Chicken (2016)
★★★★☆
A teen maelstrom of romance, secrets and family in the Essex countryside, Joe Stephenson’s Chicken is a moving portrait of a breaking idyll.
festivals
Cannes Film Festival: The Student (2016)
★★★★☆
Bringing Christian fundamentalism to the playground, Kirill Serebrennikov’s The Student satirises the conservatism of Russian institutions.
La Danseuse (2016)
★★☆☆☆
A portrait of revolutionary dancer Loie Fuller, Stephanie Di Giusto’s La Danseuse makes for a disappointingly pedestrian biopic.
Ma Loute (2016)
★★★☆☆
Divided into stalwarts of French cinema and non-professional actors, Bruno Dumont’s crime caper Ma Loute exposes the grotesque in everyone.
Money Monster (2016)
★★★☆☆
With George Clooney and Julia Roberts, financial media gurus come under the gun in Jodie Foster’s star-studded Money Monster.
I, Daniel Blake (2016)
★★★★★
Moving, tragic and brutally direct, Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake is a scathing portrait of Britain’s benefits system.
Sieranevada (2016)
★★★★☆
Rester Vertical (2016)
★★★★☆
As a scriptwriter turns shepherd, Alain Guiraudie’s Staying Vertical reveals an existence of fear and lusting in the Midi-Pyrénées.
Cafe Society
Cafe Society is Woody Allen on good form in a stylish love letter to 1930s Hollywood and New York.
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Festival Review: 24 Weeks (2016)
★★★☆☆
As a couple struggle to come to terms with their unborn baby’s condition, Anne Zohra Berrached’s 24 Weeks uncovers a grey world of female courage.
Festival Review: Letters From War (2016)
★★★★☆
A black and white correspondence between an army medic and his new wife, Ivo Ferreira’s Letters Of War is a hauntingly beautiful portrait of war.
Festival Review: Mahana / The Patriarch (2016)
★★★★☆
The moving portrait of a Maori family seething under the lash of a ruthless patriarch, Lee Tamahori’s Mahana takes heart in a young man finding his way.
Festival Review: Shepherds And Butchers (2016)
★★★★☆
Exposing the inhumanity of capital punishment on the men who lead them to the gallows, Oliver Schmitz’s Shepherds And Butchers is a powerful portrait of a human timebomb.
The 66th Berlin Film Festival – Berlinale 2016
Focusing on the refugee crisis, the 66th Berlin Film Festival awards Gianfranco Rosi’s Fuocoammare the Golden Bear and underscores the importance of standing together.
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