Paul Negoescu's Men of Deeds (2023), is a tale of dubious morality and small town politics as filtered through a darkly comedic sensibility, reminiscent of the films of the Coen Brothers or Milos Forman.

You can dress it up in stars and glamour but at some point you’ll realize the sunny dream of Los Angeles is really just made of plaster and plyboard like the rest of it. Play It As It Lays and Ingrid Goes West both feature protagonists who figure that out a little too late.

Veronica looks at Black Christmas and Elves  – movies about female anxiety, loss of autonomy, murder, and, oh, Christmas.