Culture Representation: Taking place in Nigeria, in 1993, the dramatic film “My Father’s Shadow” features an African cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A father and his two pre-teen sons experience various challenges and emotional bonding when he takes them to Lagos for a short visit during political unrest.
Culture Audience: “My Father’s Shadow” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching a drama that shows the intersections between government turmoil and family relationships.
Chibuike Marvelous Egbo, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù and Godwin Egbo in “My Father’s Shadow” (Photo courtesy of MUBI)
“My Father’s Shadow” makes an emotional impact not from melodrama but from showing the quiet steadiness of a father’s guidance and love as he spends time with his two sons. The ending of the movie is jarring and unforgettable. “My Father’s Shadow” is an example of how time with loved ones can be precious and should not be taken for granted.
Directed by Akinola Davies Jr., “My Father’s Shadow” was written by Akinola Davies and his brother Wale Davies. The movie is Akinola Davies’ feature-film directorial debut. “My Father’s Shadow” had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and then made the rounds at several other film festivals in 2025, including the Toronto International Film Festival, the BFI London Film Festival and AFI Fest. The movie is the United Kingdom’s official selection for Best International Feature Film for the 2026 Academy Awards, but the movie didn’t make the shortlist to be nominated in this category.
“My Father’s Shadow” takes place in Nigeria in 1993. The movie was filmed in the Nigerian cities of Ibadan, Nigeria. Most of the movie takes place over a two-day period when the father and his sons make a short trip to Lagos. This trip takes place before, during, and immediately after Nigeria’s presidential election on June 12, 1993. There were widespread protests after military dictator General Ibrahim Babangida annulled the victory of Chief MKO Abiola.
“My Father’s Shadow” begins in an unnamed Nigerian city, where a man named Folari (played by Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) has returned home after spending many weeks away because he has a job in Lagos. Folari is dismayed to see that his wife Bola (played by Efòn Wini) is not at home to look after their two sons: 11-year-old Remi (played by Chibuike Marvelous Egbo) and 8-year-old Aki (played by Godwin Egbo, Chibuike’s real-life younger brother), who say that Bola has made a short trip into “the village.”
Folari is there for a brief stay and then has to go back to Lagos. Instead of waiting for his wife to come home, Folari invites his sons to go with him. Remi is more excited than Bola to take this trip. Folari leaves a note for Bola to let her know that their sons are with him.
Folari (who has some type of factory job) has not been paid for the past six months. He’s been promised that he will get the salary that’s owed to him after the presidential election. Part of the movie shows the frustrating experience that Folari has when trying to get paid. But the political unrest is simmering like a powder keg ready to burst.
The trip has several unexpected tension-filled occurrences, as well some lovely moments of family bonding, especially when Folari and his sons take a spontaneous trip to a beach. At the beach, Folari reveals something from traumatic from his past that deeply affects him. It also affects Folari’s perspective as a father who doesn’t have the privilege to see his sons every day. “I have missed you bows growing up,” Folari says. “You are growing up so fast.”
Dìrísù gives wholly credible performance as a father trying to do the best for his family whole facing an uncertain future during this tumultuous time in Nigerian history. Real-life brothers Chibuike Marvelous Egbo and Godwin Egbo also do well in their roles. Most of the movie revolves around these three actors. “My Father’s Shadow” is a movie has a way of catching viewers off guard. Just when you think the movie might end a certain way, something is revealed that packs an emotional wallop that will change viewers’ perception about many of the things that happened before in the movie.
MUBI will release “My Father’s Shadow” in select U.S. cinemas on February 6, 2026. The movie was released in Nigeria on September 19, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Hyderabad, India, the comedy/drama film “Patang” features an Indian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: Two best friends become enemy rivals when they both fall for the same woman, and they decide to have a kite-flying contest to settle their differences.
Culture Audience: “Patang” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and don’t mind watching unrealistic, poorly acted movies about romance and friendship.
Gautham Vasudev Menon and Preethi Pagadala in “Patang” (Photo courtesy of Rishaan Cinemas)
“Patang” is a long-winded and irritating comedy/drama about a love triangle that results in a kite-flying competition with tacky visual effects. The movie gets worse as it drags to its over-stretched ending. This is the type of movie that looks like it was conceived by a teenager who grew up to be a filmmaker who didn’t bother to update the adult characters to act like how real adults would act.
Written and directed by Praneeth Prattipati, “Patang” (which means “kite” in Telugu) takes place in Hyderabad, India. The movie has such a long build-up to this kite-flying contest, the contest doesn’t happen until the last 30 minutes of this 162-minute film. By the end of the movie, you won’t really care who wins, as long as you don’t have to see these flaky and annoying characters again.
“Patang” begins by showing the kite-flying contest taking place in a stadium. And even though the stadium is only about 40% full, it’s a major sporting event that’s being televised and has other extensive media coverage. Is this an event between kite-flying professionals? No.
As the movie explains, this event is happening because two former best friends are angry with each other because they both want to date the same woman. “Patang” doesn’t bother with pesky details, such as who would pay to rent a stadium over something this trivial. Viewers are supposed to believe that Hyderabad is treating this kite-flying contest as a major sporting event.
The woman at the center of this love triangle is sitting by herself in the stadium before the kite-flying contest begins. Her name is Aishwarya (played by Preethi Pagadala), and she’s a college student who’s studying architecture. But what she really wants to do with her life, as revealed later, is open her own cafe.
The stadium stetting for this grudge match is unrealistic enough. The movie gets even more unrealistic when filmmaker/actor Gautham Vasudev Menon (portraying a version of himself) sits down next to Aishwarya, introduces himself, and asks her why this kite-flying contest is happening. Aishwarya then tells the story about the two best friends and the love triangle that got them to this point, but she plays coy and doesn’t tell him right away that she’s the person at the center of the love triangle.
The movie then goes into flashback mode, as Aishwarya tells the story, before circling back to the kite-flying contest that happens toward the end of the movie. Aishwarya goes all the way back to the childhoods of best friends Vishnu “Whisky” Krishna and Arun, who met while kite flying when they were about 8 or 9 years old. Amasa Bhanu Prakash has the role of childhood Whisky. Ruthvik Varma has the role of childhood Arun.
Whisky is the more extroverted and more charismatic of the two friends. He’s a natural leader. Arun is quieter, more introverted and more of a follower. Arun becomes so close to Whisky, Arun asks his parents (played by S.P. Charan and Anu Hasan) if he can transfer to the same school as Whisky. Anu’s parents allow this transfer.
As adults in their early 20s, Whisky (played by Vamsi Pujit) and Arun (played by Pranav Kaushik) are mischief makers who love to get drunk, smoke marijuana, and carouse on the streets of Hyderabad. They hang out in a group with other like-minded guys named Basha (played by Venkatesh), Shiva (played by Rajeshwar Vemula), Rambo (played by Vishal Silveru) and Pencil (played by Guarav Sunil), who also like to get intoxicated and play pranks. The six pals are first seen together getting into trouble for dressing up as women to rob people on the street.
Much later in the movie, the six pals are shown doing a much more dangerous and heinous prank that could get people killed: They place a lot of broken glass on a railroad track before a train passes through the tracks. The glass is placed on the part of the track where the train wheels go. An idiotic movie like “Patang” shows a train approaching the track but doesn’t show the consequences of this crime.
Arun’s parents have a tension-filled marriage where they are constantly arguing with each other. Arun’s mother doesn’t approve of Arun hanging out with Whisky and the other troublemakers and worries that unemployed Arun is wasting his potential. She tells Arun that she won’t dictate who his friends are, but she makes it clear that she thinks Arun’s friends are “bloody scumbags.”
Whisky’s parents (played by Bindu Chandramouli and Sivannarayana) are not featured as prominently in the movie as Arun’s parents. Whisky has a small food stand to make money. It’s how he meets Aishwarya, who buys pani puri from him. Whisky is instantly smitten with Aishwarya.
Whisky flirts with Aishwarya by telling her that today is her lucky day because she’s a customer who’s won free unlimited pani puri from him. Aishwarya comes back for more pani puri the next and the next. Whisky continues to flirt with her and lets her know that he wants to date her, but she plays hard to get.
But after Whisky doesn’t Aishwarya for four consecutive days, he begins to worry and starts looking for her. He finds out that Aishwarya is in a hospital for food poisoning from eating his pani puri. Aishwarya is annoyed with Whisky shows up in her hospital room, but she is charmed by his apology and his persistence, so she agrees to date him.
