Dutch cinema is perhaps best known internationally for the psychological thriller, with George Sluizer's The Vanishing (1988) standing as one of the genre's most unsettling achievements. The Netherlands has also produced a strong documentary tradition alongside distinctive art-house work that has earned consistent attention at European festivals. See what Macca made of it all below.
Rating: 1.5★
Paraguay's Chaco War of 1932 to 1935 was one of the bloodiest conflicts in twentieth-century South American history, a grinding territorial dispute between Paraguay and Bolivia fought over scrubland so remote and punishing that disease and thirst killed as many soldiers as combat did. It is not,
Edinburgh International Film Festival
Thom Lunshof's First Zone, a Dutch post-apocalyptic drama premiering In Competition at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Beautifully shot and scored with a strong lead, but a world left frustratingly unexplained.
Rating: 3.5★
We are absolutely saturated with cinema set in Afghanistan. From the Soviet invasion to the endless, grinding War on Terror, the country has frequently served as a backdrop for foreign filmmakers looking to capture geopolitical conflict. There is something almost reflexive about it now, the way Western productions reach for
Rating: 4.0★
Eight minutes. No dialogue. One of the most devastating things I've ever watched. That's the short version of my thoughts on Michael Dudok de Wit's Father and Daughter, and honestly, it nearly does the job on its own. But it deserves more than that.
Rating: 3.0★
There's a distinct, sun-drenched charm to the 16mm aesthetic of 1970s cinema, and Pim de la Parra's 1976 drama One People captures that era's visual texture about as well as anything I've seen from the period. I have a real soft
Rating: 4.0★
Some films don't just stay with you. They haunt you. Jasmila Žbanić's Quo Vadis, Aida? is one of those films. From its opening scenes, you feel the dread settling in, and it never, ever lifts. This is one of the most gut-wrenching viewing experiences I&
Rating: 3.0★
There are films you enjoy, and then there are films you survive. Babygirl falls squarely into the second category, and I mean that as something close to a compliment. Halina Reijn's erotic thriller is arguably one of the most uncomfortable films I've sat through in years,
Rating: 4.0★
There's a moment watching Grand Prix where you stop thinking about cinema entirely and just grip the armrest. John Frankenheimer mounted cameras directly onto the cars, put you inside the cockpit, and suddenly you're not sitting in a darkened room anymore. You're hurtling around
Rating: 2.0★
There's a particular kind of disappointment reserved for films where the most interesting thing about them is the press release. Where the Road Runs Out holds the genuine, undeniable distinction of being the first feature film ever shot in Equatorial Guinea, and look, that really is something worth
Rating: 1.5★
Sometimes a film baffles you in ways you genuinely weren't expecting. I went into Bobby Boermans' Dutch action thriller Invasion (or Invasie, as it's known in its home country) completely blind and with an open mind, and I came out the other side scratching my
Rating: 2.5★
There's a moment early in Tiger Stripes where you can feel the film it wants to be, and it's a genuinely exciting one. A young Malaysian girl, Zaffan, becomes the first among her friends to menstruate, and the world around her shifts in that quiet, cruel
Rating: 3.5★
There's a moment early in Fish Tank where Mia, alone on a concrete walkway, throws herself into dancing with a ferocity that's equal parts joy and fury. Nobody's watching. Nobody ever watches. And that, right there, is the whole film in miniature: a girl
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