PARALLEL TALES - MIFF 2026

 

As per the MIFF guide: “Sylvie, a reclusive and irascible novelist living in squalor in Paris, struggles to get the creative juices flowing. To address this, she decides to train her telescope on the apartment across the street, where she spies two men and a woman fumbling around with sound recording equipment. Fascinated, she conjures up a melodramatic backstory for the threesome and starts typing. But when a stranger enters her orbit, the lines between fantasy, fabrication and fixation begin to blur.”

My most anticipated film of 2026 was Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's “Parallel Tales” which is his riff on Polish master filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “A Short Film About Love”, although this is only one of a few inspirations behind his new film. His previous film, “A Hero” (2021), ended up being quite a controversial project for Farhadi, as it saw a former student of his, Azadeh Masihzadeh, sue him for plagiarism over a documentary idea she presented in class (and subsequently made), which she then accused Farhadi of stealing it's concept. Farhadi ended up winning the case, due to his film being fictional, whilst Masihzadeh's film was a real-life documentary; both films however were “based”on the same man, Mohammad Reza Shokri. Similar to Pedro Almodovar's “Bitter Christmas”, we have a story that talks about author's inspirations and how much they owe the real person that their imagined story is based on, if anything, which is a key theme also in “Parallel Tales”.

Sadly, it pains me to report that Asghar Farhadi's “Parallel Tales” was a massive disappointment, and for mine, is his worst film to date. My main issue with it was that I absolutely despised the character of Adam who is a spineless, selfish little worm that causes pain to everyone he interacts with. I cannot remember hating a character so much for a very long time, which turns out to be a problem when he is your film's main character. Because of Adam and his actions, I was immediately against the film, and despite the good that is in “Parallel Tales”, it was never enough to bring me back to enjoy the film. This was a massive shock to me because this is the first film from Farhadi that I haven't enjoyed. It was also the first film from him that didn't appear to have any social commentary attached to it either, making it feel less important. That is fine, as not every film has to have something to say or teach, but if you are going to just go for entertainment, you need your audience to at least relate (they do not have to like them) with your characters, and I just couldn't with Adam.

“Parallel Tales” exists in three layers of reality: imagination, remembrance and real life, and Sylvie, Isabelle Huppert's character, uses all three when writing her stories. Each night she spies on her neighbours ,who are sound recordists, while they work (real life), and comes up with her own relationships, dramas and dialogue between them (imagination), whilst adding a personal touch by using the memory of her mother's death as part of her story too (remembrance). Similar again to Almodovar's “Bitter Christmas”, we get to see Sylvie's story played out with Virginie Efira, Pierre Niney and Vincent Cassel playing the imagined roles as Sylvie is writing it. To differentiate from fact and fiction Virginie Efira's character in the novel has dark hair, while her “real life” character is blonde. This part of the film is actually pretty fun, and very cinematic, as it revolves around voyeurism and infidelity, and voyeurism is the basis of cinema itself (watching characters in personal moments). With hints of Hitchcock's “Rear Window”, “Parallel Tales” looks amazing too during this section of the film. Once the book is rejected by her publisher for being too old fashioned, Sylvie throws away her manuscript, only for Adam to claim it for himself, pretend he is the author of it, whilst doing everything in his power to first meet, and then get mixed up in the lives of the real people Sylvie based her book on. Through Adam's unstable eyes and sick mind, he struggles to tell the difference between fantasy and reality, and interprets the real life people to be just like the characters in the book, which is where the real drama of “Parallel Tales” begins. However it is also this point where the film starts to lose its footing and head towards the disappointment it turns out to be. Granted, it does deal with some interesting themes such as does real life inspire fiction or does fiction inspire real life, as well as looking at the weird phenomenon of fandom where some people get so involved in a story, they deem it to be more real than real life itself. I admit this is interesting stuff, but I just wish that these topics were explored in a better film, rather than the unsatisfactory and bloated “Parallel Tales”.

