The film works as well as it does because of the central pairing of Goussens and De Saeger, whose shared glances and stray touches work on an emotional level.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The film works as well as it does because of the central pairing of Goussens and De Saeger, whose shared glances and stray touches work on an emotional level.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Figueroa’s genre-infused approach that suits the topic very well.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

Figueroa’s genre-infused approach that suits the topic very well.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

Beyond the dark loneliness of grief, is the soft light of a shared mourning.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Beyond the dark loneliness of grief, is the soft light of a shared mourning.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

There is a uniqueness to the way the story unfolds, blending Christian and pagan symbolis.m

~ Evgenija Arsova -

There is a uniqueness to the way the story unfolds, blending Christian and pagan symbolis.m

~ Evgenija Arsova -

A slowly driven road movie that blends comedy and drama, while it milks its laughs, some of them very loud, from the perfect timing of the revelations and from the perfectly nuanced relationships between the characters

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

A slowly driven road movie that blends comedy and drama, while it milks its laughs, some of them very loud, from the perfect timing of the revelations and from the perfectly nuanced relationships between the characters

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

The imagery is almost dream-like, feverish and intense without straying away from reality.

~ Andy Stoeva -

The imagery is almost dream-like, feverish and intense without straying away from reality.

~ Andy Stoeva -

It is as sweet and tender, not to mention as well-observed, a portrayal of young love as you are likely to find the other side of a John Hughes movie.

~ Anton Bitel -

It is as sweet and tender, not to mention as well-observed, a portrayal of young love as you are likely to find the other side of a John Hughes movie.

~ Anton Bitel -

There isn’t an ornament that feels out of place and you can almost smell the kitchen chip fat and butterfly bun icing as you gaze around Bobby’s home, with its orange pine and associated shades of brown.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

There isn’t an ornament that feels out of place and you can almost smell the kitchen chip fat and butterfly bun icing as you gaze around Bobby’s home, with its orange pine and associated shades of brown.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Avraam doesn’t spoon-feed us details, letting the various issues Smaragda is facing emerge organically.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Avraam doesn’t spoon-feed us details, letting the various issues Smaragda is facing emerge organically.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

After award-winning shorts the deadpan documentarian has made his feature début, and it's a delight.

~ Andrew Robertson -

After award-winning shorts the deadpan documentarian has made his feature début, and it's a delight.

~ Andrew Robertson -

September 5 might not be a masterpiece but it is a tense, nail-biting thriller.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

September 5 might not be a masterpiece but it is a tense, nail-biting thriller.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

This may present itself as a B-movie but it’s very well crafted, at every level from the dramatic to the cinematographic.

~ Jennie Kermode -

This may present itself as a B-movie but it’s very well crafted, at every level from the dramatic to the cinematographic.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Ashcroft’s interpretation steers the story away from simple tragedy as we see Mortensen making gains as well as losses.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Ashcroft’s interpretation steers the story away from simple tragedy as we see Mortensen making gains as well as losses.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Almodóvar goes all out with the delights fashion has to offer, bright colours, the joy of transformation - because it is never too late for sartorial metamorphosis.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

Almodóvar goes all out with the delights fashion has to offer, bright colours, the joy of transformation - because it is never too late for sartorial metamorphosis.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

Eisenberg takes us through the entire journey in a brisk 90 minutes, but the film never feels rushed.

~ Jeremy Mathews -

Eisenberg takes us through the entire journey in a brisk 90 minutes, but the film never feels rushed.

~ Jeremy Mathews -

Rossellini's masterpiece.

~ Steven Yates -

Rossellini's masterpiece.

~ Steven Yates -

The only thing worse than death for these two is the thought of being left entirely alone.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The only thing worse than death for these two is the thought of being left entirely alone.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

A tactile and colour-infused film.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

A tactile and colour-infused film.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The close proximity camerawork employed by Sheldon Chau, coupled with the fact that the frame is often reduced by foreground intrusions, lend Pooja, Sir an intense and often claustrophobic feel.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The close proximity camerawork employed by Sheldon Chau, coupled with the fact that the frame is often reduced by foreground intrusions, lend Pooja, Sir an intense and often claustrophobic feel.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

It’s the hopefulness at the heart of their tragedy that really kills you.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

It’s the hopefulness at the heart of their tragedy that really kills you.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

It’s a film which uses experimental techniques to explore its themes, delivering something more like poetry than linear storytelling.

~ Jennie Kermode -

It’s a film which uses experimental techniques to explore its themes, delivering something more like poetry than linear storytelling.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Simply put, the viewer is constantly tempted to attribute the character’s old man’s ramblings both to the author of the source novel and to the filmmaker adapting it.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

Simply put, the viewer is constantly tempted to attribute the character’s old man’s ramblings both to the author of the source novel and to the filmmaker adapting it.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

A heartfelt film.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

A heartfelt film.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Marie-Claire Marcotte’s feature début demonstrates an astute awareness of what it’s like to be eight.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Marie-Claire Marcotte’s feature début demonstrates an astute awareness of what it’s like to be eight.

