Lucky (2017)
★★★★☆
John Carroll Lynch’s wonderful, poignant Lucky is a fitting career-end for brilliant actor Harry Dean Stanton.
The Rider (2017)
★★★★★
The Rider is a magical, must-see mixture of real life and fiction by director Chloe Zhang that opens up a world of modern-day cowboys through the story of injured rodeo rider Brady Jandreau,
Wajib (2017)
★★★★☆
Wajib translates as ‘duty’ and Annemarie Jacir’s film focuses on a beautifully observed father-son relationship as they take a road trip around Nazareth amid the confines of being an Arab in Israel.
62nd BFI London Film Festival 2018
★★★★☆
From 10-21 October, Britain’s foremost film festival, the BFI London Film Festival, will host 21 world premieres, nine international premieres and 29 European premieres.
Open City Documentary Festival 2018
★★★★☆
30 features, 48 shorts, 30+ countries! Astonishing debut Baronesa from Brazilian film maker Juliana Antunes opens the festival and it features the World Premiere of the inspirational H Is For Harry from Bafta-nominated British filmmaker Jaime Taylor.
Raindance Film Festival 2018
★★★★☆
The Raindance Film Festival in London from 26 September to 7 October has 80 feature films, 99 short films, 22 music videos and 33 VR exhibits, including 31 world premieres, 28 international, 21 European and 81 UK premieres.
The Guardians (2017)
★★★★☆
Xavier Beauvois’ The Guardians Les Guardiennes is a beautiful period recreation of a time of change for women and society in rural France during the First World War.
Under the Tree/Undir trénu (2017)
★★★☆☆
Under the Tree by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson is a mordant suburban black comedy that escalates an everyday situation into shocking Icelandic horror.
The Heiresses/Las Herederas (2018)
★★★★☆
Economically crumbling Paraguay after many years of patriarchal dictatorship is the setting for a subtle story of female self-discovery in Marcelo Martinessi’s The Heiresses.
Racer and the Jailbird
★★★★☆
Xavier Beauvois’ The Racer and the Jailbird stars Adèle Exarchopoulos and Matthias Schoenaerts in an intense, high-speed love affair.
First Reformed (2018)
★★★★☆
Paul Schrader’s gripping First Reformed links spiritual and physical torment to the environmental threat to the future of the earth.
Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (2017)
★★★★☆
Frederick Wiseman’s compelling and comprehensive documentary reveals the behind-the-scenes work of a monumental American institution, the New York Public Library.
The Endless (2017)
★★★☆☆
The Endless is Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s excellent sci-fi horror fantasy UFO death-cult adventure.
The Ciambra (2017)
★★★★☆
The Ciambra is an extraordinary first feature by Jonas Carpignano, a follow-up to Mediterraneo, that has ordinary people, non-professional actors, playing fictionalised versions of themselves in a reality-rooted drama.