Outside of my extreme hate for the character of Adam, the biggest problem with “Parallel Tales”, ironically, is that it didn't feel believable nor that it reflected truth, especially when it comes to the characters actions or reactions, particularly those of the women. Adam is so innately creepy on his initial contact with Nita, that I cannot believe she would continue to give him the time of day, let alone not call the police. His actions are dangerous so treating him like he is harmless was not only a bad decision, but it also never rings true. The fact that he repeatedly makes contact with her and follows her, for Nita to do nothing makes no sense. I also found Isabelle Huppert's character, Sylvie, to be totally inert, even though the whole film revolves around something she wrote. Sylvie has no point in the film, even though, ironically, she is at the center of everything. However for the majority of “Parallel Tales” she potters around her unit preparing to move out; she doesn't change nor have a “character arc”, there is nothing to her. If the film existed without her character, with Adam finding a manuscript written by the previous owner, he found while cleaning his apartment, you would honestly not miss the character at all. Huppert's performance in the role, also is not one of her best. Speaking of pointless, do not get me started on Catherine Deneuve's cameo, who shows up for all of one scene as Sylvie's publisher, never to be seen again. It screamed of desperation and stunt casting, just so Deneuve's name could appear on the movie poster to attract more viewers (although she is quite good in the scene).

Something else that really frustrated me about “Parallel Tales” is none of the characters ever take ownership of their actions, or worse, are happy to look past or excuse other people's actions because it would make their life harder to do the right thing and call out or condemn the toxic behaviour. Due to spoilers, I cannot delve too deep into this point, but multiple characters do horrific things to others, and they all have an excuse for why they did it or have someone else back them up, claiming it wasn't that bad to begin with. That is why I loved when Nita finally says “enough”, stands up for herself and refuses to compromise her self worth to anyone, despite how difficult it will make her life going forward.

The best performance in “Parallel Tales” comes from Virginie Efira, who gets to play two roles, Nita and Anna, the character from Sylvie's novel that is based on Nita. Whilst Efira's performance is the best in “Parallel Tales”, it does not come close to the greatness of her performance in Ryusuke Hamaguchi's “All of a Sudden”, which I saw on the first day of MIFF this year. I think the reason for this has to do with Asghar Farhadi's script and his inability to present his characters in truthful situations. It isn't until near the end of the film when Efira really shines, and no surprise, this is when Nita finally acts how a woman in her position would really act.

Overall, Asghar Farhadi's latest film “Parallel Tales” turned out to be a massive disappointment, and for mine, is the worst film made yet from this super talented Iranian director, mainly due to the fact that his characters actions and reactions have no basis in reality. I read a review for the film recently where the reviewer made the quip that Farhadi had turned “A Short Film About Love” into a long film about nothing which, while harsh, is also pretty spot on. It is not all bad though as the film does look nice, particularly the scenes based on Sylvie's book, but voyeurism is inherently cinematic, and I did like the question explored in the film over whether real life influences fiction or does fiction influence real life, as the real life characters of “Parallel Tales” start to mirror the characters from Sylvie's book. In the end though, I could not find myself liking “Parallel Tales” due to the character of Adam, who I absolutely despised due to his slimy, selfish manner. “Parallel Tales” was my most anticipated film of 2026, so in that context, to say it was a disappointment is a serious understatement.

2.5 Stars.

 

NADJA - MIFF 2026

 

As per the MIFF guide: “The city that never sleeps suits Nadja, a Romanian migrant nepo vampire who spends her nights drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes and waxing philosophical in East Village dive bars alongside fellow ennui-afflicted New York scenesters. When her dad, Count Dracula, dies from a nasty case of stake-in-the-heart, Nadja finally has a chance to emerge from her father’s long, overbearing shadow. But before she can make a fresh start, a twist of fate romantically entangles Nadja with Lucy – an extended relative of her father’s murderer, Van Helsing.”

