Contracorriente / Undertow (2009)
★★★★☆
With man-on-man love in a small Peruvian fishing village, Javier Fuentes-León’s Contracorriente has Latin American machismo swimming against a high tide.
Americas
South Of The Border (2009)
★★★☆☆
Über-director Oliver Stone’s latest documentary film South of the Border offers a provocative glance at the US media’s take on Latin American politics.
The Killer Inside Me (2010)
★★★★☆
Violent and misogynistic, Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me adapts Jim Thompson’s noir novel to expose ’50s America’s darker side. It’s pulp friction.
El Secreto De Sus Ojos / The Secret In Their Eyes (2009)
★★★☆☆
Putting Argentina’s past on trial, Juan José Campanella’s El Secreto De Sus Ojos is a whispered love story amid cries of bloody murder. It’s a rough kind of justice.
Leonera / The Lion’s Den (2008)
★★★☆☆
Exploring female relationships in the maternity wing of an Argentine prison, Pablo Trapero puts motherhood at the heart of Leonera. Just don’t rattle her cage.
Dirty Oil (2009)
★★☆☆☆
Exposing Canada’s toxic Dirty Oil industry, Leslie Iwerks’ documentary investigates the casualty list at Athabasca’s tar sands and beyond. There will be blood.
Sons of Cuba (2009)
★★★☆☆
Packing a real punch, Lang’s beautifully crafted, heartfelt documentary Sons of Cuba follows three young boxers against a backdrop of political uncertainty in this unique island-nation.
The Kreutzer Sonata (2008)
★★★★☆
In Bernard Rose’s The Kreutzer Sonata, Danny Huston rampages through Hollywood-hued infidelity with green-eyed rage. It’s a furious symphony of Tolstoyan gloom.
La Mujer Sin Cabeza / The Headless Woman (2008)
★★★☆☆
Foaming with hit-and-run guilt, Lucrecia Martel’s La Mujer Sin Cabeza is a murky swamp of middle-class morals. These troubled waters run deep.
A Single Man (2009)
★★★★☆
Colin Firth mesmerises as a grieving gay college professor, but can dressing Isherwood’s novel up in a sharp new suit say anything about 21st century queerdom?
A Serious Man (2009)
★★☆☆☆
In A Serious Man, their most autobiographical film to date, the Coen Brothers lay bare their Jewish identity, as a mentsh of constant sorrow.
Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)
★★★☆☆
This time it’s the US economy on trial as Michael Moore takes on Wall Street in his latest documentary Capitalism A Love Story.