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 -

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 -

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 -

Effortlessly entertaining, infinitely likeable and surprisingly warm.

~ James Benefield -

Effortlessly entertaining, infinitely likeable and surprisingly warm.

~ James Benefield -

There's half of a good film here, but Pawlikowski approaches his material in a way that undermines the rationale and our perception of the film's third act.

~ James Benefield -

There's half of a good film here, but Pawlikowski approaches his material in a way that undermines the rationale and our perception of the film's third act.

~ James Benefield -

Director Oliver Shmitz does a good job of balancing the immediate, visible tragedy of the characters we follow with a wider, national problem.

~ James Benefield -

Director Oliver Shmitz does a good job of balancing the immediate, visible tragedy of the characters we follow with a wider, national problem.

~ James Benefield -

Regardless of your tolerance for high camp and massive hair, you've got to admit it's memorable.

~ James Benefield -

Regardless of your tolerance for high camp and massive hair, you've got to admit it's memorable.

~ James Benefield -

It's not exactly thought-provoking, but there is a teasing intelligence on display.

~ James Benefield -

It's not exactly thought-provoking, but there is a teasing intelligence on display.

~ James Benefield -

What the movie does best is gore and ickiness.

~ James Benefield -

What the movie does best is gore and ickiness.

~ James Benefield -

It's probably the acting that almost saves the film from its histrionic third act

~ James Benefield -

It's probably the acting that almost saves the film from its histrionic third act

~ James Benefield -

Director Sally Rowe does a great job with this human side, making a relatively inaccessible subject emotionally engaging and throroughly entertaining.

~ James Benefield -

Director Sally Rowe does a great job with this human side, making a relatively inaccessible subject emotionally engaging and throroughly entertaining.

~ James Benefield -

Kevin Corrigan holds it all together with a brooding, anxious performance.

~ James Benefield -

Kevin Corrigan holds it all together with a brooding, anxious performance.

~ James Benefield -

Less like Rashomon and more like an episode of Eastenders.

~ James Benefield -

Less like Rashomon and more like an episode of Eastenders.

~ James Benefield -