Frank (2014)
★★★★☆
What happens when a wannabe musician finds himself caught up in a band that’s a cross between a commune and a boot camp, led by an unstable avant-garde musical genius, Frank, who never takes off a giant papier-mâché head?
★★★★☆
What happens when a wannabe musician finds himself caught up in a band that’s a cross between a commune and a boot camp, led by an unstable avant-garde musical genius, Frank, who never takes off a giant papier-mâché head?
★★★☆☆
Gruff Rhys’ musical journey to retrace the footsteps of relative John Evans is a weird and mostly wonderful romantic odyssey.
★★★★★
A simple tale of a folk singer’s struggle for recognition belies the myriad of metaphors behind this wonderfully humorous, miserable and melancholic story.
★★★★★
Love and the circle of life are put to the test in Felix Van Groeningen’s heartbreaking The Broken Circle Breakdown. But will the circle be unbroken?
★★★☆☆
On tour through the globe’s indigenous and marginalised peoples in Pierre-Yves Borgeaud’s Viramundo, Gilberto Gil is turning the world upside-down.
★★★★☆
Taking on Aborigine rights in Sixties Australia, Wayne Blair’s debut feature The Sapphires is an all-singing, all-dancing feel-good sparkler.
★★★☆☆
Charting fifty years of prejudice and injustice, Susanne Rostock’s biopic documentary Sing Your Song is a serenade to Harry Belafonte and the philanthropy of celebrity.
★★★★☆
From chanson to reggae, Joann Sfar’s Gainsbourg is a soul-staking odyssey through Serge’s life and conquests, through Docteur Jekyll Et Monsieur Hyde.
★★★☆☆
A medley of grainy super-8 footage, Tom DiCillo’s When You’re Strange strips The Doors down to no-holds-barred exuberance. Or is it just wallowing in the mire?
★★★★☆
Battling an oppressive regime, Bahman Ghobadi’s semi-fictional documentary is a rousing anthem to the power of music. But does it struggle to hit the high notes?
★★★★☆
In Bernard Rose’s The Kreutzer Sonata, Danny Huston rampages through Hollywood-hued infidelity with green-eyed rage. It’s a furious symphony of Tolstoyan gloom.