Movie reviews of Victor Fraga

Philippe Garrel casts his three scions in this delicate yet uninspiring movie about family connections and dying puppeteering traditions. Review

Queer gangster drama intended as some sort of Neo-noir (with a femme fatale et al) collapses under the weight of its own blonde ambition. Review

Matria is not a misery fest. There are moments of profound beauty and also some hilarious dialogues. Review

Cinematically speaking, On the Adamant is not as inventive and liberated as its characters. This is a more or less conventional documentary. Review

Described as a desert noir and a neo Western, this black-and-white movie is in reality a study of loneliness and the passed on legacy of trauma. Review

Suzume is a highly derivative movie with very little new to offer in terms of topic, narrative and aesthetics. Review

It is deeply respectful of its characters, and never lapses into predictable resolutions. It is also a very stern movie. There are neither laugh-out-loud nor cry-out-loud moments. Instead, Aitor/Cocó and her family are allowed to reconcile their sentiments at their own accord. But the story is also a little protracted, at 127 minutes. Review

Greek piece of slow cinema loosely inspired by the Oedipus Myth has a barely discernible narrative. Review

Black, blunt and beautiful: the grandmother of a Brazilian queer cinema celebrates her 50th anniversary. Review

Semi-autobiographical Mexican drama about a terminally-ill young father is teeming with palpable suffering, but also humanity, kindness and hope. Review

Krieps is very convincing as a quietly confident woman with a latent rage and an unquenchable thirst for new exploits. Review

Allegorical Australian film paints the colours of racism and violence without using any comprehensible dialogue... Review

While hypnotic and technically inventive, this elliptical allegory of illegal immigration and colonialism is just too ambitious for its own sake. Review

Manadrome is is just too conceited in its ability to examine masculinity, and its confusing plot gets lost in desperate search of a more profound, philosophical meaning. It tries to make a lot of statements, but ends up saying very little. Review

Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman's documentary about Volodymyr Zelenskyy is so ridiculously grovelling that it's barely watchable. Review

This 129-minute drama with an equally long title is neither particularly inventive nor subversive. This is a forbidden love story you’ve seen many times before. The sex scenes are credible and steamy, and strangely moving. Review

BlackBerry isn’t a celebratory movie, but instead a caustic comedy, often bordering on the farcical and absurd. Review

It is a well-intentioned but also highly romanticised documentary. It fails to denounce the big culprits, to hold big firms accountable for the damage they continue to inflict on our planet. This is more of celebratory than a denunciation piece of filmmaking. Review

Two men and a bird are trapped within the confines of a remote rural house, in this highly elliptical, meditative Bulgarian film dotted with folklore references. Review

Metatextual documentary investigates the impact that documentaries have on their subjects, and the revelations are sobering. Review

Profoundly entertainment romcom reveal the dirty machinations of “assisted” marriage in the UK and in Pakistan, all with a very lighthearted and moving touch. Review

Despite the effective script, the audacious, riveting topic and the dirty depiction of Iran (that you won’t anywhere else), Holy Spider is not a perfect film. Review

Despite the vintage cinematography and Colman’s performance, Empire of Light is not a masterpiece. A dull script, penned by Mendes himself, prevents both the romance and the racial issues from developing full-blossom. Review

Within Sand is a love letter to the country’s pulsating landscape. The desert is indeed the heart and the soul of the Arabic nation. Review