Cannes Film Festival 2023: Day 1: Opening Film: Jeanne du Barry (2023)
★★★☆☆
Cannes Film Festival 2023: Opening film: Jeanne du Barry (2023)
biopic
Corsage (2022)
★★★★☆
A compelling woman-led re-imagining of the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria in Corsage, directed by Marie Kreutzer and starring Vicky Krieps.
Emily (2022)
★★★★☆
Emily Brontë’s creative inspiration is explored through an imagined version of the author’s short life in Frances O’Connor’s stirring directorial debut Emily.
The Real Charlie Chaplin (2021)
★★★★☆
The Real Charlie Chaplin directed by Peter Middleton and James Spinney is an immersive documentary that focuses on how Chaplin compulsively reflected his personal life in his films.
The Mauritanian (2021) – on digital
★★★★☆
The Mauritanian, directed by Kevin MacDonald, brings a legal drama to devastating life on screen from the New York Times acclaimed best-selling memoir Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was tortured and detained without charge in Guantánamo for 14 years.
Truman and Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation (2020) – on demand
★★★★☆
Truman and Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation is a fascinating documentary by Lisa Immordino Vreeland about two groundbreaking giants of contemporary literature and the creative process.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) – on demand
★★★★☆
The Trial of the Chicago 7‘s all-star cast enlivens and sharpens the points of Aaron Sorkin‘s docudrama of a historic court case intended to destroy the ’60s counterculture.
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) – on demand – Oscar winner
★★★★☆
Oscar-winning Judas and the Black Messiah directed by Shaka King, a tragic true story of a brutal state assassination in the US starring LaKeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya, is gripping, heart-wrenching and sadly still topical.
Schemers (2019)
★★★☆☆
Schemers is director David McLean’s appealing comedy-drama – a blend of Trainspotting and Gregory’s Girl with a touch of Good Vibrations – of how he became a teenage music promoter in Dundee.
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019) – On demand
★★★★★
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am is Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ spellbinding tribute to a literary treasure that makes you feel as if you have lost a friend.
Honey Boy (2019)
★★★★☆
Honey Boy by Shia LaBeouf is a searingly personal, self-immolating childhood memoir.
The Two Popes (2019)
★★★★☆
The Two Popes by Fernando Mereilles, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce, is a sparklingly written, joyfully acted, behind-the-scenes imagining of historic events made personal.
Harriet (2019)
★★★★☆
Harriet, directed by Kasi Lemmons, is a conventionally made biopic of a supremely unconventional and inspirational woman, Harriet Tubman, taking her life story from slave to fearless abolitionist and conductor on the underground railroad to freedom.
BFI LFF 2019: Harriet (2019)
★★★☆☆
Harriet, directed by Kasi Lemmons, is a conventionally made biopic of a supremely unconventional and inspirational woman, Harriet Tubman, taking her life story from slave to fearless abolitionist and conductor on the underground railroad to freedom.