Things are going smoothly between Whisky and Aishwarya until one night when Aishwarya ends up having a conversation with Arun. Aishwarya is intrigued when Arun, who is traditionally better-looking than Whisky, describes himself as unlucky in love because women he wants to date always put him in the “friend zone.”
During this date, Arun ends up punching a cop (don’t ask), so Arun and Aishwarya end up in jail. Arun’s father and Whisky bail out Arun and Aishwarya. Arun says jubilantly that it’s been the best night of his life. Aishwarya begins to become more attracted to Arun, because now she thinks he’s a “bad boy.”
Arun and Aishwarya begin having secret meet-ups where Aishwarya says they should act on their attraction to each other. Arun expresses a lot of reluctance and discomfort about betraying Whisky, but Aishwarya says that if Whisky is a true friend, then Whisky will forgive Arun. Aishwarya and Arun begin a secret affair.
Because this love triangle is already revealed in the movie’s trailer, you can easily predict that Whisky is going to find out about Aishwarya cheating on him with Arun. It leads to arguments that result in Whisky breaking up with Aishwarya, Aishwarya breaking up with Arun, and Whisky becoming bitterly estranged from Arun and Aishwarya.
It takes an awfully long time to get there. In between, there are some fairly entertaining song-and-dance numbers, but the spoken dialogue is kind of awful. The movie’s tone veers back and forth between over-the-top melodrama and silly comedy.
By the time the kite-flying contest challenge is declared, viewers will be thinking, “Get on with it already.” But no. There’s another long, drawn-out section of the movie where Arun has to assemble a kite-flying team because his pals Basha, Shiva, Rambo and Pencil are siding with Whisky in this feud and are on Whisky’s kite-flying team.
In the end, Arun recruits his teenage sister Aditi (played by P. Vignani); a nerdy pal named Kiwi (played by Kvish Kautilya), who likes to play video games with Arun; Arun’s platonic female friend Lakshmi (played by Vishika), who’s been in love with Arun since childhood; and Arun’s father Shekar, who is also the team’s coach. Arun’s team, which wears purple, is called the Pizza Panthers because Aditi likes to make pizza. Whisky’s team, which wears orange, is called the Biryani Boyz because Whisky likes to make biryani.
There’s hardly any kite-flying in the movie until the actual contest, which is just a repetitive back-and-forth of the contestants trying to use the kite ropes to slice an opponent’s kite ropes. It would be an understatement to say that none of it looks believable. Even after the contest is over, “Patang” drags on with more stupidity.
“Patang” has some underlying misogyny that is also very off-putting. Lakshmi is treated like a pathetic nuisance until Arun and Whisky both use her for their selfish purposes. Aishwarya is portrayed as manipulative temptress, as if Arun shouldn’t have equal responsibility in betraying Whisky. “Patang” tries to resolve all of these conflicts in ways that are grating, tiresome and definitely don’t make kite-flying look fun or attractive.
Rishaan Cinemas released “Patang” in select U.S. cinemas on January 1, 2026. The movie was released in India on December 25, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in France, the comedy/drama film “A Private Life” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A psychiatrist plays amateur detective with her ex-husband when she suspects that a former client died by murder instead of suicide.
Culture Audience: “A Private Life” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and well-acted movies that combine dark comedy with psychological drama.
Jodie Foster and Virginie Efira in “A Private Life” (Photo by Jérôme Prébois/Sony Pictures Classics)
“A Private Life” is an occasionally uneven dark comedy about a psychiatrist who teams up with her ex-husband when she suspects a former client was murdered. Jodie Foster’s appealing performance keeps the movie interesting. To its credit, “A Private Life” doesn’t get too convoluted when it comes to the investigation for this suspected murder.
Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski, “A Private Life” was written by Zlotowski, Anne Berest and Gaëlle Macé. The movie had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and made the rounds at other film festivals in 2025, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. “A Private Life” takes place primarily in Paris and was filmed on location in Paris and in Normandy, France.
In “A Private Life,” Foster is protagonist Lillian Steiner, a psychiatrist who leads an orderly life. Lilian, who lives alone and who works from her home office, has been divorced from her ex-husband Gabriel “Gaby” Haddad (played by Daniel Auteuil) for at least 20 years. Lillian and Gaby have one child together: a adult son named Julien Haddad-Park (played by Vincent Lacoste), who has recently become a first-time father to an infant son named Joseph. Lillian adores her grandson but is slightly uncomfortable with the reality that she is now a grandmother.
Near the beginning of the movie, Lillian is concerned that her client Paula Cohen-Solal (played by Virginie Efira) has skipped their past three sessions. Paula has been Lillian’s client for the past nine years. Paula is a cellist in a classical music orchestra. Paula’s husband Simon Cohen-Solal (played by Mathieu Amalric), who is domineering and arrogant, is the orchestra’s conductor.
Meanwhile, another client named Pierre Hallam (played by Noam Morgensztern) tells Lillian during a session that it will be his last session with her. Pierre had been trying to quit smoking, and he says he recently underwent hypnotism, which he believes has “cured” him of the desire to smoke. Therefore, Pierre tells Lillian, he no longer needs Lillian as a therapist, and this will be their last session together.
Soon after Lillian loses Pierre as a client, Lillian gets even worse news: Paula has died. Lillian finds out when Paula’s young adult daughter Valérie Cohen-Solal (played by Luàna Bajrami) tells Lillian about Paula’s death, which has officially been ruled as a suicide. Valérie asks Lillian if Lillian knows why Paula would want to kill herself, but Lillian says she can’t reveal that information because of patient/therapist confidentiality.
Valérie invites Lillian to the shiva wake for Paula. At the shiva wake, Simon verbally lashes out at Lillian, whom he blames for Paula’s death. Simon orders Lillian to leave. Lillian knew that Paula was unhappily married to Simon. Simon’s hostile reaction to Lillian makes her wonder if Paula was murdered.
The rest of “A Private Life” shows Lillian’s suspicions increasing as she finds out other things that indicate Paula could have been murdered, especially when she discovers that Simon had a mistress named Perle Friedman (played by Aurore Clément). Lillian tells Gaby about her suspicions, and they decide to become amateur sleuths. Along the way, the former spouses also confront past resentments and unresolved issues about the demise of their marriage. Gaby was the one who wanted the divorce because he felt that Lillian didn’t love him anymore.
“A Private Life” features a few quirks to the story. Lillian has a vivid dream that she was a male musician colleague of Paula’s in the same orchestra, and Paula was having a secret affair with this colleague. Lillian begins to wonder if she has psychic abilities. Lillian’s eyes also keep watering for unknown reasons.
During the investigation, Lillian discovers more about Paula and more about herself. Foster and Auteuil’s scenes together are entertaining to watch, as Lillian and Gaby feel rekindled sparks of attraction to each other and have to decide whether or not to act on this attraction. Despite a few areas of the movie that drag, “A Private Life” is a relatively brisk psychological mystery that has engaging performances and should satisfy most viewers who are inclined to be interested in this genre.
Sony Pictures Classics released “A Private Life” in select U.S. cinemas on December 5, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on January 16, 2026. The movie was released in France on November 26, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Oklahoma and in Mexico, the dramatic film “King Ivory” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latin people and Native Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: Various people are affected by the fetanyl drug trade, including a drug law enforcement officer; his teenage son who gets hooked on fentanyl; and the drug traffickers who want to keep their business thriving by any means necessary.
Culture Audience: “King Ivory” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and can tolerate watching often-violent dramas with intertwined storylines about the effects of drug trafficking.
Michael Mando in “King Ivory” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)
“King Ivory” is a flawed but absorbing drama with multiple storylines about people affected by the buying and selling of fentanyl. The talented acting performances hold the movie together during the most cumbersome moments. The second half of the movie is better than the first half.
Written and directed by John Swab, “King Ivory” gets it title from King Ivory being one of the street nicknames for fentanyl, an opioid that is more potent than heroin. “King ivory” had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival. The movie takes place in Oklahoma and in Mexico. “King Ivory” was filmed in Oklahoma.
“King Ivory” begins by showing two drug dealers getting shipment of raw fentanyl on a boat in the Pacific Ocean, near Sinaloa, Mexico. The movie then abruptly cuts to a brutal raid of a drug dealer’s house in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A team of officers, led by Layne West (played by James Badge Dale), storm through the house. A shootout ensues, resulting in the deaths of the drug dealer and a woman in an upstairs bedroom. A boy, who’s about 5 or 6 years old, is found hiding in fear in a bathroom.
