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Kaleem Aftab
Tomatometer-approved critic
Publications:
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Room Next Door (2024) |
The hot Latin lovers have been replaced by pink snow, and the homoeroticism has been dialled down, but this is Almodóvar’s America and it’s a delight. - Time Out
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| Posted Sep 05, 2024
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Maria (2024) |
This enjoyable biopic offers a loving and affectionate portrait of Callas that never airbrushes her foibles. It’s likely to put Jolie front and centre in the Oscar race, too. - Time Out
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| Posted Sep 05, 2024
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LOLA (2022) |
There’s much to admire here, but with Legge’s keen eye for the technical side of cinema stronger than his narrative impulses, LOLA ultimately has to go down as an ambitious failure. - Time Out
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| Posted Dec 11, 2023
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American Fiction (2023) |
It's such an entertaining film that it's easy to overlook the fact that the comedy only works because it depicts structural racism in such an exaggerated black-and-white manner. - BBC.com
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| Posted Sep 19, 2023
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Next Goal Wins (2023) |
Waititi's winning, winsome film is his most accessible and mainstream movie to date, Marvel aside, one that successfully mixes in funny jokes with zeitgeisty social commentary. - BBC.com
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| Posted Sep 12, 2023
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Agra (2023) |
May more and more Indian cinema be just as provocative and creatively bold. - BBC.com
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| Posted May 30, 2023
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Joyland (2022) |
Joyland’s quiet power comes not through melodrama, which Sadiq scrupulously avoids, but its deep affection for its characters. It’s a modern tale of changing gender roles and the patriarchal crisis that could just as easily have taken place in New York. - Time Out
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| Posted Jan 24, 2023
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Le Prince (2021) |
Although uneven in pacing, Prince is a film that provides food for thought and uses the idea of art being about representation to play and bend archetypes. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Dec 22, 2022
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The Stranger (2021) |
The Stranger shares not only a title with the famous Albert Camus work, but also its focus on a man immersed in an existential crisis when faced with the absurd. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Dec 22, 2022
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Zátopek (2021) |
With a light-entertainment tone, a classical filmmaking style and impressive recreations of Olympic stadia, it aspires to be a Czech Chariots of Fire, but like so many of the runners on show, it can't quite make it to the finish line. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Dec 22, 2022
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Out of the Furnace (2013) |
This tale of brothers who can’t stay out of trouble trots out all the clichés of America in its economic malaise: the lack of blue-collar work, and every genre cliché of Westerns, brothers protecting brothers and the need to take the law into your hands. - Filmmaker Magazine
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| Posted Dec 05, 2022
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Dallas Buyers Club (2013) |
As a movie it’s a little haphazard and it takes the misstep of trying too hard to create a strong dramatic arc by overegging his wild days that led to him catching the virus. - Filmmaker Magazine
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| Posted Dec 05, 2022
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Her (2013) |
For my money, the award-winning performance delivered in Her came from Joaquin Phoenix... - Filmmaker Magazine
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| Posted Dec 05, 2022
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The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji (2013) |
Japanese juggernaut Takashi Miike had a wacky comedy that showed off his undoubted ability to mix live-action with animation, The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji. - Filmmaker Magazine
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| Posted Dec 05, 2022
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The Fifth Wheel (2013) |
Great performances by Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn carry the film through some of the plays more convoluted moments. - Filmmaker Magazine
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| Posted Dec 05, 2022
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Rebel (2022) |
It's a movie that must be seen to be believed. This fascinating work proves why it's essential for cinema to have a diverse range of voices telling the stories, and that’s what brings about these incredible shocks and surprises. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Sep 08, 2022
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Lightyear (2022) |
Lightyear feels like that horrible moment when you broke a much-loved toy. - Time Out
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| Posted Jun 14, 2022
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The Dam (2022) |
The delivery of the film is so opaque that it leaves room for many interpretations, which is both The Dam's strength and its weakness. - Cineuropa
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| Posted May 27, 2022
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Under the Fig Trees (2021) |
Sehiri manages to impart a sense of sisterhood, and the importance of it, especially in a patriarchal world where these girls must bring about change in order for them to progress. - Cineuropa
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| Posted May 26, 2022
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God's Creatures (2022) |
Like Aileen, the movie takes its time to find its feet and occasionally threatens to veer off balance, but eventually, it hits surer ground. - Cineuropa
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| Posted May 26, 2022
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Mediterranean Fever (2022) |
Director Maha Haj has created a black comedy full of surprises. - Cineuropa
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| Posted May 26, 2022
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Corsage (2022) |
Some will say this is the secret royal love child of Pablo Larraín’s Spence rand Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, but it’s better than them both. - Cineuropa
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| Posted May 20, 2022
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Eleven Days in May (2022) |
There is no attempt to do anything spectacular with the storytelling style or to push a narrative, as the co-directors have decided that the testimonies of the families are sufficiently powerful to carry the film. - Cineuropa
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| Posted May 05, 2022
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Both Sides of the Blade (2021) |
