Pillion (2025): Harry Lighton’s debut (!) feature is one of those movies that you watch with a distinctive mixture of fascination and unease. It’s about the BDSM relationship between the impossible attractive Ray (Alexander Skarsgard) and the highly-devotion-apted Colin (Harry Melling). Living with a heavy chain and a padlock around your neck might not be the conventional interpretation of romance, but there isn’t that much to go between the literal and the figurative when it comes to power balances within relationships. Fundamentally, one also loves a bit more than the other. What makes Pillion really stand out is its bravery in sticking with the inconvenient truth that this dynamic is not fixable. So if you don’t mind some rather explicit sex-tion (does this work?), I don’t see how the overwhelming solitude of its protagonists will leave you unmoved. 8
Subject (2022): What’s more meta than doing a documentary movie about subjects of other widely-known documentary movies? And what’s more limiting than not living up to this reality? I think the “problem” with Subject lies within this paradox. On one level, it is an informing, mostly balanced take on the experienced lives of those it has selected as its own subjects. On another, it is disparate, it doesn’t take in the point of view of those it implicitly criticizes, while presenting some solutions which might work on paper, but face major obstacles in real life. And the biggest one is money. Almost all documentaries don’t live within a financially sound ecosystem. Those that do, are you usually closer to products than anything remotely illuminating or transgressive. What we might wish for is an ability to reconcile the needs and vulnerabilities of people placed in front of the camera with what is needed to tell a story that goes far beyond the confines of any singular life. Otherwise, the documentary as a genre, already under assault by the ever more explicit blurring of fact and intent, is fated to disappear. Littered among the many things that Subject grazes, but doesn’t delve on, are some powerful truths – starting with the realization that the documentary has lost its innocence and simply cannot exist in the same way it used to thirty years ago. That, in itself, makes it worth watching and engaging with. But there is a lot lost in the how the filmmakers chose to structure their approach to the topic. Still, 7
Fire Island (2022): I think there are no straight characters in this boisterous rom-com, focused on the longing for friendship, love and sex. It might seem exotic, but there’s nothing particularly exotic about it. Sure, you won’t find the brooding darkness of Pillion in it, but there is enough bad here to keep the otherwise floaty Fire Island anchored in its truth. Beyond this, it’s a warm and inclusive story about finding affection and making it work, while managing some Mr. Darcy-esque encounters and the inherent conflict between the haves and the have-nots. Well-cast, with endearing characters, even if the story ultimately doesn’t break any new ground in the genre, it’s a solid entry with character. 7
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (1997): For a while, I was really wondering what this oldie is all about. One the one hand, it’s a bit like dumb and dumber but with two young women and less derisive. On the other, it’s painfully humourless or creative for a long minute. But the chemistry between Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino keeps you in it, until the movie finally does take a real swing and succeeds. Basically, once the girls arrive at their reunion (much later than you would think), things start happening, kicking off with a nifty little dream sequence. The movie does show positivity and care for its naive leads, which is why it feels good by the end. So yeah, it does work. 6
Drop (2025): I keep getting back to this: every half-decently produced movie gets 80%+ on Rotten Tomatoes these days, but they include “original day” reviews and give us The Exorcist at 78%. This one is at 81% and I thought it was a steaming pile of persistent annoyance. Megan Fahy plays Violet, who goes out on a date for the first time in a while and has to contend with leaving her young son with her sister. Her date doesn’t even start and things have taken a turn, as someone begins harassing and blackmailing her via drop messages. Do anything wrong, the kid gets it. Move a bit to your left, you are being watched. Go to the toilet, nuh-uh. It gets annoying quickly and never recovers. The twist and turns might keep you entertained to some degree, but I just found everything to be contrived for no good reason – other than “so that the movie can happen”. 4
tributary stu 
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