MAYER WAKEFIELD is entertained but let down by an audacious production that, sadly, doesn't ring true
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Film round-up: January 19, 2023
MARIA DUARTE reviews Holy Spider, Alice, Darling, The Substitute, More Than Ever
CHARISMATIC: Juan Minujin in The Substitute
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by drama that, despite accomplished performances, cannot overcome an unfocused script
New releases from Sam Carter, Spell Songs and Les Thomas
KEN COCKBURN traces the one original language – that of the Yamnaya pastoral nomads – from which all European and Indian languages derive
PAUL DONOVAN is fascinated by the debunking of the iconic British war hero
ALEX HALL recommends a searing panorama of our global predicament
Holy Spider (18)
Directed by Ali Abbasi
★★★
FROM the writer-director of the award-winning supernatural fantasy Border comes a gripping crime thriller about Iran’s most notorious serial killer, known as the Spider Killer, who hunted down street prostitutes.
Written and directed by Ali Abbasi, it is inspired by the real life tale of Saeed Hanaei, a father of three, who murdered 16 sex workers in the holy city of Mashhad in the early 2000s.
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