It’s just another day for Layne, a drug enforcement officer, who is able to keep his personal life and his career separate until these two worlds come crashing together when his teenage son Jack (played by Jasper Jones) becomes addicted to fentanyl. Layne’s work colleagues include his partner Ty Grady (played by George Carroll) and FBI counterpart Beatty (played by Rory Cochrane), who are fighting an uphill battle to stop the flow of fentanyl into Oklahoma.
“King Ivory” jumps back and forth between the storyline of the West family (which includes Layne’s wife Tess West, played by Sam Quartin) and storylines for some of the criminals responsible for trafficking fentanyl in the Tulsa area. These drug traffickers include Ramón Garza (played by Michael Mando), a bilingual Mexican cartel worker who recruits desperate Mexican immigrants to work for him; Holt Lightfeather (played by Graham Greene), an incarcerated Indian Brotherhood War chief, who runs a drug operation from Oklahoma State Penitentiary (also known as Big Mac) in McAlester, Oklahoma; and three family members of the local Irish Mafia: cold-blooded killer George “Smiley” Greene (played by Ben Foster), who is released from Big Mac during the course of the story; Smiley’s doting single mother Ginger Greene (played by Melissa Leo); and Smiley’s meth-addicted uncle Mickey (played by Ritchie Coster), who is a confidential informant for the police.
Other characters in the movie include a bilingual Mexican immigrant named Lago (played by David De La Barcena), who is mentored by Ramón; Jack’s girlfriend Colby (played by Kaylee Curry), who introduces him to fentanyl and who is a customer of Lago’s; and Brotherhood War member Jai (played by James Whitecloud), who works with Smiley after Smiley is released from prison. “King Ivory” weaves all of these storylines together in a way that isn’t always seamless, but the movie could hold viewers’ interest to see how it will end.
The acting performances move the story forward, even if some of the dialogue and scenarios are very stereotypical. Among the standouts is Dale gives a credible portrayal of a father who’s caught between doing his duty as a drug-enforcement officer and being in denial about his teenage son’s increasing drug problem. Foster does yet another depiction of an unhinged criminal. “King Ivory” might get some comparisons to director Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-winning 2000 film “Traffic,” but “King Ivory” is not an Oscar-worthy film. However, “King Ivory” is a solid option for viewers to see a gritty saga that looks at drug trafficking from different angles.
Saban Films and Roadside Attractions released “King Ivory” in select U.S. cinemas on November 14, 2025. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released “King Ivory” on digital and VOD on December 16, 2025. “King Ivory” will be released on DVD on February 10, 2026.
Culture Representation: Taking place from the 1920s to the 1990s, across various places in China, the fantasy drama film “Resurrection” features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: In a world where beings who can dream are called Deliriants and are in the minority, a Deliriant experiences various dreams as a cinematic transformations where the Deliriant experiences being different people in different decades.
Culture Audience: “Resurrection” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Bi Gan, and deeply layered artistic films about reincarnations.
Shu Qi in “Resurrection” (Photo courtesy of Janus Films)
The fantasy drama “Resurrection” has the ability to either transfix or bore viewers, depending on whether or not viewers are willing to go on an unusual journey about a being’s transformations across time and space. At 156 minutes long, “Resurrection” can be an endurance test if viewers don’t feel curious about what will happen next. It’s not always an easy film to understand at all times, but it’s an artistically unique movie that is a marvel to behold.
Written and directed by Bi Gan, “Resurrection” had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it won a special jury award. “Resurrection” also screened at several other film festivals in 2025, including the New York Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. The movie takes place from the 1920s to the 1990s, across various places in China. “Resurrection” was filmed in China and in Denmark.
The beginning of “Resurrection” takes place in a movie theater in the 1920s and is filmed as if inspired by German expressionism cinema. People inside the movie theater scatter. “Resurrection” is stunning-looking movie whose production design and cinematography are among the film’s strongest assets.
It’s explained later in the movie that “Resurrection” takes place in a world where the majority of people (called the Other Ones) have given up their ability to dream in order to have longevity. Those who have kept their ability to dream are called Deliriants, who are either envied or treated like threatening monsters. Deliriants are rare, and what happens to a Deliriant who is discovered by an Other One.
An on-screen caption then explains, “There is one Deliriant, whose true form is unknown because he has been hiding in an ancient, forgotten past. That is film! Those who can see through illusions are the Big Others. To bring these Deliriants back to reality, they can mutate into the gentlest forms the Deliriants love the most. Could this Deliriant be hiding in an opium den?”
“Resurrection then shows a labyrinth-like opium den, where shadowy giant figures above and the occasional giant hand that reaches in the opium den suggest Big Others are hovering around this opium den, which has the size of a miniature dollhouse to the Big Others. A Big Other named Miss Shu (played by Shu Qi) finds a Deliriant (played by Jackson Yee), which looks like an hunched-over ogre, inside the basement of the opium den.
Miss Shu doesn’t want the Deliriant to hurt her. The Deliriant gives her flowers, as Miss Shu lets the Deliriant see his reflection in her eyes. The Deliriant falls on the ground, eats the flowers, and exclaims: “I don’t want to live in that fake world! Kill me now!”
Instead of killing him, Miss Shu allows the Deliriant to live out his dreams as if they were movies. The rest of Resurrection is told in five chapters, with each chapter showing the Deliriant being reincarnated as a new character in a new decade. It’s fascinating concept that “Resurrection” could have done a better job of explaining in the beginning of the film.
Because the Deliriant becomes several different people during the course of the story, actor Yee plays several different characters from the 1950s to the 1990s. In addition to the Deliriant, Yee has the roles of Qui, a man accused of murder; a thief named Mongrel; a con artist named Jia Shengjung; and a thug named Apollo. Yee gives skillful portrayals of each character by immersing himself into each role.
Other characters in “Resurrection” include Mark Chao as a police commander who is leading a murder investigation; Li Gengxi as Tai Zhaomeix, a mysterious singer; Huang Jue as Mr. Luo, the owner of the karaoke bar where Zhaomeix works; Chen Yongzhong as the Spirit of Bitterness; and Guo Mucheng as a girl who befriends Shengjun and becomes involved in Shengjun’s con games. All of these supporting cast members perform well in their roles, but there’s nothing particularly outstanding about their acting.
“Resurrection” has several suspenseful scenes, while other scenes move along at a leisurely pace. It’s a valid argument to say that “Resurrection” will be considered too long for an average movie viewer. Ultimately, “Resurrection” is worth watching for a unique cinematic experience that tells several anthology-styled stories within one memorable and beautifully filmed movie.
Janus Films released “Resurrection” in select U.S. cinemas on December 12, 2025. The movie was released in China on November 22, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Turkey, the dramatic film “The Things You Kill” features a predominantly an all-Turkish cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A part-time college professor suspects that his father killed his mother and conspires with his recently hired gardener to get revenge on the father.
Culture Audience: “The Things You Kill” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of unusual dramas about families where things are not always what they seem to be.
Hazar Ergüçlü and Ekin Koç in “The Things You Kill” (Photo courtesy of Cineverse)
“The Things You Kill” is a twist-filled psychological drama about the harmful effects of domestic violence on a family. The movie has a character switch that will confuse many viewers, but it’s a dark story about denial and leading a double life. “The Things You Kill” does not offer easy answers and has an ending that is left open to interpretation.
Written and directed by Alireza Khatami, “The Things You Kill” had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic. “The Things You Kill” is Canada’s official selection for Best International Feature Film for the 2026 Academy Awards, but the movie did not make the shortlist to be nominated in this category. “The Things You Kill” takes place in an unnamed city in Turkey, where the movie was filmed on location.
The movie begins by showing two spouses talking in their home, located in an apartment building. Ali Özdilek (played by Ekin Koç) listens as his wife Hazar (played by Hazar Ergüçlü) tells Ali about a dream that she had the night before. in the dream, Ali’s father Hamit (played by Ercan Kesal) knocked on the door and said, “I’m exhausted.” Hamit then laid down on the floor and rested against a wall. This dream will have significance later in the story.
Ali lived in the United States for 14 years and has recently moved back to his native Turkey. He has been going through some stresses in his personal life and in his career. Hazar and Ali have been trying to have a child, but she hasn’t gotten pregnant. What Ali hasn’t told her is that he has a low sperm count, according to the results of a medical test that he recently took. Ali doesn’t know how to tell this news to Hazar, who is worried that she’s the one who might be infertile.
Meanwhile, Ali is also feeling insecure about his current job. He’s a part-time professor at a local university, where he works in the English department. He finds out that his class won’t be offered in the next semester, and it’s very likely that he will be laid off from his job. He is also reluctant to tell Hazar this information. Hazar works as a livestock veterinarian.
