Festival Review: The Witch (2015)
★★☆☆☆
An old fashioned tale of God-fearing devilry and witchcraft in New England, Robert Eggers’ The Witch sacrifices tension for gothic set pieces.
Festival Review: Very Big Shot (2015)
★★★☆☆
With gangster cartels, a film set and violent politicians, Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya’s Very Big Shot has a strangely watchable identity crisis.
Festival Review: Black Mass (2015)
★★★☆☆
Exposing the links between the FBI and Boston’s most notorious gangster, Scott Cooper’s Black Mass comes undone with a criminal lack of story.
Festival Review: From Afar (2015)
★★★☆☆
With a fantastic performance from Alfredo Castro, Lorenzo Vigas’ From Afar is a delicate but passionless tale of a love that dare not speak its name.
Festival Review: Arabian Nights (2015)
★★★☆☆
A six-hour reflection on the financial crisis in Portugal, Miguel Gomes’ Arabian Nights is an intelligent and visually arresting compendium of uneven tales.
Festival Review: Gold Coast / Guldkysten (2015)
★★★☆☆
Plunging the sorry history of Danish colonialism, Daniel Dencik’s Gold Coast brings a wealth of image and colour to a dark time.
Festival Review: My Nazi Legacy (2015)
★★★☆☆
Revisiting history through the descendants of two high-serving Nazis and a Holocaust survivor, David Evans’My Nazi Legacy bites off more than it can chew.
Festival Review: Room (2015)
★★★★☆
A sensitive study of imprisonment and the painfulness of freedom, Lenny Abrahamson’s Room is an emotional, cinematic tour-de-force.
Festival Review: The Assassin (2015)
★★★☆☆
Glacial beauty with flashes of choreography, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin is a feast for the senses.
Festival Review: Son Of Saul (2015)
★★★★☆
A devastating portrait of life in Auschwitz’ Sonderkommando, László Nemes’ Son Of Saul is a powerful testament of faith.
Festival Review: The Embrace Of The Serpent (2015)
★★★★☆
A beautiful, haunting monochrome vision of a lost world, Ciro Guerra’s The Embrace Of The Serpent exposes the indigenous peoples at risk from the white man.
Festival Review: Gayby Baby (2015)
★★★☆☆
A neatly observed, fly-on-the-wall documentary on gay parents, Maya Newell’s Gayby Baby adds fuel to the fire of Australia’s hottest topic.
Festival Review: The Program (2015)
★★★☆☆
With an outstanding performance from Ben Foster, Stephen Frears’ The Program gets bogged down in intricately retelling the rise and fall of Lance Armstrong.
Festival Review: Tangerine (2015)
★★★☆☆
The energetic and sassy tale of two transgender hookers in West Hollywood, Sean Baker’s Tangerine takes friendship and revenge to the streets.