Florida FF 2026 feature reviews

Exclusive to MeierMovies, March-April 2026

There’s a little something for everyone’s taste among the 161 movies of the 35th annual Florida Film Festival, which will take place April 10-19 in Maitland and Winter Park, Florida. But, as usual, what you get out of this cinematic smorgasbord may depend on what you bring to the table.

Not one to correct your subjective opinion, let me simply reflect on how my own cinematic taste buds reacted to the films. Most of the feature films reviewed below were shown at the pre-festival press/passholder screenings, but I will be adding reviews of more films throughout the festival, so keep tuning in for updates. These reviews are for features only. For shorts, go here.

(All reviews are on my 0-5 scale. Reviews appear in alphabetical order by movie title. For more information about the films and the filmmakers, and to purchase tickets, visit FloridaFilmFestival.com. And for my general preview of the festival and interview with Programming Director Matthew Curtis, go here.)

 

Opening night

The festival opens with director Adam Rehmeier’s Carolina Caroline (3 ½ stars), a romantic crime thriller-drama. Though it’s a bit derivative, it’s a great ride, not just for its 1970s vibe but for the revelation that is Australian actress Samara Weaving. She’s tossed out of time, into our hearts. Go here to read my full review.

 

Music to my eyes

With the best art direction of any festival film, and the haunting Eryk Kulm as Frédéric Chopin, director Michał Kwieciński’s Chopin, Chopin! (4 stars) is a treat for the senses. Set in Europe in the 1830s and ‘40s, the French- and Polish-language extravaganza is the type of period piece rarely seen anymore. But Kwieciński eschews a straight bio-pic for a psychological drama about not just Chopin’s life and music but his begrudging acceptance of his tragic fate.

The film is playing Regal Winter Park Village (Theater A) on April 13 at 4 p.m. and at Regal Winter Park Village (Theater B) on April 19 at 2:15 p.m. For greater insight into this slightly controversial film, check out this interview with Kwieciński. And for a quick reminder of Chopin’s greatest work, revisit this scene from Five Easy Pieces.

 

Brushing aside greatness

Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers (3 ¼ stars) stars Ian McKellen as a painter whose greedy kids (James Corden and Jessica Gunning) try to exploit his legacy by hiring an artist (Michaela Coel) to forge his incomplete works.

A study in contrasts, the chamber piece is lighthearted but deep, simple but multi-layered, overstated and under-performed, with lots to say about the value of one’s life work: “That’s the thing: to last in the minds of others.”

The film is playing at Regal Winter Park Village (Theater A) on April 14 at 9 p.m.

 

Amphibious

The biggest brainteaser of the festival is Frogtown (3 ½ stars), set and shot in Florida. Just as frogs are equally comfortable on land and in water, writer-director Costa Karalis’s film is happy as both doc and narrative fiction, and it blends the two genres in a way I’ve never seen before. My full review is coming soon.

 

Heart’s in your throat

It’s not every day a film changes your mind about something. March 26 was one of those days for me because that’s when I experienced I Swear (4 stars).

The film, written and directed by Kirk Jones, was honored with six BAFTA nominations and a win for Robert Aramayo, who stars as John Davidson, a Scottish man with Tourette Syndrome. But the entertaining, inspirational, heart-tugging bio-pic hasn’t had a U.S. release and was therefore not eligible for a 2025 Oscar. Let’s hope it can now get its deserved recognition and alter people’s perception of Tourette’s, just as Davidson has.

The film is playing at Regal Winter Park Village (Theater A) on April 13 at 6:30 p.m.

 

Rock ‘n’ roll hotel

Come on a Hollywood adventure with me, and you might also get a film review to boot. Said movie might just be the music-history doc If These Walls Could Rock (3 ¼ stars). Buckle up, and read the full review here.

The film is playing at Regal Winter Park Village (Theater A) on April 13 at 9 p.m. and at Enzian on April 17 at 1 p.m.

 

Brothers in arms

The Last Viking (3 stars), a twisty, Danish, (exceedingly) dark comedy-drama, concerns brothers (Nikolaj Lie Kaas and a memorable Mads Mikkelsen) struggling to reconcile their past while forging a new future amid autism and repressed trauma. The subplots come fast and furious in writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen’s multi-layered film, and the balance of characters, genres and tones is often off, especially when it turns violent. But irresistible weirdness and strong performances rule the day. Skol!

