Mr Long (2017)
★★☆☆☆
Rehabilitating the hitman with Japanese kindness, Sabu’s Mr Long flickers between moments of splendour, kitsch and sentimentality.
Berlin Film Festival 2017
The Other Side of Hope (2017)
★★★★☆
Offering a warm welcome to refugees in gloomy Finland, Aki Kaurismäki’s The Other Side of Hope is one of the director’s lightest and brightest.
The Queen of Spain (2017)
★☆☆☆☆
The story of a Hollywood production filming in Franco’s Spain, Fernando Trueba’s The Queen of Spain offers entertainment with no respite.
The Party (2017)
★★★★☆
With a whipcracking script and a stellar cast, Sally Potter’sThe Party is an uproarious comedy with a nostalgic whiff.
Bright Nights (2017)
★★★☆☆
A war of the wordless, Thomas Arslan’s Bright Nights is a painfully accurate if unilluminating portrait of the father-son relationship.
1945 (2017)
★★★★☆
A more sobre companion piece to Es war einmal in Deutschland…, Török Ferenc’s1945 offers a new perspective on the horrors of war.
Le jeune Karl Marx (2017)
★★☆☆☆
Filmed in French, German and English, Raoul Peck’s Le jeune Karl Marx is an erudite rendition of Marx’s journey to Das Kapital.
Discreet (2017)
★★★☆☆
Turning his gaze on vibrational rhythms and the Texan underworld, Travis Mathew’s Discreet is a broken portrait of a broken man.
A Fantastic Woman (2017)
★★★☆☆
Facing the humiliation of social exclusion after losing a loved one, Sebastián Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman is a heartbreaking portrait of loneliness.
Viceroy’s House
★★★☆☆
An upstairs-downstairs portrait of Indian independence and Partition, Gurinder Chadha’s Viceroy’s House is a history lesson with a big heart.
Spoor (2017)
★★☆☆☆
A clarion call against the mistreatment of animals and the hunting confederacy of men, against Agnieszka Holland’s Spoor loses its way in the snowy mountains.
Es war einmal in Deutschland… (2017)
★★★☆☆
With returning Jews looking to get rich and make it to the US, Sam Garbarski’s Es war einmal in Deutschland… unpicks the postwar search for truth with bitter glee.
Wild Mouse (2017)
★★★☆☆
A delicious comedy exposing the tit-for-tat that sees violence perpetuate, Josef Hader’s Wild Mouse is an uproarious plea for emotional honesty.
Final Portrait (2017)
★★★☆☆
Documenting the creative process of Alberto Giacometti painting his model, Stanley Tucci’s Final Portrait offers a tantalising glimpse inside the artist’s studio.