David Parkinson

Tsangari proves she's one of the freshest voices in European cinema with this offbeat character piece.

Interesting depiction with a pretty decent performance from Holden and supported by a credible cast.

Best known until now for Oscar-winning holocaust drama "The Counterfeiters," Karl Markovics flexes his muscles on the other side of the camera with terrific effect. A fine, moving debut for the new writer/director.

A compelling study of a small-town lawyer's determination to challenge Cameroon's institutionalised chauvinism, which judiciously combines small triumphs with a daunting sense of the task that lies ahead.

Showing how paradise can be hell, this audiovisual treat is spiritedly played by its leads and bristles with a brooding menace that can't quite disguise the story's essentially melodramatic nature.

Impeccably played by Rebecca Hall, this is a thoughtful reflection on life’s casual cruelties and how little attitudes towards women have changed since Watergate.

The semi-improvised performances and gently nostalgic tone makes this endearing and captivating.

Exceptional, human filmmaking.

Not quite as fully realised as the classic Adam's Rib, but generally good.

A strange foreboding of what was to come from the Hitch.

Angry, impassionate filmmaking that demands - and deserves - serious answers.

Winning WW II story of british pluck that manages to side-step the propaganda trap.

A time capsule now of all that was considered controversial and gutsy in 1966.

Hilarious in places, hideous in others, this struggles to make its philosophical case. But the performances are exceptional and the conceit could not be more daring or distinctive.

Powerful and mesmerising, this offers an fresh approach to a tough topic.

Campion's grasp of her material is intellectually and emotionally assured, while Fox's extraordinary performance demonstrates an honesty, courage and power that's rarely attempted, let alone achieved.

A hauntingly beautiful film.

The performances are credible, but set-pieces like the water-cannoning of a procession of burkha-clad protesters are also impeccably judged.

Olivier's classic and personalised version of the troubled Prince of Denmark is still highly atmospheric and intriguing.

Unflinching in its eschewal of objectivity, this provides a unique perspective on a notorious case, while correcting some of the impressions about urban black youth the media cravenly peddled in its aftermath.

A beautiful but slow moving celebration of life, stunningly photographed.

Creaky, Aged and utterly enchanting. One to be seen on a proper print if you can.

The prototype for now ubiquitous 50 best blabla clips ever shows is well worth a look. They really are a bunch of the best ever.

Packed with cultural references and sly satire, this is also a hugely entertaining comic romp.

A painful and poignant excoriation of the American dream.

Elements of self parody from the master of slapstick leave you yearning for the early work that made his name. But it's worth a watch to see Chaplin and Keaton in one of few on-screen appearances together.

Hitchcock's coldest, hardest movie until its controversial ending.

Nostalgic and charming romance with special moments in the extra-narrative action.

Superbly played and realised, this stays with you.

Filled with striking and scarringly disconcerting images of vandalised nature, satanic mills and redundant modernity, this is a mournful tribute to a maligned migrant workforce and a sobering reminder that nothing comes cheap.

This lesser known Kurosawa feature is worth a look, with outstanding performances and stunning cinematography.

An insightful examination of racism, homophobia and identity in Latin America.

Meticulously controlled, but simmering with a tension that is suffused with fury, this treatise on dignity and depravity, aspiration and apathy is the Dardennes at their most accusatory and damning.

Marx brothers anarchy that makes up for plot inconsistencies with infectious humour.

Sour as month-old milk and with a tang of off-screen animosity in its mouth, Robert Aldrich's melodrama is still hysterical in every sense of the word.

Intriguing and visually atmospheric melodrama with Dietrich doing her sultry thing.

Superbly judging tonal shifts and juggling disparate storylines, this snapshot of a Refice street reveals the class, gender, racial and historical fissures in Brazilian society, while also making for riveting drama right down to the shocking sting in the tail.

A deeply affecting glimpse of a man's quest to salvage beauty from tragedy.

Pascale Ferran as the first female director to adapt this notorious novel absorbs her successful vision with a uniquely romantic vibe.

Wrongly branded misogynist by PC kneejerkers, this is a scathing assault on the exploitative nature of pornography and the emptiness of sex without love.

Played with restraint and individuality by a fine ensemble, this is a moving but provocative study of belief, duty, compassion and acceptance.

Accomplished and assured.

Impossible to appreciate in a single sitting, this masterly piece of polemical filmmaking is as intoxicating as it is intriguing.

At the venerable age of 84, documentary maven Wiseman hasn't lost his touch.

Louis Malle, possibly at his best here. The drama is subtle but affecting.

It might be lesser known, but certainly not deservingly so. This is a cracking piece of Brit cinema.

Filipino maven Diaz delivers a bravura, literary human drama that does justice to its great source material.

An affecting reflection on the loneliness we will all have to face at our end, held together by Vicky Krieps's poised display of unself-pitying despair and liberating acceptance.

This 1967 Ming Dynasty epic may lack plot complexity and period spectacle. But the stand-off in a remote inn is flecked with tension, wit and slick martial artistry.

Deftly played and beautifully photographed, this may lack depth, but its observations on human transience are deeply moving.