An early scene in the movie shows Ali is very devoted to his disabled mother Sakine played by Güliz Sirinyan), who has curved feet and uses a walker. Ali goes over to his parents’ house to fix her toilet, but he is unable to complete the task because the pipes are broken. He tells Sakine that the toilet’s plumbing needs a complete overhaul and that his sister Nesrin (played by Selen Kurtaran) can probably fix the toilet the next day.
During the time that Ali was trying to fix the toilet, he went in the house’s backyard to look in the septic tank. Inside the tank, he found a gun stuffed into a back. Ali put the gun back where he found. And that’s the moment you know it won’t be the last time the gun is seen in movie.
When Ali goes to his home, he tells Hazar that he’s thinking of having his mother move in with them. Hazar is skeptical and asks if Hamit would allow it. Hazar also wonders out loud if Sakine would be comfortable in living in the building because it doesn’t have an elevator and because Sakine might miss having a garden.
“She likes taking care of her plants,” Hazar says. Ali says, “We’ll talk to Aunt Melahat about it and see.” Hazar replies, “Fine by me.” Melahat (played by Aysen Sümercan) is Hamit’s sister who appears much later in the story.
Sadly, the decision on where Sakine will live becomes irrelevant because not long afterward, Ali finds out that Sakine has died in her home. The last person to see her alive was Hamit, her husband of 50 years. Hamit says that Sakine died from falling down and hitting her head.
However, Hamit didn’t tell anyone for hours that Sakine was dead. Ali, Nesrin and some other family members gather at the house and have various emotional reactions to Sakine’s death. Ali is sad but mostly angry that Hamit waited so long to tell the other family members about Sakine’s death.
Ali berates Hamit, who then verbally lashes out at Ali for not calling or visiting Hamit and Sakine while Ali was living in the United States. Eventually the argument ends, but the resentment lingers. Ali notices that Hamit’s hand is bandaged, but Ali doesn’t ask Hamit why Hamit’s hand is bandaged.
What is eventually revealed in the story, but it’s not spoiler information, is Hamit had a history of physically abusing Sakine. Hamit told the family that he found Sakine dead, with her body lying face down on the floor of their kitchen. The medical examiner report reveals that she died from an extradural hemorrhage (a severe concussion) from a blow to the back of her head.
Ali becomes more suspicious that Hamit caused Sakine’s death when Ali and Nesrin have a private conversation at Sakine’s grave. In this conversation, Nesrin (who has an outspoken personality) tells Ali that she knew that Hamit would often keep Sakine locked up in the house. Ali begins to feel even more anger toward Hamit, who denies having anything to do with Sakine’s death.
Around this time, Ali becomes fixated on developing a barren patch of the family’s land in a remote area and turning it into a garden. He hires a man named Reza (played by Erkan Kolçak Köstendil) to be the gardener for this task. During their first meeting, Ali develops a friendly rapport with Reza and finds out that Reza is going through a rough period in his life and is kind of desperate for money.
Ali eventually confides in Reza about how Ali thinks that his father Hamit killed his mother Sakine. It isn’t long before a plan is hatched to get revenge on Hamit. The rest of “The Things You Kill” shows what happens when that plan is set into motion.
The movie’s big surprise happens about halfway through the story. It’s an unexpected turn that is intended to throw viewers off-balance about what is really happening. But as time goes on, “The Things You Kill” becomes a story that plays with the concept of perception versus reality. (Hint: “The Things You Kill” has been compared to filmmaker David Lynch’s 1997 mystery drama “Lost Highway.”)
The direction of “The Things You Kill” maintains suspense for most of the film. However, some scenes are a bit disjointed and rambling. The acting performances are impressive, particularly with Koç and Köstendi, whose relationship is at the core of the movie’s story. Viewers who are open to a taking a disturbing look into someone’s psyche will appreciate this artistically made film, even if the ending might be divisive to some people.
Cineverse released “The Things You Kill” in New York City on November 14, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on November 21, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the dramatic film “The Dutchman” (based on the 1963 off-Broadway play “The Dutchman and the Slave”) features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with some white people and a few Asian people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A husband, who is upset over his wife having an extramarital fling, decides to have a fling of his own with a woman he meets on a subway, but his fling becomes a nuisance who uses racism to inflict emotional terror on him.
Culture Audience: “The Dutchman” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the play on which the movie is based, and stories that have more of an underdeveloped concept than a coherent plot.
Zazie Beetz in “The Dutchman” (Photo by Matt Sayles/Inaugural Entertainment)
“The Dutchman” is an incoherent fever dream that doesn’t do justice to “The Dutchman and the Slave” play. Movie characters yelling and complaining about racism and infidelity don’t automatically turn this rambling mess into a good cinematic adaptation. Expect to see a lot of scenes in “The Dutchman” showing people talking a lot but not having much that’s meaningful to say. The movie also blurs the lines between fantasy and reality to irritating levels, by using the fantasy elements as an excuse for flimsy storytelling.
Directed by Andre Gaines (who co-wrote “The Dutchman” screenplay with Qasim Basir), “The Dutchman” had its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. The movie is based on Amiri Baraka’s 1963 off-Broadway play “The Dutchman and the Slave.” “The Dutchman” takes place in New York City, where the movie was filmed on location.
“The Dutchman” begins by showing spouses Clay (played by André Holland) and Kaya (played by Zazie Beetz) in a tension-filled couple’s counseling session with their therapist Dr. Amiri (played by Stephen McKinley Henderson), who is soon revealed to represent Amiri Baraka. Clay and Kaya have hit a rough patch in their marriage because Kaya thinks Clay doesn’t communicate with her enough, while Clay has lost trust in Kaya because she recently had an extramarital fling.
Kaya is remorseful about this infidelity and wants to stay in the marriage. During the therapy session, she tries to deflect how much this affair hurt Clay. Kaya gives this explanation for why Clay is being irritable during this session: “Clay’s been in a lot of stress because of work and this fundraiser he’s hosting for his friend Warren’s re-election.”
In the play “The Dutchman and the Slave,” the character of Clay is a 20-year-old man who is college-educated and who wants to be a poet. In the movie “The Dutchman,” Clay is 42 years old and a highly educated businessman (it’s mentioned that he’s a graduate of Harvard University), but the movie keeps it vague on what type of business Clay does for work. Clay is such a thinly written character, by the end of the movie, viewers won’t know what his interests are at all, except to gripe about his marriage and talk about how hard it is for him to be a black man in society.
During the therapy session, Clay says to Kaya about how her infidelity has affected him: “You already know what I’m going through with people at work and in our community—being not black enough for one group and too black for the other. I’m already struggling to find balance.”
One of the many problems with “The Dutchman” is Clay is never seen going through this type of struggle. He only talks about it. The movie doesn’t show Clay at work or interacting with people in his “community.” It never shows Clay having to “code switch” to “find balance” in the places where he says he’s “not black enough” or “too black.”
The only social event that Clay is seen at is later in the movie, at the aforementioned fundraiser for his politician friend Warren Enright (played by Aldis Hodge), which looks like a racially diverse gathering of society elites who can afford to attend this type of fundraiser. (The movie doesn’t reveal the political job for which Warren is seeking re-election.) Clay is so well-respected at this gathering, he’s asked to give a speech. Where’s the struggle?
In the couple’s counseling session that’s shown in the beginning of the movie, Clay is openly frustrated that Dr. Amiri seems to be siding with Kaya. Dr. Amiri asks Clay if it would make Clay feel better if Clay had an extramarital fling. Clay doesn’t answer. Viewers will notice this annoying habit that Clay has of complaining and blaming but not doing much to solve problems. In fact, he makes such bad decisions, he makes his problems worse for himself.
At the end of the therapy session, Dr. Amiri recommends that Clay read the published book of “The Dutchman” play. Once it becomes apparent in the movie that someone named Amiri Baraka wrote this play, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Dr. Amiri is hawking his own book. It turns into shameless shilling during the course of this sloppily written movie.
Dr. Amiri tells Clay why he needs to read “The Dutchman,” which is about a black man whose life is turned upside down after he has an extramarital fling with a mysterious white woman whom he meets on a subway. Dr. Amiri tells Clay: “Sometimes, we find pieces of ourselves in literature that help us heal. Do you see yourself on that train, Clay? Trapped between who you are and who you must be?”
