Ms. Magazine was co-founded in 1972 by journalist and activist Gloria Steinem, along with editors Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Patricia Carbine, and Suzanne Braun Levine. The magazine challenged the usual woman-oriented publications that focused on housekeeping, suburban fashion, or recipes. These typical magazines were supported by brands and felt more like advertisements than journalism, let alone spaces for opinionated writing.

In reality, the debut of Ms. Magazine happened months earlier, on 20 December 1971. What is seen as the first edition was a 40-page insert in New York magazine, which had, in its ranks, founding editor Gloria Steinem as a staff writer. Considering that it could be their only shot to bring more serious conversations, the issue featured pieces on Black Family and Feminism, the need to review the roles of sex and gender in the English Language, and the strong story We Have Had Abortions which brought a list of 53 signatures by well-known American women, including Anaïs Nin, Susan Sontag, and Steinem herself. In eight days, the 300,000 available copies sold out. What followed was a successful story of a magazine founded and run by women, negating the voices rooting for its failure.

Having non-reader-friendly pages meant that announcers wouldn’t throw money at the magazine; still, it approached subjects that were avoided, and by its reception, the publication showed that society needed to face itself in the mirror.

“Domestic violence” and “sexual harassment” might come up every now and then in the media and at the workplace when discussing the trials that women go through in their daily lives; still, it is due to Ms. Magazine’s trailblazing that such terms for these dreadful situations are part of the lexicon. Although there is still much to be done regarding women’s and other minorities’ rights, the documentary features film and TV clips from that era and interviews with women recounting their experiences, showing what may feel like a different world but is still very present today. Thus, conforming to the defining work by such publications.
One of the highlights of the documentary is that, even though it uses archival footage and shows interviews from that time and period, it has never-seen-before footage of the period and interviews with the Ms. Magazine staff, allies, and collaborators, which makes it more valuable, considering that many of those voices are now in their twilight, thus giving more credibility to this work.

A precise look at the complexity of the feminist movement

By not turning it in a pinkish nostalgia dream, ‘Dear Ms.’ goes into the deep conversations between feminism and intersectionalities showcasing how with all the good intentions, White feminism can have it blind spots for Black women and other non-white women hailing from impoverished backgrounds that have to deal with their condition as women plus racial background and economic realities that push them downward in the stairs as they struggle for a better place in society and more respect from their peers.

The delusion of Black women can be seen in how the magazine Essence, which focused on Black women, didn’t flourish as its bigger cousin. Pain and frustration can be heard in these Black voices, but so too can the ways in which such hard and disappointing experiences can reinvigorate and be turned to other ways for female Blackness.

The documentary’s third act explores the difficult topic of feminism and sex work, showing that the movement is not a heterogeneous body. Some radical feminists oppose sex work, sometimes mirroring conservative or religious positions. Still, some women view sex work as part of their feminist expression, and it provides income for many disenfranchised women.

Former porn actress, sexologist and activist Annie Sprinkle shines in this section. She shares her decades-long perspective and offers a profile of sex worker life in America. In the end, Sprinkle speaks about her Ms. Magazine piece on cookies. While she does not mention sex work there, the piece serves as a metalinguistic microcosm of how sex work fits into society. It is controversial, but it won’t go away, much like cookies.

The trio of directors is competent and made good use of the subjects, themes, and interviewees to avoid having a bloated doc; on the other hand, giving Ms. Magazine a proper look through, and the helmer’s skills open up opportunities for other documentaries: one focused on Black Women Magazine Essence, and the other featuring Sprinkle as a character study. Sprinkle is a character from the 70s and 80s gritty New York and should have a biopic by now.

‘Dear Ms.: A Revolution in Print’ should be available in physical form, and Journalism, Sociology, History, and Anthropology colleges, among other Humanities areas, would do their students and staff a favour by showing it to them. Ms. Magazine is still in print, and it has a younger sister, the Women’s Media Center (WMC), which counts Gloria Steinem among its founders. I’m glad that at the start of my foreign writing career, I was able to publish with WMC, where I learned not only about journalism but also how to approach and cover minorities and distressing realities.

The post HBO’s Dear Ms. Documentary Review: How Ms. Magazine Shaped Feminism and Media Culture appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

In this article, we will look at recent film industry developments across various parts of Africa. As well as how the UK has responded to this rise, and how it impacts both audiences and filmmakers.

Africa’s Film Boom

Over the past few decades, the film industries of various African countries have become more prominent. Both locally and on the world stage. Nigeria is recognised as being one of the world’s biggest film industries. With reports saying production numbers are around 2500 films a year. Senegal has seen a revival in international cinematic attention thanks to the work of filmmakers like Mati Diop. Ghana is seeing around 600 films completed each year. Other countries, like South Africa, have thriving film production sectors, while Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and more have their own unique cinematic footprint. Producing hundreds of local films a year. UNESCO said in 2022 that filmmaking accounts for around $5 billion of GDP across the continent.

The cinema of various African countries has also been prominently spotlighted to English-speaking audiences, thanks to things like Netflix’s investment in and distribution of films from across the continent, high-profile companies like A24 providing distribution deals for certain releases and big film festivals giving space for the work of African filmmakers from various countries. So with so many films being made and so much attention being paid to the continent’s films, why is it still hard for UK audiences to see them?

The UK & African Film

Around 2.9% of the UK population identifies as African in some way. International cinema has also continued to prove itself at the UK box office in recent years. It therefore seems odd that more stories made by various African countries are not widely screened across the country. Additionally, although films made across Africa have a presence on UK streaming sites, the selection is often limited. Popular services like BBC iPlayer, All4 and ITVX either make titles hard to find or have little to no titles at all. 

Critics have noted that the reason for this is the entrenched racism of Western film industries. As seen in the UK, this can manifest in many ways. Some distributors won’t show films produced in Africa at all, whether conscious or not, the result is the same. Exhibitors can also limit screenings of African films to only a few titles. Contributing to a flattened image of Africa rather than showcasing the continent’s diversity. Additionally, many distributors often select films that play well to a global audience to maximise profit. Meaning cultural specificity is lost. This can also result in filmmakers reducing a film’s cultural identity to appeal to distributors.

All this results in a limited number of films made throughout Africa reaching potential audiences in the UK. This leads to African filmmakers and diaspora audiences being isolated from the industry, with filmmakers not allowed to assert their identity as part of the global community, and diaspora audiences are unable to connect with stories related to their culture and history. To say nothing of the harm that can arise when cultures are misunderstood and misrepresented.

More Must Be Done 

Considering that, according to people like Carmen Thompson of Aya Films, “the demand is definitely there and the content is being made,” more needs to be done to pressure distributors and exhibitors to show films made in Africa to diaspora audiences in the UK.

However, if this era of rising awareness has taught us anything, it’s that media corporations and UK exhibition structures can’t be trusted to make this change on their own. To ensure fairer showcasing of films made in Africa, cooperation rather than profit needs to be the central motivating factor. Many community-led initiatives have been bringing films from Africa to the diaspora and beyond for years. Support for these initiatives and new ones that prioritise the development and distribution of African films must be intensified to showcase the reach these films have. At the same time, power must be kept with the filmmakers to allow their stories to be told how they want.

The post Africa on Screen, Britain in the Audience: Is the UK Still Missing the Pan-African Wave? appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

The movie is directed by Zackary Drucker, a trans storyteller and prominent documentarist, whose background enables her to see both women through the lens of someone who has endured similar issues and has felt similar happy moments in personal life and career, thus making ‘Enigma’ feel more grounded and natural.
Ashley talks about her childhood during World War II in Britain, growing up in a blue-collar family, having a Royal Navy sailor as her father, and sharing the household with 9 siblings. Ashley’s narrative shows how difficult it was to navigate her blossoming identity during those days. The Black-and-White photos, alongside the editing and narration, reinforce how grim such a childhood could be. Ashley’s upbringing feels like a queer Charles Dickens tale.

The film transitions to the Le Carrousel de Paris cabaret in 1950s France, a club featuring crossdressers and later transwomen performing in shows. For years, Le Carrousel was one of the most disputed spaces in Parisian nightlife, visited by the likes of Josephine Baker, Edith Piaf, Salvador Dalí, and Elvis Presley. It was there that Ashley found solace and a “home” after being discharged from the British Merchant Navy. It was also the place and time when she became acquainted with Peki d’Oslo, a male-born art student who started performing at the club, and Ashley took them under her wing.

The ‘Enigma’ circles the claim that Peki d’Oslo was Amanda Lear’s previous identity, a claim Lear denies. However, Ashley exposed it in her memoir and in the interviews featured in this documentary. The vivacious Lear is evasive when talking about her past before modelling in the UK and enjoying a successful musical career that started in 70s France, during the high days of Disco Music.

On the other hand, post-Le Carrousel, Ashley had a renowned career as a Vogue model until being outed in 1961, an event that unravelled through a public and embattled divorce with her husband in 1970, infused with societal shaming and the judge declaring her sex as “male,” thus setting the standard to defining trans people’s sex in the UK after their birth sex. Ashley would take part in many public interviews to clarify about her case and identity, and became one of the country’s trans rights beacons.

Ashley had a life of glass ceilings and roadblocks; still, she became part of London’s gastronomy circuit with a successful restaurant, and the legal precedent started with her divorce case was overturned decades later by the UK’s Gender Recognition Act of 2004, allowing trans people to change their sex on their birth certificate. On the cusp of her 70th birthday, Ashley was able to change her legal gender.

Zackary Drucker conducts interviews with Ashley and Lear. Meanwhile, Canadian London-based trans historian and activist Morgan M. Page interviews two of Ashley’s colleagues from the Le Carrousel de Paris, Bambi (Marie-Pierre Pruvot) and Dolly Van Doll (Carla Follis), as well as burlesque artist and advocate Allanah Star, a protégé of Bambi. The veterans also tell their own stories of struggle and victories; they also attest that Lear was part of the roster of performers. Still, Lear rebukes such claims with conviction, but remains elusive about her background and connections. Throughout her career, she gave different answers when talking about her past, which makes her a compelling character.

