Get Out (2017)
★★★★☆
Get Out is actor and comedian Jordan Peele’s original horror-satire take on white liberal racism in the US.
features
The Salesman (2016)
★★★★☆
Asghar Farhardi’s The Salesman illuminates universal moral arguments about masculinity by presenting them in parallel with a production of Arthur Miller’s stage play in contemporary Iran.
The Olive Tree (2016)
★★★☆☆
The Olive Tree is a heartwarming film scripted by Ken Loach’s collaborator Paul Laverty, directed by Icíar Bollaín, demonstrating the power of personal conviction and positive action.
A Silent Voice (2016)
★★★★☆
A Silent Voice is an unusual and sensitive anime about deafness and teen bullying based on the long-running manga by Yoshitoki Oima.
Elle (2016)
★★★★☆
Isabelle Huppert is elegantly transgressive in Paul Verhoeven’s disturbing Elle.
Viceroy’s House (2017)
★★★☆☆
An upstairs-downstairs portrait of Indian independence and Partition, Gurinder Chadha’s Viceroy’s House is a history lesson with a big heart.
The Student (2016)
★★★★☆
Bringing Christian fundamentalism to the playground, Kirill Serebrennikov’s The Student satirises the conservatism of Russian institutions.
Certain Women (2016)
★★★★☆
Kelly Reichardt takes an appraising look at four women’s lives in Certain Women‘s intriguingly overlapping stories.
Bitter Harvest (2017)
★★☆☆☆
In Bitter Harvest George Mendeluk explores a tragic period in Ukraine’s history and makes it the background to a love story.
Moonlight (2016)
★★★★☆
Moonlight is a very different gay coming-of-age movie by Barry Jenkins and it will break your heart.
Hidden Figures (2016)
★★★★☆
In Hidden Figures Theodore Melfi reveals the hitherto hidden story of the African American women maths geniuses who got America to the moon.
Spoor (2017)
★★☆☆☆
A clarion call against the mistreatment of animals and the hunting confederacy of men, against Agnieszka Holland’s Spoor loses its way in the snowy mountains.
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.
T2 Trainspotting (2017)
★★★★☆
T2 Trainspotting is Danny Boyle’s brilliant follow-up reunites the original cast of the iconic original for more filmic pyrotechnics.