Mini Reviews #3: Notes from Victoria
Short observations on films that stayed with me
Some films simply don’t get the space they deserve in a full review. Not because they aren’t worth it, but because the film year is sometimes richer than the number of texts I’m able to write. And not every film necessarily calls for a standalone article. Still, it would be a shame if these titles never reached my readers at all.
Today’s selection comes from a festival where not every film fully clicked with me—maybe because of a different style, maybe just the wrong mood at the wrong time. But each of these titles is still worth attention, and I believe most of them can absolutely find their audience.
Steal Away
Mystery / Thriller
Belgium / Canada, 2025, 113 min
Director: Clément Virgo
Cast: Angourie Rice, Mallori Johnson, Lauren Lee Smith, Matteo Simoni, Arnold Pinnock, Nola Kemper, Hilde Van Mieghem, Denise M’Baye
Steal Away has a very strong start, with a beautiful setting, striking visuals, and well-built tension between the characters. What I found most interesting is how, beneath the surface, it deals with racism, power, “help” as a form of control, and the broader exploitation of the female body. In this sense, the film is ambitious and has a few genuinely powerful moments.
But the closer it gets to the reveal, the more overcomplicated it felt to me (at times almost like a variation on one very famous horror film), and the ending no longer has the same strength the opening promised. Interesting, but for me it works more as a film of themes and atmosphere than a fully developed story.
Rating: 5/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rose Of Nevada
Drama / Mystery
UK, 2025, 114 min
Director: Mark Jenkin
Cast: George MacKay, Callum Turner, Francis Magee, Edward Rowe, Rosalind Eleazar, Mary Woodvine, Adrian Rawlins
Rose of Nevada has everything I expect from Mark Jenkin: an art-house visual style and striking compositions that really stand out on the big screen. The stellar cast (George MacKay, Callum Turner, Rosalind Eleazar) also promises a strong experience. That’s why I was all the more disappointed that, in my opinion, the film pushes the art-house stylization too hard and somewhat forgets about storytelling. The central plot with the lost ship is actually quite interesting, but the pace was exhausting for me, and in the end the film didn’t impress me as much as it could have.
Rating: 4/10 ⭐️⭐️
The Love That Remains
Drama
Island / Denmark / Sweden / France, 2025, 109 min
Director: Hlynur Pálmason
Cast: Ingvar Sigurðsson, Sverrir Gudnason, Anders Mossling, Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir, Katla Margrét Þorgeirsdóttir, Saga Garðarsdóttir, Halldor Halldorsson
I can appreciate the intention and the craftsmanship, especially in the way it observes a relationship falling apart through small episodes. But this style of storytelling just didn’t work for me. It felt like a mosaic of snapshots increasingly tangled up with surreal and symbolic images (a rooster dragging a grown man out of the house, a living scarecrow in a field, and other dreamlike scenes) that were probably meant to function as some kind of allegory, but came across as ridiculous instead. As someone here already wrote, without an “instruction manual,” it just didn’t engage me.
Rating: 4/10 ⭐️⭐️
The Blue Trail (O Último Azul)
Drama, Sci-fi
Brasil / Mexico / Netherlands / Chile, 2025, 85 min
Director: Gabriel Mascaro
Cast: Denise Weinberg, Rodrigo Santoro and others
The Blue Trail is a great example of how to make a powerful dystopian film without Hollywood money, and without the future needing to look futuristic. Maybe that’s also why it took home the Silver Bear (Grand Jury Prize) at Berlinale.
In the near future, the state “sweeps” older people aside, and Tereza—who, according to the rules, should end up in isolation—instead runs away and sets out on an intimate road trip (or rather, river trip) through the Amazon. The film becomes not only an escape from the system, but also a personal search for freedom and dignity.
This film completely absorbed me. It’s a slow, intimate road movie full of ideas, and as a traveler I also enjoyed the many motifs connected with the journey itself. I loved the contrast between the cold, impersonal world and the untamed nature, as well as the way the film talks about old age not as an ending, but as one last chance to take your life back into your own hands and truly enjoy it.
Rating: 8/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shifting Baselines
Documentary
Canada, 2025, 113 min
Director: Julien Elie
Shifting Baselines is a black-and-white documentary set in the Boca Chica area of Texas, where the landscape and local lives are changing around SpaceX and Starbase. Through rocket fans, scientists, and other residents, the film shows how our idea of what is still “normal” in relation to nature, technology, and the surrounding world gradually shifts. Even though it’s a very interesting topic and the film offers some strong bits (for example, the guy who has a database of everything in space and everything that has fallen to Earth—that was genuinely fascinating), to me it’s a very statically made documentary that feels more like an afternoon portrait of people passionate about this topic than something truly unique.
Rating: 5/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Magnificent Life
Animated / Biopic
France, 2025, 90 min
Director: Sylvain Chomet
A Magnificent Life is a new animated film from the creators of the acclaimed titles The Illusionist and The Triplets of Belleville, and visually it is once again a joy to watch. The film tells the story of Marcel Pagnol, whom I knew almost nothing about before the screening, and that turned out to be a bit of a problem for me. I have the feeling the film is aimed at viewers who already have some connection to him, so emotionally it left me a little cold. Still, I appreciated the beautiful animation and the gentle storytelling. It’s not a film that hit me fully, but on the big screen it definitely had its charm.
Rating: 6/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️