 (1).JPG?itok=0BHk6odg&v=1665981271)
James Mottram
SCMP Contributor
James Mottram is a film critic and journalist based in London. As well as writing for the SCMP for over 10 years, he’s also written a number of books on cinema including The Sundance Kids, The Making of Memento and Die Hard: The Ultimate Visual History.
James Mottram is a film critic and journalist based in London. As well as writing for the SCMP for over 10 years, he’s also written a number of books on cinema including The Sundance Kids, The Making of Memento and Die Hard: The Ultimate Visual History.
Indie dramas and documentaries, rather than big Hollywood productions, took the spotlight at this year’s festival. Here are 10 of the best.
Director Lav Diaz’s latest film explores colonial terror, faith and resistance in a perilous 17th century jungle in the Philippines.
Ali Asgari’s Tehran-set drama about an aggrieved doctor who decides to end it all as war looms is well acted but never fully bursts into life.
Joey King, Maisie Williams and Lee Pace also feature in this boring follow-up that falls short of the spellbinding 1998 original.
Advertisement
Ethan Ruan plays a detective with memory issues investigating a kidnapping case in this action-packed if confused police procedural.
A deep, intense friendship between two schoolgirls is explored in Hirokazu Koreeda’s adaptation of a manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto.
Robert Pattinson plays a fictional version of TV producer and paedophile hunter Chris Hansen in this drama that lacks substance.
Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong play a rich couple opposite Sul Kyung-gu and Jeon Do-yeon’s have-nots in Lee’s sharp critique of Korean society.
The Vietnam war drama, in competition at the Venice Film Festival, explores trauma, redemption through a US Marine’s true-life journey.
Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, delivers razor-sharp satire and award-worthy performances.
Ink tells the story of Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of UK newspaper The Sun and its transformation into the popular tabloid aimed at the working class.
Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley and Josh Brolin survive in a present-day America where an influenza pandemic has decimated the population.
Inspired by John Woo and Chow Yun-fat, Chee Keong Cheung talks about his Action Xtreme studio and upcoming film Bad Day at the Office.
Forgotten Island blends Filipino folklore with a distinct 1980s feel as two childhood friends navigate a surreal world of fading memories.
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man fights both supervillains and his own superpowers in this exciting new outing co-starring Zendaya and Sadie Sink.
Matt Damon anchors a visually stunning epic in which the women – Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya – outshine the men.
Hasan Hadi’s profound film follows a young Iraqi girl trying to find ingredients for a cake to celebrate Saddam Hussein’s birthday.
The Finnish filmmaker talks about the ‘great’ years he spent in China during its pre-pandemic film boom and how using AI can benefit movies.
Everyone’s favourite Despicable Me sidekicks are back, this time in Hollywood in the 1920s, with plenty of nods to films and culture.
Starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and Colin Firth, Disclosure Day starts well and features exciting set pieces, but the final act blows it.
Box-office hit Backrooms highlights a growing obsession with eerie liminal spaces like hallways, alleyways and empty shopping centres.
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival may have lacked its usual blockbusters, but that gave indie films more exposure. Here are 10 of the best.
A film within a film within a film, Bitter Christmas examines the relationship between life and cinema.
Director Yeon Sang-ho of Train to Busan fame explains how AI and social media anxiety inspired the zombies in his new horror film.
Fjord, set in a remote Norwegian village with stunning backdrops, explores a religious couple’s clash with Norway’s Child Protection Services.
Director James Gray returns to his mob roots in this film about two brothers who fall foul of the Russian mafia in New York. Also stars Miles Teller.
This tale of voyeurism in Paris, starring Vincent Cassel, Virginie Efira and Isabelle Huppert, lacks any tension or romantic intrigue.
Little more than a series of cartoonish ultra-violent vignettes, Mortal Kombat II feels as antiquated as the amulet the characters chase.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 tackles journalism’s digital shift and changes within the fashion industry since the first film came out in 2006.
