"The itinerant, highly prolific Romanian is on a run like Godard in the 60s, overflowing with political and creative ideas that speak powerfully to our current vulgar moment." The latest Radu Jude, and various other Romanian films, reviewed at TIFF. journeyintocinema.com/tiff-2026-re...

“In Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg gives in to the perils of an easy reunion lap, offering us little more than a shadow of his better work.” Mr Cinema’s return to sci-fi is a major disappointment. journeyintocinema.com/disclosure-d...

"For decades, the festival built its authority on the idea that it was capable of defining the centre of world cinema. In 2026, for the first time in a very long while, that authority appeared to waver." @wellvisky.bsky.social argues that Cannes is in decline.

“Now at Cannes, many filmmakers voiced that we need cinema now more than ever. But is that the intention behind every artist?“ Lukas Dhont’s Coward plays in Competition at Cannes Film Festival. journeyintocinema.com/coward-review/

“It’s quite like a classic adaptation, a literary reinterpretation, desperately trying to fit every character from the Kieślowski universe into one story.” Farhadi’s adaptation of Kieślowski’s work is a loving tribute to the Polish great. journeyintocinema.com/parallel-tal...

“Watching Titanic Ocean on shrooms would probably feel transcendent.” The impossibly beautiful mermaid drama Titanic Ocean is an easy standout at Cannes Film Festival. journeyintocinema.com/titanic-ocea...

“In the end, it concludes exactly as it should: with no real winners. In stories about racist colonialist assholes, there rarely are.” Asia Argento stars in messy western Death Has No Master, playing in Directors’ Fortnight. journeyintocinema.com/death-has-no...

“Avedon thought people’s beauty lies in their vulnerability. But who wants to be captured at the moment of vulnerability?” Ron Howard’s portrait of Richard Avedon is a thoughtful dissection of one of the 20th Century’s greatest photographers. journeyintocinema.com/avedon-review/

“It’s a circular world of Jorge Luis Borges, a land of mythological happenings.” Ariadne Si Suo digs into the fantastical world of Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell, his first film in ten years. journeyintocinema.com/her-private-...

“The result is a beautiful but frustrating film that ultimately lands on an ugly, cynical final note.“ Chilean doggo drama La Perra is a messy beast. journeyintocinema.com/la-perra-rev...

“There’s only so much plate-spinning I can tolerate before I want the crockery to come crashing down.“ Uneven Iranian drama Dying Twice, Living Twice premieres at Cannes! journeyintocinema.com/dying-twice-...

“The effect is immersive and fascinating, yet, regrettably, not without moments of prolonged tedium.” Angela Schanelec’s DOP Ivan Marković travels to Cambodia for this interesting, if slow, exploration of modern urban life. journeyintocinema.com/promised-spa...

“Yet Maternal Animal does what any good movie about mental illness should do: reflect it back upon the so-called “sane” people, to ask what makes anyone existing in the modern world truly psychologically stable.” Valentina Maurel’s film is a UCR highlight. journeyintocinema.com/forever-your...

“One of the best sequences is their first hookup: all elbows, knees and breathless fumbling.” Queer trucking drama Flesh and Fuel is a fine standout from Critics’ Week! journeyintocinema.com/flesh-and-fu...

“This is a confident work rich in sultry textures, sly humour and a playful sense of tone.” Shana plays in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival journeyintocinema.com/shana-review/

“Having flirted with the annihilating spectre of death, her life has become a delicate, wondrous thing, begging to be reclaimed in the fullest sense imaginable.” Cannes Critics’ Week film Viva is an early hit at the festival! journeyintocinema.com/viva-review/

"No moseying out of der Hauptbahnhof. I arrow to the hotel. Linz is all straight lines." @josephowen.bsky.social reports from Crossing Europe; read about restored classics, touching coming-of-age stories and the manifold contradictions of history. journeyintocinema.com/crossing-eur...

Now, thanks to the internet, people never truly perish, but gain an ominous halflife through degraded phone and laptop footage. Worm is on a roadshow tour throughout London (and the UK). Check it out.

"All five feature the extremities — and insanities — of the human condition, spanning unimaginable racism to angry truck drivers to possibly the craziest movie of the entire 90s." Check out our latest movie recommendations today. open.substack.com/pub/journeyi...

"You can never truly erase a genius’ work, no matter how awful he was in real life, but we have to continue to talk about these allegations and the evidence honestly." In the first of a new format, Redmond and Jared discuss the insidious Michael Jackson movie. journeyintocinema.com/michael-revi...

"This is what I told my wife, but she was totally bored after five minutes of me talking." Christian Petzold explains how his cinema is connected by "the poetry of fortune seekers” in a wide-ranging interview with Journey Into Cinema! journeyintocinema.com/miroirs-no-3...

"Palestine is not a separate part of the Arab struggle. In many ways, it epitomises it. Its absence is baffling." A curious absence blights an otherwise excellent exploration of American imperialism. journeyintocinema.com/the-roots-of...

“The film poses a key, existential question: whether these measures are proof of humanity’s indomitable spirit, or merely, as one Carolinian puts it, like treating a bullet wound with a band-aid?” We Have to Survive plays at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival journeyintocinema.com/we-have-to-s...

“The doc is shot on 16mm Kodak Vision3 film, and the stock looks so good, it makes me wonder why more documentaries don’t utilise this truly cinematic format.” Ukraine war doc Mariinka (Pieter-Jan De Pue) is a bona fide masterpiece. journeyintocinema.com/mariinka-rev...

