Cannes Review: Toni Erdmann (2016)
★★★★☆
A feelgood father-and-daughter comedy, Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann sees the joylessness of the corporate world undone by paternal clowning.
Female Filmmakers
Summertime (2015)
Catherine Corsini’s 1970s troubled lesbian romance basks in an idyllic Summertime in France in the days of women’s lib. Summertime CAUTION: Here be spoilers…
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Maggie’s Plan (2015)
What happens when you realise your husband is perfect for his ex-wife? In Rebecca Miller’s screwball New York romcom Maggie’s Plan, life doesn’t always…
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Mustang (2015)
★★★☆☆
A stirring portrait of female freedom denied, Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang is a deeply personal story with a profound political resonance.
Festival Review: Don’t Call Me Son (2016)
★★★☆☆
Depicting the impossible situation of teenagers reclaimed by birth parents, Anna Muylaert’s Don’t Call Me Son clothes her emotion in a plain black smock.
Festival Review: A Serious Game (2016)
★★☆☆☆
An evocative period drama of forbidden love, Pernilla August’s em>A Serious Game is disappointingly short on characterisation and emotion.
Sherpa (2015)
★★★☆☆
Giving a voice to the sherpas who risk life and limb to make a living on Everest, Jennifer Peedom’s Sherpa finds itself caught between two camps.
Suffragette (2015)
★★★☆☆
Celebrating nearly a century of women’s right to vote, Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette is an important and inspirational film on democracy in action.
The Second Mother / Que Horas Ela Volta? (2015)
★★★★☆
With a cracking performance from Regina Casé and a sharp script, Anna Muylaert’s The Second Mother is a well polished gem of class friction in Brazil.
Miss Julie (2014)
★★★☆☆
Transporting August Strindberg’s play to colonial Ireland, Liv Ullmann’s Miss Julie imbues her underwhelming tale of forbidden love with Swedish style.
Gemma Bovery (2014)
★★★☆☆
As light and summery as one of her floaty summer frocks, Anne Fontaine’s Gemma Bovery brings to life Posy Simmonds’ graphic novel of Flaubert’s classic.
Eden (2014)
★★☆☆☆
Charting the hopes and dreams of her DJ brother Sven, Mia Hansen-Løve’s celebration of French house music Eden might be leading us up the garden path.
What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
★★★★☆
Charting the rise, fall and rise again of Nina Simone, Liz Garbus’s What Happened, Miss Simone? creates an icon of the High Priestess of Soul.
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)
★★★☆☆
An Iranian skateboarding vampire movie, Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is a quirky, stylish addition to the genre.