The film is playing at Regal Winter Park Village (Theater B) on April 16 at 3:30 p.m. and at Regal Winter Park Village (Theater A) on April 19 at 6:15 p.m.

 

The band played on

After a leukemia diagnosis, a famous French conductor (an impressive Benjamin Lavernhe) discovers the brother he never knew (Pierre Lottin). His takeaway is blood is thicker than water, even when it doesn’t run smooth. Ours is that a professional orchestra has a lot in common with an amateur band: Music is music.

Regrettably, the chords in writer-director Emmanuel Courcol’s dramedy The Marching Band (2 ¾ stars) are often dissident. But the through-line is harmonious.

The film is playing at Regal Winter Park Village (Theater A) on April 14 at 4:15 p.m. and at Regal Winter Park Village (Theater B) on April 19 at 6:45 p.m. 

 

Abby Normal

From the warped minds of director Ben Wheatley (Kill List), co-creator/star Bob Odenkirk and writer Derek Kolstad (John Wick) comes Normal (1 star). Set in rural Normal, Minnesota, the film combines neo-Western, outrageously violent, twisty, revenge action-thriller and ridiculous, dark comedy. It’s a dumb man’s Fargo. It would be a train wreck, except there are no trains in tiny, icy Normal. So it’s a snow-plough wreck, with a large body count and a small-mindedness.

The film is playing at Regal Winter Park Village (Theater A) on April 12 at 9:30 p.m. and at Enzian on April 13 at 9:15 p.m., but this Spotlight film really should be a Midnight feature.

 

Here, there and everywhere

In a world without (enough) love comes Peter Asher: Everywhere Man (3 ¾ stars), a documentary about the British musician who was half of Peter and Gordon, a Beatle chum/partner, and an influential producer of James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and countless other legends.

Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s joyful and surprisingly revelatory doc might be the greatest pop-music story you don’t already know. Six degrees of separation? Asher apparently has just one. He was truly everywhere.

The film is playing at Enzian Theater on April 16 at 12:15 p.m. and at Regal Winter Park Village (Theater A) on April 19 at 3:45 p.m.   

 

Pinot (film) noir

Actor Paul Giamatti and director Alexander Payne must have a thing for depressed teachers. The two have teamed up twice to bring these characters to the screen: in 2004 with Sideways and in 2023 with The Holdovers.

The Florida Film Festival will be screening the former on April 12 at the Enzian Theater, and Giamatti will be there to participate in a post-film Q&A session.

In both films, Giamatti plays the prof, struggling with his career and perhaps hoping for a bit of romance, or at least a raison d’etre. While The Holdovers is the slightly better film (4 ¼ stars), revisiting Sideways (4 stars) will be a pleasant experience, especially because the screening offers the chance to see Giamatti, one of his generation’s finest actors.

Based on Rex Pickett’s novel – which morphed into an entire book series – the comedy-drama features fine support from Thomas Haden Church, Sandra Oh and the luminous and underrated Virginia Madsen. But perhaps the best supporting performer is the wine, specifically the Pinot noir that Giamatti’s character, Miles, extols as he and his friend Jack (Church) travel southern California wine country.

Following the original release of the film, sales of Pinot surged while those of Merlot, which Miles disparages, dropped. My writing is mostly limited to film criticism, but I eagerly await the opportunity to pass judgment on both wines during the upcoming screening.

 

Stop the presses

My favorite film of the festival is one I almost missed. Seized (4 ¼ stars) wasn’t previewed for the press, and I missed its first screening on April 11. Thankfully, I caught it on April 14, for its second and final showing. Go here for my review and interview with director Sharon Liese.

 

Train dreams

From 1951 comes Alfred Hitchcock’s forgotten masterpiece, Strangers on a Train (4 ½ stars). I say forgotten not because the plot is unfamiliar to modern audiences. Indeed, it’s one of the most famous stories ever: the “criss-cross” murder, in which two random people meet and agree to swap murders. Because they have no connections and no motives for each other’s crime – and if they successfully establish alibis – the murders are nearly fool-proof.

