Notturno (2020) – on demand
★★★★☆
Filmed over three years in war zones in Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria and Lebanon, Notturno (Nocturne) by Gianfranco Rosi is a documentary oddity.
Italy
Waiting for the Barbarians (2019) – Digital download
★★★☆☆
Waiting for the Barbarians by acclaimed director Ciro Guerra is a beautiful, well-acted, slow-moving allegory of imperialism.
Pinocchio (2020)
★★★★☆
Matteo Garrone’s surreal live-action fantasy takes the Italian classic Pinocchio disturbingly back to its original dark roots.
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.
BFI LFF 2019: The Two Popes (2019)
★★★★★
The Two Popes by Fernando Mereilles is a sparklingly written, joyfully acted, behind-the-scenes imagining of historic events made personal that has its international premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.
Loro (2018)
★★★★☆
Paolo Sorrentino’s Loro is an excoriating comment on the tacky corruption that surrounded the notorious former prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi.
Everybody Knows (2018)
★★★★☆
Everybody Knows (Todos Lo Saben) is Iranian Asgar Farhadi’s Spanish-language first, a family drama-cum-thriller with top stars Penélope Cruz, Javier Badem and Ricardo Darín.
Dogman (2018)
★★★★☆
Dogman is a powerful Italian neorealist fable by Matteo Garrone with an award-winning performance by Marcello Fonte.
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.
Cannes Film Festival 2018: Day 10
★★★★☆
Cannes Film Festival 2018
Redoubtable (2017)
★★★☆☆
In a timely release for the anniversary of the May 1968 almost-revolution in Paris, Michel Hazanavicius wickedly funny re-invention of Jean-Luc Godard in Redoubtable, as seen though the eyes of Anne Wiazemsky, his second wife.
Cannes Film Festival 2018: Day 1
★★★★☆
Cannes Film Festival 2018
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
★★★★☆
A delightfully nostalgic and evocative portrait of young love, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name has all of the pleasure and only some of the pain.
BFI LFF: Call Me By Your Name (2017)
★★★★☆
A delightfully nostalgic and evocative portrait of young love, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name has all of the pleasure and only some of the pain.