Birdman (2014)
★★★★☆
Satire and fantasy mix intriguingly as an actor known for his portrayal of a superhero in a movie series tries to earn artistic credibility by financing a Broadway production of his own adaptation of a novel.
★★★★
The Theory Of Everything (2014)
★★★★☆
Dramatisation of Stephen Hawking’s life from gifted university student and romance with the woman who became his wife, to international acclaim as a physicist and the break-up of his marriage.
The Circle / Der Kreis (2014)
★★★★☆
Going back to the future through interviews with Switzerland’s first gay married couple, Stefan Haupt’s half-documentary The Circle reveals a postwar openness ahead of its time.
The Great Museum / Das große Museum (2014)
★★★★☆
A fascinating glimpse of the goings-on at one of the grandes dames of Europe’s museum scene, The Great Museum offers a compelling portrait of Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Men, Women & Children (2014)
★★★★☆
Jason Reitman’s incisive slice of modern suburbia is a sad, humorous and painfully relevant snapshot of our subservience to social media.
Eastern Boys (2013)
★★★★☆
A strangely romantic tale of east meets west, Robin Campillo’s Eastern Boys brings European immigration from the political into the personal scale.
School of Babel/La Cour de Babel (2014)
★★★★☆
French director Julie Bertuccelli’s classroom documentary School of Babel examines twenty-four foreign teenagers’ struggles as they adapt to a new life, culture and language in France.
Concerning Violence (2014)
★★★★☆
A visual poem on the sinister violence of colonisation, Göran Olsson’s Concerning Violence appeals for a new kind of future for Africa.
The Imitation Game (2014)
★★★★☆
Galvanising intense performances from a stellar cast, Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game is a war movie to stir the blood, but trips up over its queer hero.
Leviathan (2014)
★★★★☆
As the cold wind of corruption blows through the Siberian steppes, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan sees no hope of redemption. Or maybe just a little.
Citizenfour (2014)
★★★★☆
Insightful and provocative, Laura Poitras’ firsthand account of the days preceding Edward Snowden’s explosive revelations is quietly momentous and powerful.
London Film Festival 2014: Song Of The Sea
★★★★☆
Elegant, beautiful, magical and affecting, Tomm Moore’s Song Of The Sea is a touchstone for the continued importance of hand-drawn animation.
Cathedrals of Culture (2014)
★★★★☆
Based on an original idea by Wim Wenders, Cathedrals Of Culture is a portmanteau of six directors finding their own genius in architectural space.
London Film Festival 2014: Mommy
Mommy by Mark Wilshin Returning to the subject of his first film I Killed My Mother, Xavier Dolan’s Mommy describes the tempestuous relationship between…
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