Drama Reviews and Features | Little White Lies

Genre Drama

Two Asian children playing on a rope swing in a field.
Review

Minari

by Kambole Campbell

This gorgeous semi-memoir filters the ragged glory of the American Dream through a family of South Korean immigrant farmers.

4
Anticipation
5
Enjoyment
4
In Retrospect
Two people in period costumes looking out of a window onto a snowy landscape.
Review

Malmkrog

by David Jenkins

Cristi Puiu takes viewers on an intellectual odyssey with this stripped-back period drama set in a Transylvanian mansion.

4
Anticipation
5
Enjoyment
5
In Retrospect
Two people embracing, a man with glasses and short grey hair, and a woman with curly brown hair, both smiling.
Review

Memories of My Father

by David Jenkins

Spanish veteran director Fernando Trueba returns with a handsome if dramatically inert autobiography.

3
Anticipation
2
Enjoyment
2
In Retrospect
Two women in period dress, one with curled hair, the other with straight hair, engage in a close conversation.
Review

Ammonite

by Jourdain Searles

A reclusive fossil collector has her quiet life interrupted in Francis Lee’s atmospheric coastal drama.

3
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
4
In Retrospect
Close-up shot of a serious-looking individual with dark, dishevelled hair and intense eyes against a dark, greenish background.
Review

Violation

by Leila Latif

Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer’s gruelling rape revenge thriller shrewdly subverts the genre.

3
Anticipation
3
Enjoyment
4
In Retrospect
A young Asian person with short dark hair, wearing a blue backpack, standing in a train carriage and looking thoughtfully out of the window.
Review

Better Days

by Weiting Liu

Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung’s cause célèbre-turned-success story combines hard-hitting drama with woozy romance.

4
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
4
In Retrospect
A woman with dark hair wearing a light-coloured coat stands in front of a green tiled wall.
Review

Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time

by Elena Lazic

With her second feature, Hungarian writer/​director Lili Horvát delivers a suspenseful elliptical thriller.

4
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
4
In Retrospect
Two men playing drums together in a studio or classroom setting.
Review

Sound of Metal

by Hannah Strong

Riz Ahmed plays a drummer who loses his hearing in Darius Marder’s bold and brilliant debut.

4
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
5
In Retrospect
Smiling man holding paper in red-walled room with masks on shelves behind him.
Review

The Inheritance

by Madeleine Seidel

This creative riff on Jean-Luc Godard’s La Chinoise explores the power of Black activism and community.

4
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
4
In Retrospect
Smiling students sitting at desks in a classroom, one wearing a striped sweatshirt.
Review

Moxie

by Emily Maskell

Amy Poehler’s second feature behind the camera misses the mark in its search for humour and solidarity.

3
Anticipation
2
Enjoyment
3
In Retrospect