★★★★☆ In his previous two features, Lenny Abrahamson has managed to coax sensational performances from Jack Reynor (What Richard Did) and, even beneath an enormous papier mâché head, Michael Fassbender (Frank). The director has done it again with Room (2015), an intimate, harrowing drama that features stellar performances from both Continue Reading

★★☆☆☆ The inherent drama of political election campaigns have long proved effective oil for the cinematic narrative machine – both inside and outside the Hollywood dream factory. Whilst the cogs are whirring at full steam for David Gordon Green’s latest venture, Our Brand Is Crisis (2015) turns out to be Continue Reading

★★★★☆ “People are dying, you’re singing,” come the words of recrimination as four kids with homemade instruments are drenched in water from a window. Of course, they’re words laced with dramatic irony when deployed at the beginning of a well known a true story as is presented in Hany Abu-Assad’s Continue Reading

★★★★☆ Returning to screens over ten years after her memorable debut Innocence, Lucile Hadžihalilovic’s new film is akin to a beguiling and deeply unsettling siren’s song. An alchemical concoction of timeless folklore and science fiction body horror, Evolution (2015) may vaguely resemble what might be the result were David Cronenberg Continue Reading

★★★★☆ In 2007, individuals associated with charity group Zoé’s Ark were charged with child abduction in Chad – their intention was to have the children placed into foster families in France. A fictionalised version of the scenario forms the basis for Our Children (2012) director Joachim Lafosse’s new film The Continue Reading

★★★☆☆ It’s taken them long enough, but the Pentagon have finally turned to filmmaker Michael Moore for some sage advice regarding US foreign policy. At least, that’s the tongue-in-cheek conceit of the mischievous documentarian’s latest tub-thumper, Where to Invade Next (2015). It affords Moore the opportunity to trot the globe Continue Reading

★★★☆☆ The guys at Borderline Films are making something of a habit of striking, complex psychological dramas such as Antonio Campos’ After School and Simon Killer, or Sean Durkin’s excellent Martha Marcy May Marlene. The third member of this cinematic triumvirate is Josh Mond who having served as producer on Continue Reading

★★★★☆ Another year, another Frederick Wiseman documentary, reaffirming his elegant mastery of his chosen medium. It’s always refreshing to see the veteran director continuing to work in his trademark long-form, observational style – particularly in a contemporary marketplace that tends to be dominated by sabre-rattling, issue-driven fare. Wiseman’s films have Continue Reading

★★★☆☆ There’s a strange taboo at the heart of Anne Sewitsky’s sophomore directorial effort Homesick (2015), which she also wrote alongside Ragnhild Tronvoll. That taboo is not the subject of incest – which features heavily – but rather acknowledging with that very fact. If you happened to turn away from Continue Reading

★★★☆☆ Der Nachtmahr (2015), the directorial debut of German multi-disciplinary artist Akiz, begins with a title card requesting that the following film is “played loud, okay?”. This immediately suggests that the sensory experience will be as key to gaining understanding as intellectual engagement, and so proves to be the case. Continue Reading