While We’re Young (2014)
★★★☆☆
With While We’re Young Noah Baumbach hits you with everything and the kitschen sink in this incisive, funny but often distractingly clichéd comedy about the passage of time and the illusion of youth.
USA
Altman (2014)
★★☆☆☆
Ron Mann’sAltman is a stoic by-the-numbers documentary celebrating the films of the great director, but offering little insight into the man behind the lens.
White Bird In A Blizzard (2014)
★★★☆☆
As one girl comes to terms with the strange disappearance of her mother, Gregg Araki’s White Bird In A Blizzard gets under the skin of a family mystery.
Appropriate Behavior (2014)
★★★☆☆
Directed, written by and starring Desiree Akhavan, Appropriate Behavior is a very personal New York story of the conflicting demands of love, self and family.
Still Alice (2014)
★★★☆☆
In Still Alice Julianne Moore gives a moving performance as a woman struggling to retain her sense of self as she develops early onset Alzheimer’s.
Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (2014)
★★★★☆
With a delicate, mesmerising performance from Rinko Kikuchi, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter is a darkly comic tale of misadventure – tragic, odd and uplifting.
Festival Review: What Happened, Miss Simone (2015)
★★★★☆
Pieced together out of archive footage, interviews and diaries, Liz Garbus’ What Happened, Miss Simone? makes a soul-stirring melody out of the blues.
Festival Review: I Am Michael (2015)
★★★☆☆
Charting Michael Glatze’s path from gay poster-boy to Christian pastor, Justin Kelly’s I Am Michael is a confused, emotionless journey back into the closet.
Festival Review: Misfits (2015)
★★★☆☆
A portrait of life for gay and lesbian youth in Tulsa, Jannik Splidsboel’s Misfits explores homophobia and identity in the Bible Belt.
Festival Review: Cinderella (2015)
★★☆☆☆
A live action remake of Disney’s cartoon classic, Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella is saved by great performances from Cate Blanchett and Helena Bonham Carter.
Love Is Strange (2014)
★★★★★
A poignant New York story of love in a dark time, Ira Sachs’ Love Is Strange makes for a fine romance of the most human kind.
Festival Review: 54 The Director’s Cut (2015)
★★★★☆
Chosen to premiere at Berlin (home of Cabaret), Mark Christopher’s 54: The Director’s Cut recreates a bygone age of synth-infused hedonism.
Festival Review: Nasty Baby (2015)
★★★☆☆
The comic story of a New York gay couple trying for a baby with their 30-something best friend, Sebastián Silva’s Nasty Baby falls apart in the final reel.
Festival Review: Love & Mercy (2015)
★★★★☆
More than a biopic, Bill Pohlad’s Love & Mercy is a portrait of musical genius and mental illness with tour de force performances from Dano, Cusack and Banks.