Clay is about to find out. Faster than you can say “terrible movie adaptation,” Clay is sitting by himself on a subway when he is approached by a frequently smirking 39-year-old woman named Lula (played by Kate Mara), who says hello to Clay when she sits down next to him. During the course of their conversation, Lula flirts with Clay, she gets confrontational with him, and she comes right out and says she wants to have sex with him. Clay tells Lula that he’s married, but she doesn’t care.
Lula says to Clay, “I know what you’re thinking. You think I want to pick you up, get you to take me somewhere, and fuck.” Clay tries to tell her that he’s not a fool, by saying, “Do I look like a sucker to you?” Lula replies, “You look like you’re trying to grow a beard.” Someone needs to tells Lula that Clay already has a beard on his face.
The movie is not subtle at all with trying to make biblical references to Adam and Eve. At one point in this idiotic conversation on the subway, Lula literally takes out a red apple and hands it to Clay. Later, to ramp up her “seduction,” Lula (who’s wearing a low-cut short dress) takes off her underwear in front of Clay.
The back-and-forth banter continues when Lula and Clay exit at the same subway stop. On the subway platform, Clay sees a woman (played by Sally Stewart), who has fallen down and dropped her belongings all over the platform. Clay rushes over to help the woman to her feet and help her gather her belongings. One of the items the woman has dropped is her cell phone, which will have significance later in the story.
As predicted in the book that Dr. Amiri gave to Clay, Clay has sex with Lula when they go back to her place. Clay wants to treat this sexual encounter as a one-night stand. However, Lula (like a “Fatal Attraction” jilted mistress) becomes obsessed with continuing to see Clay. (This isn’t spoiler information because it’s shown in “The Dutchman” trailer.)
One of the things that Lula does when she hounds and stalks Clay is insist that he take her as his date to Warren’s fundraising party. The more time that Lula spends with Clay, the more aggressive, racist, and unhinged she becomes. One of the more racially offensive that Lula says to Clay is: “Do you know if your great-grandfather was a slave? He definitely didn’t go to Harvard.”
At one point during an argument that Lula instigates with Clay, she shows Clay that she kept the used condom from their sexual encounter, and she threatens to accuse Clay of rape unless he takes her to the fundraising event. Clay and Lula both know that Kaya is also going to be at this fundraiser. And you can easily predict that nothing good can come out of this situation.
“The Dutchman” fumbles when trying to make weighty statements about how black men are under constant threat of either being falsely accused of crimes and/or being unfairly perceived as most likely to commit crimes. As an intimidation tactic to make Clay afraid, Lula sometimes screams in public when she’s with Clay because she knows that a white woman screaming when she’s with a black man will automatically make some people think she’s a victim being harmed by a black man. These are harsh racist realities that are clumsily handled in the film, which repeats these types of racist scenarios without anything significant to add.
Meanwhile, Dr. Amiri comes in and out of the story like a magical “know it all” genie who tries to act like his “Dutchman” book/play is some kind of survival guide for black men in America. There’s some nonsense about Dr. Amiri controlling Clay through a small figurine that Dr. Amiri keeps in his office. And the movie gets violent in a melodramatic confrontation scene that looks like it could be in the type of low-quality junk movie that gets dumped on a trashy streaming service.
“The Dutchman” has very talented cast members doing sufficient work with the weak material that they’ve been given. Unfortunately, all of the movie’s principal characters don’t come across as real people but as figments of the imagination of a pretentious and uncreative writer. Ultimately, “The Dutchman” is a redundant, dull and mostly pointless movie that misses many opportunities to be an impactful film. Instead of giving meaningful insight into relationships that involve sexual intimacy and racial identities, “The Dutchman” is just a scattered regurgitation of provocative themes that have been handled much better in other movies, such as Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” and Jordan Peele’s “Get Out.”
Inaugural Entertainment released “The Dutchman” in select U.S. cinemas on January 2, 2026.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Chimney Rock, New York, the comedy/drama film “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” (the third movie in the “Knives Out” series) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A controversial and domineering monsignor of a Christian church is murdered, and during the investigation, it’s revealed that several people had reasons to want him dead.
Culture Audience: “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Rian Johnson, the “Knives Out” franchise and murder mysteries with charismatic lead investigators.
Pictured clockwise, from left to right: Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Kerry Washington, Thomas Haden Church, Glenn Close and Daryl McCormack in “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” (Photo by John Wilson/Netflix)
“Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” maintains the “Knives Out” franchise’s mix of an intriguing murder investigation with memorable characters, engaging performances and some cheeky comedy. This third movie in the series skewers fanatical worship of cult-like leaders. Although much of the mystery is set in and around a Christian church, the movie does not make any statements for or against religion but rather shows how religious beliefs (or non-beliefs) affect people in different ways.
Written and directed by Rian Johnson, “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. The “Knives Out” movie series—which began with 2019’s “Knives Out” and continued with 2022’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”—has a different murder mystery in each movie, which features debonair American Southern gentleman Benoit Blanc (played by Daniel Craig), who is a private investigator, as the lead detective investigating the murder case. It’s eventually revealed in each “Knives Out” movie who hired Benoit for the investigation.
The “Knives Out” series is very much inspired by Agatha Christie novels (Benoit Blanc has been compared to Christie’s eccentric Belgian detective Hercule Poirot), with each investigation having several suspects, who don’t all make it out alive by the time the case is solved. And just like Christie’s novels, each “Knives Out” movie usually has some type of satire or wry observation about social class differences among the suspects. The lead investigator is also usually considered an “outsider” in the place where the investigator is doing the sleuthing.
In “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” Benoit doesn’t appear until about 40 minutes into this 144-minute movie. Instead, the movie’s first-person perspective comes from Father Jud Duplencity (played by Josh O’Connor), a Catholic priest who becomes a prime suspect in the murder of his boss: Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (played by Josh Brolin), a controversial leader of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude Parish, located in Chimney Rock, New York. (“Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” was actually filmed in Leavesden, England.)
Father Jud is the movie’s narrator. In the beginning of the movie, he explains that he was transferred from Albany, New York, to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude after he punched a colleague named Deacon Clark (played by Kit Burden) during a fight. During a disciplinary hearing that is presided over by Bishop Langstrom (played by Jeffrey Wright), Bishop Langstrom mentions that one of the options would be to transfer Father Jud to a different parish. Father Jud pleads for mercy by saying, “The world needs love so bad. You give me one more shot, and I promise I’ll do that.”
And so, Father Jud relocates from Albany to the much smaller city of Chimney Rock. All that he knows before he gets to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude is that it’s a parish led by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, and the parish’s population is dwindling. When Father Jud sees Monsignor Wicks give a sermon for the first time, he finds out why people have been leaving the parish. Monsignor Wicks is a “fire and brimstone” type of preacher, who condemns almost every trivial sin while also demonstrating that he is homophobic and sexist. Several people walk out of the church before the sermon is over.
Monsignor Wicks is also a weirdo who gets pleasure from making people uncomfortable. During Father Jud’s first day on the job, Monsignor Wicks orders Father Jud to listen to Monsignor Wicks’ confessions. Monsignor Wicks then process to describe how many times he masturbated since Monsignor Wicks’ previous confession. Monsignor Wicks also into detail about what happened during these masturbation sessions.
Father Jud doesn’t want to show too much emotion during this confession, but the expression on his face indicates that he’s shocked and somewhat disgusted. Monsignor Wicks continues to force Father Jud to listen to Monsignor Wicks’ masturbation confessions. As time goes on, Father Jud tries to make the parish a more compassionate place for parishioners, but control freak Monsignor Wicks thwarts those attempts. It isn’t long before Monsignor Wicks and Father Jud are openly arguing with each other.
Father Jud finds out that Monsignor Wicks abuses his power because Monsignor Wicks inherited this parish from his deceased grandfather Rev. Prentice Wicks (played by James Faulkner, seen in flashbacks), who founded Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude. Prentice Wicks’ daughter Grace Wicks (played by Annie Hamilton, seen in flashbacks) was a “wild child” prodigal daughter who was a single mother to Jefferson until Grace died from a brain aneurysm when Jefferson was about 4 or 5 years old. Shortly before she died, Grace had some type of emotional meltdown over something she believed her father did to hurt her, and she committed extreme vandalism in the church building.
Even though Monsignor Wicks has alienated many of his former parishioners, some have remained as his loyal followers. As expected, Monsignor Wicks wasn’t as pious and upstanding as he proclaimed himself to be to his admiring supporters, many of whom were willing to do anything for him. It’s eventually revealed that all of these parishioners could have a reason to want Monsignor Wicks dead, even though Father Jud remains the prime suspect for most of the story.
