Ben Nicholson

★★☆☆☆ Not to be confused with Steven Soderbergh’s comic caper of the same name starring a moustachioed Matt Damon, Julien Leclercq’s The Informant (2013) is a thriller based on an autobiographical novel by Marc Fievet. In this instance, it’s a title that seems a little less unique than the French original – Gibraltar – but…

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★★★★☆ Despite, or perhaps due to, the ever-present spectre of funding cuts and the commonly espoused notion that our national cinema’s global influence is on the wane, Britain is currently producing some exceptional filmmaking talent.

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★★★☆☆ In 2011, Bosnian director Danis Tanović read a story in a newspaper about the touching travails of an impoverished Roma family before later taking it upon himself to tell their story. Three years later, his neorealist drama An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (2013) arrives in selected UK cinemas having claimed…

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★★★★☆ Whilst it would be churlish to say that Lukas Moodysson has ever really been away, it’s still possible to proclaim his return with the irresistible We Are the Best! (2013). Adapted from the loosely autobiographical graphic novel by his wife, Coco, it’s difficult not to be reminded of the authenticity and charm of Moodysson’s 1998…

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★★★☆☆ When everyone’s friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler was rebooted in 2012 it was to scoffs, with the credits having barely rolled on Sam Raimi’s version of the comic book superhero. Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man was largely a retread of the 2002 original but excelled in the improved chemistry between its leads, and in bringing a…

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★★☆☆☆ French filmmaker Katell Quillévéré’s second offering, Suzanne (2013), is an ambitious attempt to present a good twenty-five years (or perhaps, in greater detail, a decade) of her titular lead character’s life into a single ninety-minute feature. Following on from the coming-of-age trials of her debut, Love Like Poison (2010), Suzanne charts the stilted maturation of a…

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★★★☆☆ It’s indomitable personalities and powerhouse voices that shine through in Morgan Neville’s enjoyable ode to stellar backing singers, 20 Feet from Stardom (2013). The film scooped the Oscar for Best Documentary at last month’s star-studded ceremony and features exactly the blend of glamour, sentiment and toe-tapping music that one might expect to appeal to…

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★★★☆☆ A stoic tough guy being confronted by his own maltreated conscience is hardly a novelty in cinema. When the convention is adopted, there is always the hope that it with the intention to approach the subject from some fresh angle, or provide a new kind of insight into age-old roles. In Fabio Grassadonia and…

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★★★☆☆ “Taking photographs with a view camera is a world apart,” explains celebrated Gallic photographer and filmmaker Raymond Depardon as he clicks his shutter. It’s through this deliberate medium that he has chosen to capture a later-life nationwide trek to experience the homeland that he has long neglected in favour of adventure overseas. This road…

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