Kambole Campbell round-up their short takes from the first instalment of the 2021 Rotterdam International Film Festival.

Riders of Justice
Mads Mikkelsen giving you grisly military man, imperfect dad and excellent Christmas knitwear model all at once. A ragtag team takes on a crime mob, and the results are silly and explosive. Nobody does comedy like the Danes.—EK

Aristocrats
Yukiko Sode’s downtempo study of class difference is surprisingly warm. Its dual perspectives acutely examine disparate privilege and how it changes familial obligations, all with empathy and gentle humour.—KC

Suzanna Andler
Not even Charlotte Gainsbourg can turn this ship around, this lovers’ – and loveless – quarrel suffers from a slow, stiff retelling of Marguerite Duras' novel. Might have been better if everyone really did go to Cannes.—EK

Mandibles
A buddy comedy that also involves a giant fly. Somehow Dupieux makes it work. Blessed with the Palmashow comedy kings, and Adèle Exarchopoulos on good form, despite an awful role. It’s no Deerskin, but still a hoot in its own right.—EK

Bipolar
A solitary pilgrimage turns into a homebound odyssey for a girl and a lobster (!) in Queena Li's off-kilter debut. A disted narrative is mostly salvaged by a compelling turn from Leah Dou. And her magical lobster, obvs.—EK

The Witches of the Orient
One for Haikyu!! heads. A fascinating doc about a legendary women’s volleyball team, bolstered by creative, rhythmic intercutting between interviews, incredible archive footage, even the anime series they inspired.—KC

Archipelago
An animated journey down a river turns into a anthropological study that feels mythic in scope. The often cryptic dialogue may tune out after a while, but the fluid and constantly transforming composite imagery remains hypnotic.—KC

Black Medusa
Starts off as a gnarly riff on Promising Young Woman and A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, but loses steam by the ending. Nour Hajri’s body language is as sharp as her knife is. A shame the story is a little more blunt. —EK

Dear Comrades!
Konchalovskiy erects a solemn yet striking look at the 1962 massacre in Novocherkassk, led by a tour-de-force performance from Yuliya Vysotskaya as a devout Stalinist activist. History must be faced, and it’s done beautifully.—EK

Landscapes of Resistance
A bracing showing of intergenerational solidarity as the testimonies of a lifelong antifascist become one with the land, through often haunting superimpositions of handwritten letters over meditative imagery of the land.—KC