Film round-up: November 5, 2026

MARIA DUARTE, ANDY HEDGECOCK, JAMES WALSH and RITA DI SANTO review La Bola Negra, One in a Million, Onwards and Sideways, I Play Rocky, and Misty Green

Film of the Week / 5 November 2026 Wild Horse Nine review — the dead souls of the CIA 5 November 2026 MARIA DUARTE recommends a darkly funny and bitter bromance between the drug-fuelled assassins of the CIA

Chris Searle speaks to Spanish drummer RAMON LOPEZ

RUTH AYLETT recommends a remarkable US poet whose activism gives rise to a effective form of politically engaged creativity

MALC MCGOOKIN is unsatisfied by an overambitious graphic novel that cannot do justice to the inhumanity of the subject

BOB NEWLAND recommends the new Peter Hain thriller: a dramatic story with an amazing amount of information about post-colonial, post-apartheid southern Africa

THIS powerful Spanish epic queer drama explores what it means to be gay through the eyes of three young men in three different eras connected by sexuality, desire and the works of Federico Garcia Lorca. 

Inspired by Lorca’s unfinished work, La Bola Negra, and Alberto Conejero’s play La Piedra Oscura, the film, co-written and co-directed by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, has a deconstructed timeline as it jumps to and fro between 1932, 1937 and 2017. This proves a little distracting and a touch tricky to keep up with. 

The film follows Carlos (Milo Quifes), a young man from a wealthy family in southern Spain who, in 1932, is refused membership of an exclusive casino because they believe he is gay. Also Sebastian (musician Guitarricadelafuente) who, in 1937, is forced to join the nationalist forces to survive. 

He is ordered to guard Rafael Rodriguez Rapun (Miguel Bernardeau), a wounded republican prisoner of war and also Lorca’s former lover. 

As he grows close to him he finds himself questioning his own sexuality. Finally, Alberto (Carlos Gonzalez) who, in 2017, inherits from his grandfather the missing pages of Lorca’s La Bola Negra. 

The film reimagines Lorca’s unfinished play while examining Spain’s political and homophobic persecution during the Spanish civil war. 

It is visually arresting and I found it emotionally draining. The three leads are phenomenal and Penelope Cruz is mesmerising in a cameo appearance. There’s even Glenn Close, who impressed me with her Spanish. 

It is a haunting drama which will hopefully inspire people to rediscover Lorca. MDIn cinemas November 6. 

THERE’S a pivotal moment in Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes’s documentary: Israa, a young teenager, becomes upset, so the directors break the narrative to offer emotional support. Suddenly, we’re forced to consider the ethics of capturing human vulnerability on film.

In a meticulously shot opening sequence, 21-year-old Israa visits the ruins of her childhood home in Aleppo, Syria, in 2025. Flashback to 2015: Israa, aged 11, is selling cigarettes in Izmir, Turkey. We follow her family’s harrowing journey across the Aegean, through four countries and on to sanctuary in Germany.

Tracking their progress at intervals, we witness the challenges of the migrant experience, from the threat of far-right aggression to the conflict between adopted and traditional cultures. 

Israa’s mother Nisreen begins to shift towards a feminist worldview, while her father, Tarek, struggles to accept the impact of migration on his family.   

This is a frank, compassionate and revealing longitudinal documentary.   AHIn cinemas November 6.

IS there a happy ending? It depends when the story ends. This is the brutal, elegiac thread running through this beautifully acted exploration of living with Parkinson’s disease — with Rhys Evans, as protagonist Tony, giving one of his most committed and nuanced performances.

With sterling support from Laura Linney, magnificent as American co-sufferer Emma, and Monica Dolan as believably annoying sister Liz, as well as a scene-stealing Rory Kinnear, we see Tony, a deputy headmaster at a primary school, deal with progressive neurological setbacks, subtle at first. It is very believably played by Evans, with his careworn face increasingly immobile.

There are moments here which are too convenient to be dramatic, and twists that aren’t fully earned. But this is a film that opts against the cosy and the cloying, and manages to pack a much more powerful and rewarding punch because of it. JWIn cinemas November 6.

ON the 50th anniversary of the 1976 original Rocky film comes a gripping biopic recounting how it got made. It is a rousing underdog rags-to-riches story directed by Peter Farrelly and written by Peter Gamble. 

Surprisingly Sylvester Stallone wasn’t involved in the making of this. 

Unhappy that he wasn’t getting any acting jobs, an unknown Stallone (Anthony Ippolito) decides to write his own screenplay and play the lead. He writes Rocky in three-and-a-half days and producers Irwin Winkler (PJ Byrne) and Robert Chartoff (Toby Kebbell) optioned it, but the studio wanted a known actor to be cast as Rocky Balboa. Stallone insisted he had to play Rocky and wouldn’t budge despite the huge sums of money he was offered. 

Ippolito gives an extraordinary, knockout performance as Stallone. He could be his twin brother. He is joined by a phenomenal supporting cast. 

It is a hilarious yet heart-stopping inspirational drama which will make you want to rewatch the original film. MDIn cinemas November 6.

THIS film blends comedy and satire, exposing the darker undercurrents of an industry celebrated for its glamour.

Misty (Rosalind Eleazar), a once-successful actor with an Emmy, grapples with addiction and the excesses of sex and drugs while residing in a luxurious flat overlooking the Pacific Coast, a remnant of her past relationships. 

The narrative shifts dramatically when the widow of one of Misty’s lovers delivers devastating news: he has died, and she must vacate the flat within a week, coinciding with Misty’s birthday. This countdown heightens her struggles, including arriving late to auditions and dealing with her bipolar brother’s legal troubles.

As the film progresses, it sees behind Hollywood’s glittering facade, exposing ethical dilemmas and systemic racism. The character of a white actor, portrayed by Adam Driver, embodies white supremacy, critiquing the industry’s ingrained prejudices. 

Eleazar’s portrayal of Misty captures emotional nuances, reflecting the harsh realities of an industry prioritising appearance over substance.

Misty Green is a dark fairy-tale intertwining themes of politics and family, illustrating that talent alone is insufficient for survival. Love, family, and courage are what truly save us, making the film a poignant exploration of the human condition within Hollywood’s unforgiving landscape.RdiSIn cinemas November 6.

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Cinema / 2 April 2026 Film round-up: April 2, 2026 2 April 2026 LEO BOIX, ANGUS REID and MARIA DUARTE review Night Stage, Two Women, Kim Novak’s Vertigo, and Fuze