The identities behind the names and trans walks of life

The alleged trans identity of Lear is considered an open secret within the LGBTQIA+ community and Parisian society, which is not a progressive safe haven for trans people. Still, it is less conservative than other European nations and the US. It is hard to imagine a trans singer achieving the success Lear had if they came out to the public.

Lear enjoyed a bustling life, having connected with the likes of surrealist painter Salvador Dalí and musicians David Bowie and Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, not to mention that Lear was a successful Paco Rabanne model. Those from Le Carrousel attest that Peki d’Oslo was her stage name, while Amanda Tap was how she identified in daily life. Through a marriage with a British architect in the 60s, she became Lear.
To this day, Lear denies knowing Ashley, let alone being close friends. Drucker sees in Lear’s stance a survival strategy employed by many from the trans community. Nevertheless, Lear’s songs may allude to her real identity. Her 1980 song “Fabulous (Lover, Love Me)” has the subjective lyrics: “Surgeon built me so well nobody could tell that I once was somebody else.”

It is interesting to see in ‘Enigma’ the relation between birth, current, and artistic names that all those involved in this documentary have, and how this translates into how rich and complex each of their personalities is.
Nonetheless, the documentary shows how journalists can be vultures in their attempt to sensationalise trans lives while not regarding the societal and psychological trauma they are inflicting on interviewees and other trans people. After their “work” is done, they will move out to the next story, while others have to swallow the harrowing aftermath. But when Ashley approaches such identity, it feels more like showing other members of the community and outsiders how bright they can shine.

Drucker brings a respectful yet down-to-earth eye to Ashley and Lear. While Ashley is the archetype of a serious activist for trans rights, Lear is the charismatic star with an interesting juggle between identity and public presentation. Page’s interviewees add by further showing how difficult it is to thrive in society, in a time when trans women would change towns or even countries and present themselves as a cisgender born woman to live a peaceful life, thus neglecting their identity, as is told by Pruvot.

It is through Drucker’s eyes that these parallel life stories are told, and Drucker brings gravitas to the film while not falling into the condescending traps that ooze through the cracks or into out-and-loud advocacy. We see these situations when such characters are approached by those who aren’t from the community and lack common sense.

Though I believe some outsiders can bring a humane, crafted look to a specific community, and they should be encouraged to do so, a significant example is the late Brazilian documentarist, Eduardo Coutinho. Still, Drucker’s sensitive approach is part of what makes this story unique. Drucker has directed before the competent ‘The Lady and the Dale’ about trans-American automobile executive Geraldine Elizabeth Carmichael and her dark entrepreneurial story. Drucker can show light-hearted moments and others that are heavy; therefore, she never paints the queer community as one-dimensional characters nor makes propaganda. Drucker is a committed professional, and ‘Enigma’ is a fascinating portrait of transgender life and the times of Ashley, Lear, and others like them.

The post HBO’s ‘Enigma’ is a Layered Look at Defiance and Identity Among The Trans Women Community appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Project Hail Mary starts with Dr Ryland Grace on a spaceship waking up from an induced coma designed to make the journey easier on the astronauts. Originally, Grace cannot remember who he is or what is going on, but soon things start to come back to him. He is part of “Project Hail Mary”, a worldwide effort to save Earth; the Sun is being eaten by a new form of life, and within decades, the resulting cooler temperature will make life on Earth impossible. This mission is a huge roll of the dice, a long-shot doomed to fail – the analogy of a “Hail Mary” pass in American football, something that will almost certainly not work, but what do you have to lose?

The film focuses on Grace on the Hail Mary spaceship as he travels to a distant star to find out why it isn’t being dimmed by these lifeforms, and is interspersed with Grace back on Earth. Starting with him as a middle school science teacher to being recruited to “Project Hail Mary” and the work done to get the project going.

The film is directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, best known for directing The Lego Movie and the Spider-Verse animated films. While they have worked on live-action films before, animation has been their main concern. The film is a spectacle. They mix wonderfully created sets of spaceships with the immense beauty and desolation of open space. The film is full of breathtaking shots of stars, the atmosphere of distant planets, of rotating spaceships and the sky seemingly being on fire.

The trailer of the film was controversial in that it shared information many fans of the book thought should have remained secret, namely, the existence of Rocky. Rocky is an alien lifeform that Grace meets on his mission…who is on a similar mission for his own people. In scenes reminiscent of Arrival, Grace and Rocky spend some time simply trying to communicate with each other, both realising the other is there for the same reason. Rocky is so-called because, to Grace, he looks like a bunch of moving rocks. Most aliens in Star Trek, Star Wars etc are humanoid, similar in form to us; Rocky is not. Credit is due to the directors and Gosling for making us care so much about Rocky; they have a personality that is conveyed to us, and we become invested in their well-being and that of their planet. Rocky is created using puppetry rather than CGI and motion capture, which all involved have credited with a part of the reason people care about Rocky. Gosling is acting with something physical, not something that will be added using CGI later.

Ryan Gosling spends long sections of this film being the only actor on screen, and he easily holds our attention. The scenes on Earth show this rather unlikely saviour – an anxious, uneasy, kind, damaged person, who was severely punished when they tried to excel and so stopped trying to excel. The rest of the cast gets little time on screen; there is a mix of astronauts, scientists, and government figures who we meet and are in the background. The exception to this is Eva Stratt, played by Sandra Huller, the person running Project Hail Mary. She is an almost emotionless, stern, principled person trying to save the world; she has no time for jokes, doubt, procrastination or anything like that. This emotionless exterior is not a lie, but it becomes clear she is doing all this because of how much she cares and just what she is willing to sacrifice.

Project Hail Mary is one of those films that fulfils so much of the cinematic experience, a genuine visual spectacle, heart-wrenching, tense, funny, mind-opening and more. It is a film about trying, trying to do the right thing, trying to be better today than you were yesterday, trying to put others first and while we may not always succeed, there will be other opportunities.

Rating: (4 / 5)

The post Review: Project Hail Mary – A Bold, Emotional Sci-Fi Epic Worth the Journey appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

This introductory scene serves as a résumé of what Brazil was like under the military dictatorship and what it is like to try to make it here today. Oppressive, improvised, comical, dramatic, paranoid, and charismatic all at the same time, these qualities are blended under the peculiar writing and lens of auteur Kleber Mendonça Filho, as well as the world-class acting skill of Wagner Moura.

‘The Secret Agent’ dialogues with Mendonça Filho’s memoir-documentary ‘Pictures of Ghosts’ (2023): both use Downtown Recife’s classic film palaces. In the documentary, these theatres are fading memories of a bygone, elegant era; in the Solimões saga, they become a character alongside the picture, with a blend of colonial, neoclassical, and art nouveau architecture. The same sun that gives the distinctive coloring and shades also touches the skin of locals, granting Recife a unique look compared to more well-known Brazilian cities like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, or Salvador. Mendonça Filho presents aspects of local culture that resonate abroad without losing identity—his film is a love letter to his childhood in Recife and its cinema culture.

Although Brazil has brought to the world many films depicting the dictatorship years, ‘The Secret Agent’ stands out. For the untrained eye, it feels like a B-movie, but this presentation is just a layer of a nuanced arthouse picture that can also entertain. The exploitation gene is more alive when the legend of the hairy leg is told during a friend’s meeting, and the narration is followed by scenes of an amputated hairy leg causing mischief in Recife’s night, which was, in fact, a way to expose the abuses of the dictatorial law enforcement agents during that era of suffocating freedom of expression. Not to forget that, according to the National Truth Commission, 434 people were killed or disappeared by the dictatorship. Nevertheless, experts like Eugênia Augusta Gonzaga believe this number exceeds 10,000 people.

Besides being another chapter of Brazil’s revisionism of its authoritarian past, ‘The Secret Agent’ follows the world success of Walter Salles’ ‘I’m Still Here’ (2024), in which a widow and mother of four defies the regime in search of her state-abducted, tortured, and murdered husband. Both films take place in the 1970s under the same government, but they feel very distinctive and showcase that Brazilian narrators have more stories from that period to tell, and ‘The Secret Agent’ keeps the Brazilian momentum in world cinema.

Since the last decade, Brazilian films have been gaining space abroad. To explore this trend, renowned Brazilian critic Sérgio Rizzo shared his perspective in an exclusive interview with The Big Picture Film Club. Rizzo explains the international award-winning picture in the global landscape: “For Brazilian cinema, the film’s successful international run represents yet another contribution to the self-esteem of audiovisual production in the country. Its international production and distribution alliances also help, following ‘I’m Still Here,’ to reinforce the image of Brazilian audiovisual production as a good partner, capable of creating works deeply connected to national culture and, at the same time, with the capacity to communicate with audiences in other countries, especially in Europe and the USA.”

Still, it is not an easy way to reclaim the role it had in the 70s and 80s as happened with ‘The Kiss of the Spider-Woman’ (1985) or the acclaim it got at the dawn of this century with ‘City of God’ (2001) and there is work to be done after ‘I’m Still Here’ and ‘The Secret Agent,’ according to Rizzo: “However, for the success of these two films to cease being merely episodic and become a permanent occupation of a space in the international spotlight, measures are needed in the area of public policies that strengthen the Brazilian industry in the medium and long term, which is not currently happening.”

A pool of international exchange under tropical weather

Brazilian pictures have attracted international talents like Italian legend Marcello Mastroianni in ‘Gabriela’ (1983), ‘My Hindu Friend’ (2015) with Willem Dafoe, and Frenchman Vincent Cassel, who has strong ties with the nation, was cast in ‘Adrift’ (2009) and ‘The Movie of My Life’ (2017). Late German veteran character actor Udo Kier was a collaborator of Mendonça Filho, playing the main antagonist in ‘Bacurau’ (2019), which also had a squad of foreign talents, and portraying a Holocaust survivor in ‘The Secret Agent,’ a metalanguage of authoritarian regimes and their everlasting impact on their survivors, and also his last role. These and other collaborations show that there is room for foreign talent in authorial and independent Brazilian films.
When asked what foreign talent can bring to the Brazilian table, Rizzo explains: “‘I’m Still Here’ and ‘The Secret Agent’ already feature foreign professionals, especially Europeans, in artistic and technical roles. These are concrete and successful examples of opening new avenues for internationalising work, which are fundamental to the audiovisual production system in the 21st century.”

