There is a lingering, half blossomed melancholy that lies underneath the often very funny, fast-paced moments of quotidian chaos.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

There is a lingering, half blossomed melancholy that lies underneath the often very funny, fast-paced moments of quotidian chaos.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

Bakalova, who will be familiar to many English-speaking viewers from her multi-award winning turn in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, shows great depth here in a performance which is equally deserving of notice.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Bakalova, who will be familiar to many English-speaking viewers from her multi-award winning turn in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, shows great depth here in a performance which is equally deserving of notice.

~ Jennie Kermode -

This film is well aware of its own limitations: knows it can only pose the questions here, while answers will take time and belong, perhaps, to later generations.

~ Jane Fae -

This film is well aware of its own limitations: knows it can only pose the questions here, while answers will take time and belong, perhaps, to later generations.

~ Jane Fae -

Grisi has a background in photography and though the images are moving here, there's often a stillness to them and they are no less perfectly composed.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Grisi has a background in photography and though the images are moving here, there's often a stillness to them and they are no less perfectly composed.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Tafdrup chooses to follow the more familiar route, carrying events to a natural extreme, but in a way this lets the Danish couple off the hook.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Tafdrup chooses to follow the more familiar route, carrying events to a natural extreme, but in a way this lets the Danish couple off the hook.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Wright doesn't try to reinvent the documentary form, but draws on the Maels' energy, matching their playfulness and incorporating both stop-motion and a decoupage styles of animation into their back story.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Wright doesn't try to reinvent the documentary form, but draws on the Maels' energy, matching their playfulness and incorporating both stop-motion and a decoupage styles of animation into their back story.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Vildziunas' film never slackens in its imagination but it becomes increasingly self-indulgent as things progress.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Vildziunas' film never slackens in its imagination but it becomes increasingly self-indulgent as things progress.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The young director not only manages to create a convincing critique of the bourgeoisie in general, but also points out more local, Polish problems.

~ Mateusz Tarwacki -

The young director not only manages to create a convincing critique of the bourgeoisie in general, but also points out more local, Polish problems.

~ Mateusz Tarwacki -

Never directly asking the question, but leaving liberté, égalité and fraternité to hang in the air between scenes and lines, Périot’s latest gives a voice to the voiceless, the disenfranchised, the forgotten.

~ Matthew Anderson -

Never directly asking the question, but leaving liberté, égalité and fraternité to hang in the air between scenes and lines, Périot’s latest gives a voice to the voiceless, the disenfranchised, the forgotten.

~ Matthew Anderson -

Lafosse makes excellent choices with his editor Marie-Hélène Dozo (long-time collaborator of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne) in what is shown on screen and what is left out for us to fill in.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

Lafosse makes excellent choices with his editor Marie-Hélène Dozo (long-time collaborator of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne) in what is shown on screen and what is left out for us to fill in.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

The grooming of Strawberry may have some moments of levity but that, in many ways, makes it all the more uncomfortable.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The grooming of Strawberry may have some moments of levity but that, in many ways, makes it all the more uncomfortable.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

What sustains Possession is the excess with which the actors throw themselves into the parts.

~ Chris -

What sustains Possession is the excess with which the actors throw themselves into the parts.

~ Chris -

This is the playground as a warzone, where the sandpit might, indeed, be as deep as the sea and hold dead bodies and where adult authority might only make things worse.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

This is the playground as a warzone, where the sandpit might, indeed, be as deep as the sea and hold dead bodies and where adult authority might only make things worse.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Bareisa successfully contrasts the slow long takes and great blocking, making it a well-balanced watch that will engage you on multiple fronts despite its withholding of many common cinematic devices to facilitates its ambivalence.

~ Nikola Jovic -

Bareisa successfully contrasts the slow long takes and great blocking, making it a well-balanced watch that will engage you on multiple fronts despite its withholding of many common cinematic devices to facilitates its ambivalence.

~ Nikola Jovic -

The autumn setting fits it perfectly, because although this is the change of the year as things die back for winter, it is also blazing with colour and hopefulness.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The autumn setting fits it perfectly, because although this is the change of the year as things die back for winter, it is also blazing with colour and hopefulness.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Bliadze observes the proceedings with a cool and non-judgemental detachment and an eye for the absurd.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Bliadze observes the proceedings with a cool and non-judgemental detachment and an eye for the absurd.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Harari and his co-writers Bernard Cendron and Vincent Poymiro, show how the war propaganda becomes internalised in these men, so that even when they are given signs that the conflict may be over, they rationalise that it must be some sort of 'fake news' designed to trick them.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Harari and his co-writers Bernard Cendron and Vincent Poymiro, show how the war propaganda becomes internalised in these men, so that even when they are given signs that the conflict may be over, they rationalise that it must be some sort of 'fake news' designed to trick them.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

This pleasant, thrilling watch shows Muntean is capable of making great cinema in some of the starkest places.

