The Wall / Die Wand (2012)
★★★★☆
An exploration of self beyond the lives of others, Julian Pölsler’s The Wall puts femininity and humanity on show in a glass cage.
★★★★☆
An exploration of self beyond the lives of others, Julian Pölsler’s The Wall puts femininity and humanity on show in a glass cage.
★★★☆☆
A modern take on the clown’s tragedy, Tom Shkolnik’s The Comedian is short on laughs but strong on introspection.
★★★☆☆
A homage to the men of the cloth fighting poverty in Argentina, Pablo Trapero’s White Elephant explores the moral murk and courage of the missionary position.
★★★☆☆
Dominga Sotomayor’s Chilean road movie Thursday Till Sunday is a beguiling and tender children’s-eye-view of a changing adult world.
★★★★☆
Of schoolboy crushes and French assignments, François Ozon’s labyrinthine In The House is an intricate maze of fiction and reality worth getting lost in.
★★★★☆
Matteo Garrone’s Reality is a well thought-out satire on fame and the pursuit of celebrity in Berlusconi’s reality TV-obsessed Italy.
★★★★☆
An unlikely odd-couple relationship between man and robot, Robot & Frank poignantly contrasts human memory and ageing with its computerised counterparts.
★★★★☆
Set in 1945 in a Germany coming to terms with defeat, Cate Shortland’s Lore is an intimate and evocative portrait of lost innocence.
★★★★☆
Through the testimony of signing victims, Alex Gibney’s documentary Mea Maxima Culpa Silence In The House Of God lifts the lid on Church secrecy and child abuse.
★★★★☆
Televising the revolution, Pablo Larrain’s No puts advertising and happiness at the heart of Chile’s campaign to depose Pinochet.
★★★☆☆
Seventeen short films about Graham Chapman, A Liar’s Autobiography offers a kaleidoscopic view of the legendary gay and alcoholic Python.
★★★★☆
A colourful journey through India’s rich history, Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children is a beautiful adaptation of Rushdie’s unfilmable novel, vibrant and beguiling.
★★★☆☆
Starring his own mother Charlotte Rampling, Barnaby Southcombe’s psychological London thriller I, Anna is taking motherhood to task.
★★★★☆
Stylish, witty and clever, Xavier Dolan’s Queer Palm winner Laurence Anyways shows the pain of reinvention, the tragedy of impossible love and the survival of the spirit.