Sarah Ward – Page 2 – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

THE SERPENT’S SKIN – Review by Sarah Ward

March 26, 2026March 28, 2026 Sarah Ward Aaron Schuppan, Alice Maio Mackay, Benjamin Pahl Robinson, Charlotte Chimes, scott major, The Serpent’s Skin, Vera Drew

The Serpent’s Skin belongs to filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay first, then to her lead Alexandra McVicker, plus Avalon Fast as the latter’s love interest. Mackay’s knack for the ethereal and the sensual in her proudly transgender features, McVicker’s luminous tenderness and patience, Fast’s dynamic sense of assurance: potent individually and entrancing combined, they’re the ink that this dark fantasy romance is etched with. But it plays like a sign that two of the movie’s other cast members, Charlotte Chimes and Scott Major, each have long-running stints on former Australian TV mainstay Neighbours on their resumes — a positive one, no matter your connection to or affection for the recently cancelled Aussie serial, or lack thereof. While The Serpent’s Skin isn’t a soap opera or set in the Melbourne suburbs, it appreciates how infinitely more manageable and enjoyable life is when those around you are truly and committedly in your cul-de-sac or corner.

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WARDRIVER – Review by Sarah Ward

March 15, 2026March 16, 2026 Sarah Ward Dane DeHaan, Jeffrey Donovan, Mamoudou Athie, Rebecca Thomas, Sasha Calle, wardriver

Knowing how to hold a moment for a character who is realising that their world is changing forever is an underrated directorial skill. Let the time fly by and the emotional impact won’t land. Linger too long and subtlety drains. Rebecca Thomas’ two feature films, 2012’s coming-of-age drama Electrick Children and new thriller Wardriver, might clock in at less than 100 minutes apiece, but they both demonstrate the filmmaker’s talent for doing a Goldilocks and getting these moments just right.

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FOR WORSE – Review by Sarah Ward

February 20, 2026February 20, 2026 Sarah Ward Amy Landecker, Bradley Whitford, Brainstorm Media, For Worse, missi pyle, Paul Adelstein

In For Worse, spying a moment when Amy Landecker and Bradley Whitford aren’t acting opposite a previous co-star is rare. Romantic comedies are about connections, after all, and the search for bonds that stick. A likeable addition to the genre, this reflective, frequently funny film about a newly divorced woman finds ways to emphasise that idea not just within but beyond its narrative — while matching a clear love of rom-coms, plus a commitment to expanding past the usual twentysomethings that typically monopolise their frames, with shrewd observations about the truth of experiencing life and love.

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2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA – Review by Sarah Ward

January 26, 2026January 25, 2026 Sarah Ward 2000 Meters to Andriivka, Alex Babenko, documentary, Michelle Mizner, Mstyslav Chernov, Third Assault Brigade, ukraine invasion

After already directing one of the most devastating documentaries of the 2020s and the 21st century alike, and in recent memory, filmmaker, Associated Press correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-winner Mstyslav Chernov follows up with another heartbreaking account of the Russia-Ukraine war. The first, 20 Days in Mariupol, deservedly won the 2024 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. The second, 2000 Meters to Andriivka, made the Academy’s 2026 shortlist. Both are unforgettable, as well as essential, important and urgent viewing; describing the two as haunting and harrowing barely does them justice. Chernov’s focus across the pair of astonishing films: chronicling the toll of Russia’s invasion upon the Ukrainian people, and doing so with the intimacy that’s imperative for such a pivotal record to incisively peer beyond news headlines, facts and figures.

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THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND – Review by Sarah Ward

January 21, 2026January 22, 2026 Sarah Ward Ballad of Wallis Island, Carey Mulligan, James Griffiths, Tim Key, Tom Basden

Tim Key, Tom Basden and James Griffiths return to a story that they initially brought to screens 18 years earlier with their BAFTA-nominated 2007 short The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island. The leap to feature length, The Ballad of Wallis Island boasts a pivotal addition: Carey Mulligan. This time, Mulligan plays Nell Mortimer to Basden’s Herb McGwyer. When the latter recorded a solo album, he was on his lonesome stuck both professionally and personally. Nell swapped the melodic life for selling homemade chutney in Portland, Oregon, and traded romance with her bandmate for marriage to Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen. Herb went pop and turned brooding. They both journey to the movie’s remote locale for the money, Nell’s American husband in tow, with Key’s wealthy and eccentric Charles Heath footing the bill.