~ Georgiana Musat -

This pleasant, thrilling watch shows Muntean is capable of making great cinema in some of the starkest places.

~ Georgiana Musat -

An oneiric, sensory and imaginative journey documenting being young in contemporary India.

~ Mateusz Tarwacki -

An oneiric, sensory and imaginative journey documenting being young in contemporary India.

~ Mateusz Tarwacki -

Set in a futuristic Rwanda, the themes are as old as the hills - with colonialism, identity and self-determination chief among them.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Set in a futuristic Rwanda, the themes are as old as the hills - with colonialism, identity and self-determination chief among them.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The arc of the film isn't particularly defined, but this is a positive in some ways as the filmmakers aren't trying to 'force' any sort of triumph in adversity narrative.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The arc of the film isn't particularly defined, but this is a positive in some ways as the filmmakers aren't trying to 'force' any sort of triumph in adversity narrative.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

For all the talk of hermetical storytelling, this might be his least hermetic and most approachable movie to date.

~ Nikola Jovic -

For all the talk of hermetical storytelling, this might be his least hermetic and most approachable movie to date.

~ Nikola Jovic -

At the genre level, Medusa is failing. Simply put: it's not scary.

~ Mateusz Tarwacki -

At the genre level, Medusa is failing. Simply put: it's not scary.

~ Mateusz Tarwacki -

As ingeniously simple as it is unnerving

~ Matthew Anderson -

As ingeniously simple as it is unnerving

~ Matthew Anderson -

Swann Arlaud as Yann Andréa and Emmanuelle Devos as Michèle Manceaux give tremendous performances that circle around discoveries of deep personal truths.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

Swann Arlaud as Yann Andréa and Emmanuelle Devos as Michèle Manceaux give tremendous performances that circle around discoveries of deep personal truths.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

Panahi and his actors shift through emotions so smoothly, you barely notice them until they have immersed you.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Panahi and his actors shift through emotions so smoothly, you barely notice them until they have immersed you.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Beautifully photographed as always, with a colour palette whose soft, shifting hues reflect its moral and narrative ambiguity, A Hero is one of Farhadi’s finest works.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Beautifully photographed as always, with a colour palette whose soft, shifting hues reflect its moral and narrative ambiguity, A Hero is one of Farhadi’s finest works.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Diwan lets the cold hard facts trickle in as weeks are marked off at the bottom of the screen.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Diwan lets the cold hard facts trickle in as weeks are marked off at the bottom of the screen.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The multi-layered emotional consideration of themes, in particular the clash of cultural traditions and modernity - the building up of the city mirroring the destruction of the people within it and the natural landscape - are resonant and engaging.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The multi-layered emotional consideration of themes, in particular the clash of cultural traditions and modernity - the building up of the city mirroring the destruction of the people within it and the natural landscape - are resonant and engaging.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The balance of Javier Bardem's central performance as the CEO of the title is what elevates this from being another run-of-the-mill satire.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The balance of Javier Bardem's central performance as the CEO of the title is what elevates this from being another run-of-the-mill satire.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Maurice Ronet gives a towering performance.

~ Chris -

Maurice Ronet gives a towering performance.

~ Chris -

France is a supremely sad film, maybe the saddest Dumont has made in its interplay of the true and the fake.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

France is a supremely sad film, maybe the saddest Dumont has made in its interplay of the true and the fake.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

By animating the whole movie, Rasmussen makes the story feel more immersive and of a whole piece.

~ Jeremy Mathews -

By animating the whole movie, Rasmussen makes the story feel more immersive and of a whole piece.

~ Jeremy Mathews -

The simplest of pleasures bring the greatest moments of joy in Reichardt’s latest film.

~ Matthew Anderson -

The simplest of pleasures bring the greatest moments of joy in Reichardt’s latest film.

~ Matthew Anderson -

Generational tensions and expectations are also explored and you can feel Sarutyte's love for all of her characters, each lovingly crafted, no matter how small.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Generational tensions and expectations are also explored and you can feel Sarutyte's love for all of her characters, each lovingly crafted, no matter how small.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The madness and the badness is everywhere - the dangerous and the foolish

~ Angus Wolfe Murray -

The madness and the badness is everywhere - the dangerous and the foolish

~ Angus Wolfe Murray -

Haguel inverts viewers' habits, breaking conventions like a trickster.

~ Mateusz Tarwacki -

Haguel inverts viewers' habits, breaking conventions like a trickster.

~ Mateusz Tarwacki -

It'll make you fall in love with Chaplin, and with cinema, all over again.

~ James Benefield -

It'll make you fall in love with Chaplin, and with cinema, all over again.

~ James Benefield -

Given the state of the things, it's fair to say that some of the situations that will arise are telegraphed ahead of time, but that adds rather than detracts from the tension - after all, aren't all satisfying meals in some ways connected to anticipation?

