This month has been an especially good one at the multiplexes in Dubai, especially for rep cinema.

November for me started with the Shah Rukh Khan Film Festival to celebrate his 60th birthday. It included 7 films that were shown in cinemas across 30 cities in India and in selected cinemas in the Middle East, North America, UK, Europe, New Zealand and Australia.
I only found out about this because I saw the films listed on the cinemas websites - that’s how I keep track of what’s getting released locally because cinema marketing is extremely poor for anything that isn’t a big Hollywood “blockbuster”.

Even the newsletters from the cinemas failed to highlight this festival. Based on the low attendance at the screenings I attended, some where I was the only one, it felt like this was only for the “if you know, you know” cinephiles.

Nevertheless, I was finally happy to finally watch Devdas and Om Shanti Om - two films I missed seeing when they were first shown in our cinemas in 2002 and 2007.

Favourites from the Shah Rukh Khan Film Festival:

Devdas (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2002)
Om Shanti Om (Farah Khan, 2007)
Dil Se (Mani Ratnam, 1998)

Each of the films from this festival showed at least twice, some a bit more. I watched Devdas and Om Shanti Om twice within one week because I wanted to relive the experience of watching them on a big screen again.

Devdas is exquisite and Shah Rukh Khan is the least interesting thing about it. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, the set design, the costumes, the musical numbers - all absolutely gorgeous.

Om Shanti Om is a big bundle of fun and an homage to old Bollywood. The cameos in Deewangi Deewangi was amazing, when Rekha appeared, I clapped. Both times when I watched it.

Another retrospective with two films that I’ve been wanting to watch for a very long time was Love, Sex, Religion, Death: The Complete Films of Terence Davies at the BFI in London which started last month. I was only able to catch the last few days of this retrospective, and in the past two days I watched:

Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
The House of Mirth (2000)Benediction (2021)
+ two shorts:
Boogie (1980)
But Why? (2021)

Distant Voices, Still Lives is about traumatic family memories that is beautiful and utterly crushing. I enjoyed reading this by Jonathan Rosenbaum when I got back to my room - “A seamless block of passionate memories defined by the beauty and terror of the everyday.”

One of the song lyrics in the film that remained with me, from I Get the Blues When it Rains (1928):
"It rained when I found you
It rained when I lost you
That's why I'm so blue when it rains"

Young filmmakers should watch it, to at least just learn about set design, lighting, colours and framing.

The House of Mirth is exquisite and devastating, with an outstanding performance by Gillian Anderson and I am surprised this film isn’t talked about more often.

Anderson's performance as Lily and her facial expressions and body movement when she’s flirtatious, grappling with her tainted reputation in high society, her unwavering integrity and in the final act, admitting defeat after being reduced to poverty, "I have tried. I have tried hard. But life is difficult and I am a useless person. And now I am on the rubbish heap." made me wonder how did she miss out on receiving awards for this role.

Nodded heavily in agreement when Elizabeth McGovern's Carry Fisher tells Lily, "My dear, the world is vile."

Also another film that’s a masterclass for young filmmakers.

The trailer for this retrospective is also one of favourites this year. I shared it before, and a good excuse to share it again here.

As for the new releases…

Favourite new films:

Bāhubali: The Epic (S. S. Rajamouli)
A combined and re-edited and remastered version of the two part films Bāhubali: The Beginning (2015) and Bāhubali: The Conclusion (2017)
Pillion (Harry Lighton)
Watched on a Friday night at BFI’s NFT 1 and one of the most memorable screenings for me this year. It was an almost full house for a film about a gay dom-sub relationship that was funny and moving. I felt a lovely energy in the room, an audiencethat laughed, cheered, gasped at the right moments. A shout out to the lady who gasped out loud "Oh my god" when Alexander Skarsgård took of his leather jacket in the Christmas night hook up behind Primark scene (I think everyone in the room felt the same, one of the hottest bodies in films this year), and to the man shouted a loud thank you at the end of the film and said (if I heard/understood correctly) something to the effect of thank you for being a good audience.
The first two days of this film screening were almost full or sold out at the BFI and I liked that it wasn't just the typical BFI audience who are watching it. I spotted lots of people in leather jackets and bondage chain collars during the weekend.
I enjoyed reading this interview by Phil Concannon with the director, thoughtful questions and answers about the film, the writing and the performances.
Roofman (Derek Cianfrance)
Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst are so good in this.
Sharp Corner (Jason Buxton)
Wasn’t expecting would like this, the poster made it look one of those straight to DVD / streaming type of film. An unsettling film about a man who becomes obsessed with car accidents that frequently happen at the sharp turn outside his house, and the need to feel he can rescue the victims.
The Thing with Feathers (Dylan Southern)
A film starring Benedict Cumberbact about grief. The chapter titled Boys was especially moving, the son whispering "we need you" hoping the spirit of his dead mother will hear him was devastating. Based on a book by Max Porter who has a cameo in the film and was credited as Handsome Man at Book Launch, made me laugh.
Hoba / The Vile (Majid Al Ansari)
On October 31, Majid Al Ansari’s latest film which has been in genre film festivals in the past few months and won Best Horror Feature at Fantastic Fest 2025 got a wide release in UAE cinemas. I wasn’t expecting it to be a horror film about polygamy in UAE and Gulf societies, which I found refreshing, and that it wasn’t another horror film about trauma. It looked good, it was shot on film, and had a good cast. Effective jump scares and nothing in it felt gimmicky.

Sequels that aren’t as good as the first films, but enjoyed watching them:

Black Phone 2 (Scott Derrickson)
Sisu: Road to Revenge (Jalmari Helander)

Wish I liked more:

Dracula: A Love Tale (Luc Besson) - admittedly, I expected it wasn’t going to be good
The Ice Tower (Lucile Hadžihalilović)
The Running Man (Edgar Wright)
Predator: Badlands (Dan Trachtenberg)

Weakest film from Dag Johan Haugerud’s The Oslo Stories Trilogy: Dreams Love Sex
I watched Love last September at the Venice Film Festival which I loved, and in February this year I watched Sex at EYE Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, and a few days ago I watched Dreams at Kino in Rotterdam. I was worried I’d never get a chance to watch Dreams because it never screened at any of the festivals I attended this year. I found it to be the weakest of the three and still trying to unpack it. I did wonder to myself, maybe it should’ve been called Desires.

Cinema Roundup + Favourite Films: November 2025

RIP Udo Kier