Xan Brooks

Walter Salles’s first drama feature since 2012 tells the story of the Paivas, whose sunny 70s existence is wrecked by the arrest and disappearance of their father

Xan Brooks · 4-min read Pedro Almodóvar's death-struck new melodrama – the great director's 23rd feature but his first in

They hate using big name voice actors and their eerie stories defy sense – yet they have seduced the likes of superfan Christopher Nolan. The identical twins explain how they have just managed to sneak out their third feature in 50 years

At this week’s Venice Film Festival, two films – the action comedy ‘Wolfs’ and the surrealist drama ‘Queer’ – saw some of acting’s most successful fifty and sixtysomething stars facing up to their own mortality. But only our most recent 007 is doing it well, writes Xan Brooks

At 74, Spain’s finest director has won the Golden Lion – incredibly, his first major victory at a film festival – for his debut English language feature. Better late than never, even if The Room Next Door isn’t quite his finest work

This ambitious, rapturous Booker-longlisted epic explores life underwater, generative AI, climate crisis and the power of play

Researching a novel about forgotten blues musicians led me to revisit the life’s work of my late dad: disinterring decades of dusty recordings that will outlive us all

The Tudor epic about a tyrant king and his vengeful, backstabbing entourage is back for its final instalment – and it’s more brutal than ever. We go on set to talk to the Mirror and the Light team about death, dictatorship … and ostriches

Claire Keegan’s acclaimed Magdalene laundries novella reaches the big screen in director Tim Mielant’s atmospheric adaptation