‘The Secret Agent’ features impactful cinematography by Russia’s Evgenia Alexandrova, while ‘I’m Still Here’ has a rich soundtrack by Australian musician Warren Ellis. Rizzo further elaborates on these symbiotic international relations:

Just as the US audiovisual industry traditionally relies on the talent of professionals from other countries; the Brazilian audiovisual industry has its doors open to the participation of foreign ‘players’ in strategic positions. Actors and actresses, for example, can revitalize their careers by participating in auteur films with strong festival presence and high circulation on prestigious exhibition circuits, which, in turn, allows them to occupy spaces in the global media spotlight. Producers can associate themselves with local projects and benefit from this same privileged circulation.” – Sérgio Rizzo

In this current high-momentum period, Brazilian cinema can accommodate both veteran and emerging talents. Names like Academy Award-winning Melissa Leo, charismatic 80s leading man Philip Michael Thomas, and New Queer Cinema mainstay Guinevere Turner come to my mind as they can offer much on and off-screen. While actors that deserve greater leading status include Ireland’s Mark Ryder (Borgia) and local Alexandre Rodrigues, who brought ‘City of God’s Rocket to life. Although the future is uncertain, the Brazilian cinema community, alongside local and foreign talents and fans, should savour moments like the one unfolding in this unique, sun-bathed corner of the globe.

The Secret Agent is in cinemas now

The post ‘The Secret Agent’ Unveils Authoritarian Trauma and New Narratives For World-Cinema appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Following our 2025 collaborations with partners including Citibank, Clyde & Co and Covington, we are continuing to work with major UK companies on an internal screening programme designed to support DEI, wellbeing and awareness-led conversations in the workplace. These events pair films with educational discussion, often including live or virtual Q&As, to help organisations engage staff in a more meaningful way.

We are now inviting filmmakers to submit films for consideration.

We are primarily looking for educational short films, ideally 15–30 minutes in length, although we will consider longer works if they can be edited into a shorter version. We are especially keen to hear from UK-based filmmakers who have films that align with key UK awareness themes, including Mental Health, Disability & Accessibility, Neurodiversity, Women & Gender Equity, LGBTQ+ Inclusion, Race & Ethnicity, Workplace Inclusion, Environment & Climate, and Community & Belonging.

Films can be in post-production or currently on the festival circuit. Private Vimeo or YouTube links are welcome, though we are generally not seeking films already freely available to the public. If filmmakers or cast members are available to take part in in-person or virtual Q&As, that is a major plus.

To submit, simply complete the form below. If your film is a fit for one of our partners, we will be in touch. Rights holders will be paid for any screenings, and filmmakers will retain full ownership and control of their work. We are not acquiring films for distribution — we are creating new opportunities for them to be seen.

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Created by Big Picture Film Club with matchmaking service Introducing Two, Film & Flirt mixes speed-friending, themed games and casual conversation with an independent rom-com screening. The first event takes place at Genesis Cinema on Tuesday 14th April, with more dates planned through the summer.

The series is aimed at singles feeling the effects of “swipe fatigue.” Research cited by the organisers says 78% of dating app users feel burned out, but keep swiping because they don’t know where else to meet people.

“Many dating apps have left people exhausted and disconnected,” said Urvisha Patel, creator of Film & Flirt and co-founder of Big Picture Film Club. “We’re creating a space where you can meet someone face-to-face, over drinks, with no algorithms involved.”

The film screening for the first event will be the British romantic comedy Due Dating, a 90-minute feature that follows Cherry, a young woman determined not to let pregnancy derail her dating life, and Cole, a blogger trying to better understand modern relationships. With the tagline “Young, free…and pregnant,” the film explores love, timing and the unpredictable ways people connect.

By pairing social matchmaking with independent cinema, Film & Flirt aims to create a space where conversation and connection come first — while also introducing audiences to new films.

The post Film & Flirt: The IRL Dating Event Ditching Apps for Rom-Coms appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

This out-of-the-ordinary moment is a sample of how the dramedy ‘Rental Family’ portrays Japan from a unique light that appeals to locals and outside audiences as it approaches the business that gives the picture its name, where people hire actors to pretend that they are relatives, friends, or love interests, but doesn’t involve sexual relations, although there is a sensible approach to sex workers in the picture. The rental family is a “make-believe” connection; however, the picture directed by Hikari reveals how deep such relations can go, either on paths of tenderness or toxicity, while touching on hard themes such as queerness and neglectful parenthood in Japanese culture. The screenplay was written by Hikari alongside Stephen Blahut.

The protagonist benefits from Fraser’s everyman charisma, which blends his will to keep trying to improve even as life gives him a bad hand. Fraser won the 2023 Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a moment that crowned the beloved performer who had come from a dark and vulnerable personal period, and it is this appeal along with his acting range and skill to bring to life the characters that makes Vanderploeg more believable as a journeyman actor in a foreign land, who is very distant from the matinée adventurer from the Mummy franchise or the scoundrel lawyer from ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ asserting Fraser’s capabilities.

‘Rental Family’ unites a world-class cast, showcasing Japanese talent to the West and highlighting Japan’s cinema culture. Shannon Mahina Gorman plays the child who has Vanderploeg as her “father.” The young actress shows veteran sensibilities, making the character’s reactions natural and authentic. This stands out, as directing children to appear genuine is challenging and often results in performances that feel forced. Thus, further showing how Hikari is a capable director and the good worker that Gorman is.

Hira has a leading man vein that, alongside Ken Watanabe and Hiroyuki Sanada, makes him a successor to past Japanese cinema leading men such as Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, and Ryô Ikebe. Hira can be charming and, in a snap, can be toxic. Another standout from the cast is journalist turned actress Mari Yamamoto, who finds in Aiko Nakajima, a dramatic character in ‘Rental Family’ who, at the start, goes with the motions in a life that seems to be leading to nowhere great in terms of professional planning, but also in a personal aspect. Nakajima represents what women have to endure in Japanese society. Yamamoto is known for the series ‘Pachinko’ and is shining in ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.’ She is leading lady material.
Akira Emoto delivers a tender, sad performance as ageing actor Kikuo Hasegawa, a once-important figure who is now ostracised by the film industry and society. Struggling with his memories, his story reflects how the cinema industry neglects those who were once celebrated, leaving them as forgotten names or mere answers in crossword puzzles.

The cinematography gives ‘Rental Family’ a distinctive appeal compared to other Tokyo-based productions. It uses lighter colour palettes while also evoking a sense of loneliness and longing to belong, themes central to the story. The film is suitable for families, but it is not watered down, as it dialogues with films like ‘Lost in Translation’ and has shades of the darker ‘Midnight Cowboy.’

According to the University of Southern California’s (USC) Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, ‘Rental Family’ is among the top 100 highest-grossing films of last season and one of only nine in this group directed by a woman, a confirmation that Hikari is a raising voice and ‘Rental Family’ is better enjoyed in a movie theater, still it can be cozy at home. The cast’s chemistry and Tokyo’s unique architecture create a story that is bittersweet yet comforting, like having lemon ice cream on a late Sunday afternoon.

The post Rental Family: Brendan Fraser Leads a Tender Drama Exploring Japan’s “Hired Family” Culture appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

HBO’s miniseries ‘Task’ is one of the best TV shows from 2025. It was created and written by Brad Ingelsby, who made the acclaimed ‘Mare of Easttown.’ The series has shades of Michael Mann’s crime drama classic ‘Heat’ (1995) in how it depicts Robbie and his crew on equal footing with Tom and his agents, making both main characters troubled men with honourable and likeable traits, and showing how their crafts can be similar to each other.

‘Task’ gives Tom Pelphrey the role of a lifetime, who gives humanity to Robbie, a man who can be at the same time vengeful and endearing, showing many layers according to his plans and interactions. Ruffalo is one of the finest actors working today, and ‘Task’ is another opportunity to confirm his position among his peers. Brandis is a middle-aged man who has a body beaten up by years of desk work and stress, who finds some “solace” in alcohol, and is still haunted by his time as a man of faith. Both actors and characters show different sides of being a father, male vulnerability, and the need to rely on friendship.

The show also presents how the dangerous lives of cops and criminals can take a psychological toll, as happens when a group of law enforcement agents enters a suspect’s house. One of them freezes in the middle of the action, leading to questioning of their own calling to serve and protect, displaying the human side behind the badge. ‘Task’ also portrays how unforgiving and nihilistic the underworld can be to criminals and to the innocent, as there is no safety net for the characters or the guarantee that they will make it to the end of the story.

‘Task’ is a physically demanding narrative, too. Before being an actor, Mark Ruffalo was a wrestler in his teenage years, and this art of combat comes to the screen in a visceral and dynamic scene. Thuso Mbedu (The Woman King) shines in her action scenes as she plays a no-nonsense cop. In training sessions that she goes under personal trainer Gabriela Mclain, the same one who trains Viola Davis, helps to bring gravitas to her body language and movement, showing how important trainers and stunt coordinators are for this industry. Mbedu’s characters in ‘The Woman King’ and ‘Task’ have very action-oriented scenes, but they are very different personality-wise, showing that Mbedu is a very talented drama actress who we can expect to see in other major productions.

The series also features a cast of high-level professionals who help humanize and tell the story, which makes the viewer care for them and their motives, or loathe them. The cinematography stands out by showing rural environments and green landscapes that distance ‘Task’ from the clichéd nighttime modernist and art-deco buildings in noir stories. The miniseries is the proper format to tell this layered story that would have to be cut if made into a movie or would drag and have narratives and characters that didn’t need extra time if turned into a regular series with endless spin-offs; therefore, the experience we gained is more enjoyable.

The post The “Task” of Telling A Great Crime Story appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Shrinking & Growing

The streaming market is huge. According to Uswitch, over two-thirds of UK households have access to an SVoD service. On average, according to Barclays, customers spend £175 a year on film and TV subscriptions. Netflix is the most popular streaming service. Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, Now TV and BBC iPlayer also have a big reach, with many smaller services also available. Many of these services have access to a sizable library of content. However, this era of streaming has its problems.

