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.
2009
Hadewijch (2009)
★★★☆☆
A compelling insight into the mind of a Christian terrorist, Bruno Dumont’s Hadewijch is a hotbed of religious delusion and misplaced fervour.
Mademoiselle Chambon (2009)
★★★★☆
A tender waltz of self-restrained romance, ex-couple Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Kiberlain quietly explode in Stéphane Brizé’s autumn-hued Mademoiselle Chambon.
The Referees / Les Arbitres (2009)
★★☆☆☆
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.
My Dog Tulip (2009)
★★★☆☆
Based on JR Ackerley’s doggy romance and hand-drawn and painted by Paul and Sandra Feininger, My Dog Tulip is a labour of love twice over.
Passenger Side (2009)
★★★☆☆
Starring his brother Joel, Matthew Bissonnette’s Passenger Side is an autobiographical tale of sibling rivalry and Los Angeles odysseys.
Easier With Practice (2009)
★★★☆☆
Centred round a geeky fantasist’s phone-sex relationship, Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s Easier With Practice flirts with the danger of wet dreams coming true.
Police, Adjective / Politist, Adjectiv (2009)
★★★★☆
Cuffed and bound, a changing Romania is put in the dock in Corneliu Porumboiu’s Police, Adjective when a conscience-niggled policeman starts questioning the law.
The Horde (2009)
★★★☆☆
Jam-packed with gore, Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher breathe new life into the undead with their hybrid gangster/horror flick The Horde.
Alamar / To The Sea (2009)
★★★★☆
Pedro González-Rubio’s Alamar is a touching tale of paternal love afloat upon the drifting Mexican sea.
Mother (2009)
★★★☆☆
When her simple son is sent to prison for the murder of a local girl, Boon Joon-Ho’s Mother springs into action. Thank you, Mommie dearest.
The Maid / La Nana (2009)
★★★★☆
Replacing a passive-agressive, quarrelsome maid isn’t easy, as Sebastián Silva’s comic gem La Nana shows. It’s class conflict gone the family way.
Hideaway / Le Refuge (2009)
★★★☆☆
With a heroin junkie and her dead lover’s gay brother hiding away together, François Ozon’s Le Refuge is a subdued meditation on parenthood and loss. It’s baby boom and bust.
Contracorriente / Undertow (2009)
★★★★☆
With man-on-man love in a small Peruvian fishing village, Javier Fuentes-León’s Contracorriente has Latin American machismo swimming against a high tide.