plum role for herself, she's succeeded, but it's behind the camera that she really shines, making Most Beautiful Island one of the most confident directorial debuts of recent years. Recensie

While Garrel leaves the dramatic heavy lifting to his female stars, visually he captures Paris at its best, cinematographer Renato Berta's glorious monochrome and the ambivalent fashions sported by the cast giving Lover for a Day a timeless feel, a reminder that at the age of 16, Garrel made his debut at the height of the French New Wave. Recensie

You can tell a lot of money has been pumped into Darkest Hour, and every penny is on the screen, but its best moments are minute masterclasses in how to convey something big with a small gesture. Recensie

Like Michael Bay's Pain & Gain with biceps swapped out for cleavage, Molly's Game is a hollow void of a movie, one that dresses up an uninteresting tale with verbal fireworks. Recensie

Half of the audience at the press screening I attended was in stitches throughout, while the rest sat in telling silence. Do your homework for this one, and you'll be richly rewarded. Recensie

There's far more interesting stuff going on in the background and on the periphery of this film... Recensie

Three Billboards... is at its best in its quieter moments. Sadly, Three Billboards... falls apart elsewhere. Recensie

The Shape of Water's most glaring issue is its uneven tone. Its potential to become a classic family film (one ideal for any parents wishing to introduce their kids to the joys of the monster movie) is overturned by del Toro's obsession with graphic violence and, most jarringly, graphic nudity. Recensie

If at times Mysius' inexperience is betrayed by film school pretensions, it's rendered forgivable by the youthful, punkish energy she brings to her tale. Recensie

Guediguian fashions a feeling that these are characters we've met before, but never really gotten to know until this moment in time. By its climax, we still don't really know a huge amount about his film's protagonists, but we've seen enough to wish them well, whatever path they may take. Recensie

The most entertaining biopic of a filmmaker since Tim Burton's Ed Wood, Redoubtable is a committedly unserious look at an artist's desperate quest to be taken seriously. Now that Hazanavicius isn't so desperate himself to be taken seriously, we can take him seriously again, as Redoubtable is seriously good, without being very serious. Have I lost you? Recensie

This is a gripping ensemble drama that tackles a timely social issue in a nuanced manner, never straying into the movie of the week path its subject could so easily have diverted it down. Recensie

The Price of Success really succeeds as neither comedy, drama nor thriller. Rahim and Zem are an engaging pair of performers (though physically, it's difficult to buy them as brothers), but they're stuck in a film riddled with cliches; one that adds no new insight to the crowded field of narratives about, well, the price of success. Recensie

Assuming its audience won't be familiar with Grahame, it's patronisingly didactic in how it relays the main talking points of the star's life. Sorry Annette, but this isn't going to be your year. Recensie

The cheap aesthetics are matched by the functional performances of a set of actors who seem like they're working at gunpoint. Recensie

Despite its budgetary limitations, Game of Death boasts an impressive aesthetic, with some gorgeous cinematography by Simon-Pierre Gingras, tactile practical effects, a pounding synth score by Julien Mineau and some diverting animated sequences rendered in the form of an old-school 8-bit video game. It certainly could have explored its premise in more depth, but there's certainly enough here to keep the horror hordes happy for i... Recensie

It's difficult to imagine anyone having a passionate response, whether positive or negative, to Happy End... Recensie

Pulling from a mix of western and eastern sources, The Housemaid can at times feel excessively derivative, but the addition of its backdrop of colonial unrest makes it a unique experience in Asian horror. Recensie

In the movement to have more female viewpoints represented in film, the well intentioned but misguided idea that artists should stick to portrayals of their own genders has been proposed from some quarters. Princess Cyd exposes such an idea as nonsense, boasting two of the most tangibly real women seen in recent cinema. Recensie

Ingrid Goes West makes the sort of point that may have worked better in a sci-fi setting. Indeed we've seen this very subject addressed in a couple of Black Mirror episodes. Tackling its question - if everyone online is so happy, what's wrong with me? - in recognisably current surrounds makes it difficult to view as entertainment, and the result is akin to standing by while forced to watch a troubled young woman drown. Recensie

Almereyda's film is the very definition of a filmed play, with the conversational structure broken only by end of act montages of Malickian shots of nature accompanied by a melancholy Mica Levi score. Thankfully he's cast his talking heads well, plucking the veteran Smith from the off-Broadway production of the original play. Recensie

Sweet Virginia is one of the most engrossing thrillers of recent years, but had it taken more time to explore the emotional turmoil and existential terror experienced by Lila, it really could have been a modern classic. Recensie