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Features Live Action Movies

Rahma
(Rahma)
(2026)

Rahma (Rahma) (2026)

Director – Faysal Soysal – 2026 – Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy – 121m

*****

A collision of several sets of lives, among them a childless couple, a people trafficker, and a street refugee child – premieres in the Critics’ Picks Competition of the 30th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

A celebrant chants Latin over several rows of people each covered in a white sheet (like the traditional Western image of a ghost) while an assistant scatters a scent from a holder. One of the sheets (male) reaches out to hold the hand of another (female), who pushes him away.

The local Imam addresses Ibrahim (Ugur Aslan) and Meryam (Denis Isim) about their inability to have children. Abrahams usually can’t have children, he says, but Marys usually do sooner or later. He talks about evil spirits in her womb, and gives her an amulet containing a fresh umbilical cord to ward them off. We are clearly in religious superstition land. As the ritualistic instructions get ever more specific, Meryem goes outside and throws up. Your immediate thought is, morning sickness.

She’s tried herbal mix from the local market, taken whilst soaking in a bath. . They’ve tried everything the doctor recommended, except removing the woman’s defunct womb or getting a foreign surrogate mother to carry the baby to term.… Read the rest

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Features Live Action Movies

IOU
(Qing bu Zou
de Men Shen,
請不走的門神)

IOU (Qing bu Zou de Men Shen, 請不走的門神)

Director – Steven Zhang Zhonghua – 2026 – China – 103m

*****

Two kids whose father has left are harassed by one of his creditors, who starts to take an interest in their welfare – premieres in the Critics’ Picks Competition of the 30th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

This is set in a small village in China: for village, for which read something about the size of an English market town, not dissimilar to the milieu of Black Dog (Guan Hu, 2023). It’s essentially a three-hander: a young teenage girl and her little brother have been abandoned by their father (presumably a single parent, since we never hear anything about the mother) and have to fend for themselves.

Yinxiu (Amy Zhao), the girl, whose name translates as Silver Flower, and Jinlong (Liang Zhongyao), the boy, whose name translates as Golden Dragon, have the family property, which is a good start, but are otherwise living from hand to mouth in abject poverty. As the former explains in voiceover at the start, their father left to evade a series of bad debts incurred by setting up a home for racing pigeons, a popular sport in the village, which seemed like a good way to make some money at the time.… Read the rest

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Features Live Action Movies

Apart
(2026)

Apart

Director – Stelana Kliris – 2026 – Cyprus, United Kingdom, Greece – 104m

***1/2

Here is your coffee, madam, served with human spittle.

This review originally appeared on DMovies.org: you can find it it here.

A Greek Cypriot refugee entering an arranged marriage to escape a war zone finds she must navigate the injustices of South Africa’s apartheid regime – premieres in the Critics’ Picks Competition of the 30th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

Its title suggests separation or distance. In Afrikaans, ‘apartheid’ means apartness. At the centre of its narrative is Eleni (Leem Lubani), a Greek Cypriot woman. Some historical background: in 1974, as an opening onscreen title informs us, Turkey invaded Cyprus. The only way many women could get out of the country was by arranged marriage.

Such an opportunity is presented to Eleni to escape this mess: an arranged marriage to a friend of the family in South Africa’s small Greek Cypriot community. Thus she finds herself meeting a man she doesn’t know, Nico (Luca Pasqualino), at the airport in South Africa, going straight to the registry office.

There, in the presence of two witnesses, Spiros (Andreas Phyactou) and Jenny (Rachel McKay), neither of whom she knows, a Justice takes them through a civil wedding ceremony, following which Eleni is asked to sign her name for the last time, and pronounced “Mrs.… Read the rest

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Features Live Action Movies

1 IN 2

1 IN 2

Director – David Nicholas Wilkinson – 2026 – UK – Cert. 15 – 141m

*****

David undergoes treatment for his bowel cancer, trying to find out why it went undetected by the NHS until it reached stage 4, despite FIT tests and colonoscopy–this film could save your life – out in UK cinemas on Friday, November 13th

Note: I mostly refer to the subject and maker of this film by his first name rather than his family name because that is how he is mostly referred to in the film.

