Festival Review: Elser / 13 Minutes (2015)
★★★☆☆
What can change a man from pacifist to freedom fighter? Oliver Hirschbiegel’s 13 Minutes pays tribute to the German resistant Georg Elser.
★★★
Festival Review: Nasty Baby (2015)
★★★☆☆
The comic story of a New York gay couple trying for a baby with their 30-something best friend, Sebastián Silva’s Nasty Baby falls apart in the final reel.
Festival Review: Every Thing Will Be Fine (2015)
★★★☆☆
A gloriously atmospheric 3D thriller, Wim Wenders’ Every Thing Will Be Fine charts the soul’s repair after a bruising trauma.
Festival Review: Under Electric Clouds (2015)
★★★☆☆
A murky wander through Mother Russia past, present and future, Alexey German’s Under Electric Clouds is an ambitious feat of national navel-gazing.
Festival Review: Body / Cialo (2015)
★★★☆☆
Anorexia, ghosts and the broken bond between father and daughter, Malgorzata Szumowska’s Body is a finely acted black comedy about laying grief to rest.
Festival Review: As We Were Dreaming / Als Wir Träumten (2015)
★★★☆☆
The very German story of rudderless youth in the wake of reunification, Andreas Dresen’s As We Were Dreaming makes for an uninspired and unoriginal adaptation.
Festival Review: Woman In Gold (2015)
★★★☆☆
Dramatising the legal battle over Klimt’s most famous work stolen from a Jewish family by the Nazis, Woman In Gold is a moving courtroom quest for justice.
Festival Review: Mr Holmes (2015)
★★★☆☆
With a bright-eyed performance from Ian McKellen, Bill Condon’s Mr Holmes is a handsome portrait of the detective as an old man.
Festival Review: Diary Of A Chambermaid / Journal d’une Femme De Chambre (2015)
★★★☆☆
A handsome adaptation of Mirbeau’s novel, Benoît Jacquot’s Diary Of A Chambermaid is a vibrant celebration of fin-de-siècle style.
Festival Review: Tough Love / Härte (2015)
★★★☆☆
From pimp to karate teacher, Rosa von Praunheim’s Härte paints a portrait through documentary and drama of a life of violence after a childhood of abuse.
Festival Review: Out Of Nature / Mot Naturen (2014)
★★★☆☆
Putting an unhappy life under the microscope, Ole Giæver’s Out Of Nature is an acute but glum excursion into first world problems.
Festival Review: 600 Miles / 600 Millas (2015)
★★★☆☆
A tense tale of Mexican machismo as a young gun-runner hooks up with a US cop, Gabriel Ripstein’s 600 Miles shows the gangster genre from its sensitive side.
Festival Review: Blue Blood / Sangue Azul (2015)
★★★☆☆
A mesmerising portrait of the loneliness of the beautiful, Lírio Ferreira’s Blue Blood is an enigmatic blend of circus, ballet and cinema.
Selma (2014)
★★★☆☆
A powerful dramatisation of Martin Luther King’s final battle, Ava DuVernay’s Selma is a moving account of the march on racism and the man behind the movement.