Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (2023) (Shashvi Shashvi Maq’vali)
★★★★☆
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry directed by Elene Naveriani is an enchanting story of a strong heroine’s middle-aged love and feminism in a small Georgian village.
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Nezouh (2022)
★★★★☆
Nezouh by Soudade Kaadan is a teenage coming-of-age story of finding hope in devastated war-torn Syria.
Omen (2023) (Augure)
★★★☆☆
Omen is multidisciplinary artist Baloji’s magical realist award-winning first feature.
If Only I Could Hibernate (2023)
★★★☆☆
If Only I Could Hibernate written, directed and produced by Zoljargal Purevdash is an involving, behind-the-scenes look at pressing issues in Mongolia, with an ecological message, seen through the life of an endearing teenager.
Evil Does Not Exist (2023) (Aku Wa Sonzai Shinai)
★★★★☆
Evil Does Not Exist by Palme-d’or-winning director Ryu Hamaguchi is a sensitive, mesmeric ecological fable.
The Sweet East (2023)
★★★☆☆
The Sweet East is cinematographer Sean Price Williams’ directorial debut, with a screenplay by film critic Nick Pinkerton. It stars Talia Ryder (Never Rarely Sometimes Always) as a contemporary Alice in Wonderland, a student on a dreamlike road trip, satirising US subcultures.
Baltimore (2023)
★★★☆☆
Baltimore (misleading title) is a biopic of the life of revolutionary class warrior Rose Dugdale in Ireland, written and directed by husband and wife team Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor.
The Delinquents (2023) (Los delincuentes)
★★★★☆
strong>The Delinquents directed by Rodrigo Morena is an enthralling, misleading Argentinian film – original but also reminiscent of Spike Jonze or a reversal of The Shawshank Redemption.
Monster (2023) (Kaibutsu)
★★★★☆
Rumours, lies, cover-ups and maybe the truth – all are layers of the onion in the compelling Monster, directed by award-winning Hirokazu Koreeda, written by Yûji Sakamoto, with music by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Banel & Adama (2023)
★★★☆☆
Lusciously beautiful: the doomed romance in Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s poetic debut feature Banel & Adama takes place amid the severe effects of climate change in remote northeastern Senegal.
Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World (2023) (Nu astepta prea mult de la sfârsitul lumii)
★★★★★
Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World is a wide-ranging, vicious satire on the post-communist, rampantly privatised, chaotically capitalist economy in Romania and everything else in modern European life, by Radu Jude.
Four Daughters (2023) (Les Filles d’Olfa)
★★★★★
Four Daughters is a powerful and emotionally compelling mixture of documentary and drama directed by Kaouther Ben Hania that examines the roots of fundamentalism and how women pass on self-imposed repression through the generations.
Perfect Days (2023)
★★★★☆
Perfect Days is acclaimed director Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-set film for which Koji Yakusho won a well-deserved Best Actor award.
The Taste of Things (2023) (The Pot-au-Feu) (La Passion de Dodin Bouffant)
★★★★☆
The Taste of Things, directed by Tran Anh Hung is so, so French. It’s beautiful and it’s a 19th-century love story that is also food and beauty obsessed.