Customers now have to pay more for ad-free viewing, which used to be the standard streaming experience. To watch Netflix without ads now costs £12.99 a month, up from £9.99 in 2021. Studios have also increasingly gated off content for their own streaming services, requiring audiences to pay for multiple subscriptions to access all the content they want. The increasing prioritisation of exclusive content owned by streaming companies (e.g. What’s On Netflix says around 54% of Netflix’s UK content is Netflix Originals) means a less diverse selection for viewers. The crackdown on things like password sharing has also restricted access for customers. Plus, considering the average time spent watching an SVoD service (as of 2023) was 38 minutes a day, with live TV watchtime being almost triple that and social media competing for young people’s attention, streaming is looking less worthwhile for many.

Not Just Numbers

Of course, streaming still offers good things for subscribers. It allows you to watch films from the comfort of your home with accessible features (subtitles and audio description) available on many titles. But watching films at home is a fundamentally different experience from the cinema. For one, it is a much more relaxed affair. This means many viewers will be more willing to do other things while watching a film, e.g. phone browsing. This can take away from narrative immersion. Also, an internet connection is not always guaranteed when watching at home. Meaning a film can change quality, buffer or stop, taking viewers out of the experience. 

Additionally, home cinemas still can’t fully replicate the image and sound quality available in theatres. Informal cinema etiquette also encourages viewers to turn off their communication with the outside world to become fully absorbed in a film with others. Communal joys come with watching films at the cinema too. You can experience a film not only with your friends but also with strangers, and have the satisfaction of sharing an experience that brings you close to others.

Streaming or Screening

So, what should you bear in mind when it comes to saving money on watching films? Firstly, stick with a streaming service you are likely to use most. Streaming services are becoming quite expensive, and it’s easy to rack up a huge bill without using all a subscription has to offer. If you need access to another service, consider moving or using a free trial period rather than having multiple ongoing subscriptions.

When it comes to deciding whether to watch a film in the cinema or at home, research what the film is about. If the film is an emotional drama, it is likely to play just as well in a home setting as it would on the big screen. Meanwhile, horror films benefit from the lack of distraction and higher-quality sound provided by cinemas. Furthermore, sci-fi, fantasy, costume and epic dramas benefit from cinema’s better quality image. Cinema trips are also good for spending time with friends or like-minded people and enhancing the art you are already familiar with.

Film is an art form that can be just as powerful on the small and big screens, but with the associated costs, it’s always worth thinking about what way is best for you to experience it. So make sure to look at the cost value: can you afford it/will you get a good amount of use from it? But also remember to factor in the importance of experience and community to your calculations.

The post Is Streaming Still Worth It? UK Subscription Costs, Attention Spans and the Case for the Big Screen appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

At Home or On The Town?

According to the UK Cinema Association in 2024 (the latest year for which they have data), the average cost of a cinema ticket was around £7.73. The Film Distributors Association also found a comparable average of £7.71 per ticket.

However, while the price may seem affordable when averaged out, the reality of cinema prices is more complicated. For example, ticket prices can fluctuate based on things like the types of seating and the time of your screening. Certain times and dates are more likely to be popular with working audiences, such as weekends. Meaning pricing across cinemas is not necessarily consistent. There are also hidden costs that can come with cinema visits. Including things like food and drink, and transport (private or public). When added onto tickets that can cost anywhere up to nearly £20, depending on region, seating and the type of screening (e.g. 3D), it’s understandable why average audiences may view the cinema as a comparatively expensive activity, especially if they are going by themselves.

Along with that, the UK cost of living increased by 3.8-4.5% (depending on income bracket) in the third quarter of 2025. When we consider the fact that the average house already has broadband (listed by Uswitch as around £26 a month as of January 2025) and streaming (£4.99-£18.99 a month) allows access to a broad range of films at home, cutting out added hidden expenses, it’s easy to see why some audiences might choose to view films from home.

Make It Cheaper

Of course, this data is not intended to dampen the joy of going to the cinema. Few things are as enjoyable as experiencing a great piece of art in a communal setting. However, it’s hard to deny that cinema trips can sometimes be intimidating for people’s wallets. Especially those on lower incomes. So, how can we make going to the cinema cheaper?

From a viewer’s perspective, it’s always worth keeping an eye out for offers. For example, if you already have Amazon Prime, Tesco Clubcard, Aldi Plus or Sky Cinema, you can receive cinema discounts, free tickets or access to offer schemes. Various last-minute schemes can provide cheaper offers. Some of which are listed in the link above. It’s also always worth trying to go in a group. As it means you can split money on things like food and transport. Look into screenings outside of peak times, for example, mid-week and check whether it’s cheaper to book online or in person. Also, while concession purchases help cinemas, bring your own food and drink if finances are stretched.

Meanwhile, beyond permanently reducing prices, here are some suggestions cinema chains should consider to entice viewers to come more often. Things like offering ticket or food discounts or waiving fees on the purchase of multiple tickets would help attract bigger groups. Offering discounts, like those trialled by the BFI, or schemes for those who are low earners or on universal credit, would also help make the cinema experience more accessible. Even things like discounting parking could help make a night out at the cinema seem less taxing.

That’s Not All Folks

Since the pandemic, cinema attendance has been struggling to return to pre-pandemic figures. Action needs to be taken to bring people back. Cinemas need to have variety and a sense of community. But above all, it needs to be affordable for audiences to keep coming.

The post Cinema vs Streaming in the Cost-of-Living Era: Why Filmgoing Feels Pricier Than It Looks appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Nicholas Hoult

Hoult was a child star, performing in About A Boy, but Tony Stonem introduced him to a whole new audience. He demonstrated great range and showed he could shine in both an ensemble cast and in the spotlight. He was nominated for a Golden Nymph award for his role. After Skins, he worked on many acclaimed projects. Including TV series The Great, Mad Max: Fury Road, X-Men: First Class, Nosferatu (2024) and Superman (2025).

Dev Patel

Like many of his castmates, Dev Patel had little industry experience when he started working on Skins. However, his funny and relatable performance as Anwar Kharral resulted in his eventual casting in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire. Since then, despite admitted rough periods, he has appeared in critically acclaimed films like Lion (which earned him an Oscar nomination), The Personal History of David Copperfield, The Green Knight and he produced, wrote, directed and starred in the incredible Monkey Man.

Kaya Scodelario

Effy, Tony’s sister and centre of Skins’ second generation. Scodelario’s talent earned her a Golden Nymph nomination and film work. From 2009-2011, she performed in Moon, Clash of the Titans (2011) and Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights. Later, she starred in tentpole releases like the Maze Runner series and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and led the minor hit Crawl. While not garnering as much recognition as her former costars, she has still succeeded with audiences thanks to the likes of Netflix’s The Gentlemen.

Daniel Kaluuya

Arguably, Skins’ best actor. Daniel Kaluuya’s Posh Kenneth marked the start of his pre-stardom work. This period saw work in projects like Doctor Who, Kick Ass 2 and crucially Black Mirror: Fifteen Million Merits. This standout performance caught Jordan Peele’s attention. He was then cast in Get Out (earning him an Oscar nomination), and his career shot into the stratosphere. He was later part of acclaimed casts for Black Panther, Widows and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Additionally, he received awards attention for his performances in Nope, Queen and Slim and Judas and The Black Messiah (winning him an Oscar).

Jack O’Connell

This is England, Eden Lake and his revelatory turn as James Cook established Jack O’Connell’s talent for playing troubled people in harsh circumstances. See his Starred Up, ‘71 and Unbroken roles. In 2015, he won BAFTA’s Rising Star award; however, 2025 saw O’Connell’s star truly ascend. He returned with the second season of the acclaimed SAS: Rogue Heroes. He had an eye-catching part in 28 Years Later, and he wowed as Remmick in smash hit Sinners. 

Building Skins

According to co-creator Bryan Elsley, the show’s inspiration came mainly from his son Jamie Brittain. Wanting to see a more realistic teen drama than the popular American imports, Brittain called Elsley’s current show pitches “boring, middle-class, middle-aged rubbish” and told him to make a meaningful show focused on teenagers. Working together, they created the idea for Skins, which E4 then commissioned. 

For casting, the creators went to young drama groups as well as holding open auditions to get actual teens involved. They also enlisted Brittain’s flatmates and other teens (Daniel Kaluuya later among them) to write and advise on scripts to ensure the characters acted like real teenagers. This, along with a lack of pressure from above, allowed the show to create a more authentic depiction of teenage life, with little moralising on topics like sex, drinking and drugs.

That said, the production did have problems. Actors April Pearson and Laya Lewis said they weren’t given enough safeguarding or coaching when filming intimate scenes. They also said several women stars were reportedly subject to controlling behaviour regarding their bodies by the show staff. Something Channel 4 and Elsley’s representatives were forced to address.

Conclusion

Skins was a generational touchstone and catapulted many talented actors into the A-list. It showcased young people’s creative capabilities, but also the dangers of a lax attitude towards the duty of care. Skins shows us that teenagers deserve platforms that foster their creativity in a way that foregrounds their voices and safety.

The post Skins: A Generation of Stars and the Behind-the-Scenes Story appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Fandoms: The Loud Partners

Fandoms have often helped to keep TV franchises going. It was through fan work that properties like Star Trek, Sense8, Firefly and more were able to continue beyond their initial runs. Fandoms have also continually brought interest to older shows. See how fans continue to drive interest in properties like The Golden Girls. That said, in the streaming age, fandoms are now much more valuable.

There are so many streaming services competing for viewers’ attention, and many people have complained about a lack of adequate promotion for streaming releases. Viewers’ attention is therefore often skewed in favour of shows that already have marketability. For example, they have a big star or creator attached or are part of a recognisable franchise. The only way to ensure a lesser-known property is renewed is through popular support.

