BFI LFF: Lean on Pete (2017)
★★★☆☆
Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete is an appealing coming-of-age road movie grounded in the all-American setting of quarter-horse racing.
Europe
BFI LFF: The Racer and the Jailbird (Le Fidèle) (2017)
★★★★☆
Xavier Beauvois’ The Racer and the Jailbird stars Adèle Exarchopoulos and Matthias Schoenaerts in an intense, high-speed love affair.
BFI LFF: The Summit (La Cordillera) (2017)
★★★★☆
Santiago Mitre’s political thriller The Summit is a prescient tale of high-level corruption.
ZOOLOGY (2016)
★★★★☆
Russian director Ivan Tverdovsky’s black comedy Zoology is a dark satire on the invisibility of older women with a stunning central performance by Natalia Pavlenkova.
Brimstone (2016)
★★★★☆
Brimstone is an almost unbearably violent take on the Western with a strong female character at its centre.
Borg vs McEnroe (2017)
★★★☆☆
Janus Metz’s Borg vs McEnroe recreates Wimbledon 1980 and delves into the winning psychology of the two tennis rivals.
On Body and Soul (2017)
★★★☆☆
Intersplicing oneiric images of deer in the snow with slaughterhouse romance, Ildikó Enyedi’s On Body And Soul is an unexpectedly romantic vision of star-cross’d loving.
In Between (2016)
★★★★☆
Mayasaloun Hamoud debut feature In Between is a vibrant, pacey Sex and the City look for the first time at the contemporary pressures on three young Arab women when the ‘city’ is Tel Aviv.
Kills on Wheels (2016)
★★★★☆
Kills on Wheels is director Attila Till’s surprising and touching comedy-drama take on disability in the character of a freewheeling wheelchair hitman.
My Pure Land (2017)
★★★★☆
My Pure Land, director Sarmad Masud’s first feature, is a Pakistan-set, female, Western-style gun battle based on an extraordinary true story.
Insyriated (2017)
★★★★☆
Philippe Van Leeuw’s Insyriated is a suspenseful microcosm of Syria’s civil war played out through its effects on one family and the hard decisions they have to take to survive.
Una (2016)
★★★☆☆
Una is a disturbing drama about a difficult and provocative subject that subverts conventional expectations. Directed by Benedict Andrews, written by David Harrower, it stars Rooney Mara and Ben Mendlesohn.
God’s Own Country (2017)
★★★★☆
A gay romance set high in the Yorkshire moors, Francis Lee’s God’s Own Country is a no-nonsense evocation of hard-won life in the country.
Moon Dogs (2016)
★★★☆☆
Moon Dogs is an appealing, strongly Celtic coming-of-age road movie that showcases vibrant new talent and the riches of Scottish scenery.