Movie reviews of Filipe Freitas

The uninspired plotting comes with banal dialogue, while the action scenes, despite fast-paced, are pretty unimaginative regardless if they occur on land, air or water. Review

Petzold’s Afire is an erratic endeavor that can be considered minor within a filmography of so many accomplishments. Although imperfect, it deserves a favorable mention. Review

The one-dimensional characterization and a dead-earnest execution soon put an unusual spin on a story where nearly every beam that strives to hold it together collapses. But perhaps the biggest problem of all is that there's nothing here we haven't seen before. Review

Past Lives is keenly observed, expertly mounted, and marvelously acted. The build-up gains slow momentum but once it finds its rhythm, the film takes off to positively devastating places that will make your heart grow three sizes while watching it. Review

Both its surface and essence are phony but, worse than that, is the movie’s inability to offer any insight about anything. Asteroid City is equal parts tackiness and boredom. Review

Steeped in rich colored costumes and passionate emotions, the film achieves a delicate osmosis between commercial film and auteur cinema. It’s a mature exploration of a big theme, hampered only by its simplified, conventional storytelling. Review

The fearless Ferrara tries to tackle this fascinating character but loses traction in a film that, asking the right questions, never finds dramatically persuasive answers. Review

You Hurt My Feelings is an insufferably cute rom-com but I have absolutely no qualms in saying that it misses out on something. Although the director and her cast bring some funny situations to keep the story going, the film leans more on the average side. Review

I felt that for every sublime moment the movie has to offer, there's a cinematic dead zone of indulgence that wipes it away. As a consequence, our interest wobbles in a story that promises more than delivers. Review

The film’s musical parts are inconsequential and, for their brevity, ludicrously whimsical; the pedestrian romance is without passion; the sixth sense and witchcraft suggestions feel like jokes; and the archival footage - with colorized and sepia frames - creates a completely redundant, even distracting tonal mishmash. Review

A quiet intensity and elegiac melancholy pervades the scenarios of a chamber film whose feelings and textures didn’t always resonate with the expected emotional weight. Review

Aggressively formulaic, the film is stitched with clichés and implausibilities. Review

The frustrating Master Gardener brings a message of inclusivity and redemption but forgets the thrills, never going far beyond the basic set-up. Review

Reichardt is subtle but incisive in her analysis. Showing Up is an observant, critical, gently lilting, and hyper-realistic account that uniquely captures the inner world of an introverted and peculiar artist. Review

Vapid at times, and with a deft camerawork refusing to cope with the story's confined temperament, the film is full of artifice to the point of absurdity. But that may just be the point of Cavalli, who keeps the humor, the drama and, let's face it, the goofy undertones that make this portrait of Italian bourgeoisie more derisive. Review

Reality is well-made but depends almost entirely on the acting. And neither the lead nor the supporting actors let it down, providing merciless authenticity through crisp performances. Review

The centre fails to hold, lashed around in an intellectual straitjacket, so the plot never wraps up appropriately. Although crossed by some beautiful cinematic imagery, Leonora Addio hardly seems more than an experimental exercise. Review

The talent of the young actors is obvious as they reflect teen life and confused feelings with impressive accuracy. Review

By trading brains for bullets and characters for puppets, the director made the worst possible choices for this exhausting fourth chapter. Review

With warped sounds enhancing the industrialism of the setting, this twisted fairytale is pretty darn hypnotic. Review

Even if you’re not tech savvy, Johnson puts it all in fascinating context. Aiming for greatness and not quite making it, he, nonetheless, discloses a vital, engaging part of technology history while guaranteeing absolute fun by effectively mixing serious and comedic tones. Review

The beauty of the story lies precisely in how to overcome fragility, doing it with both realistic and supernatural quests that will take you out of your comfort zone. Review

Profoundly human and saddled with a mix of somber and limpid energy, More Than Ever is, in some measure, a slightly conventional work that could have explored its characters a bit deeper. Review

Winter Boy is stilted, with deficient dynamics and questionable choices of monologues in front of the camera and explanatory voice-over. Review