This is a hard review to write in the sense that, as a critic, one is supposed to be completely objective. Occasionally, however, films come along which have some aspect to them so close to one’s own experience that maintaining objectivity proves difficult. I am in remission for cancer, which is to say that, although I am constantly watching for its reappearance and have to take medication for five years, I am basically cured. (Unless I’m not. This stuff messes with your head.) I am also one of those rare cases that hardly ever happens. In my case, while breast cancer is very common, it rarely occurs among men.… Read the rest

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Features Live Action Movies

Fjord
(Fjord)

Fjord (Fjord)

Director – Cristian Mungiu – 2026 – Romania, Norway, France, Denmark, Finland, Sweden – Cert. 15 – 146m

*****

A Romanian-Norwegian family encounters insurmountable cross-cultural issues when they move to Norway – out in UK cinemas on Friday, November 13th

The Gheorgious, a couple comprising a Romanian man Mihal (Sebastian Stan from A Different Man, Aaron Schimberg, 2024; I, Tonya, Craig Gillespie, 2017; Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Anthony and Joe Russo, 2014) and his Norwegian-born wife Lisbet (Renate Reinsve from Backrooms, Kane Parsons, 2026; Sentimental Value, 2025; The Worst Person in the World, 2021, both Joachim Trier) move with their five kids, including their eldest, young teenagers Elia (Vanessa Ceban) and Emmanuel (Jonathan Ciprian Breazu), and their youngest, a baby, move to a picturesque, town in Norway when Mihal takes up a job there as an engineer. Lisbet too takes on a job at the local old folks care home. The town is surrounded by breathtaking mountain scenery and a beautiful lake. It’s a small town where everybody knows everybody else.

The family, who practice daily Bible-reading and prayer, right down to their kids who completely buy into their parents’ religious values, immediately plug in to the local church community, opening their home for bring and share meals and hymn-singing round the piano.… Read the rest

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Features Live Action Movies

Ebenezer

Ebenezer

Director – Ti West – 2026 – US – Cert. 12a – 116m

***** the horror-y bits

**** the rest

Greedy and ruthless financial man Ebenezer Scrooge is shown the error of his ways by three ghosts over the course of one Christmas Eve night – out in UK cinemas on Friday, November 13th

With a text as well known and filmed as many times as Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, it’s probably pointless to rehash the plot, but, in brief, in its present version with current cast members inserted: Ebenezer Scrooge (Johnny Depp) of the financial firm Scrooge & Marley is obsessed with financial propriety to the exclusion of all else – employees, family, and Christmas itself. He loses his longstanding business partner Jacob Marley (a convincing Ian Mckellan) when the latter unexpectedly drops dead one Christmas eve. Even so, Scrooge expects his honest, loyal, hardworking and thorough clerk Bob Cratchit (Rupert Grint) to work as normal on Christmas Day. Cratchit’s son Tiny Tim (Freddie Lee-Gray) is a cheerful soul despite having one leg in a brace and a short life expectancy. Nor will he visit his nephew Fred (Sam Claflin) for Christmas dinner, despite an invitation to do so every year.… Read the rest

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Documentary Features Live Action Movies

Whispers in the Woods
(Le Chant des Forêts)

Whispers in the Woods (Le Chant des Forêts)

Director – Vincent Munier – 2025 – France – Cert. U – 95m

*****

Grandfather, father and son settle into the woods to watch the wildlife, and possibly catch a glimpse of a rare bird – out in UK and Ireland cinemas on Friday, November 13th

Woods. Mist slowly rising. For what seems like an eternity. You are watching, waiting. This sets you up for what is to follow.

In many shots, the pin-sharp images capture foreground vegetation while animal or bird life moves tantalisingly in the soft or out of focus distance. And yet, that’s what transfixes you as you watch. You have to be patient, but are rewarded intermittently with footage of birds, owls, deer, lynxes and more.

The setting is the dense and isolated forests of the Vosges region of France.

