The Goob (2014)
★★★☆☆
Written and directed by Guy Myhill, The Goob is a memorable British coming of age drama with an unusually strong sense of place in its rural setting.
Europe
The Impressionists and the Man Who Made Them (2015)
★★★★☆
The Impressionists and the Man Who Made Them gives art lovers the chance to learn about the stories behind some of the world’s greatest exhibitions.
Spring (2014)
★★★★☆
An intoxicating alchemy of Shelly and Linklater, Spring is a romantic cross-genre creature feature that is chilling, bold and beautiful.
The New Girlfriend / Une Nouvelle Amie (2014)
★★★☆☆
With delicious performances from Anaïs Demoustier and Romain Duris, François Ozon’s cross-dressing caper The New Girlfriend sizzles like drops on burning rocks.
Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)
★★★★☆
The meaning of life, cinema and everything, Olivier Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria is a powerful, thought-provoking two-hander of subtle performance from Stewart and Binoche.
The Tribe (2014)
★★☆☆☆
An unspoken history of violence, Miroslav Slaboshpitsky’s The Tribe offers a challenging and controversial but ultimately unfitting parable for the Ukraine.
Future Beach / Praia do Futuro (2014)
★★★★☆
A sumptuous gay love story in Brazil and Berlin, Karim Aïnouz’s Future Beach is a provocative and sensual tale of maleness, same-sex love and self-discovery.
Girlhood / Bande de Filles (2014)
★★★★☆
Set to a pulse-pounding soundtrack, Céline Sciamma’s Girlhood encapsulates the careless, giddy energy of teendom.
Phoenix (2014)
★★★★☆
In war-damaged Berlin a disfigured concentration camp survivor strives to rediscover her identity as she searches for the husband who may have betrayed her.
Spooks – The Greater Good (2015)
★★★☆☆
Picking up the TV series’ espionage story lines, the disgraced head of MI5 goes rogue, hunting a terrorist on the loose and a traitor in ‘the firm’.
Still (2014)
★★☆☆☆
Unpicking class tension in the aftermath of the London riots, Simon Blake’s Still blends genres to create a strange yuppies-in-peril gangster-horror hybrid.
Argerich Bloody Daughter (2012)
★★★☆☆
A family portrait and a fly-on-the-wall bio-doc of a great pianist, Stéphanie Argerich’s Argerich – Bloody Daughter wraps itself up in maternal knots.
A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence (2014)
★★★☆☆
The closing film in Roy Andersson’s trilogy, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting On Existence offers a blackly humorous look at you, the living.
The Falling (2014)
★★☆☆☆
As a wave of falling sickness takes over an all-girls school, Carol Morley’s The Falling plucks female empowerment from a maelstrom of teenage desire.