The Mother of All Lies review – pursuing the truth of Morocco’s brutal dictatorship years

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Asmae El Moudir employs a delicate mix of handmade replicas and oral testimony to brilliantly evoke personal and collective trauma Between those who refuse to remember and those who struggle to forget, a tumultuous clash of minds occupies the centre of Asmae El Moudir’s inventive documentary, a prize-winner at last year’s Cannes film festival. Through a constellation of clay figurines and dollhouse-style miniature sets, most of which were constructed by El Moudir’s father, the director recreates her oppressive childhood in the Sebata district of Casablanca. Under the watchful eyes of her domineering grandmother Zahra, all personal photos are banished from the house, save for a picture of King Hassan II. The delicate mix of handmade replicas and oral testimony brilliantly evokes the personal and collective trauma that stem from Morocco’s “Years of Lead” – a period of state brutality under Hassan II’s dictatorial rule. Lingering on the nimble fingers of El Moudir’s father as he puts t
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Little Richard: I Am Everything review – irresistible tribute to a rock’n’roll genius

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Documentary about the trailblazing musician who influenced stars from the Beatles to Bowie also looks back at the artists who inspired him

Lisa Cortes’s documentary is an irresistible tribute to the pioneering rock’n’roll genius, whose wild transgressive energy and explosive sexuality blazed a trail and created a musical and performing language for James Brown, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Elton John, David Bowie, and many other stars – some of whom had the good grace to thank him.

And he is now considered a great queer artist, which is how many interviewees here describe him; Little Richard in fact described himself as gay, and the movie perhaps could have done more analytical work in thinking about the relationship between the two terms. But it certainly does an excellent job at pointing out the hiding-in-plain-sight outrageousness.

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