Puolanto and Reinikainen completely sell this scenario by playing it as straight as arrows - something that can't have been easy because of the visual comedy also employed.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Every operatic ingredient is thrown into the pot.

~ David Stanners -

It's an intimate, focused look on an unhappy family - but can only tell half of its story.

~ Scott Macdonald -

Part of Herzog's genius has always been his ability to persuade strangers to tell their stories plainly and directly, with not a hint of self-consciousness, providing unusually intimate access to their lives.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Uses multiple screens and other technical tricks.

~ Angus Wolfe Murray -

The script fails to convince and it is impossible to care about this 'Billy no-mates'

~ Amber Wilkinson -

This is a DIY self destruct situation, people. Wipe the blood off the walls.

~ Angus Wolfe Murray -

There's still lots to appreciate here beyond its status as a historical artefact.

~ Jennie Kermode -

While it's well-made, well-acted, it's trying to draw from a well too often tapped.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Needs more meat on its bones.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Surreal and violent.

~ Angus Wolfe Murray -

An accomplished little film.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Well directed, well judged, subtle in tone and form.

~ Andrew Robertson -

For this short to work would require an emotional depth of acting which just isn’t on show here.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

A little too reductive and juvenile.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Though it's light on plot it's more about how things are seen rather than what.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Anna’s story is a romantic one, but not in an obvious sense. It is bitter sweet, which gives it an edge.

~ Angus Wolfe Murray -

Well-made, well-played, and well worth watching.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Shot on monochrome 16mm, the land itself is evoked by compelling sound work, by artifacts of processing and the shooting itself.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Highly recommended.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

It has an experimental grace.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Ferguson's cinematic sense trusts in audiences - that they will see what isn't there and react all the more strongly.

~ Andrew Robertson -

It's good, even stripped of one of its two elements, and it might be very good.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Judith Johnstone's design and model making are tremendous.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Moody, meditative, and of tremendous quality.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Earnest, fun, but not quite right; a Tokyo cream tea.

~ Andrew Robertson -

In the monochrome strobing there may be some challenge beyond the ability to endure tedium, but it is well hidden.

~ Andrew Robertson -

A delightful film.

~ Andrew Robertson -

A nice little piece, characterful if not compelling.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Both versions of Samuel Beckett's film and Ross Lipman's essay film.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

There is an altogether more 'British' music hall feel about proceedings.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Like much of Beckett's work, the concept is at once nose-bleedingly high and intellectual, and yet, in execution, it becomes a lot more simple and humanistic.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

While technically accomplished, it's well-trodden territory, and there's a certain familiarity to it all.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Vincent Villa's sound means we can hear the water even when we cannot see it, feel it when we can do both.

~ Andrew Robertson -

This is one of those dystopian fables that affirms the human spirit.

~ Andrew Robertson -

A one-joke movie, but it's a good joke

~ Scott Macdonald -

The distress that Gonthier-Hyndman evokes is not easily forgotten

~ Jennie Kermode -

Concerns around privacy, bodily autonomy and the intrusion of the State into private life loom large in this all too viable dystopian tale.

~ Jennie Kermode -

This is the shortest film ever nominated for an Oscar, and it's just delicious.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Nrecaj started his career as a photographer, and this influence is clear throughout.

~ Nino Metreveli -

Isabel-Olsini Edwards' production design might not seem more than bottles and floors but all of them tell a story as heavy with implication as mention of rugby or kerbs.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Initiation is one of the most creative dance pieces I have ever witnessed.

~ Chris -

A very neat summery of an experience that will be familiar to many, whilst still seeming nuanced and personal.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Director Victor Buhler works well with what, on the face of it, is a minor story.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Not so much leftovers reheated as new twists on old classics.

~ Andrew Robertson -

A thing itself to wonder at.

~ Andrew Robertson -

A life might flash before eyes before us, but it's a thing constructed.

~ Andrew Robertson -

The rippling nature of the animation makes it perfect for depicting those things on the edge of the real.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Cardoso’s film is experimental in nature and the fragmented style won’t be for everyone.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

There's a certain flavour here, well executed.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Caitlin McMullan's film is a delight.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Fireflies is abstract, potentially uncomfortable, even intermittently visceral.

~ Andrew Robertson -

There’s something inherently endearing about the way that Nikou always managed to conjure timelessness in his worlds. They’re more analogue than futuristic but ultimately hang in a sort of limbo of ‘here but not quite now’.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

One of the best short films on show at EIFF 2007.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

It's in the messy business of definition that the film starts to explore where things end and things begin.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Carson can't articulate his feelings very well but Camperchioli lets us see them.

~ Jennie Kermode -

This Oscar-nominated short packs a lot of ideas into its 19 minute runtime.

~ Jennie Kermode -

A charming bit of stop-motion and well worth seeking out.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Restrained performances from both leads contribute to the sense that something extraordinary is happening here undercover of the mundane.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Both stars are excellent; Grenier, who does most of the heavy lifting, transforms over the course of 17 minutes in a way that makes him almost unrecognisable.

~ Jennie Kermode -

A good evocation of genre, long enough for us to pick up the cues, raise a smile, and then gone.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Drawn in a beautiful style that recalls older Disney hand-drawings.

~ Andrew Robertson -

An emotionally engaging portrait of the struggles of life on a Native American reservation in Oklahoma

~ Jeremy Mathews -

A difficult film, and a film about difficult women.

~ Jennie Kermode -

An amuse-bouche of a film, Aki Kaurismäki’s latest comedy romance may leave you wanting more but it’s also a fully rounded, good looking experience packed with all the flavours we’ve come to expect from the master of deadpan down the years.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Faecal Attraction investigates the dynamics of river pollution in India, asking taboo questions and coming up with some startling answers.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The overall impression one gets is that this is a production which has been lavished with care.

~ Jennie Kermode -

A moody, mysterious tour de force.

~ Anton Bitel -

Role play becomes droll play for writer/directors Emma Luchini and Nicolas Rey.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

With its digitally heightened colours and shifting frame rates, Fear is a beautifully realised funhouse.

~ Anton Bitel -

It could be worse. It may yet be.

~ Andrew Robertson -

A piece that is in desperate need of some breathing space.

~ James Benefield -

Abstraction is fine - and there is no doubting Lyddon's graphic mastery - but some recurring imagery would make this clever animation a lot more memorable.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Tough and intimate.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Ingenious, convincing, and powerful.

~ Andrew Robertson -

The animation is well textured and the story’s pace satisfyingly builds up to the ghoulish pay off.

~ Paul Griffiths -

It's all too magical for words.

~ Angus Wolfe Murray -

The delight of the drama stems from the well crafted characters, while its heft hinges on toxicity that may not be immediately obvious.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

A very effective piece of low budget storytelling.

~ Jennie Kermode -

An extraordinarily thorough film.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Writer/director Sandhya Suri - who has a documentary background - is keen to show that everyone plays their part in the prejudices and corruption of the legal system.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Once again, Guiraudie proves himself the master of setting up a mystery by the means of perfect script economy that functions strictly on “need to know” basis.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

The director shows how it’s not just Julie’s tennis skills that have been groomed by the coach but large aspects of her life.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Cat’s viewpoint predominates, and Zilbalodis has an acute understanding of how the world looks from its point of view, of what catches its attention and how its body follows instinctively.

~ Jennie Kermode -

It’s ironic that a film about a family who have built a perfect facsimile of a life for themselves should feel so overly constructed itself

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Lin and Sun studiously maintain the enigma around Shuo so that we are left guessing as to whether he’s just a disadvantaged teen trying to make his way in the world or a cuckoo in the nest.

~ Amber Wilkinson -