Fatima Sheriff

It's a Wrap: 2025 in Film
Joined a survey of Little White Lies contributors in summing up the best of the year.

Based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s first novel, A PALE VIEW OF HILLS is director-screenwriter Kei Ishikawa’s take on post-nuclear Japan. The film lives up to a strong cinematic legacy of Ishiguro adaptations with its stunning, dreamy aesthetic and the performances of a talented cast across generations, but the script does not achieve the nuances of its preceding adaptations.

BAD APPLES is a dark comedy adapted by a Swedish director from a Swedish novel, yet it still feels remarkably British. Saoirse Ronan locks in as a teacher under duress, and taking ridiculous turn after turn, this fast-paced school saga will have you wondering how far you’d go when faced with a student from hell.

In a project that took a decade to secure funding, TANGERINE collaborator Shih-Ching Tsou teams up with frequent collaborator Sean Baker to direct another film shot on an iPhone, bringing working-class domesticity to the big screen. LEFT-HANDED GIRL is charming, chaotic, and brimming with life, telling an urban Taiwanese domestic through its titular child’s perspective.

Even before its release, Zach Cregger’s follow-up to BARBARIAN caused waves in the horror community after a dramatic bidding war. Seventeen children run away from home at 2:17AM, and a month later, nobody knows where they went or why. Anchored by layered, messy characters, WEAPONS delivers both fear and laughter but the resolution is less enterprising than the initial idea, making it a better mystery than a horror.

On Truth & Movies this week, The Rage virus rears its ugly head again in 28 YEARS LATER, we check out Pixar's latest ELIO and finally, for film club it's BUCKAROO BANZAI.

Joining host Leila Latif are Fatima Sheriff and David Jenkins.

Anticipation.
Cautiously optimistic and intrigued by Netflix comedy writers at the helm.
Enjoyment.
A riot and not the story suggested by trailers in a pleasantly surprising way.
In Retrospect.
The end credits deflated the spirit, the MCU feels out of control.

The whodunnit comedy is in fashion, thanks to Knives Out and Only Murders in the Building, and never far behind with what viewers want, Shonda Rhimes' production company presents The Residence.

My customary review of the latest BBC Agatha Christie update, this sit squarely in the middle of the rankings but tipped over by some supreme casting

On Truth & Movies this week, we discuss the return of Bridget Jones in Mad About A Boy and the Palestinian refugee thriller To A Land Unknown. Finally, for film club, we revisit Elia Suleiman’s Divine Intervention.
Joining host Leila Latif are film critics Corinna Antrobus and me, Fatima Sheriff

A recording of my chat with Jannat Suleman and Ayan Artan on Muslim women's representation on the big and little screen.

Wicked good! Pleased to report!

A review in print and online of documentary No Other Land.

Anticipation.

The occupation is decades long but this new friendship sparks much needed hope.

Enjoyment.

A carefully curated microcosm of Palestinian resistance through family and community.

In Retrospect.

If you weren’t already radicalised… this is the film to watch. Free Palestine.