Movie reviews of Filipe Freitas

Provocative without being excessively flamboyant, Cassandro is endowed with remarkable performances, underlining themes of freedom, courage, and ambition in most scenes; it offers an engrossing exploration of Saul’s duality in life. Review

The director remains on the surface, weaving a crass hodgepodge of elements that don’t fully coalesce. However, respectable performances by Asante Blackk, Kylie Rogers, and Tiffany Haddish were a positive surprise, and that paid off in places. Review

While employing some familiar horror tropes and encountering minor stumbling blocks in the plot, the film masterfully maintains a grip on the audience, evoking a sense of unease throughout. Review

Even with some deviations from historical truth, the director provides a fair view of the artist and his personality, in a ballsy move that avoids the pitfalls of academicism and period dramas. Review

Playing with twisted dimensions and labyrinthine layers, Aster squanders the chance to lead a few good ideas to fruition. The result, much less fascinating than expected, is congested and appalling. Review

I found myself struggling to find the laughs while observing avid women battling one another fiercely for dominance and acceptance. Review

Amerkatsi doesn't transcend drama or comedy conventions, but uses the steep contrast between injustice and human values to bolster its narrative; all with the help of a full-blooded direction, a gently satirical tone, and fine performances. Review

The realistic depiction, clarity of purpose, occasional gallows humor, and crucial message - with equality and freedom of choice at the center - are the reasons for the movie’s success, but the execution is a bit tacky, when it could have been aesthetically cinematic. Review

Carrying a rare intensity in the narrative, which recalls literary works by Dostoyevsky and Bulgakov, the film is overwhelmingly painful; an original moral tale that, in the guise of a survival thriller, seeks for a trace of humanity. This is grim yet powerful cinema. Review

Huesera, a downright effort composed with trenchant expressions and a spellbinding atmosphere, prefers subtle suggestions to overt statements. Review

Sadly terrifying and often repulsive, Sick of Myself is not a film I'm likely ever to revisit but is well directed, acted, and observed, even if it takes that observation to a deliberately disturbing satirical degree. Review

One of those cases where the tedium outweighed the anticipation. Review

Despite an unnecessary coda that contributes nil to the outcome, Before, Now & Then is a lingeringly rich and unsentimental period drama that expresses more with looks and gestures than with words. Review

The tension builds up right from the start, and the story flies at full speed, electrifying everything around its path. And yet, this subversive audacity gives way to different feelings as the events unfold in a low-key manner. In the end, it falls short of the expectations... Review

Carrying all the ingredients of a solid film noir, Limbo has a startlingly unusual climax, shrouded in thick mystery and a sulfurous tone that, at the end, suddenly veers to bittersweet. Review

The well-acted Palm Trees and Power Lines is not perfect but frankly impressive. It succeeds in plunging us into the psyche of a teenager, and does it with captivating introspection. Review

Elevated by a great performance, this tale only seems possible on screen, but the uncanny undertones of humanity and perversity infused by the protagonist keep us centered on her self-created nightmare. With that said, the whole thing feels familiar, moodwise, without ever veering into cliché. Review

Some moments of emotional truth within the uneven parts don’t avoid a forgettable whole that translates into a minimalist procession of despair with an overall mediocre payoff. There’s simply not enough material for a feature here. Review

Meeting the canons of the saga while taking the form of an artful spectacle, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One was the most expensive and longest film of the series, but is far from being an extraordinary achievement. Review

Fukada signs a drama punctuated with strong sequences of muted disenchantment and discreet humanism. They warn us about the impossibility of controlling life as well as the time required to overcome difficult phases. Review

Benefitting from Helen Mirren’s effective narration, this feminist film hovers over the topics with wittiness, enjoyment and critical thinking. The result is cheerily upbeat. This Barbie movie might be too candied and flamboyant but is certainly not silly. Review

Story-wise, there’s not much to be happy about it, but even self-indulgent at times, the film has a strange appeal, developing with imagination at an irregular rhythm. Review

Passages has the ability to be simultaneously disciplined and unpredictable. Even if it doesn’t come with the power of Sachs’ previous works, this is still a lavish and opulent story that ends pungently at the sound of free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler’s Rejoice Spirit. Review

It’s an opportunity to get a history lesson on the matter, but the film only really shines on a few scattered powerful moments. It all came up more informative than fun. Review