Tale of Tales (2015)
★★★★★
Beautiful and grotesque – director Matteo Garone’s visually stunning collection of dark fairy tales for adults Tale of Tales defies description.
Europe
Bang Gang (2015)
★★★☆☆
In a long hot summer, a collective sexual madness grips a group of French school students in Eva Husson’s uninspired Bang Gang.
Departure (2015)
★★★☆☆
A delicate debut of sexual exploration and lifelong frustration, Andrew Steggall’s poetic Departure comes undone with its exquisite manners.
Chicken (2016)
★★★★☆
A teen maelstrom of romance, secrets and family in the Essex countryside, Joe Stephenson’s Chicken is a moving portrait of a breaking idyll.
Cannes Film Festival: The Student (2016)
★★★★☆
Bringing Christian fundamentalism to the playground, Kirill Serebrennikov’s The Student satirises the conservatism of Russian institutions.
La Danseuse (2016)
★★☆☆☆
A portrait of revolutionary dancer Loie Fuller, Stephanie Di Giusto’s La Danseuse makes for a disappointingly pedestrian biopic.
Ma Loute (2016)
★★★☆☆
Divided into stalwarts of French cinema and non-professional actors, Bruno Dumont’s crime caper Ma Loute exposes the grotesque in everyone.
Mustang (2015)
★★★☆☆
A stirring portrait of female freedom denied, Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang is a deeply personal story with a profound political resonance.
I, Daniel Blake (2016)
★★★★★
Moving, tragic and brutally direct, Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake is a scathing portrait of Britain’s benefits system.
Sieranevada (2016)
★★★★☆
Rester Vertical (2016)
★★★★☆
As a scriptwriter turns shepherd, Alain Guiraudie’s Staying Vertical reveals an existence of fear and lusting in the Midi-Pyrénées.
Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
★★★☆☆
A Hollywood companion piece to Marguerite, Stephen Frears’ Florence Foster Jenkins finds a heart of gold beneath the tarnished voice.
Son Of Saul (2015)
★★★★☆
Depicting the grim realities of life at the frontline of an extermination camp, Son of Saul is an extraordinary debut from director László Nemes.
Dheepan (2015)
★★★★☆
With an extraordinary central performance, Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan offers a searing portrait of Europe as seen by the dispossessed.