The Last Tree (2019)
★★★★☆
Shola Amoo’s The Last Tree powerfully focuses on the crisis in black masculinity through the story of a Nigerian-heritage boy growing up in Britain.
festivals
The Farewell (2019)
★★★★☆
The Farewell is a family comedy drama by Lulu Wang, starring Awkwafina as a young woman caught between the cultures of East and West through her love for her grandmother.
For Sama (2019)
★★★★★
For Sama, a documentary about the last days of Aleppo filmed and directed by Waad Al-Khateab, Edward Watts, is the most moving film you’ll see this year.
Pain and Glory (2019)
★★★★☆
In personal and revealing Pain and Glory (Dolor y Gloria) award-winning director Pedro Almodóvar looks back on his life, loves and passion for films.
BFI LFF 2019: Films in Competition
★★★★☆
This year’s BFI LFF 2019 selection spans the genres from gothic psychodrama and hallucinogenic thriller, to provocative period piece and taut social commentary.
Transit (2018)
★★★★★
Transit is a disorienting Casablanca for our times by the renowned German director of Barbara and Phoenix, Christian Petzold.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)
★★★★☆
Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, melds the obsessions of his previous films into a mature masterpiece.
Photograph (2019)
★★★☆☆
Photograph is another sweet and wistful love story from the director of The Lunchbox, Ritesh Batra.
The Dead Don’t Die (2019)
★★★☆☆
Jim Jarmusch puts the dead into deadpan as zombies threaten small-town America in The Dead Don’t Die.
In Fabric (2018)
★★★★☆
In Fabric is director Peter Strickland’s latest giallo-influenced horror with a pastiche, absurd ‘70s feel.
Support the Girls (2018)
★★★★☆
Support the Girls, by Andrew Bujalski, is a funny, fast-paced workplace comedy drama that’s seriously on the side of its female characters.
Amin (2018)
★★★☆☆
Amin by Philippe Faucon is an inconclusive cross-continent, cross-race contemporary migration story with one fascinating foot in Senegal and one in France.
A Season in France (2017)
★★★★☆
A Season in France is Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s moving film focusing on the plight of a father and his family, asylum seekers in the grip of hostile bureaucracy.
Sometimes Always Never (2018)
★★★★☆
Sometimes Always Never, directed by Carl Hunter, is a delightfully quirky film puzzle that revolves around Scrabble and that always-compelling national treasure Bill Nighy.