Written by Siobhan McCarthy, She’s the He stars a wonderful crop of new talent whose charisma and incredible chemistry take McCarthy’s script to new and unmistakably fantastic heights. Misha Osherovich is alluring as Ethan. She captures perfectly the timid hesitance of the character. But there’s a subtle confidence in her performance that blooms as Ethan discovers more of herself. There’s a gradual breaking down of her walls, and she is well-supported by an amazing cast, including Carney’s frustratingly lovable take on Alex, Malia Pyles as the fierce Sasha, and Tatiana Ringsby’s standout role as Forest.

The Upcoming caught up with McCarthy and Carney to discuss the process of casting, cultivating the incredible dynamic between the many different characters, and important discussions regarding parents and allyship within the LGBTQ+ community.

Mae Trumata

She’s the He does not have a release date yet.

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the London Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for She’s the He here:

Narrated by Damian Lewis, the documentary weaves biography into political study. Peck moves briskly through Orwell’s years in Burma, his injuries in Spain, and his wartime journalism, grounding each in manuscripts and letters that reveal the evolution of his life and politics. It culminates, inevitably, with a sickly Orwell hammering out his most famous work a year before dying of tuberculosis in 1950, aged 46. Lewis’s velvety voice lends the story a clean, almost soldierly cadence, while Alexei Aigui’s sombre score brings gravitas without sentimentality.

There is no illusion of subtlety here, yet Peck’s repetition of ideas – truth, propaganda, the perversion of language – can sometimes feel heavy-handed. Perhaps that’s the point: life, as Orwell understood, is repetitive, and lies require constant maintenance. The film’s looping structure mirrors that exhausting cycle.

Some choices are harder to defend. The close-up shots of tuberculosis bacteria and the rasping breaths threaded through the soundtrack – possibly intended to evoke Orwell’s death sentence or the anxiety that lingers in a post-pandemic world – land awkwardly, feeling overly clinical. More bizarre still is Peck’s use of AI-generated imagery to illustrate disinformation. The choice might be self-aware, but it directly contradicts the very ideas about the manipulation of truth the film seeks to uphold.

Ultimately, Orwell: 2+2=5 never achieves the precision or emotional voltage of Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro, where Peck’s critique of James Baldwin burned as brightly as the film’s form. This is a quieter, more scattered work, driven less by revelation than by recognition. Still, its relevance is undeniable. In an age that bends truth until it fits the headline, Peck reminds us that Orwell’s grim arithmetic was never just fiction.

Christina Yang

Orwell: 2+2=5 does not have a release date yet.

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival coverage here.

For further information about the event, visit the London Film Festival website here.

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The Upcoming caught up with Linklater to discuss what it was about the French New Wave movement, Godard and his making of Breathless that enticed him to direct this project. He discussed how young film is as a form of media, and marked Breathless’s creation as an almost halfway point between the first iteration of cinema and now. Linklater also spoke about the importance of history, looking back and discerning how it shapes culture today, but also the importance of personal passion when it comes to artistic pursuits.

Mae Trumata

Nouvelle Vague does not have a release date yet.

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For further information about the event, visit the London Film Festival website here.

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The setting is rich with small, sentimental details, alive with quiet moments and stories waiting to be discovered. The camera avoids sweeping outdoor vistas, turning instead to the intimate interiors: trinkets on mantelpieces, eclairs cooling on the counter, and the pink diary Claire keeps tucked under her arm. These modest production touches give the film a grounded charm, where everyday life and a gentle sense of nostalgia sit comfortably together. It’s a world that feels intimate and lived-in, inviting the audience to linger and observe the quiet poetry of ordinary moments.

The movie’s greatest strength lies in its depiction of neighbourhood life, where friends and family drop by uninvited and news spreads faster than the internet. The ensemble is full of eccentrics, yet it is Aunty Doreen (Zenobia Kloppers), a sharp-witted, no-nonsense matriarch, who leaves the strongest impression. Unfortunately, the story loses focus in the middle stretch, wandering through subplots that, while endearing, aren’t always captivating. Yet even in these slower moments, it retains much of its initial appeal: there’s always another quirky passerby, an awkward exchange, or a small visual gag to draw the viewer back in. 

