Festival Review: News From Planet Mars (2016)
★★☆☆☆
After Lemming and The Monk, Dominik Moll’s News From Planet Mars is a desperate comedy of male empowerment and family harmony.
France
Festival Review: Théo et Hugo Dans le Même Bateau (2016)
★★★★☆
A deliciously simple story of one night of romance, Ducastel and Martineau’s Théo et Hugo Dans le Même Bateau uncovers the ins and outs of gay love.
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.
Love (2015)
★★★☆☆
Bringing sex to the screen in glorious, terrifying 3D, Gaspar Noé’s Love offers a long hard look at love, sex and Gaspar Noé.
Festival Review: My Golden Days (2015)
★★★☆☆
Childhood, studenthood and falling in love, Arnaud Desplechin’s My Golden Days paints an intriguing and at times erratic portrait of a boy becoming a man.
Festival Review: Dheepan (2015)
★★★★☆
Set on the battlefields of Sri Lanka and the banlieues, Jacques Audiard’s Palme d’Or winning Dheepan is an inspirational tale on the power of family.
Festival Review: Francofonia (2015)
★★★★☆
An impressionistic portrait of the Louvre Museum under Nazi occupation, Alexander Sokurov’s Francofonia reveals the chequered history of art.
Festival Review: Evolution (2015)
★★★☆☆
A stylish dystopia set in a world without men, Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s Evolution comes adrift in a sea of beautiful images.
Festival Review: Madame Courage (2015)
★★★☆☆
Staging a battle of the sexes in Algiers, Merzak Allouache’s Madame Courage reveals a desperate injustice pervading male and female relationships.
La Famille Bélier (2014)
★★☆☆☆
Highlighting one teenage girl’s struggle to manage life as the only hearing member of her deaf family, Eric Lartigau’s La Famille Bélier is riddled with clichés.
Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014)
★★★☆☆
A fictional retelling of the bloody final days of the Medellin cartel, Andrea Di Stefano’s Escobar: Paradise Lost brings a personal touch to Escobar’s violence.
Gemma Bovery (2014)
★★★☆☆
As light and summery as one of her floaty summer frocks, Anne Fontaine’s Gemma Bovery brings to life Posy Simmonds’ graphic novel of Flaubert’s classic.
Eden (2014)
★★☆☆☆
Charting the hopes and dreams of her DJ brother Sven, Mia Hansen-Løve’s celebration of French house music Eden might be leading us up the garden path.
Li’l Quinquin / P’tit Quinquin (2014)
★★★★☆
A French Twin Peaks where crimes are investigated Clouseau-style, Bruno Dumont’s absurd black comedy P’tit Quinquin is both ‘policier’ and satire.