Stephen Dalton - The Film Verdict

Broken English

Posted by Stephen Dalton | Aug 30, 2025 | Festivals, Featured, VENICE 2025 |

Marianne Faithfull died while making the arty swansong documentary ‘Broken English’, which is hampered by too much stylistic trickery but still delivers a rich mixtape of music, memories and boho-rock royalty.

My Father and Qaddafi

Posted by Stephen Dalton | Aug 29, 2025 | Festivals, VENICE 2025 |

Libyan-American director Jihan K mourns both her lost father and her lost fatherland in her moving, lyrical, densely layered murder-mystery docu-memoir ‘My Father and Qadaffi’.

Bugonia

Posted by Stephen Dalton | Aug 28, 2025 | Featured, Festivals, VENICE 2025 |

Emma Stone reunites with ‘The Favourite’ and ‘Poor Things’ director Yorgos Lanthimos for ‘Bugonia’, a slight but enjoyably bizarre remake of a cult Korean sci-fi kidnap comedy.

Mother

Posted by Stephen Dalton | Aug 27, 2025 | VENICE 2025, Festivals |

Noomi Rapace and director Teona Strugar Mitevska give young Mother Teresa a lightly feminist “punk” remix, but sadly their non-committal bio-drama ‘Mother’ is not ‘The Girl with the Jesus Tattoo’.

Phantoms of July

Posted by Stephen Dalton | Aug 22, 2025 | Sarajevo 2025, Festivals |

Director Julian Radlmaier’s charming small-town ensemble comedy ‘Phantoms of July’ finds poetry, political unease and romantic yearning at the heart of modern Europe.

Author: Stephen Dalton

Broken English

My Father and Qaddafi

Bugonia

Mother

Phantoms of July