In 2016, Stranger Things became one of Netflix’s biggest properties thanks to word of mouth and social media. Enabling it to gain a huge audience. Since then, media companies have recognised the huge potential of social media to provide them with viewers. A 2025 Deloitte report said 56% of surveyed young people were more likely to watch something if it was discussed on social media. 53% favored recommendations from social media over other forms of marketing. Meaning social media is a site of great interest for companies seeking to engage younger audiences with their projects. Especially since it’s a great way to tap into fan labour.

Labour & Visibility

Some argue that fans creating things for their favourite show is not labour. It is just something done for fun. However, the mindset doesn’t change the fact that fans are using their time to create things that ultimately act as marketing. Which benefits companies by helping them retain and grow their potential customer base. It also betrays a lack of value placed on the work that fans create. Industry workers are rightly paid to write reviews, create art, videos, spinoff stories and more and organise screenings for influencers who will advertise projects. Why should fans doing the same thing through social media not be considered actual work?

It also can’t be discounted that many marginalised audiences (people of colour, women and queer people) contribute greatly to the success of industry projects through various means. Providing different perspectives and a wealth of creations that amplify and enrich the experiences of many projects. Despite the industry itself consistently failing to fairly represent these audiences across the creative process. 

Fandoms help aid the development of both creative people and the creative industry. But, as is the case with unpaid internships, the industry will happily accept the work of those wanting to contribute to it without compensating them for their labour. Which is unacceptable.

Never Do It for Free

Especially when media companies are looking to influence people through social media investment, fans should be entitled to some kind of recompense for helping to promote a project. Though that brings up the argument of authenticity. After all, many people trust fans on social media because they think of them as authentic. Something that can be damaged if people believe creators are only promoting something for a company’s attention.

One base-level industry practice should be for fans to be able to monetise their content without interference from streaming companies. Allowing them to earn something for their efforts. Additionally, if a production is renewed or proven to be successful through ratings, merchandising, etc., things like official creator endorsements, a stake in profits, wider publicisation of work, etc., should be considered for fans who helped drive interest in the property. Another idea could be to have an industry body, funded by profits from streaming giants operating in a given country, that pays fans based on the level of effort they put into fostering fan communities.

These are merely suggestions, but whatever the case, fans deserve some form of payment. The industry isn’t shy about profiting from their work, so they shouldn’t be either.

The post Fans As Workers: The Unpaid Work of Keeping Cult TV Alive appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Based on true events, Rock, Paper, Scissors follows Ivan, a 17-year-old Ukrainian boy, and his father as they run a makeshift hospital from inside a bunker while fighting rages above them. When an approaching platoon threatens their fragile sanctuary, the pair are forced into a decision that no one — let alone a child — should ever have to make.

The film recently won Best British Short Film at the 2025 BAFTA Awards and has since been shortlisted for the Academy Awards® Live Action Short Film, marking it as one of the most significant short films of the year. We spoke with writer-director Franz Böhm about the origins of the story, his approach to scale and restraint, and what these milestones mean to him.

Presh Williams: Rock, Paper, Scissors is based on actual events. How did you come across the story?

Franz Bohm: I’ve met Ivan, who became the main source of inspiration for this project, in England when he was a teenager. As we spent more time together, Ivan began to share what he had experienced back home. It was raw, personal, and deeply human. What started as a friendship soon became a creative collaboration. Together, we wrote the screenplay for what would become Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Working with Ivan remains one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. His clarity, courage, and sense of purpose shaped every part of this project. Even after he returned to Ukraine, his spirit stayed with us. It guided the team, the performances, and the tone. He gave the story its soul.

PW: RPS could be equally as powerful as a 10-minute film or as a 30-minute film. How did you decide on what aspects of Ivan’s story you would include in the short film?

FB: It’s something we discussed a lot during the writing and editing process. From the very beginning, we knew that Rock, Paper, Scissors had to feel like a complete experience, not just a snapshot. The film had to carry the emotional weight of Ivan’s story. The claustrophobia of the bunker, the fragility of youth in wartime, and the impossible choices he faces. All within a limited timeframe.

We experimented with longer and shorter versions, but ultimately landed on 20 minutes because it allowed us to stay close to Ivan’s emotional arc without diluting the intensity. Too short, and we risked losing the buildup of dread and responsibility that weighs on him. Too long, and we might have drifted away from the urgency and focus that the story demands.

At its core, this film is about a boy who has to grow up in a single day. Every scene we kept had to serve that arc, not just narratively, but emotionally. It wasn’t about showing everything that happened, but showing enough for the audience to feel what it meant.

PW: Have people who knew Ivan seen the film? How has support been from the Ukrainian community?

FB: Ivan himself saw multiple versions of our cut, and it was wonderful to collaborate with him. It became a shared creative journey, and I learned so much from his honesty and clarity.

Since his passing, I’ve been incredibly moved by the response from the Ukrainian community. People who knew him, or who recognise their own experiences in the film, have reached out. I’m grateful for the many messages of support. What’s meant a great deal to me are the community-led screenings that have taken place in Ukraine. People have organised gatherings in basements, schools, and cultural centres, often in difficult conditions, to share the film with others. That kind of grassroots response is incredibly powerful.

Their support has been so generous, and I carry that with me every time we show the film.

PW: From your work in Dear Future Children (to now), a key aspect of your work seems to be profiling how people in extreme adversity overcome their circumstances. Would you say that is a fair characterisation of your work?

FB: Yes, I think that’s a fair characterisation but I’d maybe frame it slightly differently.

What drives me as a filmmaker is a deep fascination with the human capacity for dignity and resilience, especially when people are pushed to the edge. From Dear Future Children to Rock, Paper, Scissors, I’ve been drawn to stories where individuals are forced to make impossible choices under extreme pressure.

I don’t approach these stories as case studies of suffering. I approach them as portraits of courage, resistance, and moral complexity. What interests me is not just the hardship itself, but how people retain their sense of self, how they connect to others, and how they keep going even when the world seems to fall apart around them.

PW: You won the Best Short Film at the 2025 BAFTAs and are now shortlisted for the Oscars. What do these incredible milestones mean for you?

FB: It’s been incredibly humbling. Winning the BAFTA was a moment I’ll never forget — not just because of the recognition itself, but because of what it represents: that this story, born from a very real and painful place, resonated with people on a wider scale. Being shortlisted for the Oscars now is another overwhelming moment. It means that the hard work, the risks we took, and the trust of our Ukrainian cast and collaborators have led to something that really travels beyond borders.

But more than personal pride, these milestones are a reminder that stories like Ivan’s matter. That cinema still has the power to give voice to people in impossible situations. It encourages me, and hopefully others, to keep pushing for stories that are urgent, impactful, and grounded in human experience.

Rock, Paper, Scissors is currently shortlisted for the Academy Award® for Live Action Short Film, with the 98th Academy Awards taking place on 15 March 2026 — a moment that could see this urgent, human story recognised on cinema’s biggest stage.

The post Rock, Paper, Scissors: Franz Böhm on Frontline Humanity, Impossible Choices, and Cinema as Witness appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

We are looking at the 2025 box office to see what the genre’s performance tells us about audiences and the industry. As well as what opportunities are being presented for other films.

The Year Of Change For Superheroes?

The main topic of discussion this year is the lack of high-performing superhero movies. This is the first time since 2017 (excluding 2020) that a superhero movie hasn’t been in the top 5. Additionally, the top performer is not a Marvel film but DC’s new Superman reboot.

Marvel’s usual dominance has been completely shattered. Both their newer titles (Fantastic 4: First Steps and Thunderbolts*) and their returning branding (Captain America: Brave New World) failed to crack the top 10. Something that hasn’t happened (excluding 2020) since 2011. Analysts have mentioned superhero fatigue before, but this is the first year the box office seems to reflect it.

Up and Comers

Outside of the superhero bubble, this is also the first time since 2020 that we have had two top 10 performers not in the English language from more than one country. Ne Zha 2 (China) and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie – Infinity Castle (Japan).

Video game adaptations continued to do well. A Minecraft Movie is 2025’s third-highest-grosser at the time of writing. Horror also performed well. Of the year’s 20 highest-grossers, 4 were horror films. And while many of the biggest films are still sequels or films using existing IP to bolster their performance, Sinners and Weapons, 2 original films, made it into the top 20.

What This Means

Superheroes are far from being done. Superman’s success proves that, and as Kofi Outlaw points out, Marvel could recover its top position with the next slate of big brand titles, Spiderman: Brand New Day, Avengers: Doomsday, and Avengers: Secret Wars. However, this year proves Marvel’s name isn’t a guarantee of dominance anymore. The MCU films mentioned above are part of franchises that are between 8 and 13 years old. Marvel can’t rely on dedicated fans to sustain them forever. Superman’s reboot managed to capture a younger audience and DC’s diverse upcoming release portfolio covers a range of interests and age groups. If Marvel wants to succeed in the future, to justify those huge budgets, it must get younger audiences invested in the next saga project. Not just those familiar with the MCU. But even then, superheroes are seeing competition from other areas.

The top 20’s 4 horror movies each cost around or below $100 million, and took between $268 – 494 million worldwide. A market still clearly exists for mid-budget films. These films also included the year’s two highest-performing original films. Showing that when well-marketed and written, audiences will go to see new ideas.

Similarly, Demon Slayer, on a $20 million budget, claimed over $760 million. Over $520 million came from territories outside of Japan. Also, while Ne Zha 2 primarily made money in China (over $1.8 billion on an $80 million budget), it still made almost $40 million in other territories. According to Think China, it is the 10th highest overseas takings for a Chinese film. It could have made more if it weren’t for distribution challenges. Again proving, given an outlet, international cinema can be popular. 

Lastly, video game movies are having a resurgence. After the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy and The Super Mario Bros Movie, A Minecraft Movie captured family audiences and made almost a billion dollars. Thus, studios are preparing a slate of video game adaptations. Including Return To Silent Hill (Cineverse), Mortal Kombat 2 (Warner Bros), Super Mario Bros Galaxy (Illumination) and The Legend of Zelda (Sony).

