Hot Milk (2025) Dir: Rebecca Lenkiewicz

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As someone who prides themselves on watching a variety of films, the prospect of seeing this Rebecca Lenkiewicz directed independent romantic drama was very intriguing. I deliberately didn't look up too much about the film, aside from the bare bones, which also meant that I didn't see much in the way of its critical reception, aside from very briefly seeing the average Letterboxd score, which was surprisingly not too impressive. Regardless, I went in relatively blind, but with a firm degree of interest.

The cinematography, while certainly typical of well-made independent dramas, was very enjoyable. There were plenty of pretty shots to satiate the eye, particularly in regards to the Spanish landscape and coastline. Additionallt, I was also very keen on the film's soundtrack, particularly its main theme, which had a sense of character to it that I appreciated greatly.

Unfortunately, this is where my opinions on the film took a disappointing turn. I found the writing to be exceedingly dull and, quite frankly, grating. These feelings were not helped by how unlikeable most of the characters were, which was a major issue for me. Furthermore, the film seemed to lack any momentum, which made it drag significantly. The story did interest me, which almost frustrated me more, because it wasn't poor, in and of itself. Elements of it were in fact rather compelling, but these were not enough to save it from its own sluggish execution. The enigmatic ending was as predictable as it was irritating, and left me even more unsatisfied than I had been prior.

Emma Mackey's leading performance was, in fairness, really quite good. The range of emotion she was able to show at times was very impressive, for the most part. I thought this was a real standout effort from her. Without her very watchable acting, this film would have been even harder to make it through. Praise should also go to Fiona Shaw, for absolutely nailing her contrary and hypocritical character. I was very impressed by how frustrating Shaw made her character come across - it was very effective acting. The way she performed her more emotionally charged scenes was genuinely quite impressive.

I felt bad for Vicky Krieps, because the way her character was written made her extremely unlikeable. It was really strange, because her character was supposed to be the love interest, but was honestly the most irritating person in the film. I will also mention Vincent Perez for his supporting performance, because, despite a relative lack of screentime, he was actually extremely likeable. I wish he'd had a little more screentime, in all honesty.

Overall, I found this to be a very disappointing film, which ended up curdling and congealing into something wholly dull and drab. The tremendous performances of Emma Mackey and Fiona Shaw were not enough to save this film from being such a terrible bore. What frustrates me the most about this romantic drama though is that it could have been so much better than it was. There was a really compelling drama hidden here, but it's not what we ended up with. Ultimately, this was a big swing and a miss for me.