David Parkinson

Clara Bow is mesmerising in this ahead-of-its-tie air force drama.

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.

Romance novel in narrative this transcends its genre with visual depth and perceptive socio-cultural insights.

An interesting piece from Hungary with much to enjoy, only slightly dampened by the occasional clunky device.

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

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

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

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.

This is a suberbly structured thriller whose excellence is aided and abetted by a spirited cast.

This spends more time on the tensions between the dominant trio than their landmark campaigning.

If Tom Jones now feels something of a product of its times, it still deserves credit for attempting something new - no matter how derivative.

Challengingly spellbinding.

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.

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

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

A fun and frothy mock-doc with a message buried in its axle.

As with a number of arthouse films, the ending leaves something to be desired. But, courtesy of its meticulously mundane digital imagery, this is a film of precise details that sketches an outline of existence and then leaves it to the audience to draw their own conclusions.

Superb star turn from Maria Alexandra Lungi but this doesn’t grip as it might.

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.

Marlene Dietrich tries not to give anything away as usual while Agatha Christie's whodunit plot whirs tidily about her expressionless beauty.

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.

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

Simmering study of a petty hood-cum-wannabe pianist succumbing to his innate violent side - but there might be a touch too much ivory tinkling for some.

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

Combining widescreen lyricism and neo-realist intimacy, this is a poignant reflection on the stark situation awaiting so many migrants who risk everything to reach a false paradise. The methodology occasionally feels calculating, but the intentions couldn't be more sincere, as the struggles are destined to continue once the cameras leave.

Some may find this sprawling film hard to adjust to, but for those who can, it is a real find. With an imaginative plot and an amusing direction, this charming film is a fitting way to end Cocteau's career.

A simple, elemental tale that makes breaking the heart seem like the easiest and most natural thing a filmmaker can do to his audience. Which, of course, it isn't.

A strange story that's no less disturbing for its unbalanced telling.