The Chambermaid is a film about one woman's fight to get to the top; in this case literally as well as figuratively as promotion means cleaning the floor above in this Mexican hotel.
"This is brilliantly confident film-making. Avilés does not need to leave the building to examine class tensions and cultural misunderstandings, weaving her critique through the hotel's denizens" - Simran Hans, Guardian
We had a double take when we saw the reviews of Donbass: a Ukranian black comedy? Really? Looking closer, that reaction is probably what director Sergey Loznitsa ('In the Fog') wants. His film is trying to show the sheer madness of the war in Ukraine,
"...a place where there are still memories of the second world war, tribal loyalties concerning the Russia that saved Ukraine from Nazi Germany and fascism – but also, on the other side, the Stalinist terror-famine visited on Ukraine before the war" - Peter Bradshaw, Guardian.
The Crossing is based on the weird fact that there is a black market of iPhones going from Hong Kong to China, where they were probably made in the first place.
To make a little extra money shy 16-year-old Peipei smuggles for a gang. It begins harmlessly enough, slipping a couple of iPhones wrapped in cling film into her school bag
"Newcomer [writer-director] Bai Xue is more interested in Peipei's character than the smuggling though, concentrating her cameras on the gradual change in Peipei and her relationships as she gets more involved."- Tony Rayns, Sight & Sound.
Our next members' choice is the Icelandic Woman At War. Our hero is a middle-aged woman, Halla, who is a choir leader by day and has been trying to adopt a child for years, but we meet her walking across a vast moorland with her bow and arrows. Her target is not any animal though: she is after the electric wires held up by pylons. In a world where climate change has become the biggest issue of our time, it is not surprising that films should be made about fighting it, but you will be surprised by the way this Icelandic comedy-drama-thriller handles it.
"Full of heart and soul, Woman. at War is a triumphant and exciting film, and unlike anything you've seen before." - Linda Marric, Heyuguy
n a world where climate change has become the biggest issue of our time, it is not surprising that films should be made about fighting it, but you will be surprised by the way this Icelandic comedy-drama-thriller handles it.
Our hero is a middle-aged woman, Halla, who is a choir leader by day and has been trying to adopt a child for years, but we meet her walking across a vast moorland with her bow and arrows. Her target is not any animal though: she is after the electric wires held up by pylons. The tension is high right from the beginning, though maybe the three-piece band playing on the moor is a little unexpected... "It's a striking introduction to one of the most original and exciting characters to emerge from recent European cinema" - Nikki Baughan, Sight and Sound.
We don't often show sci-fi movies but Aniara is more a philosophical look at what humans might do when threatened with disaster and looked too interesting to ignore.
"This striking first feature from Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja is a work of daunting ambition." - Wendy Ide, Screen International
