The Two Faces Of January (2014)
★★★★☆
Hossein Amini’s The Two Faces Of January is a stylish adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith thriller as a married couple and a stranger get drawn deeper into a dangerous relationship of mutual dependence.
Frank (2014)
★★★★☆
What happens when a wannabe musician finds himself caught up in a band that’s a cross between a commune and a boot camp, led by an unstable avant-garde musical genius, Frank, who never takes off a giant papier-mâché head?
Blue Ruin (2013)
★★★☆☆
A big hit at Robert Redford’s Sundance Festival in the US and previewed at Sundance London, this suspenseful, original and darkly comic revenge thriller set in America’s South is hugely enjoyable.
The Informant / Gibraltar (2013)
★★☆☆☆
In Gibraltar, a French bar owner agrees with French Customs to inform on international drug smugglers and quickly gets out of his depth.
We Are The Best/Vi är bäst! (2013)
★★★☆☆
As three schoolgirls form a punk band in Stockholm in 1982, Lukas Moodysson’s We Are The Best smells like early-teen punk spirit.
Half Of A Yellow Sun (2013)
★★★☆☆
The personal and political intersect in an epic drama from the heady days of Nigeria’s independence to the failed attempt to set up the breakaway independent republic of Biafra, and the start of a civil war.
Visitors (2013)
★★★☆☆
By the director of Koyaanisqatsi, Godfrey Reggio’s Visitors is a visually stunning, black-and-white wordless portrait of modern life with music by Philip Glass.
The Past / Le Passé (2013)
★★★★☆
The emotional secrets of two families are revealed when an Iranian returns to Paris to finalise his divorce from his French wife.
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
★★★★☆
A stylish Jim Jarmusch movie, Only Lovers Left Alive is a contemporary tale of centuries-old world-weary vampires, their lives sustained by love and blood.
Archive: Lift To The Scaffold / Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (1958)
An iconic black and white classic, Louis Malle’s Lift To The Scaffold is a noirish Parisian tale of murder and suspense which made a star of Jeanne Moreau.
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12 Years A Slave (2013)
★★★★★
A searing story of slavery in 19th century America, based on the 1853 memoir of a free black man from New York, who is abducted and sold into slavery in the South.
The Railway Man (2013)
★★★★☆
The true story of Eric Lomax, the prisoner of war who many years after World War II forgave and became friends with the Japanese soldiers who tortured him.
Mandela – Long Walk To Freedom (2013)
★★★★☆
From boyhood to presidency, Justin Chadwick offers a solid biopic of Nelson Mandela, the iconic world statesman who achieved a political and moral miracle in South Africa.
All Is Lost (2013)
★★★★☆
All is Lost is a one-man tour de force that will either crown Robert Redford’s acting career so far or signal his return to it after concentrating on his Sundance Festival.