Father Jud comes under the most suspicion because he told some of the parishioners about his troubled past when he tried to connect with them in a parish outreach meeting when Monsignor Wicks was still alive. Before he became a priest, Father Jud was a boxer who killed a man during a boxing match. Father Jud said this killing motivated him to turn his life around and was one of the main reasons why he became a priest. Some of the parishioners also heard why Father Jud was transferred, so they wonder if Father Jud still has violent tendencies that would make him a murderer.
Monsignor Wicks dies a church service, when goes into a side room to start serving the communion, but he collapses and never wakes up. It’s soon revealed that he was drugged by a tranquilizer and then stabbed with a knife that has devil’s head for a handle. All of the parishioners who eventually become persons of interest were in the church when this murder happened. Father Jud was not seen for about nine seconds before Monsignor Wicks died, which is another reason why he’s the prime suspect.
These are the parishioners who are involved in the case as witnesses and possibly more:
Martha Delacroix (played by Glenn Close) is the oldest parishioner, who was part of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, ever since she was a girl (played by Cecilia Blair, seen in flashbacks), when Jefferson’s grandfather Prentice was the parish’s leader. Martha is the most devoted of Monsignor Wicks’ followers. She works as the parish’s office manager and was Monsignor Wicks’ personal assistant.
Samson Holt (played by Thomas Haden Church) is Martha’s husband, who adores her immensely and works as the church’s groundskeeper. Samson is a simple man who tends to go along with whatever Martha wants.
Vera Draven (played by Kerry Washington) is a shrewd and cynical attorney who has a law practice that she used to share with her deceased father. Vera, who is a bachelorette, isn’t overly religious, but she attends the church services out of a sense of duty.
Cy Draven (played by Daryl McCormack) is Vera’s adopted son. It’s mentioned early in the story that Cy is believed to actually be the illegitimate son of Vera’s father, who asked adult Vera to raise Cy as her son when Cy was an infant. Cy is a bachelor and an aspiring politician who is a conservative Republican. Cy currently makes a living as a social media influencer who discusses politics and religion.
Dr. Nat Sharp (played by Jeremy Renner) is a divorced sad sack, who is despondent because his ex-wife Darla (played by Nicola Hughes, seen in a brief flashback) left him because she thinks that he doesn’t make enough money for her. Nat is still pining over Darla and feels shame and bitterness that he is divorced.
Lee Ross (played by Andrew Scott) is a bachelor and science-fiction writer who moved to Chimney Rock from New York City about 10 years ago. Lee’s popularity as an author has been on the decline. He wrote a book called “The Holy Man and the Troubadour” about Monsignor Wicks.
Simone Vivane (played by Cailee Spaeny) is a bachelorette and “world-class cellist” who was forced to retire five years ago because of her chronic pain. Simone often uses a wheelchair. It’s hinted that her pain is psychosomatic. Simone is the biggest financial donor to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, but shortly before Monsignor Wicks’ death, she began to suspect he was a con artist who was cheating her out of her money.
Chimney Rock is apparently so small, the only police officer who is shown as a homicide investigator is Geraldine Scott (played by Mila Kunis), who is quick to pass judgment on people and is certain that Father Jud is guilty. And when Benoit shows up and demands that there before thorough investigation before anyone is arrested, Geraldine predictably feels that Benoit is overstepping his bounds and interfering in her jurisdiction. Expect to see conflicts between Benoit and Geraldine.
“Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” unfolds at a pace that is sometimes leisurely and sometimes rushed. Father Jud has a spirituality crisis during this investigation. He also begins to doubt his sanity. All of the parishioner characters have fairly interesting backstories, except for Samson, Lee and Simone, whose characters are underdeveloped.
“Wake Up Dead Man” gets its title because there’s a part of the story where Monsignor Wicks (who is buried in a mausoleum) is believed to have risen from the dead. This supposed resurrection increases the tension because it separates the “believers” from the “non-believers.” And there’s a persecution mentality that exists whenever someone else comes under suspicion.
More than previous “Knives Out” movies, “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” gives a great deal of the perspective from the point of view of the prime suspect. Benoit is not a supporting character in the movie, but his relatively late arrival in the story is not typical for a murder mystery series where the lead investigator is always the star of the series. All of the cast members give skilled performances, but O’Connor and Craig get the most screen time.
“Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” has the expected twists and turns in the story. And although much of the cinematography is visually striking, there are parts of the movie that look like they were filmed in front of a green screen. This artificiality can be somewhat of a distraction, but it doesn’t ruin the movie. The movie’s total runtime is a little too long and would have been better served by have a shorter lead-up to Monsignor Wicks’ murder. “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” has an overly contrived ending, but this suspenseful movie is ultimately a satisfying addition to the “Knives Out” franchise.
Netflix released “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” in select U.S. cinemas on November 26, 2025. The movie premiered on Netflix on December 12, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in 1916, in Ramsden, England, the dramatic film “The Choral” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: After the Choral Society in Ramsden loses several members (including its choir master) to military service, another choir master is reluctantly takes over, and he recruits several new members who otherwise wouldn’t have been considered.
Culture Audience: “The Choral” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Ralph Fiennes and dramas about choirs who need to be trained under a new leader.
Jacob Dudman, Taylor Uttley, Oliver Briscombe and Shaun Thomas in “The Choral” (Photo by Nicola Dove/Sony Pictures Classics)
Dull and superficial, “The Choral” is a series of anecdotal scenes instead of a cohesive story about a revamped choir in 1916 England. This drama has underdeveloped characters with cliché and cardboard personalities. By the end of the film, you will hardly learn anything about the main characters except who is pursuing whom in a few romantic relationships among the young people.
Directed by Nicholas Hytner (who is one of the movie’s producers) and written by Alan Bennett, “The Choral” had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie screened at other festivals in 2025, including the BFI London Film Festival and AFI Fest. The movie takes place in 1916, in the small village of Ramsden, England. “The Choral” was filmed on location in England, at Saltaire Village, West Yorkshire and Versa Leeds Studios.
“The Choral” follows many of typical formulas in yet another movie about a cranky/stern choir director who has a limited time to train a singing group to be good enough for an upcoming competition or big performance. In this movie, the singing group is the Choral Society, a group of men and women who have recently lost several members (including the Choral Society’s choir master) to military service during World War I. Before the new choir master takes over in “The Choral,” the movie rushes through some scenes that show some of the people who are impacted by these changes in the Choral Society.
“The Choral” begins by showing two best friends in their late teens named Ellis (played by Taylor Uttley) and Lofty (played by Oliver Briscombe), who have the unpleasant job of delivering telegrams informing military families that one of their loved ones died in the war. Ellis is very flippant about this serious and depressing job. After they deliver a telegram to a weeping young woman (played by Fiona Morgan) with the news that her brother has died in the war, Ellis comments to Lofty as they walk away that Lofty could’ve used the opportunity to make romantic moves on the woman. “You could’ve gotten in there, Lofty,” Ellis smirks. “Grief. It’s an opportunity.”
Ellis is a one-note character who sees almost every moment of his life as an opportunity to flirt with women, chase women, or make comments on whether or not he thinks a woman’s physical appearance is attractive enough for him. It might be the movie’s attempt to show Ellis as a carefree ladies’ man, but Ellis just comes across as a self-absorbed creep. Lofty is a passive and somewhat generic character whose biggest worry is that he will still be a virgin when he turns 18 years old.
Ellis and Lofty have two other close friends (who are about the same age) in their social circle. Mitch (played by Shaun Thomas) is an earnest go-getter. Clyde (played by Jacob Dudman) is a military soldier who is missing in action in the beginning of the movie. The movie’s trailer and other marketing materials already reveal that Clyde shows up later, when he is discharged from the military for reasons that are shown in the movie.
Meanwhile, four decision makers for the Choral Society have to decide who will replace the people who’ve left the Choral Society because of military service. Bernard Duxbury (played by Roger Allam) is an alderman who sees himself as the leader of the decision makers. The other three decision makers are undertaker Herbert Trickett (played by Allun Armstrong), photographer Joe Fytton and Reverend Woodhead (played by Ron Cook), who have their opinions but find it difficult to persuade stubborn Bernard to change his mind on certain things.
An early scene in the movie shows Bernard and Herbert asking Ellis and Lofty to audition for the Choral Society. Later, during a meeting, the four decision makers lament the fact that Gilbert Pollard (played by Thomas Howes), the Choral Society’s previous choir master, left for military service because he volunteered and was not conscripted. After some discussion, the name Dr. Henry Guthrie is mentioned as a possible replacement for Gilbert.