~ Jennie Kermode -

While many other films feel as though they are really staking out a deliberate political stance against the Iranian regime or coming at it from deep within metaphor, My Favourite Cake is casually, but almost constantly, rebellious in small ways.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

While many other films feel as though they are really staking out a deliberate political stance against the Iranian regime or coming at it from deep within metaphor, My Favourite Cake is casually, but almost constantly, rebellious in small ways.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The film is an intelligent, technically proficient and complex critique of this period, weaving metaphors for the German body politic and psyche of the time.

~ Ben Sillis -

The film is an intelligent, technically proficient and complex critique of this period, weaving metaphors for the German body politic and psyche of the time.

~ Ben Sillis -

It is gorgeous, both to look at and to listen to. It's perhaps Larrain's most accessible film, though that's as much to do with its star as its subject.

~ Andrew Robertson -

It is gorgeous, both to look at and to listen to. It's perhaps Larrain's most accessible film, though that's as much to do with its star as its subject.

~ Andrew Robertson -

As the directors patiently capture the lives of Workinesh, Motto and Beti, a shared theme of familial hardship emerges.

~ Sergiu Inizian -

As the directors patiently capture the lives of Workinesh, Motto and Beti, a shared theme of familial hardship emerges.

~ Sergiu Inizian -

It's got the musicality that proper swearing should.

~ Andrew Robertson -

It's got the musicality that proper swearing should.

~ Andrew Robertson -

A capable actress can do only so much to make herself watchable in a movie that is often not.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

A capable actress can do only so much to make herself watchable in a movie that is often not.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

Loznitsa’s approach is quietly observational, capturing the quotidian goings on as they continue beneath the shadow of war.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Loznitsa’s approach is quietly observational, capturing the quotidian goings on as they continue beneath the shadow of war.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The silence between the calls serves as a space for the horror of them to fully take shape in the viewers’ mind.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The silence between the calls serves as a space for the horror of them to fully take shape in the viewers’ mind.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

This is a tactile retelling, inviting us to imagine the sticky feel of Coca-Cola on hot skin in the sun or the heat of a sheepskin coat and the love that goes with it being passed from mum to daughter ahead of a trip abroad.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

This is a tactile retelling, inviting us to imagine the sticky feel of Coca-Cola on hot skin in the sun or the heat of a sheepskin coat and the love that goes with it being passed from mum to daughter ahead of a trip abroad.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

This kind of layered story construction is a difficult thing to pull off and it makes the film shine.

~ Jennie Kermode -

This kind of layered story construction is a difficult thing to pull off and it makes the film shine.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Despite its tendency to lose sight of a unifying thread, Holy Electricity picks up a musical cadence, guiding the viewer through a series of moments that shine with a disarming honesty.

~ Sergiu Inizian -

Despite its tendency to lose sight of a unifying thread, Holy Electricity picks up a musical cadence, guiding the viewer through a series of moments that shine with a disarming honesty.

~ Sergiu Inizian -

The action is pacy but that doesn’t mean Courvoisier skims the surface.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The action is pacy but that doesn’t mean Courvoisier skims the surface.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

An intense pop-cultural awareness permeates Heretic. This is the doctrinal dialogue of our age.

~ Andrew Robertson -

An intense pop-cultural awareness permeates Heretic. This is the doctrinal dialogue of our age.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Panigrahi is pitch perfect in her debut role.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Panigrahi is pitch perfect in her debut role.

~ 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 -

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 -

Much of the cinematic language that is used in crime, action and spy films today has its origin in these silent films.

~ Donald Munro -

Much of the cinematic language that is used in crime, action and spy films today has its origin in these silent films.

~ Donald Munro -

The writer/director also zeroes in on the importance of physical contact for Ruth - something concrete in a world that is now full of things that she can’t always grasp.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The writer/director also zeroes in on the importance of physical contact for Ruth - something concrete in a world that is now full of things that she can’t always grasp.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Aboyan lets Layla drive the film with an emotional intensity alongside which everything else fades.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Aboyan lets Layla drive the film with an emotional intensity alongside which everything else fades.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Even Kafkaesque ideas are subject to chaos.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Even Kafkaesque ideas are subject to chaos.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Dying is full of glorious contradictions, many of which occur within the same conversation

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Dying is full of glorious contradictions, many of which occur within the same conversation

~ Amber Wilkinson -

By withholding information from us, Bareisa puts us in a similar headspace to the main characters.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

By withholding information from us, Bareisa puts us in a similar headspace to the main characters.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

It’s Schafer’s performance that anchors it.

~ Jennie Kermode -

It’s Schafer’s performance that anchors it.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Director Edward Berger and his director of photography Stephane Fontaine have made every frame art.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Director Edward Berger and his director of photography Stephane Fontaine have made every frame art.