Being a massive David Lynch fan, and thanks to “Nadja” being released under a “David Lynch presents” moniker, I saw Michael Almereyda's film way back in the mid-90's when it originally came out. Like a huge chunk of the images in this film, my mind is fuzzy as whether I saw it on the big screen or on video, but I do remember that I found “Nadja”a difficult viewing experience. However when the new restoration of the film was announced to play at MIFF, I thought I would re-visit it and see if a second viewing would be more rewarding.

As soon as the film started I was totally swept up and mesmerised by the gorgeous monochrome images on display, entranced by a hooded Elina Lowensohn as she talks to strangers in a New York city bar. I could immediately tell that I was going to fall in love with “Nadja” hard, this time around, which is exactly what happened. I couldn't believe how unbelievably cool the film was and furthermore was stunned that my younger twenty year old self failed to see it. How could a film that was executive produced by Lynch, starring a pair of hot indie actors (in Lowensohn and Martin Donovan, who at that time were regulars in Hal Hartley's films), and was about Dracula's daughter finally breaking free and coming out of the shadows of her famous father after his sudden passing, be anything other than awesome? What was I missing here?!? How did I find this film so difficult back in the nineties? I was totally in love with the very unusual and, dare I say it, hip atmosphere of this very strange vampire tale and I couldn't have been more impressed by Jim Denault's black and white cinematography which suited the moody tone of the film perfectly. It also showcased Lowensohn's immense beauty, highlighting the hypnotic quality that suits to a tea the portrayal of this very powerful, but lonely, vampire.

Then it happens. The first image shot via the PixelVision camera, used to differentiate a kind of vampire point of view (apparently), and suddenly it all came flooding back to me. It was this exact reason I disliked “Nadja” during my first viewing, way back when, because a large chunk of the film borders on the unwatchable thanks to Almereyda's baffling decision to use the PixelVision camera for parts of his film. For those that are unaware, the PixelVision camera was actually a children's toy that used audiotape to produce a very (very) low resolution black and white image. As it's name may suggest, the image is heavily pixelated at the best of times, but projected on a huge cinema screen makes the whole thing look like it escaped from a “Minecraft” game. I honestly cannot wrap my head around how a professional filmmaker would think that using a children's toy to film part of his movie would benefit it in any way. He is effectively sabotaging his own film because these scenes look absolutely atrocious and we are not talking a shot used here and there, Michael Almereyda has shot entire scenes using this toy, destroying all the beauty and atmosphere “Nadja” had previous, in the process. I am also not convinced in the claim that those shots are from the vampire's point of view, as a lot of those shots are not from their eyes at all, as the vampires exist in the frame too. I think if Almereyda had been strict in his use of the PixelVision camera only for the vampire points of view, I would have begrudgingly accepted it, but it seems like he just decided to shoot certain scenes with it, no rhyme or reason. I will admit that it is used when Nadja hypnotises people, so I assume that is why people parrot the claim that the PixelVision shots are from the point of view of the vampires, but they are not the only moments it is used. I understand there was a massive financing issue with “Nadja” with the film's key financier dropping out late, so maybe this was a decision to cut costs, however I believe it was probably done to appeal to the hip art house crowd to give them something to rave about. I know I am going on about the PixelVision camera, but whatever the reason for its use, it was a horrible, horrible decision and I cannot understand how a director would actively contribute to destroying their own film, which is exactly what Michael Almereyda has done with “Nadja”. Rant over.

It is funny how the PixelVision scenes totally disrupted my feelings and enjoyment of “Nadja”, and a film that I was thinking of giving four stars, started plummeting in my eyes. The more it went along, the more it continued to annoy me, and by the film's end I had had enough of it, and what I once felt was a genuinely cool flick morphed into “faux” cool, pandering to it's hip art house audience. If I was being honest though, “Nadja” has issues right from the get-go, as I do not know what Peter Fonda (as Van Helsing) is doing in the film, but I wouldn't call it acting. His performance is all over the place, and often times very silly, but it holds no gravitas in what should be a very important character within the film. The story does legitimately lose steam also past the midway point and the scenes in Transylvania are not convincing at all.

