Locke (2013)
★★★★☆
With Tom Hardy single-handedly driving the film and Steven Knight’s dirty, pretty script at the wheel, Locke is an elegant one-hander of life in the fast lane.
★★★★
Tom At The Farm / Tom à la Ferme (2013)
★★★★☆
A relationship tattooed in love and hate, Xavier Dolan’s Tom At The Farm is a tense thriller where homosexual love meets homophobia at its most dangerous.
The Past / Le Passé (2013)
★★★★☆
The emotional secrets of two families are revealed when an Iranian returns to Paris to finalise his divorce from his French wife.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
★★★★☆
With a cast list as long as your livery-sleeved arm, Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel is a colourful romp through the bright lights of Old Europe.
Nymphomaniac (2013)
★★★★☆
A riot of sex, literary references and A-list performances in two volumes, Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac is an erotic catechism on the agony and the ecstasy.
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
★★★★☆
A stylish Jim Jarmusch movie, Only Lovers Left Alive is a contemporary tale of centuries-old world-weary vampires, their lives sustained by love and blood.
Stranger By The Lake / L’Inconnu Du Lac (2013)
★★★★☆
With murderers among us, Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger By The Lake turns a sexually explicit peek at gay cruising into a political metaphor in the horror genre.
Her (2013)
★★★★☆
In a near future dominated by computers, Spike Jonze’s Her sees a lonely man fall in love with his operating system, which understands him better than he does himself.
Teenage (2013)
★★★★☆
A teenage dream’s so hard to beat, Matt Wolf gets his Teenage kicks from all over the globe, charting the rise and fall of youth in the twentieth century.
The Railway Man (2013)
★★★★☆
The true story of Eric Lomax, the prisoner of war who many years after World War II forgave and became friends with the Japanese soldiers who tortured him.
The Missing Picture / L’Image Manquante (2013)
★★★★☆
A testimony to the horrors of the Khmer Rouge in clay, Rithy Panh’s The Missing Picture is a poetic and intelligent rumination on survival, memory and murder.
Age Of Uprising – The Legend Of Michael Kohlhaas (2013)
★★★★☆
Unpicking the tragic deadlock of a wronged man out for justice, Arnaud des Pallières’ Michael Kohlhaas is a fine tribute to people power and ruthless idealism.
Mandela – Long Walk To Freedom (2013)
★★★★☆
From boyhood to presidency, Justin Chadwick offers a solid biopic of Nelson Mandela, the iconic world statesman who achieved a political and moral miracle in South Africa.
All Is Lost (2013)
★★★★☆
All is Lost is a one-man tour de force that will either crown Robert Redford’s acting career so far or signal his return to it after concentrating on his Sundance Festival.