Reviews

Victor Kossakovsky’s new documentary Architecton, about the architectural use of stone and concrete (and a companion piece to Aquarela, his 2018 doc about water), is beautifully solemn and visually awe-inspiring, even sublime. But it suffers from a muddled narrative. The film is one of two documentaries selected for Berlinale Competition in 2024.

A moving, immersive and prescient documentary, No Other Land details the eradication of the villages in the Masafer Yatta area on the Southern West Bank over a period of years, as seen from the perspective of Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist/journalist brought up in Masafer Yatta, and Yuval, an Israeli journalist who supports him in his efforts to bring attention to what is happening to the community.

Filmmaker Abel Ferrara takes a personal journey into the heart of Ukraine as he attempts to deal with own confusion about what is happening in the country. Blending interviews with those who have experienced the conflict close up, archival footage and material of Patti Smith recording songs and poetry, Ferrara’s Turn in the Wound is a meanderingly personal examination into the nature of war and oppression.

The party atmosphere and spirited pageantry of the 2022 campaign for the Filipino presidency play in stark counterpoint to the vitriol, bitterness and oppression displayed by departing President Rodrigo Duterte as he bluntly and offensively dismisses the chances of his former Vice President Leni Robredo as she bids for the post.

An insightful, generous and supportive reframing of transmasculine sexuality, Jules Rosskam’s Sundance documentary Desire Lines astutely blends first-person interviews (with transmen who are attracted to men) alongside a fictional storyline that poses nuanced questions and helps to deliver a compassionate examination both of the history of transsexuality and private desires.

A compulsively absorbing and gripping documentary that plays out like a tense political thriller, War Game puts a bipartisan group of US defence, intelligence, and elected policymakers spanning five presidential administrations into a room and gives them just six hours to save American democracy.

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.

A powerful, provocative and ultimately moving film from journalist-turned-filmmaker Shiori Ito, Black Box Diaries charts her brave and determined investigation into her own sexual assault as she attempts to prosecute her high-profile and very-well connected offender, despite a lack of formal interest from the police.

His parents used to regret how much time their terminally ill son Mats spent gaming. But after his death, they found that Mats, as ‘Private Detective Ibelin’, had been a much-loved member of a large and deeply loyal online community. Sure to be a crowd-pleaser, Ibelin is an accessible and moving account of the freedom, love and consolation that can be found in a digital world – especially for those of us in need of support in an offline world of sorrow and grief.

The values, passions and beliefs of poet Nikki Giovanni are celebrated and examined to great effect in Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson’s strikingly immersive documentary which astutely focusses on Giovanni’s opinions and work rather than taking the more customary chronological route through her life story.