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Given the state of the things, it's fair to say that some of the situations that will arise are telegraphed ahead of time, but that adds rather than detracts from the tension - after all, aren't all satisfying meals in some ways connected to anticipation?

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Running alongside the film's more elegiac sweep is a cut-glass wit.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Running alongside the film's more elegiac sweep is a cut-glass wit.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

This is a triumph of design.

~ Andrew Robertson -

This is a triumph of design.

~ Andrew Robertson -

Like the people in front of his balcony, the meaning of the film meets Lozinski in each subsequent interaction.

~ Mateusz Tarwacki -

Like the people in front of his balcony, the meaning of the film meets Lozinski in each subsequent interaction.

~ Mateusz Tarwacki -

I could not have wished for a more perfect first film to wean me back into the in-cinema press screening world I left behind in March 2020.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

I could not have wished for a more perfect first film to wean me back into the in-cinema press screening world I left behind in March 2020.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

Aleph shows how big our world is, how manifold, how beautiful, and how the really important riddles are the same for everybody.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

Aleph shows how big our world is, how manifold, how beautiful, and how the really important riddles are the same for everybody.

~ Anne-Katrin Titze -

Simón takes a loose approach to the narrative, letting the small dramas of family play out alongside larger ones, giving as much value to the transient pleasures of fresh peach juice and cooked snails as the tensions between siblings.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Simón takes a loose approach to the narrative, letting the small dramas of family play out alongside larger ones, giving as much value to the transient pleasures of fresh peach juice and cooked snails as the tensions between siblings.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

As a whole, it appears way too kinetically ostentatious for its own sake, sadly making it less than the sum of its parts, but there are things to appreciate here.

~ Nikola Jovic -

As a whole, it appears way too kinetically ostentatious for its own sake, sadly making it less than the sum of its parts, but there are things to appreciate here.

~ Nikola Jovic -

Where narrative fails, look for symbolism; and there are symbols aplenty. It’s just not clear that they mean anything coherent.

~ Jane Fae -

Where narrative fails, look for symbolism; and there are symbols aplenty. It’s just not clear that they mean anything coherent.

~ Jane Fae -

Despite all of its shortcomings, 107 Mothers nonetheless, makes for quite a completing piece of filmmaking.

~ Nikola Jovic -

Despite all of its shortcomings, 107 Mothers nonetheless, makes for quite a completing piece of filmmaking.

~ Nikola Jovic -

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 -

So carefully balanced is this that the film could almost have emerged as a romcom, and it’s that possibility, that clash between the absurdity that cinema has taught us to expect and the bitterness of real life, that makes it so effective.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Through the lens of the men’s romance, Onir takes in a good deal more, exploring the complex realities behind assumptions of prejudice and the myriad factors that go into making each of us who we are.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Throughout the film there is a sense of play, and even as the story evolves to take on darker material, something of that lightness, that happy-go-lucky quality remains.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The film hinges on amazing vocal work by Lalama.

~ Jennie Kermode -

There’s a genuine unpredictability to Honey Bunch, both structurally and thematically.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Where the episodes work is when they have a driving, kinetic energy about them. When they don't it's repetitious loop.

~ Donald Munro -

The film, directed by feature debutant Shaun Dozier, retains the density of dialogue you might expect from a stage play but, by leaning into the theatrical nature of the proceedings, Dozier is in some ways able to make this into a virtue.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

A very effective piece of low budget storytelling.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Coogan is well cast in this tricky role, moving easily from humour to heartbreak..

~ Jennie Kermode -

Manizha Bakhtari may not be a household name but after watching Natalie Halla’s documentary you’re likely to think she ought to be.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Sung’s own camera plays tricks, placing objects too close in the foreground so that parts of an image are out of focus, like an incomplete memory.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The concept, narrative, dialogue, cinematography and action sequences are elements of Scanners that can't be faulted.

~ Donald Munro -

The film hangs on Pemberton’s performance, and he imbues Doug with a sweetness that makes us feel for him despite his deeply misguided actions.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The screenplay written by the filmmaker and Andrea Piva is a proper masterwork, from the basic plotting to the intelligent, insightful dialogue.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

From the start, there is something different about this film.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Despite the anger at the unfairness of what has gone before, this is ultimately a warm-hearted, life-affirming film.

~ Jennie Kermode -

It is a ride, okay, and it is a bit nauseating and therefore not sterile.

~ Marko Stojiljkovic -

It’s also striking to think that when Leila is looking forward into the future, she is already, in some senses, looking at our recent past, which only reinforces the sense of the cyclical and ongoing nature of her themes.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Thorne still comes across as being at the stage where many aspects of her work are experimental. She’s yet to settle into her style.

~ Jennie Kermode -

A very effective piece of low budget storytelling.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Having set up all the elements of a thriller, the film proceeds to untangle them in a refreshingly different and mature way.

~ Jennie Kermode -

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 -

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 -