Boxing Day (2012)
★★★☆☆
Transporting Tolstoy to Los Angeles, Bernard Rose’s Boxing Day is an entirely unfestive Christmas carol on altruism and greed.
★★★
I Anna (2012)
★★★☆☆
Starring his own mother Charlotte Rampling, Barnaby Southcombe’s psychological London thriller I, Anna is taking motherhood to task.
Aurora (2010)
★★★☆☆
Darkly ruminative, Cristi Puiu’s Aurora is a slow-burning murder mystery like you’ve never seen before.
Argo (2012)
★★★☆☆
On a mission to retrieve six Americans in hiding from Iran, Ben Affleck’s Argo is a taut thriller and a hilarious Hollywood caper. Just don’t talk politics.
Elena (2011)
★★★☆☆
With its divided society of rich and poor, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Elena pushes its morals aside for a murderous take on modern Russia.
Beasts Of The Southern Wild (2012)
★★★☆☆
Mixing magical realism and environmental disaster, Benh Zeitlin’s debut Beasts Of The Southern Wild is a cajun gumbo of childhood, community and imagination.
Radioman (2012)
★★★☆☆
Following New York’s greatest film fan from set to shoot, Mary Kerr’s documentary Radioman is a commentary on celebrity, obsession and the power of perseverance.
Lawless (2012)
★★★☆☆
Revisiting the fraternal bonds of The Proposition and gloomy nihilism of The Road, John Hillcoat’s Lawless is a boisterous fable of male bravado and violence.
Eames: The Architect And The Painter (2011)
★★★☆☆
Beyond the illustrious modernist chair, Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey’s Eames: The Architect & The Painter unseats the man and wife design team with an illuminating bio-doc.
7 Days In Havana / 7 Días En La Habana (2012)
★★★☆☆
With seven shorts over seven days, in 7 Days In Havana Del Toro, Trapero, Medem, Suleiman, Noé, Tabio and Cantet journey into the hidden delights of the Cuban capital.
The Soul Of Flies / El Alma De Las Moscas (2010)
★★★☆☆
Against a Spanish backdrop of fantasy and fable, Jonathan Cenzual Burley’s debut The Soul Of Flies puts low-budget filmmaking to the test.
Dark Horse (2011)
★★★☆☆
Delicately new and surprisingly tender, Todd Solondz’s Dark Horse is both a break from the past and a ghostly visitation of the indie auteur’s oeuvre.
Silent Souls / Ovsyanki (2010)
★★★☆☆
A ritualised mourning for a lost civilisation, Aleksei Fedorchenko’s Silent Souls is a poetic stream of images and ideas.
Sing Your Song (2011)
★★★☆☆
Charting fifty years of prejudice and injustice, Susanne Rostock’s biopic documentary Sing Your Song is a serenade to Harry Belafonte and the philanthropy of celebrity.