“This is unquestionably one of the most intelligent films to appear for many years. No one who is really interested in the cinema can afford to miss it.” Citizen Kane, reviewed by ‘E.H.L.’ in Monthly Film Bulletin, December 1941 Read in full: letterboxd.com/sightsoundma...

While discussing The Odyssey for our latest cover, Christopher Nolan and Christopher Frayling referenced 27 films How many of them have you seen? letterboxd.com/sightsoundma...

Tom Holland’s Peter Parker returns amid an existential crisis in a brand-extension blockbuster that lacks the springy spontaneity of Spider-Man: Homecoming. @brofromanother.bsky.social reviews Spider-Man: Brand New Day www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Spider-Man: Brand New Day review

Tom Holland’s Peter Parker returns amid an existential crisis in a brand-extension blockbuster that lacks the springy spontaneity of Spider-Man: Homecoming.

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NEW ISSUE! Featuring an epic new interview with Christopher Nolan + Pedro Almodóvar on Bitter Christmas + Maite Alberdi on A Child of My Own + Gary Owens on Effi o Blaenau + Matt Johnson on Tony + tributes to Tony Rayns and Sam Neill Get yours: shop.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

“You could call Ish a coming-of-age story. But if that tag tends to suggest a completed process, this film depicts the start of a gradual change: coming of age as a fall from the grace of childhood” Jonathan Romney reviews Imran Perretta’s Ish. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Ish review: Luton intolerance

A police stop-and-search creates a rupture in the friendship between two Luton teens in Imran Perretta’s vividly memorable evocation of childhood’s end.

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“The viewer is edged towards a genuine sympathetic understanding of this seemingly unremarkable woman” On our Letterboxd page, we're revisiting our original reviews of the Greatest Films of All Time. Head there to read John Pym’s original review in full: letterboxd.com/sightsoundma...

Set in a Welsh fishing community, Helen Walsh’s low-budget queer romance traces a tender, risky affair shaped by illness, family duty and the pressures of tradition. Alex Davidson reviews On the Sea, in cinemas tomorrow. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

On the Sea review: troubled waters

Helen Walsh’s On the Sea stars Barry Ward as a married mussel farmer in rural North Wales whose affair with a younger deckhand threatens his family and community ties.

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“[Ben] Rivers has produced his most hopeful feature to date: a film suggesting that, to see, feel, and absorb this newly refurbished world, one must adopt unknowing eyes” @josephfahim.bsky.social reviews Mare’s Nest www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Mare’s Nest review: Ben Rivers’ most hopeful film

Ben Rivers' Mare's Nest stars Moon Guo Barker as a young wanderer moving through a post-apocalyptic landscape shaped by myth and change.

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“Everything an Evil Dead fan could want – DP Philip Lozano’s camerawork, a toolshed of domestic weapons, and shrill ordeals always bordering on the comic – are present and correct, making it a welcome new member of the family” Anton Bitel reviews www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Evil Dead Burn review: ashes to ashes

Sébastien Vaniček's Evil Dead sequel brings demonic possession to a secluded family gathering, where buried tensions erupt in blood, fire and chaos.

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In 2022, we released the results of the #SightAndSoundPoll, which saw Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles take the top spot. How many of the top 100 films have you seen?

A tribute to Tony Rayns from Bong Joon Ho: Hearing the sad news on a rainy day in Seoul, I find myself drifting back through old memories. Back to the day I first met Tony, 32 years ago. It was 1994. Tony was proofreading the English subtitles for my film school graduation project. (1/4)

Sight and Sound magazine@sightsoundmag.bsky.social · 4w ago

Tony Rayns, the British film critic, programmer, translator and tireless advocate for East Asian cinema, has died

Sight and Sound magazine is officially on @letterboxd.social ! Follow our account at the link below, where you’ll find watchlists, reviews and features, with new and archival material dropping every week. letterboxd.com/sightsoundmag

Over 90 years of our cover films, in one list! Track the history of cinema through the decades, and see which films made the cut How many of the 522 films featured on the cover of Sight and Sound since 1932 have you seen? letterboxd.com/sightsoundma...

A tribute to Tony Rayns from Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Tony, You were the first person who, at a cinema in Bangkok in 1999, welcomed a stranger with a VHS tape and actually watched it. You remained one of the first to see my films, offering advice and support over almost three decades. (1/3)

Sight and Sound magazine@sightsoundmag.bsky.social · 4w ago

Tony Rayns, the British film critic, programmer, translator and tireless advocate for East Asian cinema, has died

Tony Rayns, the British film critic, programmer, translator and tireless advocate for East Asian cinema, has died

Tony Rayns (1948 to 2026)

The British critic and programmer was a world renowned expert in East Asian cinema, helping to bring many major Asian filmmakers to international attention.

bfi.org.uk

“The film’s time-travel plot is densely complicated and completely absurd in the correct portions, taking palpable joy in the idea that this story – this story – could be produced at this scale” @willsloanesq.bsky.social reviews Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie review

Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie turns their old cult DIY comedy web series into a time-travelling Toronto adventure.

bfi.org.uk

In 2014, we asked hundreds of documentary experts to vote for the Greatest Documentaries of All Time. These were the results? How many of the top 50 have you seen?

101 hidden gems: the greatest films you’ve never seen As chosen by Mike Leigh, Benny Safdie, Ngozi Onwurah, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Laura Mulvey, Abel Ferrara, Radu Jude and more How many have you seen?