In the end, Finding Optel is less about solving a mystery and more about discovering the bonds that hold a community together. Gentle, funny and unmistakably inventive, it serves as a reminder that the most extraordinary stories are often found just around the corner, in the lives of ordinary people and the quiet heroism that exists in small acts of kindness.

Christina Yang

Finding Optel does not have a release date yet.

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For further information about the event, visit the London Film Festival website here.

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The story centres on a remake of Iranian epic historical drama Hezar Dastan (1987). Within the busy production, a scene in which a veiled assassin prepares to shoot a speaker unfolds – the line between performance and reality collapses as events on set begin to take on a life of their own. The echo of Halyna Hutchins’s tragic death on the set of Rust (2024) lingers over the film, carrying a faint hint of poor taste – a stark reminder that on-set events can all too easily spill into real life.

As the film progresses, Sara wanders between the set and her home, wrapped in white bandages and shadowed by fragmented memories. Mokri’s long takes and fluid handheld camerawork create an eerie intimacy: the camera moves through the unstable environment of the set and the characters’ lives, constantly blurring the line between performance and reality. The loose, behind-the-scenes style and the aspiring actress’s tumultuous on-set experiences capture a kind of filmmaking rarely seen in Hollywood. The camera never quite stops watching the precarious, shifting world of the set and those caught inside it. Mokri uses this openness to let genres bleed together – noir, absurdist comedy, ghost story, thriller and meta-mystery – all unfolding within a single, continuous space. 

At times, Black Rabbit, White Rabbit may leave audiences lost, even frustrated, but that confusion feels deliberate. Mokri isn’t chasing coherence so much as tracing the ways stories collapse under their own weight, rewriting one another in ways no camera can fully capture.

Christina Yang

Black Rabbit, White Rabbit does not have a release date yet.

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Wake Up Dead Man is star-studded, with Daniel Craig back as the notorious detective and Josh O’Connor at the helm as Jud. O’Connor’s performance is immaculate. Not a perfect priest, Jud is vulnerable, rough around the edges, and overflowing with sincerity. His frustration with his predicament is overt and guides his arc. But there’s a gentle understanding ever-present within him that strives to find the good in everybody. O’Connor’s comedic chops are also on full display, playing off well with Craig; their overall chemistry adds an addictive quality to Wake Up Dead Man that isn’t present in the previous two features.

Josh Brolin’s sinister take on Wicks creates the perfect foil to O’Connor’s Jud. He is ruthless and malevolent, wearing the tunic with an air of authority that strongly contrasts with the timid way Jud carries himself. But there’s something dangerously alluring about his character; despite his anger and violent speeches, the audience can see through Brolin how Wicks’s commanding presence attracts the rest of the group. The other actors hold their own with veterans like Glenn Close and Thomas Haden Church taking on some of the emotional weight of the piece, and Daryl McCormack’s Cy Draven providing a breath of fresh air in a picture full of deadpan and serious characters. With an ensemble like this, it’s nearly impossible to give every character the time and detail they deserve – and that’s perhaps where Wake Up Dead Man falls short. Figures like Andrew Scott and Kerry Washington are wasted potential, with their presence used solely for comedic effect or as a brief red herring.

The religious angle to this Knives Out mystery complements Johnson’s visual style for these films. The translucent stained glass windows are key to creating some of the most aesthetically pleasing shots of Wake Up Dead Man. Then there’s the metaphorical aspect of the feature. Jud’s prevalent faith in God and his boundless optimism are represented through lighting and colour; as he begins to lose himself in his desperate attempt to clear his name, the piece takes on a colder look full of greys and dark blues. But as he navigates through the reality of his situation and finds himself being pulled back into the comfort of his religion, vibrance and warm lighting take over, signifying a sense of new hope. Even Benoit, a staunch atheist, can see the good in Jud and, in turn, finds compassion and forgiveness in himself.

Wake Up Dead Man is a brilliant continuation of the Knives Out universe. Jud is a character who will surely be missed as Benoit moves on to his next adventure. However, the best thing about these projects is how any one of them can be an entry point into this world – one of intriguing mysteries, endearing characters and plenty of locked-room murder shenanigans.

Mae Trumata

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is released on 28^th October 2025.

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival coverage here.

