The Two Popes (2019)
★★★★☆
The Two Popes by Fernando Mereilles, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce, is a sparklingly written, joyfully acted, behind-the-scenes imagining of historic events made personal.
Americas
Harriet (2019)
★★★★☆
Harriet, directed by Kasi Lemmons, is a conventionally made biopic of a supremely unconventional and inspirational woman, Harriet Tubman, taking her life story from slave to fearless abolitionist and conductor on the underground railroad to freedom.
Greener Grass (2019)
★★★☆☆
Satirical comedy Greener Grass by, and co-starring Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe, is Stepford Wives on acid.
London Palestine Film Festival: It Must Be Heaven (2019)
★★★★☆
It Must Be Heaven continues Elia Suleiman’s deadpan global quest for recognition of Palestinian identity and homeland.
The Report (2019)
★★★★☆
The Report by Scott Z Burns is a gripping dramatisation of lawyer Daniel Jones’ investigations into the government-sanctioned CIA torture during interrogation of terrorist suspects: the suppression of reports into government behaviour is now an incredibly timely subject.
After the Wedding (2019)
★★★☆☆
In After the Wedding Bart Freundlich piles unlikely event on unlikely event on Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams in a weepie melodrama that reaches emotional overload.
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (2019)
★★★★☆
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound by Midge Costin is one of those fascinating documentaries that take you behind the scenes to explain how things happen that are so crucial but you had never previously noticed.
The Beach Bum (2019)
★★☆☆☆
The Beach Bum is a Harmony Korine film for and about stoners, with all that entails.
Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019)
★★★☆☆
Brittany Runs a Marathon is a lovely little film, director Paul Colaizzo’s debut feature. It’s heartwarming, raw, crowd-pleasing and motivating in the nicest possible way.
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)
★★★★☆
In The Last Black Man in San Francisco, writer/director Joe Talbot takes a true story and turns it into a poetic and haunting version of itself – a brightly lit, lyrical, stylised drama.
BFI LFF 2019: Harriet (2019)
★★★☆☆
Harriet, directed by Kasi Lemmons, is a conventionally made biopic of a supremely unconventional and inspirational woman, Harriet Tubman, taking her life story from slave to fearless abolitionist and conductor on the underground railroad to freedom.
BFI LFF 2019: Festival briefs
★★★★☆
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Monos (2019)
★★★★★
Monos by Alejandro Landes, set among volatile, trainee teenage guerillas in Latin America, is quite simply of this year’s best and most disturbing films.
The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
★★★☆☆
The Peanut Butter Falcon transcends initial discomfort to become a wish fulfilment, odd-couple odyssey with a deliciously soft centre.