Warm and thought-provoking portrayal of a journey and a man coping with the onset of age and all that might mean.

Director Pablo Trapero seals his enviable reputation with this exceptional study of isolation and grief.

Outstanding account of a pivotal moment in small-screen history.

A rich and imaginative evocation of a family in turmoil.

With Pendleton inhabiting three different bodies in the course of 93 minutes, this was quite an intricate storyline for a Hollywood comedy. But Alexander Hall (an unsung journeyman whose credits included Shirley Temple's Little Miss Marker) kept the action briskly accessible, even where Death was involved.

A powerful and provoking take on a violent and volatile era.

Visually striking and explosively violent, this simmering parable makes exceptional use of its rustic locations — and the faces of a vibrant cast — to reinforce a sense of authenticity.

Not as depressing as the subject matter might suggest, this tackles heavy themes of modern life.

Woody's neuroses are still gloriously present, and the whole thing is made accessible by Herbert Ross' dynamic direction.

A moving treatment of a deeply personal subject (France's own partner died of an AIDS-related illness in 1992), and an enthralling depiction of a seriously fired-up popular movement.

Full of fascinating behavioural insights and moments that are both hilarious and adorable, this studied treatise on the personality and emotionality of domestic animals should provide plentiful food for thought.

Written with great insight by Kogo Noda and filmed with painterly delicacy by Asakazu Nakai, though Ozu's touch brings the magic to this domestic drama.

Poetic, provocative and unstoppably powerful. But, depressingly, it probably won't change a thing.

A delight from start to finish.

A bruising psychodrama from the Palme d'Or winner that taps into the dark heart of central European superstition.

Compelling morality tale that works on multiple layers.

A true emotional epic.

Although lacking specific context and fussily presented, this is a harrowing account of the Arab Spring as witnessed by seven reluctant and committed activists in Libya, Syria and Bahrain. The footage of the violence inflicted upon civilians is truly terrifying.

Long, but engrossing and frequently enraging drama that not only exposes the flaws in the Romanian health service, but also in modern humanity.

Unstintingly raw and cynical, this disconcerting and deeply affecting State Of The Union treatise regularly comes dangerously close to caricature.

A deeply disconcerting provocation about the future of civilisation: a powerfully performed vision of an insignificant humanity.

Challengingly spellbinding.

Seminal feature from Tarkovsky, the master of atmosphere and multi-functional allegory is truly affecting, as well as fodder for countless film studies curricula.

An epic masterpiece, albeit in need of a tweak here and there.

Whether viewed as a political allegory or a domestic drama, this is the most accessible film yet from one of Europe’s very finest filmmakers.

A joyous exploration of family life that will touch and surprise.

A bleak and moving drama with reflective performance from Jack Nicolson.

As meticulous as one of Claudel's sculptures, Hors Satan director Dumont and his star do this true-life story justice with an empathetic telling.

This study in chaos and calculation not only makes for harrowingly compelling viewing, but it also exposes the apathy of an international community that simply turned the other way.

Winning Best Film at that year's Oscars, this John Huston film typically epic with a faithful screenplay to Richard Llewellyn's famous novel. Strong performances from Crisp and O'Hara although McDowall as the young lead, gives a particularly memorable performance while the setting shows Wales at its most beautiful.

Powerful art cinema that challenges political and social unity in Iran.

A typically poignant lifestory illuminated by strong turns from Dussollier and Azéma, Alain Resnais' latest is one to stir the brain as well as the heart.

The formula of an innocent thrust into a nightmare would fascinate Hitch for decades to come, but here he packs the tale with strong characters and important details.

Taut, tense and teasing, this fascinating exercise in screen storytelling keeps viewers guessing whether the prime suspect might just be a victim.

Instructive, insightful and inspiring, Maiden is a rousingly riveting record of a remarkable accomplishment that says as much about British bloody-mindedness as it does about feminist fortitude and underdog pluck.

Impassioned and disturbing, this documentary matches "The Cove" for marrying cool intellect with real fire.

An unflinching and affecting depiction of the region’s tragic lunacies.

As angry and unflinching a piece of documentary filmmaking as you'll see this year.

Humane and perceptive memoir from Allen, with a pleasant visual nostalgia and the usual slew of impressive performances.

Although time doesn't flatter the film much, it remains engaging and insightful.

Complex and sophisticated, this genre-defying crime story is spellbinding viewing.

A touching and insightful black comedy that gracefully spans sixty years.

Witty, moving and visually dazzling.

Harrowing and complex, this study in terror is not for the faint of heart.

Witty, warm and beautifully filmed by Franz Planer and Henri Alekan, it remains an unabashed romantic delight, with Hepburn particularly luminescent. [Review of re-release]

Keiller's follow up to his cine-essays London and Robinson In Space is another intelligent, thought-provoking piece of filmmaking.

For all the courage and ingenuity of this extraordinary film, it's clear that Caouette has actually resolved few issues and that his life is still very much a work in progress.

This intelligently scripted and imposingly played costume noir revisits the conventions of Victorian melodrama to comment on modern attitudes to oppression, prejudice and morality.