Drama Reviews and Features | Little White Lies

Genre Drama

Elderly man with grey hair gesticulating, surrounded by a crowd of people in a lively setting.
Review

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

by Rafa Sales Ross

Alejandro G Iñárritu grapples with creative fulfilment and the Mexican diaspora in his sprawling, semi-autobiographical surrealist drama.

4
Anticipation
3
Enjoyment
4
In Retrospect
Two figures in vintage-style clothing, one with a fur coat, against a green background.
Review

Clara Sola

by Finlay Spencer

Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s debut feature explores religious oppression and sexual desire through a Costa Rican woman’s mystical awakening.

3
Anticipation
3
Enjoyment
2
In Retrospect
Smiling man and woman in striped jumpers, outdoors against dark background.
Review

Armageddon Time

by Hannah Strong

James Gray interrogates his fraught childhood in Regan-era New York City in this masterful, unflinching drama.

4
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
5
In Retrospect
A young man and woman resting together on a patterned sofa, the woman's head on the man's shoulder.
Review

Aftersun

by Savina Petkova

A young father and his 11-year-old daughter take a holiday to Turkey in Charlotte Wells’ touching debut.

4
Anticipation
5
Enjoyment
5
In Retrospect
Two men visible in rear-view mirror of car interior.
Review

No Bears

by Rafa Sales Ross

The Iranian master returns with a set of parallel love stories reflecting on superstition and the mechanics of power.

4
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
4
In Retrospect
Two people, a man and a woman, standing in a rural landscape with vegetation in the background.
Review

Return to Dust

by David Jenkins

Li Ruijun’s tender, thought-provoking drama is a story about love expressed through action rather than reaction.

3
Anticipation
3
Enjoyment
4
In Retrospect
Woman in blue dress and grey shawl stands amidst old wooden crosses in grassy field, with mountains in the background.
Review

The Wonder

by Lillian Crawford

Sebastián Lelio’s 19th-century drama dwells in the gothic-bucolic as a nurse watches over a girl who has survived months without food.

3
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
3
In Retrospect
A man in a suit and tie speaks on a phone inside a dark car, illuminated by the dashboard lights.
Review

Hunt

by Josh Slater-Williams

Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae stars in his directorial debut, a high-voltage espionage thriller set in 1980s South Korea.

3
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
4
In Retrospect
Woman driving red vintage car, wearing sunglasses and black jacket.
Review

Call Jane

by Leila Latif

Chicago’s Underground Abortion Network and a housewife’s unwanted pregnancy lie at the centre of Phyllis Nagy’s directorial debut.

3
Anticipation
3
Enjoyment
3
In Retrospect
Man in black bowler hat and pinstriped suit standing outside stately building, holding walking cane.
Review

Living

by Ella Kemp

Oliver Hermanus teams up with Kazuo Ishiguro and Bill Nighy for a British reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 masterpiece, Ikiru.

3
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
4
In Retrospect