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.
Mark Wilshin
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.
A Bigger Splash (2015)
★★★☆☆
A sizzling relationship drama of lingering sensuality and unspoken tension, Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash fizzles beneath the weight of an incongruous plot.
Youth (2015)
★★★☆☆
A cornucopia of secrets, betrayal, friendship and regret, Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth is the old sod to The Great Beauty‘s bright young things.
The Revenant (2015)
★★★★☆
An electrifying and gripping tale of one man’s journey back from the dead, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant finds an unexpectedly spiritual side to revenge.
Room (2015)
★★★★☆
With heartbreaking performances from an exceptional cast, Lenny Abrahamson’s Room is a triumph of delicate relationships and emotional fallout.
The Danish Girl (2015)
★★★☆☆
With a powerful pair of performances from Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander, Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl is dressed to the nines, but can’t quite get under the skin.
Sherpa (2015)
★★★☆☆
Giving a voice to the sherpas who risk life and limb to make a living on Everest, Jennifer Peedom’s Sherpa finds itself caught between two camps.