The Endless (2017)
★★★☆☆
The Endless is Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s excellent sci-fi horror fantasy UFO death-cult adventure.
★★★
Sundance London ’18: Hereditary (2018)
★★★★☆
Hereditary is a sophisticated, updated horror movie by Ari Aster that showcases Toni Collette as her family falls apart.
Leave No Trace (2018)
★★★★☆
Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace is a sympathetic, realistic character study of a father and daughter trying to adapt to society after being off grid in a US wilderness.
L’Amant Double (2017)
★★★☆☆
François Ozon is on quirky erotic form in L’Amant Double, a mystery of psychoanalysis and seduction.
Ismael’s Ghosts (2017)
★★★☆☆
Arnaud Desplechin’s Ismaël’s Ghosts is an abstract, at times melodramatic, interweaving of nightmare, filmmaking, fiction and reality.
On Chesil Beach (2017)
★★★☆☆
On Chesil Beach is a well-acted, sensitive adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novella.
Redoubtable (2017)
★★★☆☆
In a timely release for the anniversary of the May 1968 almost-revolution in Paris, Michel Hazanavicius wickedly funny re-invention of Jean-Luc Godard in Redoubtable, as seen though the eyes of Anne Wiazemsky, his second wife.
How To Talk To Girls At Parties (2017)
★★★★☆
John Cameron Mitchell’s How To Talk To Girls At Parties is an unlikely mash-up of punk and aliens in the British suburbs.
Lean on Pete (2017)
★★★★☆
Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete is coming-of-age road movie grounded in the all-American setting of quarter-horse racing.
Funny Cow (2017)
★★★★☆
Funny Cow showcases Maxine Peake’s versatility when she stars as a ground-breaking female comedian surviving in the misogynistic Seventies.
Let the Sunshine In (2017)
★★★★☆
Juliette Binoche stars in a rom-com departure for Claire Denis in Let the Sunshine In (Un Beau Soleil Interior).
Thoroughbreds (2017)
★★★★☆
A film adapted from his stage play, Thoroughbreds is Corey Finley’s directorial debut. It’s a stylised teen thriller/black comedy of well-plotted cross and double-cross with two amoral central characters.
Isle of Dogs (2018)
★★★☆☆
Ruff cut – Wes Anderson’s surprise venture into animation in Isle of Dogs.
Journeyman (2017)
★★★★☆
Paddy Considine directs and stars in Journeyman, a melodrama about the hidden toll of boxing.