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 -

The characters work well...but there’s never quite enough energy to events.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Ahmed doesn’t need to include war footage for us to feel its weight and understand its shadow.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The colour elements prove all the more striking when in contrast to black and white.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The beautiful cinematography, the bluesy jazz score and the gentle pace of the film are beguiling, but Masciari makes sure that we don’t lose sight of the ridiculous.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Shot over 17 years, it mingles intimate personal moments with visceral concert footage, its musical sequences knitted together with some of the best editing you’re likely to see this year.

~ Jennie Kermode -

History comes alive in the voices of those who remember it.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

The choice of hand-drawn animation and its ability to demonstrate a magical realism allows the film to find the right distance from what is being depicted.

~ Richard Mowe -

Successfully finds insight and social commentary

~ Jeremy Mathews -

The pace of the action helps Handal to pack a lot in and his framing is inventive.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

A Teacher is not the most finely crafted film, but it is a cri de cœur.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The filmmaker and her crew deserve a lot of credit for even managing to capture this lifestyle – not to mention following it for five years.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Breslin, as so often, is the standout.

~ Jennie Kermode -

The observational approach works against the director, slowing down proceedings and making it hard to see the wood for the trees

~ Amber Wilkinson -

Lotus may love pretty things, but he doesn’t hold back on the gore.

~ Jennie Kermode -

With so much going on the only shame is that at this length the pirouettes in various directions are so brief, giving us a taste for ideas that are begging to be dug into further.

~ Amber Wilkinson -

While the film is generally a delight, the increasingly surreal third act can be hard to track.

~ Antoni Konieczny -

A patient, affecting study of human connection in unusual circumstances

~ Antoni Konieczny -

The irreverent score, the gothic art direction, and Mario Tosi’s kaleidoscopic, slithering cinematography coalesce into something mesmeric.

~ Antoni Konieczny -

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

~ Jennie Kermode -

[Hart] doesn’t turn up the volume, but uses tone and repetition so effectively that the film becomes a microcosm of the real experience.

~ Jennie Kermode -

I Am Love is social melodrama in the best traditions of Italian cinema.

~ Chris -

Anime at its very finest - lightning paced, visually stunning, feverishly creative and overrun by a logic all its own.

~ Anton Bitel -

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

~ Amber Wilkinson -