Festival Review: Kater (2016)
★★★★☆
Set in Austria’s musical circles, Klaus Händl’s sensuous and delicate Kater sees an idyll of gay love torn asunder by a moment of violence.
Genre
Festival Review: Fire At Sea (2016)
★★★★☆
Half-documentary, half-fiction, Gianfranco Rosi’s Fuocoammare paints a portrait of life on Lampedusa with its fishing traditions and new waves of migrants.
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
★★★★☆
A riotous romp through Hollywood’s golden age, the Coen brothers’ Hail, Caesar! is a hilarious tribute to the (strangely religious) cult of cinema.
Youth (2015)
★★★☆☆
A cornucopia of secrets, betrayal, friendship and regret, Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth is the old sod to The Great Beauty‘s bright young things.
Innocence Of Memories (2015)
★★★★☆
Grant Gee’s Innocence of Memories is a multilayered exploration of the innovative novel Museum of Innocence by the Turkish Nobel prize-winning writer Orhan Pamuk.
Lost In Karastan (2015)
★★★☆☆
Set in a fictitious former Soviet-bloc republic, Ben Hopkins’ Lost in Karastan is a very British satire about a very British film director adrift in a totalitarian dictatorship
The Danish Girl (2015)
★★★☆☆
With a powerful pair of performances from Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander, Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl is dressed to the nines, but can’t quite get under the skin.
Sherpa (2015)
★★★☆☆
Giving a voice to the sherpas who risk life and limb to make a living on Everest, Jennifer Peedom’s Sherpa finds itself caught between two camps.
Chemsex (2015)
★★★★☆
Exposing a drug fuelled, self-destructive seam within London’s gay community, William Fairman and Max Gogarty’s Chemsex makes for intoxicating viewing.
Carol (2015)
★★★★☆
A sumptuous adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s sensational novel, but can Todd Haynes’ Carol bring new life to forgotten Fifties optimism?
The Lady In The Van (2015)
★★★★☆
Reuniting Alan Bennett with Maggie Smith on screen, Nicholas Hytner’s The Lady In The Van deals a hilarious, thoughtprovoking play between life and fiction.
He Named Me Malala (2015)
★★★☆☆
A fascinating though soft-focus documentary, Davis Guggenheim’s He Named Me Malala reveals the inspirational teenager fighting for girls’ right to education.
Drown (2015)
★★★☆☆
Flexing its tale of a man caught between masculinity and homosexuality, Dean Francis’s Drown is overturned by an overwrought history of self-hate and hopelessness.
Festival Review: Steve Jobs (2015)
★★★★☆
A binary biopic of the computer genius and flawed man, Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs is a dazzling, moving tale of the digital revolution.