Movie reviews of Victor Fraga

Jia Zhangke's latest portrait of the China is profound, laborious and meditative, dotted with snippets of joy, and perhaps his most difficult film to date. Review

Fiery trans gangster musical is fuelled by explosive Mexican soap opera devices; the outcome is guaranteed to blow you away. Review

The daughter of powerful sports betting lord investigates her father mysterious demise, in this at times inscrutable docufiction from Argentina. Review

The Girl with the Needle isn’t a watershed in the history of film. It lacks the surrealist magnificence of Eraserhead, and punch-in-the-face factor of The Devil’s Bath. But it will still enrapture and shock you. Review

Yorgos Lanthimos's eerie-silly display of altruism feels like a David Lynch film remade by Peter Greenaway. Review

Not even Richard Gere, Jacob Elodi and Uma Thurman rescue Paul Schrader's unreliable memory drama from utter boredom. Review

Solemn and austere drama explores the dark machinations of homophobia in rural Romania, with a familiar yet jarring story bursting with subtleties. Review

Andrea Arnold's ultra-British blend of social realism and magical realism is uneven yet fascinating to watch. Review

Ye insistently seeks to craft a documentary feel in a story that’s almost entirely scripted. He inserts a high dose of casualness, a variety of textures and media, and other devices associated with traditional documentary practice into his film. But the outcome is often messy. Review

Nineteen-year-old influencer uses her cosmetically-enhanced body as a weapon for social ascension, in this palpable and visceral French drama. Review

Quentin Dupieux’s new creation succeeds as a high-octane exercise on metalanguage, yet it fails as a comedy. Review

A Syrian refugee living in Germany travels to France in order to trace the footsteps of his former torturer, in this convoluted blend of mystery and drama. Review

Finely crafted documentary rescues the work and the personal history of a pioneering however long-forgotten fashion-photographer-turned-horse-breeder from Brazil. Review

He explains that he set out to create something positive at which people can look and remember him after he’s gone. He’s partly successful. While humbling, this is hardly an uplifting film. Review

This very British hybrid of mockumentary and deep fake television is as juicy and plump as the vegetables portrayed, but also a little overgrown. Review

Palestine's most popular and inspirational leader (often compared to Mandela) becomes the topic of this insightful yet patchy documentary... Review

Despite a string of cliches and platitudes, Amy Winehouse's biopic is a thoroughly entertaining nostalgia-fest. Review

Star-studded, elegant prequel of 1976 classic pays tribute to several horror movies, but not without some clumsy twists and turns. Review

The problem is that there is very little chemistry between the characters. There are too many sudden, profound bondings and subplots in a relatively short period of time. Review

The sombre cinematography, combined with a concrete social topic, provides the movie with a touch of realism, almost social realism, even if some stiff lines and bathetic music score partly hamper these efforts. Review

Despite the interesting premise and the breathtaking locations, Shambhala is visually and narratively monotonous. Review

This is a documentary with a very specific focus: an album and its 20th anniversary. That’s the movie’s strength but also its weakness. Review

After shockingly dumping her husband-to-be at the altar, African woman starts a new life in Taiwan, in a movie with the visual panache of Wong Kar-Wai. Review

Motherly instincts and extreme violence collide to devastating results, in this Scandinoir prison drama from Denmark. Review