The perfect, idealized society has always been a gauzy myth. Whether the forces in play are stifling societal norms, oppressive government systems, or the deterioration of basic human morality, each person has a tipping point.
Many SIFF 2025 films streaming through midnight, June 1st. See all the SIFF streaming selections here.
Raptures (7/8)
Blending a vibe of folk horror with religious fanaticism, this fascinating film feels like it’s taking place in the 1800s if it weren’t for the vintage car parked next to the rural home in a far-north Swedish village. Based on true events in the 1930s where a religious cult swept through the Indigenous Meänkieli community (sandwiched between Arctic Sweden and Finland), the film follows the local schoolteacher Rakel (Jessica Grabowsky), a devout Christian woman, as she watches her husband Teodor (Jakob Öhrman) proclaim visions from God after a dynamic visiting preacher declares the new official translation of the Bible as blasphemous. Teodor, a man stifled by the traditional Church, announces he is getting true visions from God, including the revelation that true believers will be rescued on an ark. Rakel is the soul and eyes of the film as she watches, then participates, then retreats as the villagers become more unhinged the more “liberal” that Teodor’s pronouncements become. It’s a fascinating film full of dread—you just know it won’t end well—but it’s still shocking especially as you know how many times this sort of pattern has repeated in modern history. (Intriguing side-note: This is the first feature film using the Meänkieli language.)
Sons (Vogter)Sons (Vogter) (6/8)
Gustav Möller’s previous thriller, 2018’s The Guilty, was a claustrophobic nail-biter. He returns with this equally intense, equally intimate prison drama starring the always-stellar Sidse Babett Knudsen. She play Eva, a guard at a maximum security prison who one day spies a new inmate being transferred into her facility. Her face is stone, betraying nothing except for the very clear fact that she recognizes the young man. The man Nikolas (Sebastian Bull), is guilty of a horrific violent crime, and her colleagues raise an eyebrow when she requests a transfer to his wing of the prison, away from her cushier role as a sort of kindly mother-hen to the lower-risk prisoners. The reveals are slow, and you find yourself watching Eva and her actions as closely as she watches Nikolas. There are power-plays, mind-fucks, and occasional shocking violence. I can see a movie like this only being as good as the actors, but with someone like Knudsen (who is matched by the live-wire Bull) in the lead, it’s completely watchable.
Suburban FurySuburban Fury (6/8)
I’ve always heard about the assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford in 1975 by Squeaky Fromme, a member of the Manson Family. But I didn’t know that there was a second attempt just weeks later by another woman, Sarah Jane Moore. Alive and in her 90s, she is the sole focus of this intriguing and sprawling documentary where she is the only person interviewed (with occasional voiceover excerpts of FBI reports). Recruited by the FBI as an informant when Patty Hearst was kidnapped in San Francisco by the Symbionese Liberation Army (Moore was socially acquainted with the Hearst family), Moore slowly became radicalized by the various social movement groups she was informing upon. By the time of her assassination attempt on Ford, the FBI already had their eye on her as a potentially dangerous live-wire… Which of course brings into question: Did the FBI create the version of her that then turned on her makers? When the smart and articulate Moore offers her (unchanged) reasoning on why she did it, you can’t help but think, “Well, she’s not wrong…” The documentary itself is a bit boxed-in by its one-view portrayal (plus there are some distracting attempts at organizing the storytelling with first ascending then descending red numbers on screen which only confused me), but it shows the fascinating evolution of a (potential) assassin.
Waves (Vlny)Waves (Vlny) (6/8)
It’s hard to see a movie about a government repressing the freedom of speech and stifling expression without seeing modern parallels. During a 7-month period in 1968 known as the Prague Spring when newly elected leader Alexander Dubček brought democratic reforms to Czechoslovakia (including a loosening of the restrictions on the media) before the movement was stopped by an invasion led by the Soviet Union. Focusing on Czechoslovak Radio employees of the news broadcast International Life, a young man name Tomáš (Vojtěch Vodochodský) goes to work for the legendary broadcaster Milan Weiner (the soulful Stanislav Majer), a man who is shaking up the media by wanting to tell the truth. As their society blossoms into surprising freedoms, there is a valid dread that it will all end soon. The invasion is justified by the Russians as “freeing Czechoslovakia from the fascists” (sound familiar, Ukraine?). The mostly nonviolent Czech resistance via protests, words, and truth, was quashed within 7 days. The film takes its time in the first half, introducing many characters—from folks in the newsroom to students to shifty authoritarian figures—but really hits its stride in the second half when shit hits the fan. The radio folks end up playing a cat-and-mouse game with the invaders, continuously broadcasting news and updates via the magic of abandoned bunkers, wires, and a whole lot of moxie… until, as we all know, the cat eventually wins. It’s inspiring nonetheless, with a final message to stay and fight, even when all seems hopeless.