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28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE – Review by Sarah Ward

January 15, 2026January 19, 2026 Sarah Ward 28 Years Later, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, alex garland, Alfie Williams, danny boyle, Jodie Comer, nia dacosta, ralph fiennes

This tremendous dystopian saga, a humans-amid-the undead tale that has now spanned more than two decades for audiences and within the world of its movies, returned in 2025 for the first time since 2007’s 28 Weeks Later. Whenever Alex Garland is meaningfully involved, and Danny Boyle as well, the horror genre gains a new masterpiece. With its unforgettable images of a deserted London, Cillian Murphy’s soulful lead performance, Boyle’s trademark energy, and post-apocalyptic musings both intelligently existential and emotionally evocative, it was never a surprise that the original film sparked continuations.

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NO OTHER CHOICE – Review by Sarah Ward

January 13, 2026January 18, 2026 Sarah Ward Choi So Yul, Jahye Lee, Kim Woo Seung, Kim Woo-hyung, Korean films, Lee Byung-hun, Lee Kyoung-mi, No Other Choice, Park Chan Wook, Son Ye-jin

No Other Choice is currently pop culture’s top-ranking candidate in espousing the importance of work-life balance, defining your identity by something other than your profession and never forgetting that capitalism cares less than zero for everyday employees. Life in general should’ve already stressed these points, whether or not you’ve unexpectedly been made redundant from a longstanding job that you always went above and beyond for and, thanks to the quality of your work and that dedication, were praised as a model member as staff at including outside of the company, as Lee Byung-hun’s Man-su has. Reflecting reality with sparkling clarity doesn’t make Park Chan-wook’s black comedy any less sharp or savage, the latter in a so-truthful-it-cuts-to-the-bone fashion.

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TURBULENCE – Review by Sarah Ward

January 8, 2026January 11, 2026 Sarah Ward anne aghion, cine-memoir, documentary, Turbulence

A rewarding pool of insights beckons via a window into its maker’s soul and a mirror held outwards. To filmmaker Anne Aghion’s success, sitting down to Turbulence does indeed mimic standing in her shoes or slipping inside her heart and mind, experiencing her sorrows and struggles, then gleaning her realisations and relishing her wins. Fashioning the film as a collage of so many different audio and visual materials helps. In splicing the movie together, editor Nadia Ben Rachid gives it the rhythm and flow of memories ebbing and flowing in and out, another key touch.

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WE BURY THE DEAD – Review by Sarah Ward

December 17, 2025December 22, 2025 Sarah Ward Brenton Thwaites, Daisy Ridley, Tasmania, We Bury the Dead, Zak Hilditch, zombies

Writer/director Zak Hilditch’s Daisy Ridley-led We Bury the Dead sees Tasmania’s Apple Isle as a literal dystopian wasteland. This haunting, visually arresting feature casts Tassie as ground zero for an undead outbreak, too. The specifics aren’t of the usual shuffling hordes-focused ilk either, with the catastrophe caused by a US warship adjacent to Australia accidentally firing off an experimental weapon. Deaths reach 500,000; however, not every fallen victim stays that way.

Reviews

KOKUHO – Review by Sarah Ward

December 16, 2025December 19, 2025 Sarah Ward japanese films, kabuki, Kokuho, Marihiko Hara, Oscar nominee, Ryo Yoshizawa, Sang-il Lee, Satoko Okudera, Shuichi Yoshida, Sofian El Fani, yakuza

A captivating, all-consuming, resplendent and affecting drama convincingly adapted from Shuichi Yoshida’s bestselling novel of the same name — director Sang-il Lee’s third stint drawing from the author’s words following 2010’s Villain and 2016’s Rage — Kokuho charts Kikuo’s career across half a century. Taken from the Japanese term for living national treasures, the film’s title looms as a promise, although the picture’s protagonist isn’t its only dedicated kabuki talent. That success extracts a cost, and that it’s often built on shrouding much that’s personal, mightn’t be a new revelation; however, Lee and screenwriter Satoko Okudera understand that anyone navigating a familiar plight isn’t merely caught in a copy, just as any actor, kabuki or otherwise, taking on a recognisable role isn’t simply mimicking their predecessors.