David Parkinson

Moving and atmospheric, this quest tale is among the best of its kind.

Both funny and touching, this showcases Chaplin at his best.

Ideal Sunday afternoon fare.

One of the Nouvelle Vague's boldest achievements.

Impeccably mounted and played, this is gastro-cinema at its most sensual and intoxicating.

A thriller that twists and turns with an understated power that will have you gripping the arm of your seat. Terrific stuff.

Although not all the loose ends are tied up in the telling of this bizarre and absorbing tale of love, grief and goose-bumps, one scarcely minds at all, since the fourth-dimensional doings on offer, (underlined with a marvellously moody, haunting score by Zbigniew Preisner) are like an erotic trip into The Twilight Zone.

A touching and revelatory piece of film-making about the plights of real people living in an uncertain world.

Chock full of larger-than-life characters, it's an enthralling insight into a raw, bloodied world.

Typical James Stewart defeating bullies with integrity stuff.

Captivating and poignant portayal of life on the edge for the disregarded of our societies.

Magnificent absurdist crime drama from the master of suspense.

Bleak brilliance.

Satirical Samurai action of the highest order.

Switching from dour humour to humanist drama without seeming contrived, this is a masterclass in combining character and landscape that is played with deceptive poignancy by the excellent leads.

Shot in magisterial black-and-white, veteran director Trueba's drama is a welcome return from the Belle Epoque man.

The execution could be improved, but the sheer zip of the real life story just about carries this wartime tale along.

Storytelling of breathtaking scale and grandeur, even if the complex plotting may twist your synapses along the way.

Bleak and compelling.

Less audacious than A Bout de Souffle, this is, however, one of Godard's most accessible pictures. A good place to learn how much of a debt modern cinema owes him.

A classic of the weepy genre so have some toilet roll handy.

Cocteau has produced a bizarre, interesting although at times tedious movie.

Vibrantly recreating a seminal period in Jodorowsky's personal and artistic development, this bullishly played saga has enough quirky detail, audacious incident and visual panache to sweep the storyline through its less persuasive phases.

Subtle and multi-layered film-making with compelling performances.

Impeccably performed by its young leads and nurturing supporting cast, this deeply personal picture particularly impresses in the closing scenes, which are quietly devastating in their intimacy, insight and truth.

Knowingly blending realist grit with generic guile, this unrelentingly tense account of a fragmented family living in constant fear thoroughly merited the Best Director prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Thrillingly capturing both time and place and fizzing with non-judgemental empathy and cinematic flair, this is a magnificent debut that catapults Laetitia Dosch into the front rank of French actresses.

An atmospheric rite of passage that suggests big things lie ahead for its writer-director and young cast.