~ Andrew Robertson -

All this wholesomeness might sound cloying and unnatural, but director Yamada Naoko handles it with supreme confidence.

~ Jennie Kermode -

All this wholesomeness might sound cloying and unnatural, but director Yamada Naoko handles it with supreme confidence.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Although most viewers will find themselves flagging before the end, there is a lot to enjoy here.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Although most viewers will find themselves flagging before the end, there is a lot to enjoy here.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Coimbra's touch is assured, Ulisses Malta Jr's cinematography helps create something that looks as crisp as shadows on clean concrete.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Coimbra's touch is assured, Ulisses Malta Jr's cinematography helps create something that looks as crisp as shadows on clean concrete.

~ Andrew Robertson -

A past shines through another layer of the past into a silver screen present that is both familiar and brand-new.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

A past shines through another layer of the past into a silver screen present that is both familiar and brand-new.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

Illustrates how heartfelt and fastidious commitment to a story doesn't always make for engaging cinema, no matter how good the intent

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Illustrates how heartfelt and fastidious commitment to a story doesn't always make for engaging cinema, no matter how good the intent

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The documentary shows how a filmmaker’s genuine connection to the people and the subject-matter of her work reveals the true heart of the story.

~ Leo Mikaia -

The documentary shows how a filmmaker’s genuine connection to the people and the subject-matter of her work reveals the true heart of the story.

~ Leo Mikaia -

Less concerned with scrutinising the playground than the dangerous games adults can play with one another.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Less concerned with scrutinising the playground than the dangerous games adults can play with one another.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

What isn't untrue is that Anora is brilliant.

~ Andrew Robertson -

What isn't untrue is that Anora is brilliant.

~ Andrew Robertson -

It’s fitting for a film set in the “City of Dreams” and that is concerned with life’s illusions and how we navigate them as it is about the here and now.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

It’s fitting for a film set in the “City of Dreams” and that is concerned with life’s illusions and how we navigate them as it is about the here and now.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

As the surveys continue, different ideas of happiness emerge along with moments of shared humanity.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

As the surveys continue, different ideas of happiness emerge along with moments of shared humanity.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

In the end, the silliness easily and organically transforms into warmth and a heart-felt experience.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

In the end, the silliness easily and organically transforms into warmth and a heart-felt experience.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

Clown in A Cornfield has a lot of heart, and not just of the bloody variety.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Bong loses the thread in numerous half-baked sub-plots whose inflation takes its toll on the bloated runtime.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

Every frame feels like the product of conscious decision-making, with nothing merely carrying us from one point to another.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Hallow Road is an Irish co-production, and it shows both in theme and in quality.

~ Jennie Kermode -

It’s refreshing to encounter a multiverse film that doesn’t mess about.

~ Jennie Kermode -

A surprisingly droll deconstruction of crime reconstruction.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The circumstances of women are central to the film.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Kurosawa's masterful synthesis doesn't stop with the script. He weaves a late Edo period samurai film, in its painstaking historic detail, into modernity.

~ Donald Munro -

The film is at its most effective when we feel the urgency of their boredom – the athletic one pacing in circles like a trapped animal – juxtaposed with the languid charm of their environment.

~ Jennie Kermode -

It doesn’t quite hit the mark, but that’s not to say that it isn’t a pleasant way to while away an hour and a half.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The difference here from more familiar selections allows us to appreciate different qualities in the art.

~ Jennie Kermode -

In what is probably Côté's most straightforwardly observational film to date, the fictions come baked in.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

While Verseau talks about how crucial the surgery was to her mental health, the complexity of the emotions experienced afterwards is also made clear.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

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 -

The script is lean, the sword edges keen and the characters mean.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

An extraordinarily thorough film.

~ Jennie Kermode -

It’s the acting that carries it, and naturally Farahani, one of the finest talents of her generation, does not disappoint.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Subtle observations about the racism that underpins this superficially idyllic society pepper a film which repeatedly forces its hero to question his assumptions.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The film concludes with what is probably the most influential special effect in the history of cinema.

~ Donald Munro -

Bethmann understands the situation well, but her closeness to the teenager and the personal character that the film takes on as a result is something else.

~ Jennie Kermode -

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 -

Every frame feels like the product of conscious decision-making, with nothing merely carrying us from one point to another.

~ 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 -

Ashcroft’s interpretation steers the story away from simple tragedy as we see Mortensen making gains as well as losses.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Comic invention rides shotgun on a screenplay that runs wild.

~ Angus Wolfe Murray -

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 -

The difference here from more familiar selections allows us to appreciate different qualities in the art.

~ Jennie Kermode -

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 -

A sophisticated palate will discern any number of flavours running through Black Bag, but these are glosses on a traditional recipe.

~ Andrew Robertson -

It doesn’t quite hit the mark, but that’s not to say that it isn’t a pleasant way to while away an hour and a half.

~ Jennie Kermode -