The biggest positive of “Nadja” is Elina Lowensohn who is perfectly cast as the titular character, with her performance having enough mystery, melancholy and the hint of the unusual to be truly memorable. She is outstanding here, and the camera absolutely loves her too. It was also so great to just see David Lynch once more in his brief cameo as a morgue attendant. The funny thing about his cameo scene, it has a completely different feel and atmosphere to the rest of “Nadja” and if it came out that Lynch himself directed that one scene, it would not surprise me; it all has to do with the use of ambient sound in this scene, which Lynch is a master at.

Overall, the new 4K restoration of Michael Almereyda's “Nadja” is an absolute stunner, perfectly highlighting Jim Denault's gorgeous black and white cinematography and Elina Lowensohn's naturally beautiful facial features. The film begins brilliantly, as I found myself watching the coolest vampire film of the nineties, before Almereyda sabotages his own film by his decision to shoot parts of it using a children's toy camera produced by Fisher Price. It is a baffling choice and one “Nadja” cannot recover from as it totally takes the viewer out of the film, and by its end, it becomes tedious to sit through.

2.5 Stars.

 

GHOST IN THE CELL - MIFF 2026

 

As per the MIFF guide: “The newest inmate to join cell block C of Labuan Angsana prison is Dimas, a weedy journalist doing time for the brutal murder of his editor. Suspiciously soon after Dimas’s arrival, prisoners start getting picked off one by one, their bodies found gruesomely maimed and arranged into macabre sculptures that would make Hannibal Lecter proud. The prisoners panic, pointing the finger at Dimas, but one clairvoyant inmate is adamant that there’s a sinister supernatural entity behind the killings. He warns the others that they’d better keep their auras clean through art, prayer and dance, lest they become the ghost’s next victim.”

The absolute biggest surprise at MIFF so far (for me at least) has to be Joko Anwar's ridiculously silly and extremely bloody horror / comedy “Ghost in the Cell”, which against all odds, I thought was outstanding in all regards. I have been a fan of Indonesian director Joko Anwar for a long time now, seeing ten of his twelve features, so when his latest was announced as part of MIFF's “Night Shift” strand, I immediately booked a ticket to see it. However, the only way I could fit it in to my schedule was by seeing an 11:30pm session....strike one....which was my third film from 6:30pm that night.....strike two....and then I realised that “Ghost in the Cell” was actually a horror / comedy and not a straight horror like I originally thought.....strike three and you are OUT!!! Honestly, I feared that going into a late-night session, already exhausted, to watch a genre film that are traditionally hard to pull off successfully, that it was going to be a disaster screening, but I couldn't have been more wrong. “Ghost in the Cell” was absolutely fantastic and is Joko Anwar's best film yet.

Let me be clear about this: there is no way in hell “Ghost in the Cell” should work anywhere near as well as it does; in fact it shouldn't work at all! Somehow Joko Anwar has combined some of the most graphic and bloody set pieces of his career, with some of the most broad, goofy and outright silly comedy going around, adding a dash of martial arts mayhem to it, to create one of the most entertaining films I have seen in a long while. I was actually laughing out loud through a lot of this while also wincing at some of the very graphic damage done to the human body here. So how does “Ghost in the Cell” actually work? Beats me! Actually, I think all the credit has to go to writer / director / editor Joko Anwar here. I was so impressed by his direction and his stunning energetic camera work. The film had a “big” feel to it that I do not normally associate with Anwar and his films. Whilst they can have outrageous things happen within them, normally Anwar's films (particularly his horror ones) move at a slow pace, relying more on atmosphere than anything else. “Ghost in the Cell”, on the other hand, moves at a clip and never slows down until it's ending.

