The Sapphires (2012)
★★★★☆
Taking on Aborigine rights in Sixties Australia, Wayne Blair’s debut feature The Sapphires is an all-singing, all-dancing feel-good sparkler.
★★★★☆
Taking on Aborigine rights in Sixties Australia, Wayne Blair’s debut feature The Sapphires is an all-singing, all-dancing feel-good sparkler.
★★★★☆
A London La Haine, Sally El-Hosaini’s mesmerising debut My Brother The Devil looks at brotherhood, homosexuality and turf wars in post-riot Hackney.
★★★★☆
A tour-de-force of violence and casual love, Jacques Audiard’s Rust And Bone sees the human spirit triumph over the body’s all-too-vulnerable fragility.
★★★★☆
Documenting life on Palestine’s front lines, Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi’s 5 Broken Cameras sees a man with a movie camera uncovering the ethics of filmmaking.
★★★★☆
Denis Lavant’s tour-de-force odyssey across the Parisian stage sees Leos Carax’s Holy Motors is an anarchic love story, romancing the silver screen.
★★★★☆
Braving surveillance, repression and dreams of escape, Christian Petzold’s Barbara looks at life behind the Iron Curtain in this genre-busting romantic thriller.
★★★★☆
A two-part tale of romantic longing and illicit love, Miguel Gomes’ Tabu offers a very cine-literate yet inscrutable look at Murnau, murder and mystery.
★★★★☆
In search of lost time, Patricio Guzmán’s documentary Nostalgia For The Light is a celebration of memory, remembering the past in the Atacama Desert.
★★★★☆
With a fantastic ensemble cast, Maïwenn’s Polisse offers an enjoyably human look into the nether reaches of humanity and its bluecoat defenders.
★★★★☆
Something is revolting in the state of Denmark, Nikolaj Arcel’s A Royal Affair is an intriguing insight into a royal romance and a bloodless revolution.
★★★★☆
An apocalyptic tale of human survival in a godless world, Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse is a graceful rebuke to the hypnotic temptations of nothingness.
★★★★☆
Twisting through two love stories in Sixties’ Paris and modern Montreal, Jean-Marc Vallée’s Café de Flore is a devastating tornado of story and image.
★★★★☆
A devastating bedroom battle of the sexes, Malgorzata Szumowska’s Elles offers a glimpse into the secret lives of women behind closed doors.
★★★★☆
His first English language feature, Paolo Sorrentino’s This Must Be The Place turns the U-turn into a narrative art as a has-been popstar turns Nazi-hunter.