“In Blue Heron there are no solutions, nothing that can make up for what has been lost. Instead, the film offers quiet, bittersweet acknowledgement: that you might never make sense of your grief” Ian Wang reviews. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Blue Heron review: flying the nest

Canadian-Hungarian director Sophy Romvari restages her childhood experiences to devastating effect in a semi-autobiographical debut feature that understands grief is not a problem to be solved.

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Sight and Sound magazine is officially on @letterboxd.social ! Follow our account at the link below, where you’ll find watchlists, reviews and features, with new and archival material dropping every week. letterboxd.com/sightsoundmag

Sight and Sound’s HQ profile

Sight and Sound uses Letterboxd to share film news, lists and more. Bio: The official home of Sight and Sound film magazine on Letterboxd Creators of the once-a-decade Greatest Films of All Time poll....

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“Nino begins where Agnès Varda’s Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) ended, with a cancer diagnosis and the prospect of an unpleasant, but lifesaving, course of chemotherapy” Catherine Wheatley reviews Pauline Loquès’s Nino, out now. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Nino review: Mortality play

Pauline Loquès’s moving film essentially begins where Agnès Varda’s Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) left off, with a protagonist that is facing a cancer diagnosis, watching the world turn in the knowledge tha...

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The Canadian-Hungarian director Sophy Romvari restages her childhood experiences to devastating effect in her semi-autobiographical feature Blue Heron. Ian Wang reviews. In cinemas Friday. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Blue Heron review: flying the nest

Canadian-Hungarian director Sophy Romvari restages her childhood experiences to devastating effect in a semi-autobiographical debut feature that understands grief is not a problem to be solved.

bfi.org.uk

“The film proves that the most specific landscapes can articulate far-reaching truths, and is a reminder that it’s past time for the ‘British’ cinematic canon to include more languages than English” Becca Voelcker on Welsh-language drama Effi o Blaenau www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Effi o Blaenau review: Slate of the nation

Leisa Gwenllian gives a remarkable performance in Marc Evans' Welsh-language film adaptation of the one-woman-play Iphigenia in Splott, a story of survival set in the slate quarry town of Blaenau Ffes...

bfi.org.uk

Despite its overstuffed plot, this return to the franchise is guaranteed to break hearts all over again as the toys fight for imagination and relevance in a world of screen-addicted children. @leighsinger.bsky.social reviews Toy Story 5, in cinemas today. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Toy Story 5 review: Rage against the machines

Despite its overstuffed plot, this return to the Toy Story franchise is guaranteed to break hearts all over again as the gang fight for imagination and relevance in a world of screen-addicted children...

bfi.org.uk

“A Private Life is the kind of flimsy genre exercise that needs a strong star performance to keep it on course. Thankfully, Jodie Foster is at the centre of the film, and it’s hard to imagine a stronger linchpin.” Philip Concannon reviews. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

A Private Life review: Foster Care

Jodie Foster stars in Rebecca Zlotowski’s psychological thriller as an American psychiatrist in Paris drawn into investigating the death of a longtime patient, with Daniel Auteuil and Virginie Efira c...

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Georgian director Alexandre Koberidze invites us to try a new way of seeing with a low-res road movie shot on a 2008 Sony Ericsson phone. Joseph Fahim reviews Dry Leaf. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Dry Leaf review: Blurred it through the grapevine

Georgian director Alexandre Koberidze invites us to try a new way of seeing in a subdued low-tech portrait of a post-Soviet nation between two worlds, shot on a 2008 Sony Ericsson phone.

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“The human mind, in all its frailness and glory, is the real protagonist in Familiar Touch” Ela Bittencourt reviews Sarah Friedland’s debut feature Familiar Touch, in UK cinemas this week. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Familiar Touch review: a loving coming-of-old-age film

Director Sarah Friedland explores the human mind in all its frailness and glory with her exquisite drama about a woman with dementia adjusting to a new life at an assisted living facility.

bfi.org.uk

Out now for subscribers 👽

Sight and Sound magazine@sightsoundmag.bsky.social · 2mo ago

NEW ISSUE! 🤖 21st century sci-fi special 🚀 Featuring new writing by Michael Atkinson, Jeff VanderMeer, Emily Inkpen, Sophie Mackintosh and more 🖋 Cover artwork by Butcher Billy 🎨 Get your copy now from the BFI Shop shop.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so... See what's inside www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

“Cactus Pears radically expands the experiences that queer people have been permitted on Indian screens. The result is a luminous work, brimming with grace and delicacy” Srikanth Srinivasan reviews, in cinemas 19 June. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Cactus Pears review: a gentle queer Indian romance

In Rohan Kanawade’s tender debut, a closeted gay man finds solace in the company of an old flame as he returns to his ancestral village for his father’s funeral.

bfi.org.uk

“Would knowing ‘we are not alone’ dissolve human tribalism? Could we even accept it, in the AI-age of fake news? Spielberg’s resolutely spiritual view of this cosmic concept fervently wants us to believe so” Kate Stables reviews #DisclosureDay. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Disclosure Day review: A sentimental Spielberg medley

Steven Spielberg’s alien whistleblowing sci-fi has masterly action sequences and an effortless performance from Emily Blunt but lacks the awe and spectacle that Close Encounters and A.I. attained with...

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