Dr. Henry Guthrie (played by Ralph Fiennes), a bachelor with no children, is a talented musician who has recently returned to his native England after living several years in Germany. At the moment, he is working as a pianist at the Queens Hotel, which is not too far away from Ramsden. Henry is somewhat mysterious. Considering the tense relations between Germany and the United Kingdom during World War I, some people in the community look at Henry’s long residency in Germany and sudden return to England with suspicion.
Is Henry a spy? A secret political supporter of the German government? “The Choral” hints that it could have this intrigue, but ultimately “The Choral” just makes Henry an inscrutable and often-grumpy character who reluctantly accepts the offer to become the Choral Society’s new choir master. Henry takes the job on the condition that Henry will get to work with his pianist friend Robert Horner (played by Robert Emms), even though Bernard says that Robert’s job with the choir will be an unpaid position.
“The Choral” then shows a very boring series of auditions that result in new members of the Choral Society. Ellis and Lofty are among those who make the cut. So does Bella Holmes (played by Emily Fairn), a young woman who had been dating Clyde before he went off to war. Bella is no longer interested in Clyde but doesn’t want to tell a lot of people that while he is still missing in action. After Clyde is found and is discharged from the military, he returns to Ramsden and joins the Choral Society.
Clyde finds out that Ellis has been courting Bella, who is mutually attracted to Ellis. “The Choral” wastes an opportunity to show Clyde as a well-rounded person who is dealing with the aftermath of war, including long-term physical and mental effects. Instead, “The Choral” makes him somewhat of a token disabled veteran (he lost his right arm during the war) who accepts Bella wanting to move on from Clyde so she can date Ellis, as long as Bella can still give Clyde the occasional hand job. That is literally the gist of Clyde’s story arc in “The Choral.”
Another new addition to the Choral Society is Mary Lockwood (played by Amara Okereke), a prim and proper Salvation Army worker. From the first few moments that Mary is on screen, it’s obvious she will be the star singer of the choir. During her audition, Mary gets wary reactions from longtime choir members Miss Muschamp (played by Carolyn Pickles) and Mrs. Pemberton (played by Angela Curran), whose only purpose in the movie is to play stereotypical uptight elderly women who feel threatened by someone who’s younger and more talented.
The Choral Society is preparing to perform songs from the oratorio “The Dream of Gerontius,” written by Sir Edward Elgar (played by Simon Russell Beale), who is very picky about who gets to perform this oratorio and how it’s performed, because it’s widely considered to be his masterpiece. The Choral Society is under pressure to do a performance that would make Sir Edward proud. Yawn.
In between monotonous rehearsal scenes, where choir master Henry does his expected scolding and scowling, there’s some very uninteresting drama that is only shown on a surface level. Mitch wants to date virginal Mary, who is afraid of dating anyone and wants to focus on her work. Robert is a closeted gay man at who might or might not be secretly in love with Henry.
“The Dream of Gerontius” is about a dead elderly man’s soul on a journey of death. In a community devastated by war deaths, this oratorio takes on particular significance. But you wouldn’t know it from the way this movie treats grief on a surface level.
Bernard had a son who died in the war. Bernard’s unnamed wife (played by Eunice Roberts) is briefly seen at their home as someone who is dressed entirely in black and who spends time sitting around and staring into space. Bernard tells her in an exasperated voice: “This house can’t become a mausoleum.” She replies, “You’re free to live entirely as you please, Bernard.” That’s the extent of which the movie addresses any grief in Bernard’s family.
A character named Mrs. Bishop (played by played by Lindsey Marshal) is a widow whose husband died in the war. Chronic flirt Ellis constantly eggs on Lofty to get some sexual action from Mrs. Bishop. In Ellis’ mind, Mrs. Bishop must be a horny widow who would welcome the chance to have a fling with a good-looking young man who wants to lose his virginity. The movie panders to this notion and makes Mrs. Bishop merely a prop who’s waiting around for male attention that’s shallow and fleeting.
“The Choral” is utterly phony when it comes to how it depicts race relations. Mary is black in a community where less than 1% of the population is black, but not once is her race mentioned in this nearly all-white community. Not once does anyone—not even Mary’s unnamed mother (played by Cecilia Noble), who has a scene talking to Mitch about his romantic interest in Mary—ask Mitch if he’s prepared for any backlash to having an interracial relationship.
Although it would be nice to think that this small village in 1916 England is so progressive that it’s a color-blind society where no one talks about different races, this type of community is an “only in a fictional movie” community for the time and place that it’s supposed to depict. Social class differences are barely acknowledged in “The Choral,” during a time when working-class men are disproportionately conscripted to war combat because they don’t have the resources to get out of this type of military service, compared to rich men. And the movie has a very trite depiction of what it must have been like for a gay man like Robert to live in this time and place.
As for the music and singing in “The Choral,” they are not very impressive and can be downright grating. “The Angel’s Farewell” is the big song performed in the movie’s climax. But you’d be hard-pressed to find a majority of people who see “The Choral” who will remember key components to this song. Fiennes and many of “The Choral” cast members are talented, but there’s only so much they can do when they are given two-dimensional characters to play. Instead of “The Choral,” this movie should be titled “The Bore All.”
Sony Pictures Classics will release “The Choral” in select U.S. cinemas on December 25, 2025. The movie was released in the United Kingdom on November 7, 2025.
Joely Richardson, Rose Galbraith, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery and Harry Hadden-Paton in “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” (Photo courtesy of Focus Features)
Culture Representation: Taking place in 1930, in the United Kingdom, the dramatic film “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: The patriarch of the wealthy Crawley family of England must decide if he’s going to retire and if he will hand over the operations of the family’s Downton Abbey manor to his eldest child (a daughter), who is going through a society scandal because she is divorced.
Culture Audience: Aside from appealing to “Downton Abbey” fans, “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of movies about 20th century upper-crust British people and their servants.
Paul Giamatti and Alessandro Nivola in “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” (Photo courtesy of Focus Features)
“Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” is a drama that concludes in a fitting way and in the same polished tone that defines this franchise. Divorce and financial fraud are the biggest scandals in the story, with no real surprises. Most fans of the “Downton Abbey” franchise will be satisfied by how this movie ends, but others might feel disappointed that this “grand finale” isn’t as grand as they expected it to be.
Directed by Simon Curtis and written by Julian Fellowes, “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” (which takes place in 1930) is the third movie in the “Downton Abbey” franchise. Curtis also directed and Fellowes also wrote the 2022 movie “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” whose story took place in 1928. The first movie in the franchise is 2019’s “Downton Abbey” (directed by Michael Engler and written by Fellowes), a continuation of the British “Downton Abbey” TV series, which was on the air from 2010 to 2015. (In the United States, the award-winning “Downton Abbey” series began airing in 2011.)
Unlike the comedic and somewhat complex story in “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” the story in “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” is streamlined and gets a little more serious, although there are still touches of comedy. The main focus of “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” is who will take over the Downton Abbey manor when the eldest living heir is a woman who has become an outsider in certain social circles because she is divorced.
The “Downton Abbey” franchise, just like much of Fellowes’ work, explores the “upstairs/downstairs” cultures, with the “upstairs” people being the wealthy employers and the “downstairs” people being the employers’ servants. “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” has much more emphasis on the “upstairs” people, compared to the previous “Downton Abbey” movies.
People who watch “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” are better off having seen the previous two movies to fully understand the characters and some previous plot developments. People who’ve watched or know what happened in all of the previous “Downton Abbey” movies, as well as the “Downton Abbey” TV series, will obviously be the most prepared for “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.” Because there are so many characters in the “Downton Abbey” franchise, here’s a handy guide of who’s who in “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” and how their relationships affect each other:
The “Upstairs” People
Robert Crawley (played by Hugh Bonneville), 7th Earl of Grantham, is the leader of Downton Abbey when the movie begins. He is generally friendly but also very opinionated on how family matters should be handled. As shown at the end of “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” Robert inherited Downton Abbey after the death of his strong-willed mother Violet (played by Maggie Smith), who was the family matriarch. Robert is Violet’s only living son. (In real life, Smith passed away in 2024.)
Cora Crawley (played by Elizabeth McGovern), the Countess of Grantham. She is Robert’s kind, patient and dutiful wife. Robert and Cora are the parents of three daughters, one of whom is deceased.
