Festival Review: Little Men (2016)
★★★★☆
A delicate portrait of friendship and fractious neighbours, Ira Sachs’ Little Men is an all-too-brief glimpse into the hopes and dreams of a Brooklyn boy.
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Festival Review: Genius (2016)
★★★★☆
Documenting the relationship between Thomas Wolfe and his editor, Michael Grandage’s Genius reveals the irreconcilable nature of creation and analysis.
Festival Review: Chi-Raq (2016)
★★★★★
A dazzling rap musical against the epidemic of gun violence amongst Chicago’s black communities, Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq is sensational.
Festival Review: Soy Nero (2016)
★★☆☆☆
Following a Mexican teenager on his journey from immigrant to green card holder, Rafi Pitts’ Soy Nero seethes with palpable discomfort.
Festival Review: A Serious Game (2016)
★★☆☆☆
An evocative period drama of forbidden love, Pernilla August’s em>A Serious Game is disappointingly short on characterisation and emotion.
Festival Review: You’ll Never Be Alone (2016)
★★☆☆☆
A portrait of Chilean society waking up to homosexuality, Alex Anwandter’s You’ll Never Be Alone turns homophobia into a vigilante fight for justice.
Festival Review: Crosscurrent (2015)
★★☆☆☆
An ambitious portrait of modern China, Yang Chao’s Crosscurrent is a poetic knot of yearning, mourning and the shifting sands of time.
Festival Review: Death In Sarajevo (2016)
★★☆☆☆
Set in the multilayered world of a hotel, Danis Tanovic’s Death In Sarajevo begs the question whether we really need a metaphor for the Balkans.
Festival Review: Being 17 (2016)
★★★☆☆
Exploring themes of identity, masculinity and desire, André Techiné’s Being 17 is a delicate portrait of adolescent confusion and first love.
Festival Review: Yarden (2016)
★★★☆☆
Adapted from Kristian Lundberg’s autobiographical novel, Måns Månsson’s Yarden is a parable of entitlement that turns welcomingly political.
Festival Review: Kater (2016)
★★★★☆
Set in Austria’s musical circles, Klaus Händl’s sensuous and delicate Kater sees an idyll of gay love torn asunder by a moment of violence.
Festival Review: Fire At Sea (2016)
★★★★☆
Half-documentary, half-fiction, Gianfranco Rosi’s Fuocoammare paints a portrait of life on Lampedusa with its fishing traditions and new waves of migrants.
Festival Review: Boris Without Béatrice (2016)
★★★★☆
Vibrant, ridiculous and bombastic, Denis Côté’s Boris Without Beatrice treads a deliciously new path of metaphor and internalised anxiety.
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
★★★★☆
A riotous romp through Hollywood’s golden age, the Coen brothers’ Hail, Caesar! is a hilarious tribute to the (strangely religious) cult of cinema.