Movie reviews of Filipe Freitas

Precise in its three-dimensional analysis, Mills tells something genuine and meaningful in a quiet heart-tugger made irresistible by naturalistic performances. Sensitive audiences won’t have difficulty remembering C’mon C’mon. Review

At some point, still far from the conclusion, it was my desire to erase this messy block of code (made of copy and paste) from the screen. After the abominable final sequence, I got less anxious as soon as I saw the final credits roll. Press the button and... erased forever! Review

The innocence, perceptiveness, sadness and occasional rapture conveyed by the twin protagonists in this intimate, concise drama will stop you in your tracks. Rarely a sharp-eyed depiction of a mourning period takes the form of an exceptionally tender experience. Review

Combining fantasy and reality, tears and laughter, sports and arts, as well as the vulgar and the sensitive aspects of life, The Hand of God might not be a masterpiece but is certainly one of a kind. Review

Yearning and confident, funny and sad, this is a film that deftly combines the tender and the fierce of life. Review

Unhurriedly delivered, Balloon plays out like a naturalistic fable in which ancient traditions clash with a more modern vision. It becomes strangely moving during the peacefully elegiac third act, and it’s beauty, unpretentiousness and message should be enough to appeal beyond its art house niche. Review

Well patented here is his penchant for projecting women to the center of a story while directing them with real affection. Review

There’s nothing really groundbreaking here, even considering that this dark and lurid thriller comes from a director who has firmly established himself as an innovator. Nightmare Alley plays more like an ever-shifting, lopsided endeavor that finds the right magic to catch us in a villainously astute manner. Review

Suspenseful and powerful from minute one until the end, the film provides a harrowing look at how an apparently safe gathering could veer into a nerve-racking, life-threatening situation. Review

Staged to be funny, Don’t Look Up fails each and every move. I count no hits but rather thousands of misses in a film that, attempting to depict our times of disbelief in science in favor of conspiracy theories, misses the opportunity with the force of a 100-km wide comet moving at a jaw-dropping high speed. Review

With a few stark shots and coherent vision, Red Rocket finds disenchantment and hilarity in America. Review

Spielberg's West Side Story didn’t thrill me, and I’m still wondering why this half-hearted, unimaginative film was even made in the first place. Review

Persuasively made, I’m Your Man is a smart move that elicits both strong thoughts and feelings without ever becoming creepy. Therefore, just let it gnaw at your own humanity. Review

The enchanting black-and-white cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos is responsible for the seductive looks, and the performances enhance the director’s lingering sense of sentimental nostalgia. This work - dedicated to those who have departed, those who have remained and those who have lost their lives - is fairly enjoyable but not especially mesmerizing. Review

The film won the Best Screenplay award in Cannes, a totally deserved accolade for setting an incredibly subtle example of cinematic virtuosity and poetry. Review

Considering all the facts, the low-key Son of Monarchs is passable. Review

The restlessness of Prayers for the Stolen never ebbs and that makes for a thoroughly entertaining, if somewhat exhausting, 110 minutes. Brilliantly composed, it finds beauty as well as ugliness in this part of Mexico, a place where the cartel enforcement and the violence steal the innocence of the local female teens, depriving them of freedom and a proper life. Review

It will likely lodge in your head for a while, thanks to the rigor with which it was mounted, and the top-notch performances from Landry Jones and Judy Davis. Review

Even not packing a gut-punch, the film tickles then pinches, advancing confidently toward a satisfying conclusion. Review

Rarely as playful or fluid as it hopes, the film declines instead with pacing fluctuations in its middle section - when it mostly relies on Paolo’s idiocy and excessive Italian-accented speech to amuse - and an unemotional conclusion that definitely fails to elevate the account into something satisfying. Review

There’s a clunkiness to A Cop Movie, which, nonetheless, delivers a unique 107-minute distraction. Review

It's not great filmmaking from Moratto, but this horrific rite of passage touches crucial points, so one can have the idea on how these exploitation schemes work, often headed by greedy politicians and linked to a corrupt police force. The denouement gets an extra half-star for its surprising implications. Review

The film’s patient progress is driven and tensed, and seeing those solitary roads wiggling through the woods at the sound of William Ryan Fritch’s apt score, only increases one sense of loneliness and despair. It’s painful what we see; memories of a happy past, the acute awareness of a dark present and the fear of an unknown future. Review

The director has all my respect for what she went through and for trying to do something with it, but there’s so much room to improve here in terms of filmmaking and storytelling. Review