Lady Mary Josephine Talbot (played by Michelle Dockery), previously known as Mary Crawley. Fair-minded and even-tempered, she is the eldest of Robert and Cora’s three daughters. In the “Downton Abbey” movie, Violet put Mary in charge of all Downton Abbey management decisions, but Mary struggles with having confidence in deciding what is best for Downton Abbey and the family. Mary experienced tragedy with the 1921 death of her first husband Matthew Crawley (played by Dan Stevens), who was a distant cousin. Matthew died in a car accident shortly after Mary gave birth to their son George Crawley (played by twins Oliver Barker and Zac Barker), born in 1921. In 1925, Mary wed her second husband Henry Talbot (played by Matthew Goode), who is seen only in brief flashback footage in “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.” Henry is dashing and charming but often inattentive to his family because he frequently travels to attend car racing matches around the world. His absence is one of the main reasons why Mary and Henry secretly got divorced. Mary and Henry have a daughter together named Caroline Talbot (played by Esme Creegan), who was born in 1926.
Lady Edith Pelham (played by Laura Carmichael), previously known as Edith Crawley, Marchioness of Hexham. She is the middle daughter of Robert and Cora. Edith is happily married and has been mainly preoccupied with raising children, after previous issues with conceiving. She is a journalist who still wants to continue her dream of owning and managing her own magazine. In late 1922 or early 1923, Edith gave birth to her daughter Marigold (played by twins Eva Samms and Karina Samms), whose biological father was The Sketch magazine editor Michael Gregson (played by Charles Edwards), whom Edith met when she wrote for the magazine. Edith and Michael were never married because he could not divorce his mentally ill wife. Michael died in 1923, during the Beer Hall Putch in Germany.
Herbert “Bertie” Pelham (played by Harry Hadden-Paton), 7th Marquess of Hexham, an amiable real-estate agent/military man. He is Edith’s second husband and the stepfather of Marigold. Bertie and Edith, who were wed on New Year’s Eve 1925, have a biological son together named Peter, who was born in 1927 or 1928.
Tom Branson (played by Allen Leech), an Irishman who used to be the Downton Abbey chauffeur, but he became part of the family when he married Sybil Crawley (played by Jessica Brown Findlay), Robert and Cora’s youngest daughter, who died from childbirth complications in 1920. Tom and Sybil’s daughter, born in 1920, is named Sybil “Sybbie” Branson (played by Fifi Hart). In “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” Tom married his second wife Lucy Branson (played by Tuppence Middleton), a former maid and formerly secret illegitimate daughter of Maud Bagshaw, who is a wealthy distant relative of the Crawleys. Maud has made Lucy the heir to Maud’s entire fortune. Lucy is not in “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.”
Isobel Merton (played by Penelope Wilton), the droll-talking mother of the late Matthew Crawley. Isobel frequently traded sardonic barbs with Violet.
Lord Merton (played by Douglas Reith), Isobel’s laid-back second husband. He is usually a bystander in the family drama.
The “Downstairs” People
Daisy Parker (played by Sophie McShera), a Downton Abbey kitchen maid. She has a fun-loving and energetic personality. Daisy suffered a tragedy when her first husband William Mason (played by Thomas Howes), a second footman for the Downton Abbey family, died from World War I combat wounds.
Andy Parker (played by Michael Fox), the Downton Abbey second footman. Daisy and Andy fell in love and got married circa 1928. Andy is prone to get jealous and insecure, but Daisy likes that Andy is willing to go to extremes for their love.
Mr. Carson (played by Jim Carter), the on-again/off-again Downton Abbey butler. As the most experienced butler at Downton, he often sees himself as the unofficial leader of the staff, whether they want his advice or not. Mr. Carson retires in “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.”
Mrs. Hughes (played by Phyllis Logan), the Downton Abbey head housekeeper, who is prim, proper, and frequently involved in keeping secrets to prevent Downton Abbey from being embroiled in scandals.
Mrs. Patmore (played by Lesley Nicol), the Downton Abbey chief cook. She has a no-nonsense attitude that keeps the other kitchen staff in check.
Mr. Bates (played by Brendan Coyle), the Downton Abbey valet. His arrogance sometimes alienates other members of the staff.
Anna Bates (played by Joanne Froggatt), wife of Mr. Bates and the maid to Lady Mary. She is generally well-liked but sometimes gets caught up in the Downton Abbey gossip.
Phyllis Baxter (played by Raquel Cassidy), the lady’s maid for the Countess of Grantham. Phyllis and Mr. Molesley become each other’s love interest. “Downton Abbey: The Next Era” shows how far this romance goes.
The Friends and Newcomers
Harold Levinson (played by Paul Giamatti), Cora’s neurotic brother who has been living in the United States. Harold is entrusted with managing much of the Crawley family’s investment portfolio.
Gus Sambrook (played by Alessandro Nivola), Harold’s business advisor, who is a smooth-talking American and a ladies’ man.
Guy Dexter (played by Dominic West), the male titular star of “The Gambler,” the dramatic movie that was partially filmed at Downton Abbey in “Downton Abbey: A New Era.” Guy is charismatic, flirtatious, and a closeted gay man.
Thomas Barrow (played by Robert James-Collier), a former Downton Abbey butler, who started a secret romance with Guy after they met at Downton Abbey. Thomas quit working for Downton Abbey to become Guy’s personal assistant. In the beginning of “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” Thomas and Guy are a couple whose relationship is common knowledge to people who are close to the them but it isn’t openly discussed.
Noël Coward (played by Arty Froushan), the famed playwright/composer, who is a close friend of Guy. Just like Guy and Thomas, Noël is a gay man who is closeted to most people, but people who know him best know the truth.
Joseph Molesley (played by Kevin Doyle), a former Downton Abbey valet who has a tendency to bumble and be socially awkward. He quit Downton Abbey to become a screenwriter but hasn’t been having much luck in his new career.
Lady Petersfield (played by Joely Richardson), a snobbish aristocrat who pushes for Mary to be ousted and shunned from society events because Mary is divorced.
Lady Gwendolen (played by Rose Galbraith), one of Lady Petersfield’s close friends.
In the beginning of “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” Robert and his daughter Mary have a series of conflicts and disagreements. It starts when Robert gets upset when he finds out that Mary’s divorce became final and she didn’t tell anyone else in the family. Robert had to find out after Mary is asked to leave a high society party because of her divorce, and her divorce makes front-page headlines of a local newspaper.
The Crawley family’s financial problems are ongoing. It’s one of the reasons why they reluctantly agreed to rent out their mansion to a filmmaking crew in “Downton Abbey: A New Era.” Selling the Downton Abbey property is out of the question. However, Mary suggests to Robert that they sell Grantham House, the Crawley family’s London residence. Robert vehemently objects to this idea.
Meanwhile, Harold and Gus come to visit to convince the family to invest in something that Harold assures the family will “double” their investment. Gus and Mary have an instant attraction to each other. Gus is also intrigued by Mary’s divorce scandal, which makes her more attractive to him. You can easily guess what happens between Gus and Mary.
Guy, Thomas and Noël visit the Crawleys for an elegant dinner. And when the word gets out that Noël is spending time with the Crawleys, suddenly all the snobs who wanted to shame and reject Mary have a change in attitude and want to befriend her again. Former Downton Abbey valet Joseph also gets swept up in wanting to get close to celebrity Noël. Richard goes as far as asking to be re-hired at Downton Abbey so he can meet Noël.
“Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” doesn’t go much deeper than the “rich people problems” story that is bulk of the movie’s plot. A major reason for much of the Crawleys’ financial woes is revealed. And when that revelation happens, it comes as no surprise because the movie makes it so obvious who might be committing fraud.
All of the returning cast members do what they’ve usually done in these roles, with only Dockery’s Mary going through a real emotional ringer. Giamatti and Nivola are what you might expect in their roles as Americans whose lives revolve around “get rich quick” schemes. Froushan is an utter delight as Noël, a scene-stealing bon vivant character, who unfortunately in not in the movie as he could have been.
The main reason why “Downton Abbey” fans and other viewers will watch is to see how the Crawley family friction will be resolved in who will really take over Downton Abbey, as Robert is headed for retirement. Robert stepping down from his leadership position means that he and Cora plan to relocate to a smaller home but will no longer have the burden of worrying about the upkeep of Downton Abey. It’s a bittersweet decision that will not shock anyone, but the send-off a fulfilling conclusion to this era in the “Downtown Abbey” saga.
Focus Features released “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” in U.S. cinemas on September 12, 2025. The movie was released on digital and VOD on September 30, 2025. Peacock premiered “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” on November 7, 2025. The movie was released on Blu-ray, DVD and 4K Ultra HD November 11, 2025.
