Contributions from Yasmine Kandil | Little White Lies

Contributor Yasmine Kandil

Young boy in a blue shirt sitting in a blue, glowing boat on a dark, shadowy lake, with a small white creature floating nearby.
Review

Elio review – a touching treaty on the search for belonging

by Yasmine Kandil

A social­ly awk­ward young boy dis­cov­ers alien life in Pixar’s sweet new inter­galac­tic adventure.

3
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
4
In Retrospect
Black dragon-like creature with horns and green eyes resting on sandy ground.
Review

How To Train Your Dragon review – never quite catches the updraft needed to soar to uncharted heights

by Yasmine Kandil

Dream­works’ first for­ay into the world of live-action remakes is fair­ly unre­mark­able despite occa­sion­al sparks of magic.

3
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
3
In Retrospect
Two men wearing sunglasses and red jackets seated in a car.
Festivals

Once Upon a Time in Gaza – first-look review

by Yasmine Kandil

Arab and Tarzan Nasser’s thriller trans­ports us to 2007, where two friends run­ning a drug deal­ing busi­ness out of a falafel cart soon come into con­flict with a cor­rupt police officer.
Three young men in casual clothing, one smiling broadly, engaged in lively conversation.
Festivals

Météors – first-look review

by Yasmine Kandil

A reck­less act of youth­ful trou­ble­mak­ing sends two best friends on a down­ward spi­ral in Hubert Charu­el’s drama.
Two female characters in tropical setting, surrounded by palm trees and water.
Review

Moana 2 review – a tidal wave of joy on the big screen

by Yasmine Kandil

Although it doesn’t quite soar to the heights of the orig­i­nal, there’s a lot to enjoy in this delight­ful sequel.

3
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
4
In Retrospect
Two people on a motorcycle, a man and a woman, riding along a rural road.
Festivals

Leurs Enfants Après Eux – first-look review

by Yasmine Kandil

A way­ward teenag­er in a strug­gling French town comes of age and expe­ri­ences first over in Ludovic and Zoran Boukher­ma’s stir­ring melodrama.
Two young women, one with blonde hair and the other with brown hair, posing together outdoors wearing casual clothing.
Festivals

Trois Amies – first-look review

by Yasmine Kandil

A group of friends nav­i­gate the intri­ca­cies of their rela­tion­ship when one faces a dev­as­tat­ing loss in Emmanuel Mouret’s med­i­ta­tion on the nature of love.
Woman's face partially obscured by branches in a lush, green forest.
Festivals

Good One – first-look review

by Yasmine Kandil

India Don­ald­son’s fea­ture debut is a nat­u­ral­is­tic por­trait of the ten­sions between young women and their fathers as a teenag­er takes a hik­ing trip with her dad and his best friend.
Two individuals, a woman with red hair and a bearded man, sit in a dimly lit room with a framed artwork on the wall.
Review

Memory review – a frustratingly shallow character study

by Yasmine Kandil

Jes­si­ca Chas­tain and Peter Sars­gaard star in Michel Fran­co’s dour dra­ma about high school class­mates who unex­pect­ed­ly reunite amid painful circumstances.

2
Anticipation
2
Enjoyment
2
In Retrospect
A woman with long red hair wearing a green jacket, standing in a forested area.
Festivals

Memory – first-look review

by Yasmine Kandil

Michel Fran­co’s dra­ma about the choke­hold of the past boasts star pow­er in Jes­si­ca Chas­tain and Peter Sars­gaard, but nev­er quite deliv­ers on its emo­tion­al premise.