Conclusion

Competition for the top is definitely getting more diverse. Among the constant non-comic book sequels, Disney animations and remakes, DC’s newfound strength will hopefully encourage Marvel to get less insular to keep audiences interested. Video game movies are also coming out to play; mid-budget horror and international releases have proven capable of reaching great heights, given the chance, and even original IP has a crack at the top. It’s definitely an interesting time to be going to the movies.

The post From Demon Slayer to Minecraft: The 2025 Box Office Shift Beyond Superheroes appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

They’re not just smaller. They are offering curated programming alongside elevated dining, Q&As with filmmakers, and other experiences that can’t be found at the multiplex or streaming in your living room. In many cases, they are being rented out for private showings.

This isn’t nostalgia; it’s an opportunity. For movies, these smaller, more intimate venues are a physical manifestation of a broader shift in the industry. Over the next year, we are going to see filmmakers, independent distributors and even the big studios focusing more on smaller, human-driven stories that are centered on making emotional connections with audiences.

Cinema as Community

The rise of the small theater in many ways returns film to its original purpose, as a connective experience that we share with people, rather than as content we consume alone. By adding new elements to the theater-going experience, we are seeing the first true reimagining of how to engage with film since the rise of streaming.

After a period of trying to compete with home viewing by going bigger and noisier, the industry may finally realize that going more personal and curated may be the best way forward. 

This shift in how we watch influences what we want to watch.

The Return of the ‘90s Era Indy Film

Audiences are showing signs of gravitating toward character-driven dramedies, romantic comedies, and films that appeal across generations. They want movies they can watch with their parents and their kids.

Part of the desire for that communal viewing experience is a hunger for stories that are centered on human connection and offer appeal across different audience groups.

The appetite for these films is colliding with a transformed distribution landscape.

Fewer Releases, More Pathways

Studio consolidation has reduced the number of theatrical releases, but this contraction has opened alternative routes to audiences. 

Smaller bespoke distribution companies bypass traditional gatekeepers.  Upstarts like GATHR,  Kinema and Assembly Releasing – whose innovative use of generative AI in its documentary “Eno” created a completely new way of experiencing and interacting with a film. Second-run movies and the explosion of documentary shows that the marketplace isn’t shrinking, it’s fragmenting into specialized channels. It creates the perfect environment for telling the kind of personal stories we are seeing filmmakers gravitate towards.

Seeing More of Ourselves Onscreen

Movies are always about escapism on some level. A key element to that escapism in immersing oneself in stories that provide levity, warmth, and recognizable human lives.

In an age of AI and algorithms, there is a huge – and potentially lucrative – opening for producers to zero in on these new trends.

The Bottom Line: Small Rooms, Big Recalibration

The boutique theater boom isn’t a niche trend, it’s a barometer. These venues and the films they champion represent a shift in audience expectation that the industry should be paying attention to. And please make sure the popcorn is fresh!

The post What 50-Seat Theaters Tell Us About the Stories Audiences Will Want in 2026 appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

What’s Going On

OBAA is a thriller from Paul Thomas Anderson, who is undoubtedly one of the greatest directors working today. The film starts with the French 75, a revolutionary direct action group in America and in particular, members Bob Ferguson and Perfidia Beverley Hills, husband and wife. The antagonist is Colonel Steven Lockjaw, who takes the lead in bringing the group down with extreme methods. The film then cuts to 15 years later, when Bob is simply trying to raise his daughter, Willa, in peace and safety, but Lockjaw is once again seeking them out.

Behind The Scenes

The film is directed and written by Paul Thomas Anderson, whose previous films include There Will Be Blood, The Master, Punch-Drunk Love and more, and some are calling this film the best of this already great career. Anderson’s films cover a range of genres, with this being one of the more straightforward, at least on the surface. The film is based on the book of the same name by Thomas Pynchon. Anderson has already adapted one of his works, Inherent Vice, a very different sort of film.

In Front of the Camera

It is a big cast, but Leonardo DiCaprio does probably have the most screentime, and it is essentially his character’s story that we follow. He plays Pat/Ghetto Pat/Rocketman/Bob Ferguson, Bob being the last identity he adopts, and for clarity’s sake, he shall be referred to as Bob Ferguson.

Perfidia Beverly Hills is played by Teyana Taylor and is very convincing as the committed revolutionary who wants to overturn practically every element of society. Like many in the group, she has an assumed revolutionary name – Perfidia Beverly Hills. Taylor is probably better known for her work in music as a singer, songwriter, choreographer and more.

Sean Penn plays Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw and gives one of the best performances of his career as one of the most unpleasant characters seen in film in a long time. Penn is a two-time Oscar winner and known for his roles in Milk, Mystic River and Carlito’s Way.

One Battle After Another is brilliant and ranks amongst Anderson’s best films. It is an incredibly complex representation of the struggle the revolutionaries are fighting and the authorities they are fighting, but also family bonds, communities in crisis, betrayal and obsession.

The audience sees the story from the point of view of Bob in the French 75, but they are not the “good guys”; the first revolutionary act we see is them briefly taking over a detention camp for undocumented migrants and liberating it. This is not represented as clever rogues getting one over on the authorities – the oft-employed Hollywood trick of the good guys having guns but not having them loaded is definitely not used here – but a genuine attack. Certainly, the French 75 seems like they do not want to actually kill people, but doing what they do, someone is going to get hurt, and indeed, someone does. The forces of law and order, such as they are, as exemplified by Lockjaw, are horrendous. It is true that the higher authorities may not be aware exactly what Lockjaw is doing and certainly not why, but the fact that that is possible is damning. It is never made completely clear exactly what Lockjaw’s position is – sometimes appearing to be a military officer, in which case, why is he deployed on US soil? Sometimes he seems more like some aspect of law enforcement, in which case, why does he act like an invading army? This ambiguity could be for several reasons: the difficulty of quickly explaining this, the fact that the distinction in the use of military and law enforcement in America is blurring, or that it is blurred to give the audience the impression that Lockjaw had effectively limitless power with no accountability. The only pushback to Lockjaw is from forces outside the authorities. It could even be thought that those above Lockjaw knowingly turn a blind eye, as spending ten minutes in his company would seemingly highlight the fact that he should not ever be given any power. He plays a supremely sinister villain, who keeps adding new layers to villainy, abuses of power, just plain abuse, and violence of every kind. He has an unrelenting nature, which is sometimes more akin to a villain in a slasher film. Yet he is simultaneously a ridiculous figure, riddled with insecurity and self-loathing, but that takes nothing away from how dangerous he is.

DiCaprio’s change from wild rebel to burned-out father is very well done, with his focus for action moving entirely to his daughter. DiCaprio’s best moments are when he is separated from his daughter and trying desperately to find her and help her, particularly the series of conversations he has with revolutionary agents, finding out where his daughter might be, but he can’t remember the long and convoluted password system.

Paul Thomas Anderson is not typically known for action scenes, but towards the end of the film comes an incredibly tense and thrilling set piece on deserted American roads that wind and undulate, hiding characters from each other and then coming into view spectacularly quickly. The extended sequence of what feels very much like an ICE raid on a city is non-stop tension for what feels like six hours.

OBAO is definitely one of the best films of the year and feels incredibly timely, as heart-wrenching as it is thrilling and packed with so much going on that lots of details weren’t able to be included in this review.

Rating (4.5 / 5)

The post Review: One Battle After Another – One of the Best Films of 2025? appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Breaking In

Hip-hop and rap began life in the early 70s in predominantly working-class black communities in the Bronx, New York. DJ Kool Herc is credited with the genre’s creation through using turntable techniques to extend percussive breaks. The musical techniques and sound associated with the genre would continue to evolve and change with time. His collaborator, Coke La Rock, rapped over the breaks. Many party attendees also performed what is now called breakdancing. From there, the music became a popular live feature at parties. In 1979, the first recorded and widely circulated hip-hop tracks emerged, with songs like Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight.

Despite starting as party music and vehicles for an artist’s skills, Hip-hop also spoke about social and political issues. Namely, racism, class, police brutality, and it humanised people painted as criminals.

Cinema began intersecting with hip-hop and rap in the early ’80s with films like Wild Style and Style Wars. This focused on another artistic expression associated with the movement, graffiti. Through documentary (Style Wars) and the combination of live performances and scripted narrative (Wild Style), these films acted as documents of the environment that produced hip-hop. As well as the genre’s early music and style. 

Taking Over

As the 80s went on, hip-hop spread across the world. In the US, artists like LL Cool J and groups like Run-DMC topped the charts. Additionally, MTV eventually began programming shows devoted to the genre. Hip-hop was popular, and film producers took notice.

The film Breakin made over $38 million on a $1.2 million budget. Beat Street and Krush Groove enabled directors Stan Lathan and Michael Schultz to showcase their perspective on the genre to a wider audience, and Run-DMC had their own star vehicle in 1988’s Tougher Than Leather. At the same time, hip-hop songs were being used to market blockbusters. See The Fat Boys’ Are You Ready For Freddy marketing A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.

Then, in 1989, Do the Right Thing came out. Spike Lee’s film is steeped in hip-hop style, music and politics. It discusses topics like racism in working-class communities and police brutality. Features noticeable use of graffiti and makes heavy use (diegetic and thematic) of Public Enemy’s Fight the Power. It succeeded commercially and critically. Proving that hip-hop and film could be powerful partners.

Culture And Industry

Since the 90s, hip-hop, rap and cinema have become inseparable. Genre stars, including Tupac Shakur (Juice), Ice Cube (Boyz N the Hood), Queen Latifah (Set It Off) and Will Smith (Men in Black) and more, headlined acclaimed movies. The genre was part of the DNA of New Black Realism and informed modern world cinema. See films like La Haine (France), Kneecap (Ireland), Mogul Mowgli (UK) and the films of Ryan Coogler and many others. Hits like Straight Outta Compton dramatised hip-hop group N.W.A’s story. Meanwhile, the Spider-Verse films feature hip-hop heavily as part of Miles’ world. Artists like Eminem, Three 6 Mafia and Frayser Boy and Common have won Oscars. Kendrick Lamar’s work on the Black Panther soundtrack was also nominated and marked as the start of a new renaissance for movie soundtracks. Hip-hop and rap music are also commonplace within film marketing. 

