Anderson crafts an offbeat love story that manages to be sweet, hilarious, absurd – and wholly believableThere’s something propulsively intoxicating about the films of Paul Thomas Anderson. Watching Punch-Drunk Love left me in exactly the state describ…
The Bonfire review – distinctive icy parable of guilt and remorse
Yakut director Dmitry Davydov’s first feature is an intriguing examination of redemption in Sakha, a remote Russian republicDmitry Davydov is the self-taught Russian director from the remote eastern republic of Sakha who has been gaining golden opinio…
Passing review – life is anything but black and white in Rebecca Hall’s smart period drama
Ruth Negga is magnetic in Hall’s adaptation of Nella Larsen’s story of race in 1920s HarlemAt a glamorous party in 1920s Harlem, a young black woman and an older white man perch at the edge of a dancefloor. “Can you always tell the difference?” he asks…
The Bacchus Lady review – Youn Yuh-jung leads tale of life on the margins in Seoul
The Oscar winner is a compelling lead in an unconventional drama about an ageing prostitute in the Korean capitalYoun Yuh-jung made history earlier this year by becoming the first Korean to win an acting Oscar, for her role as the bluff, pro-wrestling-…
Streaming: Fast & Furious and other great car movies
The juggernaut series, including its latest instalment F9, powers on in the slipstream of full-throttle classics from Thunder Road and The Italian Job to Bullitt and Mad Max It’s funny to think it’s been 20 years since the release of the first film …
The French Connection at 50: one of the greatest New York movies ever
William Friedkin peaked in 1971 with his thrilling crime drama, known for its show-stopping car chase, but elevated by so much moreThe advantage of shooting on location is that fiction films can have the texture of a documentary, preserving forever a s…
Mass: the movie that dares to explore the unimaginable pain of school shootings
The devastating drama, by writer-director Fran Kranz, bridges the depressing familiarity and unthinkable grief of mass shootings in the US by focusing on the personalIt’s understandable if your first question of the movie Mass, set six years in the aft…
Fever Dream review – a beautiful and bonkers future cult classic
Director Claudia Llosa returns to form with a woozy work about a cosy domesticity in rural Argentina shattered by uncanny intrudersAfter making high-arthouse awards-magnet The Milk of Sorrow in her native Peru in 2009, director Claudia Llosa stumbled i…
Baracoa review – a poetic journey through bittersweet childhood
This part fiction, part documentary film captures the spontaneity of young friends Leonel and AntuànDirected by Pablo Briones, Sean Clark, and Jace Freeman, here is a film that blurs the lines between fiction and documentary as it accentuates bitterswe…
Angeliena review – car park worker dreams of getaway in shallow South African drama
Thin characterisation and a superficial critique of wealth inequality post-apartheid keep Uga Carlini’s fiction in first gearThe colourful opening of Uga Carlini’s Angeliena suggests a giddy ride awaits: the camera follows a suitcase plastered with tra…