David Parkinson

A slick, enthralling look at the life of Vallanzasca but fails to truly get under his skin.

Tender and touching, this gay coming-of-ages story is underpinned by a terrific, subtle turn from newcomer Florizoone.

Too many generic tropes for this downbeat, detached melodrama to convince as a work of social realism but a strong central performance and convincing depiction of the compartmentalisation of Argentina's women.

A timely documentary that seeks to amuse and inform as much as alarm.

Lemmon and Maclaine fail to reproduce the chemistry from The Apartment but this slight film is not as ignorable as reputation suggests.

A challenging and intelligent Swedish drama that still raises laughs.

An intriguing and compelling documentary that provides insight into Kiefer's artwork.

The father and son chemistry give this blackly-comic slice of social realism a dose of Ealing-lite wit.

A quirky road-trip movie with things to say. A return to form for Depardieu too.

This tale of Mexican poverty refuses to lapse into sensation or melodrama.

A very thin story stretched out for over two hours, this is a melange of the wonderful and the pompous.

It’s instilled with the bite and bark of Bilko’s capitalist fervour, and has a fun line in cool, snappy dialogue, although never intending to be quite so broadly a comedy.

This grungy anti-musical will offend just about everyone with its attitude towards women, gays, kids, and the elderly.

Now practically an exile from his homeland, Kiarostami follows Certified Copy with another film-literate relationship drama with the enigmatic overtones of Hitchcock.

A romance not nearly as seductive as its lead actress.

Complemented by its black-and-white photography and a moody DJ Shadow score, this is a gritty yet often tender look at society's margins.

Well-served by a laudably authentic ensemble, the director explores both character and ethnicity with a canny wit.

The plot pieces might slot into place with a resounding clang, but what it lacks in finesse, this brutal actioner more than makes up for in bullish bravura and technical slickness.

Tender and beautifully acted, it's a unflinchingly bleak glimpse of life on Australia's margins.

Shot with grace and precision but paced with all the urgency of a Sunday afternoon stroll, Joanna Hogg's Haneke-lite study of an English middle class family is a well-crafted affair elevated by terrific moments.

Forman and screenwriter Michael Weller brought a sense of coherence to the original freewheeling structure and Twyla Tharp's choreography imparted an infectious dynamism. But, the profanity, nudity and disregard for the fourth wall that had made the stage show such a sensation were lost in the translation.

As Cunningham goes about his work chronicling changes in fashion and the city he loves, a portrait emerges of a man deserving of ever bit of the respect and esteem in which he's held. There's few sharp edges or dirt digging, but it's no less engaging for that.

Interesting portrait of the shallow nature of fame but overall this fails to engage on an emotional level.

Klayman exploits the opportunity to follow a man at the eye of a cultural and political storm, although more detail on his creative process and private life would have welcome.

Regardless of the skittish structure and illegible subtitles, this is a valuable reflection on an incalculably influential career, which serves as a timely reminder about the pitfalls of artistic tyranny.

A fly-on-the-wall look at the band that will thrill fans but may not convert too many non-believers.

Lushly photographed by Andrei Zhegalov and impeccably played, it’s a long-overdue corrective to the kind of wildly patriotic war film produced in the Soviet era.

Powerful, personal, but bombastic.