This is just scratching the surface of the immense impact of hip-hop and rap on cinema. Yet despite all this, the genre’s main architects and audience, black Americans, are still underserved by Hollywood. Roles for black artists, in front of and behind the camera, are still disproportionately low in the US. The executives making the bulk of the money from the artists’ work are still overwhelmingly white, and little is being done by mainstream cinema to achieve hip-hop’s more radical goals. Hollywood will use rap and hip-hop to sell tickets, but will also happily discard artists when convenient. Still, for all the corporate attempts at co-option, there are still earnest uses of the music to give voice and enjoyment to the unseen and downtrodden. That is when cinema truly embodies hip-hop’s spirit.

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Boxing movies love a comeback story, but Unlicensed aims its punches somewhere more specific than the usual underdog arc. Written, directed by and starring Mark Hampton, the British indie drama follows disgraced city broker Danny Goode, a man who’s fallen a very long way in a very short time. After serving time for insider trading, Danny walks out of prison to find the City has moved on without him. The money’s gone, the status is gone and his relationships with his estranged wife and young son are hanging by a thread.

Short of cash and hiding a growing gambling addiction, Danny spots a fast way out: an unlicensed boxing match with a hefty cash prize. It’s a terrible idea – which, of course, is exactly why a man on the edge takes it.

Gambling as the Real Opponent

Hampton has said he wanted to “do a different take on the traditional boxing movie,” swapping the rags-to-riches fantasy for a story about what happens when a man whose life is built on risk suddenly runs out of safety nets. Having worked in the City himself, he channels that world’s high-stakes, win-lose mentality into Danny’s secret habit.

“Danny’s an addict. That’s the real battle he’s fighting,” Hampton explains. “Like so many addicts, he hides his addiction even from himself – it’s only when he starts to open up about it that his journey towards redemption can really begin. Danny’s biggest fight isn’t in the ring.”

The timing feels pointed. Recent UK figures suggest tens of thousands of young people are already experiencing gambling harms, with knock-on effects at home, at school and on mental health. Unlicensed folds that reality into its character study, asking what happens when a culture of “just one more bet” collides with family responsibility.

One Shot at Redemption

Visually, the film leans into sweat-slicked gyms, cramped locker rooms and the almost claustrophobic intimacy of the ring. Behind-the-scenes shots show Hampton taking a real pounding as both performer and director, surrounded by a small, focused crew. The boxing itself is brutal but grounded, a physical extension of Danny’s internal spiral – every round another attempt to punch his way out of the corner he’s backed himself into.

Underneath the bruises, this is a story about priorities. Hampton, a father himself, frames Danny’s arc as a shift from material success to emotional accountability: learning that the real win isn’t the purse, it’s whether he can show up for his son.

A British Indie With Something to Say

Based in Cambridge, Hampton is no stranger to the screen – with recent appearances in Heads of State (Amazon Studios), Lift (Netflix) and One More Shot (Sky Cinema) – and has picked up awards on the festival circuit for both acting and directing. Unlicensed extends that run into feature territory, premiering at the London Independent Film Festival, with packed screenings in Cambridge, Soho and at London’s Genesis Cinema.

“LIFF has been a champion of independent cinema for many years and gives emerging filmmakers a fantastic platform,” Hampton says, crediting the festival and the Genesis team for backing a film that tries to do more than just stage a good scrap.

Where to Watch

Unlicensed is available now on VOD, including iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video and Rakuten, with the trailer streaming via Britflicks. For fans of character-driven boxing films like The Fighter or Bleed for This – and anyone interested in how gambling culture seeps from trading floors into living rooms – this British indie might be worth going a few rounds with.

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It’s worth remembering that stunt performers die doing their work, and this is not just a thing of the past; Joi Harris died in a motorcycle stunt on Deadpool 2. And of course, there are non-fatal but devastating injuries they can sustain. Some actors may give a lot for their art, but death is not usually part of it. Stunt work goes back to the beginning of cinema; one of the things people liked to see was danger and exciting incidents, and that meant stunts. The legendary comic performer Buster Keaton also performed very dangerous stunt work in the pursuit of laughs. Steamboat Bill, Jr features a stunt still held up today as one of the best ever. The whole front of a house falls forward, seemingly going to crush Keaton, only for him to survive as he just so happens to be standing in the spot where there is a window. There is no double for Keaton, and it is essentially carried out by precise measurements. Eventually, Hollywood decided it would be best to have trained professionals doing this because a) actors typically aren’t trained to do these things, and b) if your star breaks an ankle and you can’t film that’s a big problem.

Keanu Reeves is an actor who does a lot of the rough and tumble work of his action films, but has stated “I don’t do stunts, I do action” meaning that if he’s doing it, its not a stunt, an example he’s given is that he can do some of the fight choreography but when John Wick gets hit by a car, that’s his stunt double, and Reeves has shown enormous respect for the work done by stunt performers. Tom Cruise is an actor who has perhaps gone a different direction, seemingly intent on not only doing as many of his own stunts as possible but trying to do ever more impressive stunts.

Mad Max: Fury Road gave a lot of work to stunt performers. The majority of the film is a car chase, and a car chase featuring car crashes, car explosions, car crushings and more car-based carnage. The film was mainly done with practical effects, with CGI used to remove seatbelts and other safety features. These were stunts that could involve five, six, seven or more vehicles, with stunts involving going from one moving vehicle to another. Even with all the safety precautions, it was both dangerous and technically difficult.

So stunts can be breathtaking, exciting, scary and even funny, but they are more than just window-dressing. There is verisimilitude; the film feels real, good stunts create the sense of jeopardy, and they add weight to a character’s struggle. We can see the hits they take, the struggle they pursue for a goal. When scenes in a film don’t look real, it can spoil the scene or even the whole movie. Few would deny that the body language of an actor, how they move, and their expressions are a hugely important part of the performance, so why should this stop when another performer steps in to do the dangerous part of that for them? Of equal importance is the team behind the stunt performer, those who design and make these stunts. No one would see it as odd that both an actor and a director get an Oscar each, so why not the stunt performer and stunt crew?

Of course, stunts aren’t just jumping off buildings and getting set on fire. Something as straightforward as a character jumping over a gate is a stunt. George Clooney’s The Descendants has ten people credited for stunt work for what is essentially a film of Clooney running around Hawaii in flip-flops, and this film still needed a whole team. People who are essential to every type of film should be recognised for their contribution and talent.

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Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri’s short film ‘Reunited’ (2023) doesn’t hold back and gets out of the gates with a powerful start, stating its message against domestic violence and abuse perpetuated against women and children who immigrate to other countries to flee from abusive husbands and fathers. The story shows how flawed the Hague Convention is, which is a series of treaties and conventions that should protect those under abusive paternal figures.

‘Reunited’ is produced by White Ribbon USA nonprofit, with the Hague Domestic Violence Project at Berkley, and makes a strong point contesting the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry adoptions. The Hague Convention should operate to safeguard women and children who have lived traumatic experiences and are fleeing their abuses, still it is still flawed and allows them to return to the place they are trying to leave.

The White Ribbon USA-supported film states in an onscreen message that: “Under the Hague Convention, women and children refugees from domestic violence are being sent back to the dangerous men from whom they fled. This film presents a 2014 case: California Courts sent a Ukrainian refugee’s 3-year-old son back to an abusive father, despite acknowledging child and mother faced a ‘grave risk.’” These words make ‘Reunited’ even more chilling to absorb as they show what life is like for these broken families.

The short film features outstanding acting from Helena Howard, a ranged actress who was praised for having one of the best performances of the last decade by IndieWire and The New Yorker. Howard, who conveys pain and desperation as the mother trying to make ends meet in Los Angeles while barely speaking English, while also trying to hide her stress with sweetness from her son, Andriy Volesky, played with eagerness by child actor Jaden Joyner, who is convincing in the role.

The talented Reeve Carney plays the violent father, and director Indrani brings the best out of him to conceive a villain that hides his darkness under politeness and angelical looks, which makes him even more terrifying and someone who would fit in the world of David Cronenberg’s ‘Eastern Promises’ (2007). Other members of the cast also have sparkling turns by dancer-turned-actress Carlene Britch playing Arina’s roommate and main supporter, Maria Lopez, and ‘Superman’s (2025) Edi Gathegi as Arina’s lawyer Matthew McConnell, who gives her a stern but realistic scenario of her changes of avoiding her former husband.

Indrani, before becoming a film director, was an acclaimed photographer who moved up the ranks and directed videos for David Bowie, Beyoncé, among others. Indrani’s accurate eyesight comes into cinematography as she uses the environment to tell the tale in an intriguing way that deepens the story and the feelings those characters are dealing with or trying to convey to others. While Lopez’s house may be a humble residence, it conveys a sense of safety; on the other corner, Volesky’s mansion is a symbol of dominance and oppression, and the public buildings can feel more like dungeons than places that hold institutions to help those in need. Indrani also knows how to subtly incorporate the subjects of race, nationality, and gender in ways that are missed in modern cinema.

‘Reunited’ was released in 2023, but it resounds even more today, considering the push back on women’s rights and the anger towards immigrants that we are seeing around the globe, making it a recommended material for Law Schools, Human Rights organisations, activist groups against child and women abuse, and so on. ‘Reunited’ also has the characteristics of becoming a major live-action feature film or prestige TV series.

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Legendary film critic Roger Ebert described cinema as an empathy machine. When you watch movies, you identify with characters, you see things from their perspective, you can gain some understanding – perhaps limited and incomplete – into their life. This is incredibly powerful and can lead people to change how they see the world and other people in it. But does it apply to documentaries in the same way as fiction movies?

