Gemma Bovery (2014)
★★★☆☆
As light and summery as one of her floaty summer frocks, Anne Fontaine’s Gemma Bovery brings to life Posy Simmonds’ graphic novel of Flaubert’s classic.
Female Filmmakers
Eden (2014)
★★☆☆☆
Charting the hopes and dreams of her DJ brother Sven, Mia Hansen-Løve’s celebration of French house music Eden might be leading us up the garden path.
What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
★★★★☆
Charting the rise, fall and rise again of Nina Simone, Liz Garbus’s What Happened, Miss Simone? creates an icon of the High Priestess of Soul.
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)
★★★☆☆
An Iranian skateboarding vampire movie, Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is a quirky, stylish addition to the genre.
Girlhood / Bande de Filles (2014)
★★★★☆
Set to a pulse-pounding soundtrack, Céline Sciamma’s Girlhood encapsulates the careless, giddy energy of teendom.
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.
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.
Appropriate Behavior (2014)
★★★☆☆
Directed, written by and starring Desiree Akhavan, Appropriate Behavior is a very personal New York story of the conflicting demands of love, self and family.
Selma (2014)
★★★☆☆
A powerful dramatisation of Martin Luther King’s final battle, Ava DuVernay’s Selma is a moving account of the march on racism and the man behind the movement.
Citizenfour (2014)
★★★★☆
Insightful and provocative, Laura Poitras’ firsthand account of the days preceding Edward Snowden’s explosive revelations is quietly momentous and powerful.
Serena (2014)
★★★☆☆
Caught between whip-cracking lioness and jealous femme fatale, Susanne Bier’s Serena offers a muddled portrait of the fairer sex.
London Film Festival 2014: The Wonders / Le Meraviglie
The Wonders by Mark Wilshin Following a farming family living on the brink of bankruptcy, Alice Rohrwacher’s The Wonders is a social realist study…
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Night Moves (2013)
★★★★☆
Unrelentingly tense from start to finish, Night Moves is a superbly crafted character-driven drama that maintains its stranglehold on your anxiety from start to finish.
The German Doctor / Wakolda (2013)
★★★☆☆
Uncovering Josef Mengele’s hideout in Argentina, Lucía Puenzo’s The German Doctor struggles to make a monster of the Angel of Death.