The story is told in a choppy style, the messy editing reflecting the confused nature of Sara's state of mind, but it also means that the film itself is all over the place. Put together, it's hard to feel empathy with any of the characters. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Feb 17, 2022
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A Man and a Camera (2021) |
The result is often incredibly infuriating, with its wayward aesthetic and pacing, but impossible to forget and leaves plenty of space for contemplation long after the end credits have rolled. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Jan 06, 2022
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Where Is Anne Frank (2021) |
The superb animation Where Is Anne Frank by Ari Folman is a standout gem. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Dec 10, 2021
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Mirrors in the Dark (2021) |
While the questions are fascinating and some of the answers are illuminating, such formalistic filmmaking requires a willing audience. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Oct 23, 2021
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Between Two Dawns (2021) |
This is a strong debut from Nacar, whose interest lies in creating moral dilemmas and showing how those with power will do anything to retain their position, no matter the cost. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Oct 01, 2021
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You Resemble Me (2021) |
Former journalist Dina Amer's You Resemble Me is tour-de-force filmmaking that defies conventions in its search for the truth about what makes us the people we are. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Sep 16, 2021
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Happening (2021) |
Diwan concentrates on what happened, rather than creating a morality around it. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Sep 09, 2021
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The Card Counter (2020) |
Schrader brings all of the themes together marvellously in a profound critique of the American psyche and the consequences of military action. The sexagenarian director's ace in the pack is a career-best performance by Isaac. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Sep 03, 2021
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Sisterhood (2021) |
In telling this tale of toxic female friendships in the social-media age, Duma is aided by the sensitive and probing work of cinematographer Naum Doksevski as she creates a heart-breaking film. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Sep 03, 2021
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Two Ships (2021) |
It's languid, but perseverance, for those not turned off by the protagonists' lack of gusto, will eventually provide an ending that is a pay-off for the first scene. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Sep 03, 2021
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At Full Throttle (2021) |
The film is so well put together that even before the doc's startling finale and singsong, it's clear that Jaroslav has completely lost his way. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Sep 03, 2021
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Every Single Minute (2021) |
Director Erika Hníková accomplishes quite a feat as she manages to film Michal and Lenka while remaining a passive observer. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Sep 03, 2021
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Bird Atlas (2021) |
Why, given all this, isn't Bird Atlas more pleasing? - Cineuropa
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| Posted Aug 27, 2021
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Boiling Point (2021) |
oiling Point cooks up a good movie because it boasts decent performances, interesting characters and several fun twists. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Aug 27, 2021
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Planet of the Humans (2019) |
The film plays out like a tale being told. The Italian director dares the audience to believe it is real. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Aug 14, 2021
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Kratt (2020) |
Something interesting is brewing in Estonia these days... - Cineuropa
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| Posted Aug 14, 2021
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She Will (2021) |
Charlotte Colbert blends film history, art and gothic horror in a genre-defying look at the politics surrounding #MeToo. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Aug 14, 2021
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Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021) |
This pop-cultural document for the ages highlights themes and issues that are as pertinent today as they were in 1969, making it feel far more relevant than that concert up the road. - iNews.co.uk
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| Posted Aug 09, 2021
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Annette (2021) |
A startling and unique look at the heartbreaking ways mental illness can disrupt a relationship. - iNews.co.uk
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| Posted Aug 09, 2021
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The Souvenir Part II (2021) |
The result, in Hogg's hands, is both one of the great feminist coming-of-age films, and an insightful look at the art of film-making. - iNews.co.uk
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| Posted Aug 09, 2021
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The Sea Ahead (2021) |
Dagher denies such simple explanations, taking us on a cinematic journey that echoes work by Michelangelo Antonioni and his view of depression. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Aug 02, 2021
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The French Dispatch (2021) |
Here is an artist at the top of his game. - iNews.co.uk
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| Posted Jul 28, 2021
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The Braves (2021) |
It's an indictment to cinema that it seems so strange to watch 27-year-old women have fun and still be in pursuit of their dreams... [Anaïs] Volpé will be a new voice in cinema. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Jul 23, 2021
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Women Do Cry (2021) |
The co-directors have made a scrappy and uneven film storytelling-wise, but this narrative coherence seems secondary to the desire to highlight inequalities and make a political satire full of vim. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Jul 23, 2021
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Moneyboys (2021) |
Moneyboys is striking because it's a rare film that depicts homosexuality in China, and it does so with sensitivity and warmth for the turmoil that being an outsider can cause someone. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Jul 23, 2021
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Casablanca Beats (2021) |
Nabil Ayouch has made an excellent tale that is both a love affair with hip hop and a look at how the Moroccan youth is challenging orthodox views in the digital age. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Jul 19, 2021
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The Story of My Wife (2021) |
Ildikó Enyedi adapts Milán Füst's novel for the big screen with aplomb in this story of what can go wrong when jealousy and fear enter a relationship. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Jul 16, 2021
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