Movies

Bleak versions of our future have been a staple of sci-fi for as long as it has existed. The Road, set after some unspecified climate disaster, is perhaps the bleakest film you will ever see, where the best-case situation is still awful. Children of Men shows a not-too-distant future where the birth-rate has fallen to zero, the youngest person in the world is in their late teens, with no idea why this is happening it’s hard to imagine it being fixed. The absence of children is hugely oppressive, and the utter futility of what everyone is doing is almost impossible to bear. One character has been charged with saving artistic treasures from around the collapsing world – why? In a matter of decades, there will be no one left alive to appreciate them. The Mad Max series of films suggests a nuclear apocalypse, which has led to an ecological disaster, and gangs of post-apocalyptic thugs fight to the death over the dwindling resources. Even Pixar’s Wall-E shows a world overrun with trash, leading humanity to abandon Earth and live in space, enjoying an empty existence of lazy indulgence. Are these films trying to influence people? Some have a very direct message – so Wall-E is saying make an effort and clean up the planet. The Mad Max films, like many films that play with the idea of an end by nuclear war, suggest that it was almost inevitable that once humanity had these weapons, they were going to obliterate the world. The Road has a very the-living-will-envy-the-dead feeling to it. If these films are trying to stir people to take action against climate change the problem may be that they usually rely solely on fear. An article published in the journal Science Communication found that while the scary futures shown in these films do get attention, they also make people feel powerless and don’t lead to change.

It may be surprising what films have had a big impact on society. As well as being a cinematic masterpiece, Jaws forever changed people’s attitude to sharks. Both authors of the book, Peter Benchley and film director Steven Spielberg, have stated they feel bad for making people see sharks as an outright villain and especially dangerous. So effectively have sharks been vilified by Hollywood that in a 2023 documentary, Sharksploitation was made to address this mischaracterisation. Horror films like Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist created fears out of almost nothing, with the former creating the image of devil-worshipping human-sacrificing cults. The Exorcist led to genuine hysterical outbursts, as well as cementing the sinister reputation of Ouija boards and ideas about possession. References to oujia boards, possession, and satanists today will almost certainly reference these films. The movie The China Syndrome, about a journalist uncovering coverups at a nuclear power plant and the risk to the public there was very the real Three Mile Island nuclear power plant partial meltdown, forever linking the film with the anti-nuclear power movement.

Documentaries

The most famous climate change documentary is undoubtedly An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary made by former Vice President Al Gore. Gore has long been an environmentalist, and once out of politics, it became his main focus. The film won an Oscar and got Gore a Nobel Peace Prize. 2014’s Cowspiracy focuses on the harm animal agriculture does to the environment, and is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, destruction of the rainforest and many more environmental problems. The Leonardo DiCaprio-produced Before the Flood was a well-received documentary about climate change, but it does not seem to have broken into the public consciousness in the way.

One of the most impactful documentaries of the past 20 years is Loose Change, a documentary on 9/11 that gives credence to a number of conspiracy theories about the attack. It had a huge impact on many people and for a lot of people shifted the narrative from a terrorist attack to something even worse. The fact that the document was roundly criticised by journalists, experts in everything from aviation to structural engineering and the authorities did little to dent its popularity.

It is exceedingly rare for one documentary to have a big impact on society, but often, they are a smaller piece of a bigger societal change. They might not inspire millions to action, but they can inspire individuals who then go on to make that change. One problem for documentaries is that real experts tend to talk in specific, limited and unsensational terms, estimated increases of a few degrees in temperature over years, which will impact the ecosystem… It’s not going to grab everyone’s attention. The Day After Tomorrow grabs your attention.

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‘The Vile’ takes a different turn on the troupe of the third person that inserts themselves into a structured marriage, as seen before in the figures of the babysitter, the seductress coworker, or the stepmother. The picture depicts a local culture that allows a man to marry more than one woman, enabling this mysterious figure to enter the household of the father, mother, and their daughter, all with the excuse that the patriarch wants a male heir. In fact, everything is balanced, and they had a happy life, but papa is a greedy rolling stone.

Amani (Bdoor Mohammad) sees her status being ripped as her husband Khalid (Jasem Alkharraz) brings the second wife Zahra (Sarah Taibah), who is younger, good-looking, and a vixen oozing sex appeal. The newcomer to the household also affects the life of the couple’s teenage daughter, Noor (Iman Tarik), who feels her position as the sole daughter being disturbed by the announcement that Zahra is expecting a baby boy, the promised son that Amani wasn’t able to bear for Khalid.

Their family might be well-off, but it doesn’t save them from psychological strife, and ‘The Vile’, by using horror movie techniques, shows how harrowing it can be to live in an abusive household and the suffocation it causes to those who can’t just simply pick themselves up and leave without looking back. In many real-life stories, leaving abusive relationships is one of the most struggling acts to the victims.
‘The Vile’ is courageous to show that although protected by law and an ancient tradition, polygamy can lead to a hazardous, competitive and abusive environment to the wives and their children and that even though it is part of a rich culture, it has points that can be argued, and that this idea of polygamy is way different than the fetishization that goes through Westerner ideas by displaying how questionable it can be considering gender inequality and consensual relationships.

Al Ansari is a student of the game and an admirer of ‘Fatal Attraction’ and ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’, but there are also elements of classics like ‘The Hand that Rocks the Cradle’ and ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ that come into play. Nevertheless, ‘The Vile’ shines by portraying how horror can have peculiar nuances when translated to the dry lands of the United Arab Emirates, away from Western cultures and well-known cities like Los Angeles, New York, and London.

The picture focuses on female relations and how they are subjugated to patriarchal choices. Although Khalil is not much into the scene, his decisions affect the main characters, and the narrative follows the downward spiral of Amani and the dark coming-of-age story of Noor.

The cinematography is a strong asset, as it makes the United Arab Emirates feel otherworldly, giving it a distinct personality. This is particularly evident in the desert scenes, which feel more like a different world than a dry part of the ecosystem we live in, thus affirming how far from reality their ordeal is. The spacious house architecture, which sets it apart from other localizations, highlights how isolated and vulnerable Amani and Noor are, and how they must rely on each other to understand what is unfolding under their roof. ‘The Vile’ effectively illustrates how different cultures portray horror while also holding a critical lens towards society and the hardships of being a woman.

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Commissioned by WePresent (WeTransfer) and produced via 3.16 Productions, the film is Oscar® and BAFTA-qualified, selected for the BFI London Film Festival, and nominated for Best Sci-Fi at HollyShorts.

Rooted in the aftermath of youth violence and inspired by a real tragedy close to the filmmaker, Highway To The Moon channels personal pain into a lyrical meditation on memory, resilience and community.

Watch the full interview on our YouTube channel to hear Letitia Wright, Kenyah Sandy and Lamar Waves break down the film’s imagery, influences and emotional stakes.

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Formula 1

Perhaps the film that kicked off this recent resurgence was Senna, a documentary on F1 driver Ayrton Senna that was released to critical acclaim, following the driver over the course of his career to his death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. The film dealt with Senna’s background, his rivalries and his tragic death. It is likely that Senna was a big reason that Formula 1: Drive To Survive was made. This is a Netflix show that condenses a season of Formula 1 into one season of television, and has been very popular and opened the sport up to new audiences. However, the show almost immediately ran into controversy about the spin the showmakers were putting on the real events. Drivers complained that rivalries were manufactured in the edit, that all kinds of events were misrepresented, put in a different context or exaggerated. This led to F1 champion Max Verstappen refusing to be involved in the show for several seasons. It has been said that some people watch F1 for the possibility of a crash, although no driver has died in a race since Ayrton Senna, and obviously a season retrospective documentary will not be breaking the news of such an accident.

The Last Dance focuses on basketball colossus Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, zooming in on 1997-1998 season, Jordan’s last season with the team. Whilst a critical and commercial success, the series has faced a lot of pushback. Some of those who took part claim they were misled, believing they were taking part in a documentary purely about that season on the Chicago Bulls, not that it had a particular spotlight on Jordan. Again, there were claims some contributors were portrayed in a negative light, and Jordan, who clearly was essential for the programme, was deferred to too much. Michael Jordan’s production company, Jump 23, was additionally a co-producer on the documentary which could potentially give him even more influence.

There are documentaries that go into very dark sides of sports, such as 2024 Concussed: The American Dream, which focuses on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, CTE, in American football. This condition is caused by repeated blows to the head, contrasting the careers of Tyler Sash and Brett Favre. Tyler Sash was a promising young professional football player who died in 2015 and after an autopsy was confirmed to have CTE. CTE can cause cognitive issues like memory loss, trouble concentrating, but can also lead to drastic changes in mood and behaviour, with issues like mood instability, aggression and suicidal behaviour all being associated with it. Tyler Sash’s short career and tragic death are contrasted with football legend Brett Favre, who also has had repeated concussions and head trauma from playing the sport and has become a prominent advocate in safety in football and understanding CTE. The title of the film Concussed: The American Dream is telling, as playing professional football is a dream for many Americans, but one that can leave them facing huge medical problems.

True Sport

The biggest two differences between these two true crime and “true sport” are that in sports documentaries, you are dealing with celebrities, who are usually still alive, and the trauma and negativity they portray is less destructive than violent crime. With The Last Dance, there are questions about how much influence Jordan had over the documentary; he is listed as a producer and without his involvement, would the documentary have taken place? On the other side of this issue, Formula 1: Drive To Survive had the issue of prominent drivers refusing to take part because of the problems they saw, which they can do in a TV show that goes on for years. Ken Burns, the legendary documentarian, specifically criticised The Last Dance for a lack of journalistic credibility and integrity, as it easily gave way to pressure to show Jordan in the best light.

The second difference in the subject matter is of even more importance. Of the four documentaries mentioned, The Last Dance is about the success and talent of Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, Formula 1: Drive To Survive, the excitement and tension of a sporting season, Senna, about the life and tragic death of a great competitor and Concussed: An American Dream, the suffering caused by CTE. The first two documentaries have issues, but their subject matter has less weight than most true crime dramas; while obviously Ayrton Senna’s death was tragic, the documentary doesn’t exploit that and Concussed: The American Dream has a very specific viewpoint on an ongoing problem. The manipulation of violence, death and suffering for ratings, a problem so prevalent in true crime, is nowhere near as widespread. Again, this is due to inherent differences in reporting on crime or sport; the latter has far less tragedy. It seems the bigger problem in true sport is not the trauma but the manipulation of the story, either by producers looking for more salacious plots or the very sportspeople who the documentaries are about.

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