Anna Smith

"Hollywood is the ultimate dream factory … and I need dreams as much as the next man," says Mr Molesley (Kevin Doyle) in Downton Abbey: A New Era. It's a line that sums up the mission of the TV series' second cinematic outing: to continue the "dream factory" tradition. And so the wishes of many a familiar character…

Sony's Morbius is ostensibly a Spider-Man spin-off, but in many ways the Marvel movie has more in common with DC's solemn The Batman. Michael Morbius is a moody, Byronic scientist living in New York, with rich sponsors to fund his research into the rare blood disorder he suffers from. The answer could possibly lurk in…

"We were all very much trying to prove to our dads that we were men… by dressing up as women!" So says Scott Thompson of The Kids In The Hall, the Canadian comedy troupe that's the subject of a new documentary. Screening at SXSW before showing on Amazon Prime Video in two parts, The Kids In The Hall: Comedy Punks is…

Christina Ricci plays a troubled mother in Monstrous, a supernatural thriller that premiered in the FrightFest strand of the Glasgow Film Festival and was recently acquired by Screen Media for North America. Written by Carol Chrest (The Prophet's Game) and directed by Chris Sivertson (The Lost, I Know Who Killed Me)…

A couple have a wild weekend away in Pretty Problems, Kestrin Pantera's laugh-out-loud comedy premiering at SXSW. Written by Michael Tennant, who also co-stars, it's a witty look at wealth, privilege and relationships over a couple of days of hedonism in wine country. Lindsay (Britt Rentschler) is as bored with her…

The joy of playing the guitar radiates from Really Good Rejects, Alice Gu's SXSW documentary about Reuben Cox. Cox is a modern-day "luthier" – he makes stringed instruments, and his custom guitars grace stages all over the world. Artists clearly have a passion for his work: those lining up to praise him include…

A grieving young woman takes a road trip in The Unknown Country, a realist drama at SXSW from director Morrisa Maltz. Fans of Nomadland should be well served by this thoughtful film that casts actors alongside real people playing themselves (or thereabouts). Lily Gladstone (Certain Women) stars as Tana, who's lost her…

American mothers fight for immigrants' rights in Split at the Root, Linda Goldstein Knowlton's powerful SXSX doc. Executive produced by Rosario Dawson and Lana Parrilla, it's an intimate and inspiring portrait of activism. Under the Trump administration, immigration policies resulted in children being separated from…

A trip to the hairdresser's turns sour in Huda's Salon, a gripping thriller written and directed by Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now). Inspired by chilling real events in Palestine, it sees young mother Reem (Maisa Abd Elhadi) drugged by Huda (Manal Awad), who strips her naked and takes compromising pictures of her with a…

A couple struggles to process the aftermath of the Bataclan terrorist attack in One Year, One Night (Un Ano, Una Noche), an affecting Berlin Film Festival competition title from Spanish director Isaki Lacuesta (Between Two Waters). Inspired by a book from Ramón González entitled Peace, Love and Death Metal, it's based…

Rapper Machine Gun Kelly plays a self-destructive musician in Tim Sutton's Taurus, premiering in the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival. Going by his real name, Colson Baker, he puts in an authentic turn as his character Cole flits between the studio, his expensive apartment and an array of seedy bars and…

A tender love story set in rural China, Li Ruijun's Return to Dust is a wonderfully atmospheric entry to the Berlin Film Festival competition. It opens with the arrangement of a marriage between Ma Youtie (Wu Renlin) and Cao Guiying (Hai Qing) by two families who are patently keen to get rid of them both. Ma is a…