Villa Amalia (2009)
★★★☆☆
Cheerfully nihilistic, Benoît Jacquot’s Villa Amalia stars Isabelle Huppert as a pianist reinventing her life from scratch on the coast of Naples. O sole mio.
Europe
The Killer Inside Me (2010)
★★★★☆
Violent and misogynistic, Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me adapts Jim Thompson’s noir novel to expose ’50s America’s darker side. It’s pulp friction.
The Girl On The Train / La Fille du RER (2009)
★★★☆☆
André Techiné’s The Girl On The Train is not so much an exploration of modern antisemitism as a cumulation of our collective fears. Just mind the moral gap.
The Happiest Girl In The World / Cea Mai Fericita Fata Din Lume (2009)
★★★☆☆
When winning becomes a losing battle, Radu Jude’s The Happiest Girl In The World casts a sly glance over Romania’s troublingly capitalist embrace.
Videocracy (2009)
★★★☆☆
Italian-born Swede Erik Gandini’s documentary Videocracy turns the camera on the power of television in Berlusconi’s celebrity-obsessed Italy.
I Am Love / Io Sono L’Amore (2009)
★★★★★
I Am Love is a feast for the senses. The partnership between Luca Guadagnino and Tilda Swinton creates the perfect dish in this capolavoro of Italian cinema.
Donne Moi La Main (2008)
★★★☆☆
Exploring the entangled intimacy of twins, Pascal-Alex Vincent’s Donne Moi La Main is a road trip with a difference. But it’s no straight story.
Nightwatching (2008)
★★☆☆☆
Beautifully baroque, Peter Greenaway’s Nightwatching uncovers the hidden plot behind Rembrandt’s most famous painting. He’s got obscurity down to a fine art.
Storm / Sturm (2009)
★★★☆☆
Unpicking the wheels of justice at The Hague’s International Criminal Court, Hans-Christian Schmid’s Sturm is a very European thriller. And it’s kicking up a storm.
Lourdes (2009)
★★★★☆
With wry humour and religious austerity, Jessica Hausner’s Lourdes explores female potency as hopeful pilgrims jostle for a miracle. O, come all ye faithful.
Micmacs à tire-larigot (2009)
★★★★☆
Taking on the arms trade with customary quirk, Jeunet’s Micmacs launches another political bombshell. But can all this salvage ever hope to hit the bull’s eye?
Un Prophète / A Prophet (2009)
★★★★★
Thrills-and-spills jailbird Bildungsroman or darkly poetic gangster thriller? Whatever it is, Audiard’s Un Prophète is the arthouse blockbuster par excellence.
Kynodontas / Dogtooth (2009)
★★★☆☆
In a darkly humorous coming-of-age tale, Yorgos Lanthimos’ wickedly acerbic Dogtooth takes the institution of the family literally. Dangerously so.
Applaus (2009)
★★★★☆
With an exceptionally raw performance from Paprika Steen, Applaus is a devastatingly real representation of an alcoholic’s life on the rocks.