Below are capsule reviews of two films from the International Competition category at the 2025 Chicago International Film Festival. Both films won prizes at this year’s festival.   Oliver Laxe’s Sirât is a movie that begins as one movie and then slowly becomes another one as it goes on, taking us on a twisted, pulsating journey through an endless desert. Sirât opens at a rave taking place in the middle of the desert and mountains…

Below are capsule reviews of two films from the Snapshot category at the 2025 Chicago International Film Festival. The Snapshot category aims to showcase diversity in contemporary cinema.   The first film I want to look at is Spilt Milk, a stirring family drama set in 1980s Ireland. The film follows Bobby O’Brien (Cillian Sullivan), an 11-year-old boy obsessed with TV detective Kojak. Bobby is always trying to solve small cases for his schoolmates when…

  The Voice of Hind Rajab undoubtedly tells an important story and is one that everyone should know about, especially those who do not know about what is and was going on in Gaza. However, how the story is told is very underwhelming, making this harrowing film far less interesting and affecting. The Voice of Hind Rajab is based on a true incident that happened in Palestine. It takes place inside a Red Crescent building…

  Wagner Moura gives one of the best performances of 2025 in The Secret Agent, Kleber Mendonca Filho’s slow-burning and captivating Brazilian thriller. Set in 1977 Brazil during the Carnivale celebration, The Secret Agent finds Moura playing Marcelo, a technology expert who secretly returns to his hometown to reunite with his son, with plans to escape the country as a corrupt government system is hot on his tail. Why is the government after Marcelo? That…

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is an example of a master filmmaker in complete control of his technique and the story he wants to tell. Adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, One Battle After Another is a timely and passionate film that looks at the state of the world while also being action-packed and thrilling, with a deeply felt emotional core and a perfect ensemble. One Battle After Another hits the ground running…