Intercut with all this are the activities of three generations of the wildlife-observing Munier family: grandfather Michel, father Vincent and 12-year old Simon, as they construct hides to watch the fauna, walk around snowbound vistas all night to view wildlife that has accepted them, or camp out overnight in sleeping bags. Vincent, the film’s director, is the award-winning wildlife photographer who previously made The Velvet Queen (2021).… Read the rest

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Mongrels

Mongrels

Director – Jerome Yoo – 2024 – Canada – Cert. 15 tbc– 106m

*****

On the Canadian Prairie, a Korean father helps cull wild dogs, his teenage son grapples with identity, and his young sister misses her absent mother – from LKFF, the London Korean Film Festival 2026 which runsin cinemas from Monday, November 2nd to Tuesday, November 16th

Aside from an opening in which a man in his underwear in the woods speaks in Korean of his dreams – taken from towards the end of the first of the film’s sections – this film is split into three headed sections, one for each member of its central family by descending age – father, teenage son, young girl. These Koreans have emigrated to Canada, and now live on the Canadian Prairie. It’s the early 1990s, or thereabouts.

The three sections are: i – god, ii – cowboy, iii – blonde.

In i – god, the father Sonny (Kim Jae-Hyun) holds a ceremony for his two children Hajoon (Jeon Ho-Young) and Hana (Jin Sein) in which all three bow to show gratitude for their protection. Sonny is a key figure in Scott (Morgan Derera) the local farmer’s attempted cull of wild dogs in the nearby woods, the shootist most likely to bag a dog then put it out of its misery with his knife.… Read the rest

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Features Live Action Movies

My Daughter is a Zombie
(Jombittal,
좀비딸)

My Daughter is a Zombie (Jombittal, 좀비딸)

Director – Pil Gam-sung – 2025 – South Korea – Cert. 15 tbc – 114m

*****

When his teenage daughter becomes a zombie, her father must use his skills as an animal trainer to help her lead a normal life – from LKFF, the London Korean Film Festival 2026 which runs in cinemas from Monday, November 2nd to Tuesday, November 16th

Like fathers everywhere, Lee Jung-hwan (Cho Jung-seok from Exit, Lee Sang-geun, 2019) struggles to connect with his 15-year-old daughter Lee Soo-ah (Choi Yu-ri from Alienoid, Choi Dong-hoon, 2022). A failed, professional K-pop dancer who achieved modest success as an animal trainer – for instance, successfully getting his zoo workplace’s Bengal Tiger to dance – he has passed on his love of dancing to his daughter, although her generation’s idea of dancing is very different from his. Nevertheless, it’s in the family’s genes.

One day, they observe bizarre behaviour outside their window from a neighbouring couple, which could be easily explained if life were like a zombie movie. The woman having bitten her husband’s neck, she advances towards their sitting room window and, recognising life (food) when dad moves into her sight in the course of rescuing the cat, relentlessly hammers her head against the glass ’til it breaks. … Read the rest

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Be My Baby
(Mia,
미아,
lit. Missing Child)

Be My Baby (Mia, 미아, lit. Missing Child)

Director – Yoo Jong-seok – 2025 – South Korea– Cert. 15 tbc – 98m

**

A number of women, trapped in a web of deceit, futilely lie, cheat and scam their way towards hoped-for escape routes that don’t exist – from LKFF, the London Korean Film Festival 2026 which runsin cinemas from Monday, November 2nd to Tuesday, November 16th

An encounter between female hospital worker Seo-rim (Kang Hae-rim) and homeless person Soo-mi (Bae Gang-hee) takes place outside early on in this bleak thriller built around women on the margins of Korean society. One character is involved in an insurance scam which will pay out a vast sum of money if it comes off, but you’re never quite sure whether she is in fact the named policy holder or someone else entirely.

We are taken into a complex web of deceit in which most if not all the women interacting with one another are not in fact the people indicated by the names under which we initially encounter them. People are introduced by their name, yet before you know it the same name appears on someone else’s credit card, or a letter addressed to another person.… Read the rest