45 Years (2015): Andrew Haigh is one of the most important modern day British filmmakers, which is an uncontroversial thing to say. While his more recent All of Us Strangers (2023) has been hailed as his most accomplished work yet – and it is, indeed, heavy duty cinema – I think it is still the slow burning 45 Years that has left a deeper mark on me. The film is about a couple’s 45 year wedding anniversary, but the affair gets overshadowed by the past rearing its past-y head. The husband (Tom Courtenay) finds out that the body of his former lover, who had fallen down a “fissure” in the Swiss mountains five decades prior, had been found – and the wife (Charlotte Rampling) really just finds out how big a deal said lover was. On one level it is a movie about some very big questions about life and choices, and on another it’s just this exceptional study of the unravelling of a long-standing marriage. Rampling is easily exceptional in it, but I think Courtenay’s ambiguous performance is what provides texture to the whole situation. To top it all, the movie easily qualifies on the list for the most memorable endings. So, yeah, this is something very special from Andrew Haigh. 9
Companion (2025): We’re staying close to the whole “men controlling women” dynamic, but with a considerably better take. Companion follows Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid in something that starts like a romantic getaway in the mountains and quickly descends into something else. I think the “twist” doesn’t try to obscure itself, being rather obvious from the movie poster as well, but it is also revealed quite soon that Thatcher’s character is not human. I think this could have been played with a bit more, even if the fact that it is deliberate in its approach makes some sense. The movie takes some liberties with what’s interesting and what simply drives the plot forward, but all in all it comes together as an entertaining Black Mirror episode. And like almost any BM episode, it hits the right notes, yet never truly comes together than more than the sum of its parts. 7
Don’t Worry Darling (2022): I never liked the Stepford Wives, so it won’t come as a surprise that I didn’t think too much of this Harry Styles vehicle either. Co-starring Florence Pugh and under the direction of Olivia Wilde, we’re offered a straightforward, almost Matrix-esque variation on the theme. It’s not an awful idea, but the movie does little else to stand out and doesn’t elevate itself through all the twists and turns it takes. The good part is that it looks swell and captures the (cliched) aesthetic of the golden 60s, with all the usual commentary on the evils of patriarchy – albeit, told in a terribly unsubtle manner. 5
Survive (2024): An interesting post-apocalyptic premise – a family, sailing the seas, is caught out by a world-ending event. The poles of the earth reverse and the sea they were in vanishes, but it is bound to return, which pressures them to find an alternative escape asap. Made with a small budget, the movie relies on the vast backdrop of Moroccan wastelands and it asks the viewer to accept these limitations as such. I think the look mostly works, but the moments where obvious special effects are employed suffer. What is less convincing is the way the plot evolves, as people behave weirdly, if not outright stupidly. It’s a shame, because there was something to go on here and Émilie Dequenne in particular is a treat to watch. 5
Picture This (2025): I tricked myself into watching this, not realizing it was a remake of the already meh Five Blind Dates (2024). Here we follow a British-Indian London based portrait photographer who is veering rapidly towards thirty and is faced with the prospect of her younger sister marrying. With the trusty gay support act by her side, she needs to find love asap and her choices range from highschool lover to idiotic billionaire. All the while, her business is failing, but it’s the kind of failing that’s always one viral video away from becoming successful. Although it is very competently made and decently acted affair, it is mostly without charm, wit or romance – and it made me think fondly of Polite Society, even though I never liked it so much. 5
tributary stu 