“He is never challenged, never made to feel uncomfortable, never made to think about any of this. It’s a real betrayal of what a good documentary should do.” Sperm donor documentary Dad Genes has no spunk. journeyintocinema.com/dad-genes-re...

“This is not a problem that will go away.” Reviews of The Loneliest Man In Town, Josephine, Queen At Sea, Sad Girlz and Where To? characterise our last newsletter on the Berlinale! journeyintocinema.substack.com/p/berlin-blues

“Life does not dim its colours just because something violent has happened.” Sad Girlz is a nuanced — and powerful — depiction of friendship and sexual assault. Recent winner of Berlinale Generation 14plus! journeyintocinema.com/sad-girlz-re...

“On the whole, not a great year, but there’s still some gems among the muck.” Read our mega-article with all of our fresh Berlinale takes! journeyintocinema.com/journey-into...

“Only one man could make this — it’s a true pleasure to experience his vision.” Unidentified Nonflying Objects (UNO), the latest film by Russian animator Sasha Svirsky, plays in Berlinale Shorts. journeyintocinema.com/unidentified...

“Can we ever know what we really want to say? Or the perfect way to express our true selves?” The new film by Hong is minor, even by his low-key standards, but it offers small joys (and beers). journeyintocinema.com/the-day-she-...

“Jude and Cioflâncă’s latest creates a truly evocative sense of Romanian life in the tail-end of the Nicolae Ceaușescu regime.” Dive into the world of Jewish Romanian life with Radu Jude’s Shot Reverse Shot, playing in Berlinale shorts! journeyintocinema.com/shot-reverse...

“This film offers a sensitive portrait of what it means to be cast adrift by a society bent on pointless war and destruction.” A Russian Winter plays in Berlin Panorama journeyintocinema.com/a-russian-wi...

“This narrow lens makes its broader take on pornography feel slightly reactionary and anti-porn: an understandable response, but ultimately limited.” Truly Naked plays in Perspectives. journeyintocinema.com/truly-naked-...

“Rarely has optimism felt so earned, and rarely does bondage seem so freeing. A little miracle of a movie.” Lust plays in Forum at Berlinale! journeyintocinema.com/lust-review/

“Four Minus Three captures how grief never works in a truly non-linear aspect, but is a constant companion that jerks you between eras.” A standout film from the Berlinale. journeyintocinema.com/four-minus-t...

"You can go after one Nazi, but it’s like whack-a-mole — they’ll keep popping up, no matter how many trials you drag them into." Legal drama Prosecution plays at Berlinale! journeyintocinema.com/prosecution-...

Berlinale 2026, #4: Seduction: A Cruel Woman! Prosecution! Decay! The worst film ever to play at Berlinale! substack.com/home/post/p-...

"History buffs will prefer the TV show, but for a more auteurist take on the material, Decay is a vital watch." The vital Chernobyl film Decay (1990) plays in the Berlinale Retrospective. journeyintocinema.com/decay-review/

“We are truly immersed in the world of these women, making for a metafictional experience that abounds in sly, wry pleasures.” Everything Else Is Noise plays in Berlinale Forum. journeyintocinema.com/everything-e...

“I was super impressed with what Charli XCX was doing here; between her and Dua Lipa’s book club, our British female pop stars are actually kinda awesome.” The Moment is a standout at the Berlinale! substack.com/home/post/p-...

"Now Berlinale has returned to its natural state: a sodden, sad, swamp, with rain slanting sideways." Takes on Mouse, Yellow Letters, A Prayer for the Dying — and more! substack.com/home/post/p-...

“There’s a playful looseness to it all, making for a consistently exciting and engaging film.” Viv Li’s Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest is an engaging exploration of being caught between two very different cultures. Live from Berlinale! journeyintocinema.com/two-mountain...

“The place has been totally remade for export so the rest of the world can have cheap tomatoes and peppers all year round.“ South Spanish drama Iván & Hadoum asks if love can survive under exploitation. journeyintocinema.com/two-mountain...

"Finally! A good opening movie. It does what any festival opener should do: raise the mood, stir the soul and get us excited about what is to come." No Good Men opens the Berlinale! substack.com/home/post/p-...

“It simply feels far too trivial to ever make any true impact, either as political or romantic cinema.” Fridge drama Complaint No. 713317 plays at Rotterdam! journeyintocinema.com/complaint-no...

“The film is brave enough to ask how much responsibility rests upon those who do migrate to make a proper effort to get involved in society, rather than assuming everything is going to be the same as back home.” Home plays at Rotterdam Film Festival! journeyintocinema.com/home-review/

“Where other films would frantically fill in the absences with platitudes or pat resolutions, this deeply intimate portrait is happy to embrace the unknowable — and is all the richer for it.” White Lies plays at IFFR! journeyintocinema.com/white-lies-r...

“The lack of contextual understanding, at first disorienting and liberating, curdles into more and more reasons not to get involved.” Why Do I See You In Everything? plays at IFFR! journeyintocinema.com/why-do-i-see...

"The level of honesty on display is striking; it’s hard to think of another documentary about the gay adult film world where a performer opens himself up this fully." Fascinating porn documentary Mickey & Richard plays at IFFR! journeyintocinema.com/mickey-and-r...

“If you ever wanted to see a Pink Panther movie (1963-2009) with double the Clouseaus and an arthouse, relaxed approach to world-building, then Conrad & Crab really is the lowkey gem for you.” Conrad & Crab plays at IFFR! journeyintocinema.com/conrad-and-c...