Following a stroke, retired judge Mortensen now sits in his wheelchair, confronted with spending his twilight years dependent on the help of others in a subpar nursing home. As if this wasn’t bad enough, his roommate Dave is living out his psychopathic fantasies, sneaking down corridors and forcing the mostly bedridden residents to follow the orders of his plastic puppet Jenny Pen. Director James Ashcroft pits legends Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow against each other in this initially amusing but increasingly venomous and ultimately pitch-black chamber play. A psycho-thriller at heart, this is a tale of megalomania and oppression. THE RULE OF JENNY PEN, which Stephen King called one of the best films of 2024, thrives on the fearlessness of its lead actors. And if Lithgow’s grotesque dance moves don’t go viral on TikTok, humanity is truly doomed forever. (Markus Keuschnigg)