It starts right from the beginning as Anwar sets the atmosphere of his film via an excellent pre-credits sequence that ends in a graphic murder scene that sees the victim presented as an art piece hanging over his office ceiling fan. From this you immediately understand that “Ghost in the Cell” is going to be a very bloody film, and all the kills within the film have been put together in a very impressive and original fashion. This opening scene is played totally straight though, giving no indication to just how funny “Ghost in the Cell” will end up being. It isn't until we reach the titular jail that the humour shows itself, as we are introduced to a large group of bumbling thieves and scammers. Anwar has done a brilliant job of defining each member of this group and making them real characters rather than horror fodder for the violent vengeful ghost. Although there are a large number of characters in the jail, they are all easy to remember who they are and which gang their allegiance stands.

One of the plot contrivances in “Ghost in the Cell” has to do with Six, who suffers from severe migraines but which also give him the ability to see the colour of a person's aura. This comes to be incredibly handy when the gang work out that the ghost haunting their cells is attracted to (and then kills) people who have a negative aura about them, which shows up to Six as either a red or brown colour. The inmates quickly learn that praying or participating in the arts can cool their aura and keep them safe from the ghost. This leads to some very funny situations when our happy-go-lucky group attempt to pray, only to find the prayer room full, and are then forced to join a dance class led by a campy dance teacher. Further hilarity ensues when massive brawls break out in the jail and mid-fight our heroes have to revert to dance moves, instead of throwing punches, in an attempt to cool their aura and protect themselves from the ghost. Again, it should not work but it is so, so very funny.

Joko Anwar finds laughs everywhere during “Ghost in the Cell” even via the slapstick and pratfall variety, with gang members jumping from the first floor railings to join in on the brawl, only to land flat on their face knocking themselves out, or a very funny moment when a group of inmates are running from the jail spotlight and freezing in weird positions as the light passes them, like in the children's game “what's the time Mr. Wolf?”. There is also a brilliant visual gag during a shower scene where the camera slowly pans across the naked, athletic men lined up in a row washing themselves, music swooning to their attractiveness, before a not so athletic man enters the frame, the music stops, the camera re-positions itself with only the hot guys in the frame, the music begins to swoon once more, until once more ugly men walk into the frame, and the camera gives up. I could not stop laughing, it was so silly, but brilliantly done.

Each time the ghost kills someone, they pull apart the victims body and display it like an art instillation piece (there is a reason for this, by the way) and while these are incredibly brutal and more than a little macabre, they are also strangely beautiful too, and you can tell that a lot of thought and design has gone into each murder sculpture (even if doesn't make sense that the ghost could achieve all of that in just a few seconds). While I may be proven wrong here, I believe “Ghost in the Cell” is Joko Anwar's most bloody film to date, and like the comedy, he goes all out with it, using practical effects for the majority of the violence, although there is some CGI enhancement used too (although these moments are less effective).

As if “Ghost in the Cell” isn't fully packed to the brim with horror, comedy and action, Anwar has also added a healthy dose of social commentary to his film too, in particular about how corrupt a country Indonesia is and how hard it is for the little man to get anywhere in life there. He is particularly scathing towards corrupt politicians and government officials who still seem to live a life of luxury and wield considerable power even when incarcerated for their crimes. The social commentary is never forced into the film, but is actually crucial to the plot, as is Anwar's call to arms over the importance of free and critical journalism within his country. Wow! This film has everything!

Overall, I found “Ghost in the Cell” to be a massive but pleasant surprise, and well worth the lack of sleep an 11:30pm session brings. It is a brilliant mix of outrageous gore, very silly comedy, and biting social commentary about the political corruption of Indonesia. Joko Anwar's direction and camera work are sublime (seriously, it reminded me of Spielberg at times) in what is his best film to date. Again, there is no way this film should work, with all of its contrasting elements, but I was blown away by how entertaining and enjoyable “Ghost in the Cell” turned out to be.

4 Stars.