Movie reviews of Victor Fraga

Fifteen-year-old Spanish girl seeks paternal affection, in this quietly moving tale of family secrets and abandonment. Review

Forty-four-year-old Dutch filmmaker Jaap van Heusden’s fourth feature film is a carefully crafted and mostly auspicious drama. It contains a few tiresome philosophical platitudes and a rather awkward ending, however it never slips into unwarranted didacticism, leaving viewers instead to make up their own mind. Review

The little-known history of Crimean Tatars is the backbone of this disjoined tale of romance and political dissent. Review

Creepy allegory of Soviet authoritarianism and political delusion is aesthetically and narratively compelling. Review

It is impossible not to be moved by octogenarian Hopkins, who delivers an honest and tear-inducing performance. Review

Road toll worker slips into a life of crime in order to pay for her son's gay conversion therapy, in this spectacularly dirty Brazilian piece of absurd realism. Review

At times, the script is disjointed and barely coherent. It is ironic that a movie about dementia lacks a little lucidity. Review

Gabriel Byrne stars as Irish writer Samuel Beckett, in this concise yet very conventional and contrived biopic of a literary genius. Review

Victor Erice returns to filmmaking after a three-decade hiatus, crafting a protracted, moody and profound reflection on memory, cinema and reconnection (with a twist). Review

This very effective revenge thriller deconstructs toxic masculinity without resorting to platitudes and cliches. The story is mostly credible. Review

French military families prepare to depart from Madagascar in the early 1970s, in this disjointed, irritating and misfiring tale of decolonisation. Review

A lone widower freezes his dead wife in the hope of keeping her company into eternity, in this Taiwanese piece of slow cinema (with a social twist). Review

Maria has to juggle seafood harvesting, midwifery and illegal abortions, in this dark and sullen drama set during the 1970s in rural Galicia, Northwestern Spain. Review

Philosophy professor fights to preserve his position and his legacy, in Argentinean lighthearted comedy with distinct political flavours. Review

The artistic director of a famous fashion house in Paris returns to Canada for his estranged father's funeral, only to uncover a dirty secret he could never fathom - bizarre yet strangely gripping crime drama. Review

Isabel Coixet delivers a superb meditation on the contradictory sentiments of love, compassion, contempt and complicity, set in the rural, mountainous region of Rioja. Review

A celebratory yet highly exoticised look at the world’s most populous country through very European lenses. Review

Yoga instructor has to juggle a divorce and a bizarre knee injury, in this hilarious deadpan comedy about unreliable memories, reconnections and, er, shattered mindfulness. Review

Four men in the same family and of the three generations grapple with the trappings of heterosexual matrimony, this very lighthearted and conventional American romcom. Review

Deeply sensory piece of slow cinema explores the life of a Black American woman in the Deep South, as her legacy is carried across four generations. Review

Cristi Puiu's new creation is a highly conversational, cryptic and esoteric examination of a Romania crippled by corruption, Covid and micro-aggressions of all sorts. Review

This is a sardonic allegory of political doctrine gone unhinged, as well a tragic register of a society on the brink of social collapse. Review

Greek director Christos Nikou’s sophomore feature is fun and enjoyable to watch (if only you cover your eyes in the most graphic sequences). But it’s also highly formulaic and predictable, with a lukewarm ending. Review

A peculiar piece of filmmaking worthy of praise as well as an attentive viewing. Review