Reviews

The incredible story of Lhakpa Sherpa, screening on Netflix from July 31, will undoubtedly attract the attention of Hollywood, but any future filmmakers will have their work cut out as this documentary paints an almost perfect literal and metaphorical picture of an epic journey to the top of the world. If this film doesn't uplift, move and empower you, I'm afraid nothing will.

There’s a lot going on in Céline Carridroit and Aline Suter’s hybrid Summer Drift (Virages) which, on a basic level, charts protagonist Johanna Schopfer’s summer in Geneva as she works, enjoys the summer sunshine and considers getting rid of her old VW Beetle. The doc, which premiered in Cannes ACID, also provides a nuanced appraisal of LGBTQ+ and trans themes within a visually alluring 16mm aesthetic, all of which help to deliver a gentle charmer of a film.

The shadow of Jurassic Park looms long over the various characters who discuss their involvement in the high-stakes world of dinosaur bone collection and trading. In this world, it’s a race against time between high-minded and determined palaeontologists and well-equipped bone dealers, making for an enjoyably eye-opening – and strikingly shot - documentary about dinosaur bones, big cash and even bigger big egos.

The tangled complexities of the crypto currency and blockchain worlds are strikingly and economically explained in Bår Tyrmi’s documentary, Lie to Me, which details the rise and fall of OneCoin, the company that sold itself as the ‘BitCoin killer’ but which – surprise, surprise – turned out to be one almighty scam that drew in millions of victims.

In this early highlight of 2024, Belgian archival maestro Grimonprez dissects the links between jazz and colonial politics during the Western sabotage of Congo’s newly won independence in 1960. With superb sound design, brilliant editing and hard-hitting political analysis (as well as great music), the film is as intellectually satisfying and physically irresistible as a great jazz performance.

In his restrained yet devastating documentary, Belgian-Syrian filmmaker Tawfik Sabouni visits the prison where he was held under the Assad regime. Accompanied on his journey by four other survivors, this painful confrontation with personal and political history at the same time honours the ghosts of the past, which makes it not just informative and important, but an intense privilege to be allowed to witness their historic journey.

The first thing to note about Everything Will Be OK, world-premiering in Berlinale Competition, is that you will have never seen anything quite like it. And that in itself should be enough to make you want to experience the latest work by Cambodia’s leading arthouse filmmaker, in which animals in the near future have taken over the role of totalitarian tyrants that we, as humans, have so far reserved for ourselves.

A clever balance between magical realism and formal fly-on-the-wall documentary, Ivan Ostrochovský and Pavol Pekarčík’s striking Photophobia is an examination of life within Ukraine’s Kharkiv metro, where men, women and children live a strange underground existence as they escape the bombardment of the city.

In Limbo (W zawieszeniu) is an intimate and insightful look at the war in Ukraine as seen from the viewpoint of a very particular family, and presented in a very personal form. Set against other films from Ukraine which focus on frontline battles, the film is a welcome and moving glimpse into the lives of an ordinary family unit at the onset of the conflict. The film is long-listed for Best Documentary, European Film Awards, 2024.

A gently beautiful and beguilingly uplifting film infused with warmth and generosity of spirit, Keyboard Fantasies shines a belated spotlight on the talents of Beverly Glenn-Copeland, a transgender, septuagenarian musical genius as he is re-discovered, courtesy of a Japanese record collector, and heads off on his first international tour at the ripe age of 74.