‘The Ugly Stepsister’ is a bold social commentary on how women are not born with a criterion for perfection in mind, but instead are deliberately instilled for ages.

Even the endearing performances of Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, along with their undeniable chemistry, are not enough to rescue ‘The History of Sound’ from being a dull period drama. It is such a pity that it was wasted by a very boring execution.

Overall, the story of Leon Le’s ‘Ky Nam Inn’ is beautifully executed with such care for Vietnam's culture and history.

Kelly Reichardt’s ‘The Mastermind’ is a quiet, subversive take on an art heist film that never feels tensionless, anchored by a stellar performance from Josh O’Connor.

‘The Treasure Hunter’ is an out of touch documentary about a British man trying to live out his imperial fantasies in the Philippines. He wants to find Yamashita’s gold so he can ‘live the high life,’ suspiciously sounding like a 16th century conquistador.

‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ may not be a home run for Jarmusch’s return to feature films, but it still offers his own thoughtful take on estranged families from different parts of the world, even if it could have achieved more.

A surrealistic, twisty and humorous look on Thailand’s memory as a nation. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke's ‘A Useful Ghost’ is a household task in introspect through the society’s past memories, the present society and the looming dystopian future.

‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ depicts the attempt to save the life of five-year-old child, Hind Rajab, from the bloodlust of the Israeli military in northern Gaza. It features at its center the actual audio recordings from that day: her voice crying for help.

‘Showgirls’ leans hard into Verhoeven’s excess, satire, and sharp camp. Its neon world runs on illusion, and that noise turns into a strange pulse. The film pushes forward, slipping between critique and absurdity, and still leaves a mark that sticks.

Even with structural and pacing stumbles, ‘Once Upon a Time in Gaza’ deftly navigates both genre and filmic metanarratives. All to explore the performance of violence to reflect revenge on all oppressors to Palestine.

‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ may very well be made out of solidarity; its respectable effort to tackle humanity at the core of its subjects is even noteworthy. But solidarity does not erase power. And we cannot ignore the elephant in the room simply because the filmmaker’s intentions are noble.

‘Human Resource’ is a crushingly cold experience on how capitalism has utterly broken our humanity, where even the miracle of birth is more a financial investment than a human being.

Firmly planted in the lives of three Mumbai nurses in the lower-income part of the city, ‘All We Imagine as Light’ gently claims its place as one of the century’s most romantic films asserting that third world romances are worthy of the big screen.

‘Room in a Crowd’ utilizes what is essentially a collective scattering of fragmented thoughts and musings to deliver an incredibly ethereal experience.

‘Lost Sabungeros’ suggests through interviews with insider whistleblowers that the criminal mastermind behind the violent disappearances within the e-sabong industry is the notorious gambling tycoon, Charlie “Atong” Ang.

Khavn’s new film, ‘Makamisa: Phantasm of Revenge,’ about the fragments of Jose Rizal’s work, is shot on expired film. It’s an acknowledgment of the faded, collective memory that plagues pre-war Filipino film history.

 Across genres ranging from heartfelt drama to biting satire, the longing for acceptance, and the weight of class struggles, these local shorts continue to prove that QCinema is a lighthouse for talent and razor-sharp reflections of the national condition.

‘Simon of the Mountain’ should be an interesting film, given that its subject is rarely explored, but it falters in its execution because what's in the frame is far less interesting than what's not.

Delicatessen seamlessly fuses a urine-dyed post-apocalyptic world with the whimsy of humanity’s dispositions. It’s smart, zany, and fresh — just like a deli.

‘The Room Next Door’ tries to look for a meaning and purpose, but this unexpectedly turns out to be a theatrical therapy session going in circles.