© 2026 The Couch Critic
In Esdras Baptista's film archives, kept at his home for decades, one can feel the fervor of those who believed in a new tomorrow. Filmed in Brazil in the early 1960s, in the heat of a libertarian political movement, the filmmaker's images materialize the incandescence of collective desires at the historic moment of their emergence. Utopia, though unattainable, is never a mere abstraction. A force that mobilizes actions and feelings, it constitutes the impetus necessary for human existence.
After seven years in prison, Suleyman is released and determined to pick up his life again. During his incarceration, his home, the flat block ‘Paradise’, has been taken over by gangs and drug dealers. When the police decide to raid Paradise, Suleyman gets caught in the violence, with only one goal: to get back to his mother and get her to safety. Alongside rookie police officer Yasmine, Suleyman battles his way up, floor by floor.
Follows Muthuvel, a resolute collector who overcomes all obstacles to educate a tribal girl and provide school access for the entire forest community.
A young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.
A guy opens himself up in a therapy session.
After a car crash kills her boyfriend, piano student Laura is taken in by Betty, who witnessed the accident. Living with Betty's family brings comfort, but Laura starts questioning their intentions as time passes.
After a tragic choice leads him to the brink, a disillusioned artist named Michael awakens on a mysterious beach. a liminal space where lost souls come to confront their pasts. Guided by Bob, a charismatic yet enigmatic caretaker, Michael embarks on a surreal journey through the pivotal moments of his life: love, heartbreak, and devastating loss. As he confronts hidden truths and unspoken regrets, Michael is faced with one profound question: Was it worth it, and what would life be like if he had stayed?
Francesca and Walter are two-bit criminals in Northern Italy, and, in an effort to avoid the police, Francesca joins a group of women rice workers. She meets the voluptuous peasant rice worker, Silvana, and the soon-to-be-discharged soldier, Marco. Walter follows her to the rice fields, and the four characters become involved in a complex plot involving robbery, love, and murder.
A group of young men ranging from the ages of 18 to 24 live their bizarre eccentric lives in a world that doesn't understand them. They navigate life's course one day at a time.
In industrial Yangon, young factory worker San Kyi dreams of returning to her native village. Her relationship with co-worker Theint Theint Oo evolves from closeness to growing distance, revealing tensions between their expectations and life prospects. Amid exhausting labour, social repression, and economic uncertainty, both women seek escape and intimacy.
A couple leases a south Florida estate that's home to an antique mirror which is a gateway to other dimensions - including a malicious demon realm - and once in, there may be no getting out. Vengeful contractors, supernatural entities, and a psychopathic realtor further complicate matters, all while the coast braces for a fast-approaching mega storm.
An entire generation of Germans was raised on male comedians. But what about their female counterparts? Maren Kroymann, Hella von Sinnen, Bettina Böttinger, Esther Schweins, and Gaby Köster look back at the way women were portrayed on TV in the 1990s and early 2000s, when jokes at women’s expense were the order of the day.
Ouroboros delicately captures Highgate Cemetery’s gothic architecture, ivy-draped tombs, and nature-reclaimed landscapes, drawing on staff perspectives to reconsider ideas of death, remembrance and everyday work there.
Struggling musician Nomi accepts a last-resort job from her overachiever best friend Mara: mentoring misfit campers, the “Floaters,” at their childhood Jewish summer camp. As the camp struggles to survive amidst competition with a longtime rival, Nomi, the Floaters, and Mara must overcome their differences to bring the community together and save the camp.
In 2007, Yahya works at his friend Osama’s falafel shop in Gaza, which doubles as a drug dealing front. His entanglement leads him to witness a terrible crime. A couple years later, Gaza’s Ministry of Culture randomly chooses Yahya to star in a TV series that highlights martyrs and heroes of the resistance. As conflict simmers in the distance, Yahya unexpectedly receives real weapons, heightening the stakes as the show provides him with an opportunity to confront the perpetrator of the offense that changed his life.
A set of eyes of several women.
