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European cinema

European cinema
From Danny Boyle to Michael Haneke, from Francois Truffaut to Ingmar Bergman, from Soviet Montage to French New Wave to Romanian New Wave, and from Berlin film festival to Cannes to Venice, this is the place to go for features, interviews and reviews about movies both classic and new from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and every other country in Europe.
South China Morning Post’s From the Vault series looks back at culturally significant films. Photo: Shutterstock
Cinema

From the Vault: culturally significant films

In the From the Vault feature series, the South China Morning Post’s film experts reflect on culturally significant films celebrating notable anniversaries.

American cinema

Review | Power Ballad: Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas charm in feel-good music rights drama

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Review | Palimpsest: The Story of a Name – Mary Stephen’s riveting study of identity

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American cinema

12 new Hollywood movies to watch in summer 2026, from Moana to The Odyssey

Supergirl, Minions & Monsters, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Resident Evil also feature on our list of the biggest films this summer.

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Matt Damon as Odysseus and Zendaya as Athena in a still from The Odyssey, written, produced and directed by Christopher Nolan, which promises to be the summer’s ultimate moviegoing experience. Photo: Melinda Sue Gordon
Fame and celebrity

As Trainspotting turns 30, Ewan McGregor and Danny Boyle on its massive impact

Trainspotting star McGregor and director Boyle share how the 1996 film about Scottish heroin addicts still resonates three decades on.

Obituaries

‘Persepolis’ author Marjane Satrapi dies ‘of sadness’ aged 56

The renowned graphic novel and film adaptation recount her early life and struggles in the shadow of the 1979 Iranian revolution.

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Germany

Wim Wenders pulls 1975 film over nude scene with Nastassja Kinski, who was 13

The acclaimed director apologised to the actress for not protecting her during the making of ‘The Wrong Move’.

German filmmaker Wim Wenders. Photo: Reuters
American cinema

The rise of liminal space horror movies like Backrooms and Exit 8

Box-office hit Backrooms highlights a growing obsession with eerie liminal spaces like hallways, alleyways and empty shopping centres.

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France

Louvre heist to be turned into film

The daring robbery sent shock waves around the world, and the stolen jewels – worth around US$100 million – remain unrecovered.

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American cinema

Best movies from the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, from Fjord to Minotaur

The 2026 Cannes Film Festival may have lacked its usual blockbusters, but that gave indie films more exposure. Here are 10 of the best.

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Virginie Efira in a still from All of a Sudden – one of the highlights of the Cannes Film Festival – directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Cannes Film Festival

‘Fjord’ by Romania’s Mungiu wins Palme d’Or at Cannes

The film stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as a couple who have their children taken from them by child services for spanking them.

Director Cristian Mungiu, Palme d’Or award winner for the film “Fjord”, poses after the closing ceremony of the 79th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday. Photo: Reuters
American cinema

Review | The Voice of Hind Rajab: harrowing Gaza docudrama is vital cinema

Kaouther Ben Hania’s gripping docudrama about a young girl trapped in a car uses real voice recordings to help expose the brutal cost of war.

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Cannes Film Festival

The stand-out looks at Cannes – from Demi Moore to Daisy Edgar-Jones

Kristen Stewart sneaked trainers under her Chanel gown, Sharon Stone stunned in Miss Sohee and Garatti, and Cate Blanchett turned heads in Givenchy.

Film reviews

Review | Bitter Christmas: Pedro Almodovar engrosses with his latest meta movie

A film within a film within a film, Bitter Christmas examines the relationship between life and cinema.

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Barbara Lennie (left) and Victoria Luengo in a still from Bitter Christmas.
American cinema

Review | Fjord: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve anchor ice-cold child welfare drama

Fjord, set in a remote Norwegian village with stunning backdrops, explores a religious couple’s clash with Norway’s Child Protection Services.

Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan play a married couple with five children in the film Fjord, directed by Cristian Mungiu. Jonathan Ciprian Breazu (far left) and Vanessa Ceban (right) co-star.
American cinema

Review | Paper Tiger: Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson lead dark gangster movie

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.

Asian cinema: Japanese films

Review | All of a Sudden: Ryusuke Hamaguchi wows with Paris-set drama

Starring Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto, the three-hour movie on caregiving and capitalism is anchored by a profound bilingual conversation.

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Asian cinema

Review | Parallel Tales: Asghar Farhadi misfires with latest French excursion

This tale of voyeurism in Paris, starring Vincent Cassel, Virginie Efira and Isabelle Huppert, lacks any tension or romantic intrigue.

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Isabelle Huppert as Sylvie (left) and Adam Bessa as Adam in a still from Parallel Tales, directed by Asghar Farhadi.
What to do in Hong Kong

5 of the best things to do in Hong Kong this rainy weekend, May 15-17

Check out the Affordable Art Fair, enjoy pickleball and Pilates to the sounds of Justin Bieber or get into the spirit at the Hong Kong Whisky Festival.

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Tourism

Inside The White Lotus season 4’s luxury 5-star hotel in Cannes, France

Guests including Tom Cruise and Angelina Jolie have stayed at Hotel Martinez in Cannes, whose top suite goes for up to US$35,000 a night.

Cinema

Who was Marguerite Duras? Decoding the French cinema radical’s dual identity

Born in French Indochina in 1914, Duras was a visionary who treated the silver screen as a canvas for her haunting psychological experiments.

Delphine Seyrig in a still from India Song (1975), a film by radical French auteur Marguerite Duras that is considered her magnum opus, standing as the ultimate triumph of her avant-garde phase.
Film reviews

Review | Sound of Falling: Cannes Jury Prize winner is a beautiful tale of trauma

The lives of four women in different eras on one farm are intertwined with haunting narratives of trauma and liberation in Sound of Falling.

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Hanna Heckt (centre) as Alma in a still from Sound of Falling (category III, German), directed by Mascha Schilinski. Lea Drinda, Lena Urzendowsky and Laeni Geiseler co-star.
Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Profile | The wild journey behind Tony Leung Ka-fai’s Hong Kong Film Awards record

Tony Leung Ka-fai’s fifth HKFA best actor win cements his legendary cinema status amid years of resilience, reinvention and cultural impact.

Lost 1897 French film from cinema pioneer found in a US trunk

Georges Melies’ film Gugusse and the Automaton was long thought lost until a copy was discovered in a trove of vintage nitrate films.

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American cinema

Juliette Binoche isn’t worried about AI replacing human intelligence

Humanity and intuition are the secrets to great art, according to Juliette Binoche, who talks about her directorial debut In-I In Motion.

French actress Juliette Binoche at the Regent Hong Kong in April 2026. Binoche is in town to show her directorial debut, In-I In Motion, at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival. Photo: Jonathan Wong
American cinema

Review | Arco: Annecy winner is a charming Peter Pan-esque sci-fi fable for our times

Featuring voices including Natalie Portman and Mark Ruffalo, Ugo Bienvenu’s directorial debut Arco delivers a powerful ecological message.

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Iris (left, voiced by Romy Fay) and Arco (Juliano Krue Valdi) in a screen grab from Arco (category I), directed by Ugo Bienvenu. Natalie Portman and Mark Ruffalo co-star.
American cinema

Why the beloved romcom Bridget Jones’s Diary feels so dated 25 years on

The charms of Bridget Jones’s Diary are still obvious when viewed today, but its politics seem to be from a different century altogether.

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Asian cinema

Best movies to watch at the Hong Kong International Film Festival 2026

Silent Friend, Sirat, Good Boy and Pillion are among our top picks at this year’s festival, which is celebrating its 50th edition.

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