Roid
By Kit Macdonald
In 2025's Roid, Bangladeshi filmmaker Mejbaur Rahman Sumon follows Sadu, a humble farmer living in near-isolation with his emotionally volatile wife. Trapped in an increasingly destructive relationship, Sadu repeatedly attempts to abandon her in unfamiliar places, hoping to escape their unhappy domestic life, but each time a fruit falls from the palm tree beside their home, his wife somehow finds her way back. What begins as a bleak marital drama gradually assumes the quality of an ancient myth with an eerie, almost supernatural dimension.
With his acclaimed 2022 debut Hawa, Sumon drew on folklore and the textures of rural Bangladesh to create something that resisted conventional storytelling, and he's pulled off a similar trick in style here. Striking imagery, measured pacing and compelling performances lend Roid a hypnotic atmosphere and contribute much to an unsettling, visually rich meditation. Part of the 2026 Asian Film Festival Barcelona.