Movie reviews of Filipe Freitas

The fine performances give the story a boost, especially Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman and Jeremy Strong as Jerry Rubin. Review

Following is a fascinating and immersive neo-noir enhanced with terrific acting. Review

An expedite pace, strong production values, easy humor, candid romance, and a pertinent subtopic involving women’s rights are all motives to see Harry Bradbeer’s first non-TV movie. Review

Tigertail, the quiet debut feature of American writer/director/producer Alan Young, is rudimentary but honest. Review

Hailing from Georgia, this powerful drama film denotes wonderful acting and a compelling direction from Nana Ekvtimishvili, who wrote it, and Simon Groß. Review

A Taxi Driver depicts a black page in South Korean’s history, being often melodramatic to become entirely satisfying. Review

Despite strong and able, Julia is about to break down with embarrassment and disappointment, and the taciturn drama poignantly expresses the miserable work environment that many people experience but haven’t the courage to denounce. Review

A misstep from acclaimed French director Olivier Assayas, Wasp Network tangles itself in a plot transferred to the screen with the shopworn conventions associated with the American cinema. Review

Exhibiting a severe, intriguing mood, this film could have been much more effective if the director, Ramón Salazar, didn’t have stretched a few scenes into the limit while packing them with a lugubrious gloominess. Review

A comprehensive and eye-opening documentary by Jeff Orlowski about the dependency, isolation and other serious problems caused by social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram to their users. Review

With this new film, Charlie Kaufman confirms his tendency for knotty, moody, suspenseful writing/storytelling crammed with references to past lives, time discontinuities, memory tricks and baffling developments. Review

Egyptian director Youssef Chahine makes his most personal statement with An Egyptian Story, which, not having the magnetism of Cairo Station (1958), encapsulates some metaphoric scenes that implies both self-analysis and self-acceptance. Review

The film gradually loses strength and focus as it moves forward. Review

Obsessive mad love in a Japanese samurai classic that, despite not crammed with sword battles, possesses a continuous, intense dramatic flair. Review

Teinosuke Kinugasa’s avant-garde/experimental horror reflection is also infused with scary moments and emotional turmoil. Review

With a compelling narrative and a surprising, heartbreaking finale, The Garden Left Behind satisfies as a whole. Yet, it couldn’t hide a couple of less effective scenes... Review

Never haunting or hypnotic, the film basically relies on self-obsession to succeed, and any interest in Ahmed as a character may evaporate in no time. The conclusion is more ludicrous than shocking. Review

Although Vitalina Varela is not his best film, it feels like a classy lesson in introspective cinema. It’s a relentlessly grim tale of immigration, suffering, and loneliness that deserves to be contemplated. Review

Sadly, the positive atmospheric set-up terminates abruptly with the first death. The film never fulfills the potential offered by a farcical yet mysterious inception. Review

Balanced in tone and devastating in its conclusion, Clemency provides a refreshing alternative to the death-row-themed movies, addressing the problem from an uncommon angle. Review

Queen of Hearts is a scandalous guilty pleasure that works so well because it’s patiently build with methodical accuracy and brutal authenticity. By focusing on a woman whose exploitative voluptuousness she coldly accepts, el-Toukhy provides us with a tough viewing, but not a superficial experience. Review

As expected, the romance was not as wild as the action, and the lurid aesthetics never compensate the overstuffness of the plot. It’s a visceral experience, nonetheless. Review

Intermittently interesting at an early stage, the film keeps oscillating between solid and patchy, and eventually grows in disappointment as climaxes and thrills are taken to a minimum. Review

The wit is mordantly dark and one just has to settle back and let this tremendous account do the rest. Expect to be knocked out by a devastatingly potent finale. Review