Anatomy of a Fall (2023)
★★★★☆
Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet’s Palme d’or winner, stars Sandra Hüller in a gripping, ambiguous puzzle of a courtroom drama.
Female Filmmakers
Scrapper (2023)
★★★★☆
Scrapper, an inventive, award-winning first feature written and directed by Charlotte Regan, was the crowd-pleasing opening film of the Sundance London Film Festival.
Sundance London 2023 – Opening and Closing Films
★★★★☆
Sundance London 2023 Opening and Closing Films
Locarno Film Festival 2023
★★★★☆
Locarno Film Festival 2023
Mother and Son (2022) (Un Petit Frère)
★★★★☆
Mother and Son is an ★★★★☆
involving, compassionate film by Léonor Serraille that poignantly shows the difficulties and the effects on a family – both positive and negative – of immigration into a strange country.
Reality (2023)
★★★★☆
25-year-old former American intelligence specialist Reality Winner is confronted by FBI agents arriving at her home. Based on true events, Tina Satter’s film’s dialogue is directly from the transcript of their tense, transfixing conversation.
Cannes Film Festival 2023: Day 5: 20 May 2023
★★★★☆
Cannes Film Festival 2023: Day 5: 20 May 2023
Cannes Film Festival 2023: Day 1: Opening Film: Jeanne du Barry (2023)
★★★☆☆
Cannes Film Festival 2023: Opening film: Jeanne du Barry (2023)
The Eight Mountains (2022) (Le Otto Montagne)
★★☆☆☆
Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains, which they adapted from Paolo Cognetti’s novel Le Otto Montagne, tells the story of the friendship of Pietro and Bruno from boys to men in their 30s from the perspective of Pietro.
The Blue Caftan (2022)
★★★★☆
The Blue Caftan by Maryam Touzani is a beautiful film celebrating understated love and tenderness in everyday life.
Love According to Dalva (2022)
★★★☆☆
Love According to Dalva, directed by Emmanuelle Nicot, features some extraordinarily intense performances in a paedophilia drama where the victim refuses to accept she is a child who has been abused.
Leonor Will Never Die (2022)
★★★★☆
Comedy-thriller and Sundance award-winner Leonor Must Never Die, written and directed by first-time filmmaker Martika Ramirez Escobar, is an intriguing, galloping meta-romp-mix of fantasy, action pastiche and reality about the power of filmmaking.
I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) (2021)
★★★★☆
US festival favourite I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) is a touching, positive indie movie, female written and directed, made during Los Angeles’ lockdown (see the mask use) focusing on the struggles to be independent of a widowed mother who happens to be homeless, black and female – and beautiful.
Saint Omer (2022)
★★★★☆
Saint Omer by Alice Diop is a harrowing and haunting political drama about the complexities of being a Black woman and the pressures of motherhood, inspired by real events.