The Patrol (2013)
★★☆☆☆
Focusing on the minutiae of military life in conflict, The Patrol eschews the crash, bang and wallop of the genre, but in doing so lacks any impact at all.
★★☆☆☆
Focusing on the minutiae of military life in conflict, The Patrol eschews the crash, bang and wallop of the genre, but in doing so lacks any impact at all.
★★☆☆☆
Following snowboarder Kevin Pearce’s life after traumatic brain injury, Lucy Walker’s documentary The Crash Reel sees a rising star come crashing down to earth.
★★☆☆☆
Bringing the wild west to the North East, Vince Woods’ Harrigan offers a moody warning against the dangers of police cuts amidst blackouts and strikes.
★★☆☆☆
A documentary-style feature where fiction fades into the background, Jem Cohen’s Museum Hours is a thought-provoking contemplation of art beyond the frame.
★★☆☆☆
Building a getaway cabin in the woods, Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ The Kings Of Summer sees males rutting and rebellious teenage dreamers turn from boys to men.
★★☆☆☆
Canvassing a breadth of opinion from Tibet’s leaders in exile, Dirk Simon’s When The Dragon Swallowed The Sun traces the battle lines drawn and lost during the Beijing Olympics.
★★☆☆☆
With the fate of a young woman hanging on a middle-aged nobody, Bonitzer’s Looking For Hortense is a rather bloodless comedy on husbands and wives, fathers and sons.
★★☆☆☆
A search for treasure on the fringes of the English Civil War, Ben Wheatley’s A Field In England draws a blank.
★★☆☆☆
The portrait of a love triangle in Lamorna, Christopher Menaul’s cinematic debut Summer In February drags woman through the rose madder.
★★☆☆☆
A self-portrait of Olivier Assayas’ lost youth, Something In The Air evokes the Paris riots of 1968 with a nostalgic glow.
★★☆☆☆
Like a Greek hero of yore, Marcus Markou is taking on the economic crisis single-handedly with Papadopoulos & Sons, his fleecy, feel-good, culture-clash comedy.
★★☆☆☆
Breaking the silence in his documentary Michael H. Profession: Director Yves Montmayeur unpicks the Austrian director’s quest for violent truth and beauty.
★★☆☆☆
A fly-on-the-wall documentary spotlighting the beautiful game’s men in black, The Referees looks at soccer from a different angle. More obtuse than acute.
★★☆☆☆
With its noble African spirit and picturesque, violent savannah, Justin Chadwick’s The First Grader may be historical tourism, but it’s cine-colonialism with a good heart.