For further information about the event, visit the London Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery here:

Sarah Karei’s performance as Star is charming and layered. There’s plenty of sympathy for her predicament, but Karei maintains the rough edges of the character – her selfishness, crass decision-making, and hypocrisy – dutifully reminding viewers that Star is not the perfect protagonist. This grounded take is what draws the audience in, touching on the multifaceted nature of humans and reinforcing the notion that sometimes there’s no good or bad in people, only the choices they make to survive. Karei’s blunt delivery and sarcastic facial expressions add a comedic layer to Star, elevating her moments of weakness and vulnerability, accentuating the mask of bravery she wears and the deceit within her character. All this combined endears those watching to Star – even in her worst moments, one can’t help but root for her.

The themes covered are bountiful, touching mainly on exploitation and consent, especially when it comes to image and likeness. Star’s story doesn’t begin at the start of the feature, but years earlier, when a white photographer came to the village and took her picture, which later landed on the cover of a magazine. Star reaps no financial profit from this artistic endeavour, and this phenomenon later comes full circle when she makes her mini advertisement titled One Woman One Bra, leading to a misunderstanding that further separates her from the already hostile environment created by the other townswomen. The concept of consent, particularly regarding one’s image, is an interesting parallel to women’s autonomy – specifically in Star’s struggle to maintain her land without relying on ancestry or marriage.

But Star’s story, beyond its feminist angle, is impactful because of the emotional weight tied to her journey of finding who she is and where she belongs. This constant fight for her place is the most striking aspect of the picture and one that will undoubtedly create attachment for viewers. On top of that, there’s the sharp dismantling of the white saviour complex: the tone-deaf approach towards helping women and people in need while also patting their backs despite making little to no valuable difference in these people’s lives. This stark underlining of self-serving good deeds is stomach-churning and becomes the main target of the film’s satiric humour.

Visually bold in warm vibrance and colour, with a special focus on the everyday domestic life of the villagers, One Woman One Bra maintains the humanity of its characters – whether that’s Star, her friends, or the villagers who ostracise her. It’s an atmospheric piece with plenty of nuance in the topics it covers. A poignant film of self-discovery in adulthood and finding community, it elicits sudden laughter from the audience and an abundance of tears.

Mae Trumata

One Woman One Bra does not have a release date yet.

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the London Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for One Woman One Bra here:

The film follows Lady Isabella, as shot by an off-screen and hilariously disobedient film crew helmed by the young, ambitious but unconfident director Sam (Laurence Kynaston), who, supposedly hired by Netflix, arrives at Lady Isabella’s stately home to film a documentary for which nobody quite understands the reason or the vision. Lady Isabella, a lonely aristocrat with no company other than those in her employ and an unfeeling and absent husband, is one part stereotype of the British upper classes in her posh-and-proud self-importance and another part tragic character haunted by unimaginable loss and driven solely by a burgeoning desire for an artistic legacy to which her grand stately home provides no comfort. When Lady Isabella decides to enter “Stately Stars”, the yearly talent contest she hosts for underprivileged children, with an act she hasn’t quite figured out and with the revelation that Netflix did not, in fact, commission the project, Sam comes to his wits’ end and threatens to leave the production, which results in wholly unexpected and surprisingly supernatural consequences.

Abraham’s mockumentary occasionally has notes of Wes Anderson, with each passing act providing suitably stylised transitional snapshots of Lady Isabella’s wonderfully bizarre but somewhat endearing creative pursuits. At other times, it feels like a loose-limbed, improvisational-led film that allows its cast the freedom to play within their roles. Clifford is undoubtedly having a blast in the lead role and, already known for her comedic chops and scene-stealing capabilities in her Bafta-winning turn in Fleabag, hits all the right notes as “the aristocracy’s answer to the Kardashians”, delivering shades of Joanna Lumley but minus the self-awareness, bringing a gloriously cringe Lady Isabella to life. Laurence Kynaston plays his part well as the talented but slightly gormless film director Sam, who is plagued by an unruly crew, to which the camera’s lens provides an active and impudent participant in the events that unfold, and a fickle subject in Lady Isabella.

There’s not much that’s ground breaking work here, but in the current landscape of the British debut feature so often being tired, social realist exercises that attempt to recreate the spark of Andrea Arnold or Mike Leigh, Abrahams’s Lady comes as a real breath of fresh air and perhaps signals a changing of the tide and the return of the British genre-driven filmmaker that we so desperately need. With an expectedly witty yet heartfelt performance from Sian Clifford as the self-absorbed and perfectly unhinged Lady Isabella, Lady is a rollicking, belly-laugh-inducing riff on the modern British aristocracy, and undoubtedly one of the best British debut features of the year. 