It’s forgotten because it’s not often ranked among Hitch’s best, and, astonishingly, it’s one that today’s audiences haven’t seen. But this critic has it ranked as the Master’s #6 film, tucked between Dial M for Murder and The Birds, and far above a much better-known classic, Rear Window. Starring an average Farley Granger (the film’s only major fault) and a great and totally unhinged Robert Walker, Strangers, shot in beautiful black and white, is a treat for the eyes and brain, particularly because it was apparently the last Hitchcock film shot on nitrate, which was being phased out at the time in favor of the more stable acetate (or safety) film.

Among many little delicacies, watch for one of the most cleverly filmed murders ever and the greatest carousel scene in cinema history. Also look for Hitchcock’s daughter, Pat, in her largest and best role of all her father’s films. But the best performance belongs to Kasey Rogers (credited as Laura Elliott), whose character’s murder will be burned into your brain for eternity. You will also never be able to hear “And the Band Played On” quite the same way again, as the movie does for that old standard what A Clockwork Orange did for “Singin’ in the Rain.”

So don’t miss the 75th anniversary screening on Sunday, April 19, at 9 p.m., at Enzian. It’s the fest’s closing-night (retro) film, and it makes a nice change from the B-movie (Race with the Devil) that was last year’s closer. High-brow is simply more fitting for an Oscar-accredited festival.

If you don’t like Strangers on a Train, I might just lure you to a carnival and strangle you by moonlight. Or better yet, I might find a non-cinephile to do it in exchange for knocking off one of his enemies whom I do not know. What could possibly go wrong?

 

A cracking-good film 

Niki is a virtuoso musician with perfect pitch, but he suffers from an auditory condition that renders him unable to play piano and even function normally in everyday life. So he makes a living at the one thing he can still do really well: tuning pianos with his mentor and adopted father, Harry. But when he discovers that his hypersensitive hearing makes him the ideal candidate for a safe cracker, he jumps at the chance to make some much-needed money.

Tuner (3 ¼ stars) marks the narrative-fiction debut of Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Daniel Roher (Navalny). And thanks to a captivating story, which Roher co-wrote with Robert Ramsey, a good lead performance by Leo Woodall (The White Lotus) and solid (though too brief) support from 88-year-old acting icon Dustin Hoffman (as Harry) and Havana Rose Liu (as Niki’s would-be girlfriend), the drama-thriller stays mostly in tune.

“Tuning a piano’s about creating harmony out of chaos, and to do that you’ve gotta be OK with imperfection,” Niki says.

Like pianos, Tuner is imperfect, but its notes can still be quite captivating.

The film is playing at Regal Winter Park Village (Theater B) on April 11 at 7:15 p.m. and at Enzian on April 18 at 4:30 p.m.

 

They put a spell on you

You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way) (2 stars) focuses on the 1972 Toronto production of the stage musical Godspell and how the relationships of its ridiculously talented cast and crew (Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Paul Shaffer, etc.) changed comedy. But Nick Davis’s partly animated, talking-heads documentary – despite its share of laughs, insights and good vibes – is as tedious, self-indulgent, rambling and self-aggrandizing as its absurdly long title.

The film is playing at Regal Winter Park Village (Theater B) on April 14 at 3:45 p.m. and at Regal Winter Park Village (Theater A) on April 19 at 8:45 p.m.

 

… more films

In addition to these feature films, I suggest director Jeremy Workman’s Korean documentary School for Defectors (3 ½ stars) and Tasha Van Zandt’s deep-see doc A Life Illuminated (3 ¼ stars). But I do not recommend Audrey Olsen’s entertainment documentary Punkie (½ star), Ahmed Bouchalga’s Moroccan history doc The Call (1 star) or Seth Porges’s Santacon (1 ½ stars), despite the latter’s unbridaled insanity, which will appeal to some audiences. Though it contains an interesting anti-technology premise, I also can’t back Kyle Smith’s family dramedy Sylvania (1 ½ stars). The same goes for the midnight movie Mermaid (¾ star), from writer-director Tyler Cornack. It stinks like yesterday’s sushi.

Despite my thumbs-down votes for those last films, I am glad all the filmmakers are living up to the inspirational words of groundbreaking (or more precisely, surface-breaking) marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder, the subject of A Life Illuminated: “My most important mission was not to lead an ordinary life.”

And, again, don’t miss my reviews of the festival’s short films.

 

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