The First Grader (2010)
★★☆☆☆
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.
2010
Potiche (2010)
★★★★★
A return to form for François Ozon, Potiche is a melting pot of satire, farce and high camp with a sprinkling of stardust.
Le Quattro Volte (2010)
★★★★☆
Living la dolce vita in Calabria, Michelangelo Frammartino’s documentary fiction Le Quattro Volte is a naturalist’s reduction of man to matter.
Les Amours Imaginaires / Heartbeats (2010)
★★★★☆
Navigating the ménage à trois with elegant indifference, Xavier Dolan’s Les Amours Imaginaires is a glorious feast of colour and rancid joie de vivre. Who said anything about subtle?
Love Like Poison / Un Amour Violent (2010)
★★★★☆
Ivorian director, Katell Quillévéré’s first feature, Love Like Poison is a tender coming of age tale set amid the religious fervour of small-town Brittany.
Meek’s Cutoff (2010)
★★★☆☆
With wide vistas of the Oregon Desert and sumptuous desolation, Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff explores the unspoken battle of the sexes on the prarie trail.
Norwegian Wood (2010)
★★★★☆
A stunningly cinematic adaptation of Murakami’s novel, Tran Anh Hung’s Norwegian Wood may be a cheerless picture of teen love, sex and death, but it is colourful.
Howl (2010)
★★★★☆
With James Franco as Allen Ginsberg, Epstein and Friedmann’s Howl recreates the poetic timebomb in Fifties mores, exploding his anguished art into pieces.
Animal Kingdom (2010)
★★★☆☆
Streuth, it’s a jungle out there! David Michôd’s gangster flick Animal Kingdom pits might against right when a young innocent stumbles into the Australian badlands.
True Grit (2010)
★★★☆☆
It may be a remake of the John Wayne classic True Grit, but don’t be fooled – the Coen brothers’ latest Western outing is their straightest story yet.
Never Let Me Go (2010)
★★★☆☆
Based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s retro-fiction novel, Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go basks in a very British nowhereland of clones, existential moans and unrequited love.
Nénette (2010)
★★★☆☆
Nicolas Philibert’s latest documentary observes the supreme diva, Nénette, a 40-year old orang-utan and the star attraction at Paris’ Jardin des Plantes zoo.
Rabbit Hole (2010)
★★★★☆
A portrait of a couple coping with their son’s death, Rabbit Hole is a parallel universe of grief and self-censure. For John Cameron Mitchell it’s worlds away.
Black Swan (2010)
★★★★☆
With a mesmerising performance from Natalie Portman, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is entirely gripping in its pas de deux of black sensuality and white innocence.