★★☆☆☆
Set in London at the height of the blitz in September 1940, 9-year-old George is evacuated to Somerset but undertakes a quest to be reunited with his mother Rita in writer/director Steve McQueen’s wartime drama Blitz.
★★★★☆
After the death of the Pope, Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading the conclave to recruit a successor with rumour and conflict threatening to overtake the Vatican’s battle for power in Edward Berger’s thriller Conclave.
★★☆☆☆
Portraits of Dangerous Women describes itself as a British comedy drama. Oh dear.
span style=”color:#D1A316″>★★★★☆
BFI London Film Festival 2024
★★★☆☆
In Camera, written and directed by Naqqash Khalid, is a debut satirical drama full of pain about the racism experienced by second-generation Asians in Britain.
★★★★☆
Romanian director Andrei Ujica’s documentary TWST is a snapshot of America in a hot August 1965, the year The Beatles arrived.
★★★★☆
Firebrand directed by Karim Aïnouz is an entertaining slice of simplified English history starring Alicia Vikander, Jude Law, Eddie Marsan and Simon Russell Beale.
★★★★☆
Kneecap, written and directed by Rich Peppiat, is the comic, fictionalised story of the rise to fame of the Irish-language rap trio Kneecap – played by themselves.
★★★★☆
The Boy and the Suit of Lights is a raw documentary by Inma De Reyes that uncovers an insider’s view of some of the tensions between traditional and modern Spain.
★★★★☆
Wilding, based on Isabella Tree’s 2018 book, directed by David Allen, is a lyrical hymn to the self-healing of the English countryside.
★★★★☆
Vintage classic The Small Back Room, Powell and Pressburger’s must-see 1948 noir masterpiece, has been restored and released in new 4K.
★★★☆☆
Palestinian filmmakers Muyad and Rami Alayan prick and prod Israel’s conscience about dispossession in A House in Jerusalem.
★★★★☆
Nezouh by Soudade Kaadan is a teenage coming-of-age story of finding hope in devastated war-torn Syria.
★★★☆☆
Jeanne du Barry, which opened the Cannes Film Festival 2023, is co-written, directed and starred in by Maïwenn, also starring Johnny Depp, in a glossy historical French biopic.