Locke (2013)
★★★★☆
With Tom Hardy single-handedly driving the film and Steven Knight’s dirty, pretty script at the wheel, Locke is an elegant one-hander of life in the fast lane.
Mark Wilshin
Reaching For The Moon / Flores Raras (2013)
★★★☆☆
Bringing to light the sexual blossoming of American poet Elizabeth Bishop in Brazil, Bruno Barreto’s Reaching For The Moon loses its way in an overload of story.
Calvary (2013)
★★★☆☆
With its story of a good priest getting ready to meet his maker, John Michael McDonagh’s Calvary puts the Catholic Church on trial.
Tom At The Farm / Tom à la Ferme (2013)
★★★★☆
A relationship tattooed in love and hate, Xavier Dolan’s Tom At The Farm is a tense thriller where homosexual love meets homophobia at its most dangerous.
The Fold (2014)
★★★☆☆
A meditation on maternity and mourning, John Jenck’s The Fold finds a strange kind of love in this muddled would-be thriller.
Starred Up (2013)
★★★★★
A powerful, emotional and violent look at prison and reform, David Mackenzie’s Starred Up offers a glimpse of a life beyond bars.
Yves Saint Laurent (2014)
★★★☆☆
Undressing the high life of the fashion designer, his label, loves and lows, Jalil Lespert’s Yves Saint Laurent cuts a fine figure.
Salvo (2013)
★★★☆☆
A moody thriller of a cool hitman on the wrong side of the mob in sizzling Sicily, Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza’s Salvo is seeking out a new vision.
Under The Skin (2013)
★★★★★
Bold, cold and beautiful, Under The Skin is a unique and unsettling experience which defies convention from ambiguous opening to devastating denouement.
Suzanne (2013)
★★★☆☆
An elliptical life torn apart by love and crime, Katell Quillévéré’s Suzanne offers a journey back to happiness and family through absence.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
★★★★☆
With a cast list as long as your livery-sleeved arm, Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel is a colourful romp through the bright lights of Old Europe.
Nymphomaniac (2013)
★★★★☆
A riot of sex, literary references and A-list performances in two volumes, Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac is an erotic catechism on the agony and the ecstasy.
The 64th Berlin Film Festival – Berlinale 2014
With jury president producer James Schamus at the helm, the 64th Berlin Film Festival sees a lot of Eastern promise with Awards for both China and Japan.
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Stranger By The Lake / L’Inconnu Du Lac (2013)
★★★★☆
With murderers among us, Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger By The Lake turns a sexually explicit peek at gay cruising into a political metaphor in the horror genre.