Ronan Fawsitt

Lady does not have a release date yet.

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival coverage here.

For further information about the event, visit the London Film Festival website here.

This sees him integrating under multiple aliases, from a fake husband to a long-lost father and journalist (among other roles). Initially uncomfortable with the sense of duplicity, he comes to find solace with those he is helping, bringing something that has been lacking for them, be it companionship, help to get into school or someone to relay stories to.

Fraser brings an everyman charm to Philip, helping him begin to feel comfortable in Japan after seven years of living there. It is a performance that mixes English and Japanese, Fraser handling this deftly and bringing natural warmth, Philip keen to help improve the lives of his “clients”. Takehiro Hira and Mari Yamamoto are strong foils as the owner of Rental Family and one of the team, ably assisting Philip.

It’s a novel approach to the fish-out-of-water story, avoiding falling into cliches or copying works like Lost in Translation. The different scenarios almost make the film play like a series of interludes, while serving a wider narrative about assimilation, cultural differences and family, offering him context on his own life and the nature of the relationships in it.

The music from Jónsi and Alex Somers wonderfully complements the visuals of the business of the city and the tranquillity of rural moments, showing both a postcard image and a deeper look at Tokyo. There is also a prominent use of David Byrne that works well within the context of the movie, with minimal needle drops elsewhere.

Rental Family is an uplifting, emotional look at a man adrift, reconnecting with the outside world through an unlikely source. It’s a soothing watch, with plenty to admire from its lead performances, visuals and score and looks set to be a crowd pleaser when eventually released. Ultimately life-affirming, it strikes a nice balance between melancholy and comedy without becoming overly saccharine.

Christopher Connor

Rental Family does not have a release date yet.

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The film opens with Salters as a loud-mouthed teen, who, on the back of the win of, in a town full of blue-collar coal miners, West Virginia’s Tough Man competition is approached by a small-time promoter who pulls her into the freshly-blooming world of Women’s Boxing. Salters, played by Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria, Anyone But You), soon, against her better judgment, pairs up with sleazy boxing trainer Jim (Ben Foster), with whom she begins her professional career and later marries. With a heavy left-hook and an even meaner collection of insults, Salters (now Martin) flies through opponents at the professional level but, as she reignites a friendship with her teenage girlfriend in the wake of Jim’s growing grip over her life in and outside of the ring, Christy descends further into a tale of domestic abuse and violence that reaches truly horrifying heights.

Helmed by director David Michôd (The King, War Machine), Christy is packed with some excellent visual storytelling – from some dynamic in-the-ring fight choreography, to its razor-sharp editing. One particular standout moment sees abrasively straight-talking boxing promoter Don King (played by a scene-stealing Chad Coleman) berate Salters about the fleeting nature of her career, and with a snap of his fingers, sends us from her prime in 1995 to her decline in 2003, as Salters prepares for her historic but ill-fated bout against Laila Ali. 

With a note-perfect outing from an unrecognisable Sweeney, who reportedly having underwent boxing training for three months in preparation to for the role, carves a strikingly powerful but emotionally vulnerable figure that will surely generate some buzz this coming awards season. Foster likewise gives a startling performance as the volatile yet progressively dead-eyed Jim, and an underused Katy O’Brien provides some much-needed human levity with her brief depiction of Salters’s one-time rival and future wife Lisa Holewyne.

In spite of some plodding in the first hour and being let down by some clear penny-saving in it’s production (Fosters’s wigs will go down as some of the worst in recent years), the movie gains real unstoppable momentum in it’s second act and, at it’s best, Christy throws all the necessary punches needed to make this feature a total knockout and showcases a career defining performance from it’s lead Sweeney. who brings her A-game with an impressively physical performance as the resilient boxing legend. An unwaveringly shocking but entirely gripping watch, Christy is a must-see drama that will have you believing in the sports biopic once again.

Ronan Fawsitt

Christy is released nationwide on 28^th November 2025.

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival coverage here.

For further information about the event, visit the London Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for Christy here: