Lucy Popescu

McQueen and Newland’s assured script grips from the start and keeps us deeply involved in the characters’ fates.

Hers delivers a hard lesson about the healing power of love and acceptance with simple and unsentimental eloquence.

It’s multi-layered and beautifully observed – as much about the creative process as it is about obsessive love. It’s a glorious affirmation of how experience feeds artistic endeavour.

There are moments in Bel Canto that stretch credibility but the tension never lets up.

An evocative portrait ... Fiennes utilises a good balance of biography and ballet; emphasising how much Nureyev loved to dance and why, when forced, he chose artistic freedom over love of country.

Foxtrot is a cinematic delight with a profound message at its heart and many striking shots that resonate long after the final credits roll.

Bombach’s camera captures Murad’s extreme courage, her dignity, humility and sorrow – she is wise beyond her years and the weight of her loss hangs heavily on her.

The Children Act brilliantly recreates the measured mind and language of a judge. But McEwan and Eyre are also interested in conveying the tumultuous emotional currents that operate below the surface in a person – often unrecognised until it is too late.

Land of Mine serves as a poignant reminder that revenge destroys more than it satisfies and that compassion aids the healing process.

Although past and current race relations are starkly drawn, Peck's film never feels bleak. This is mainly due to Baldwin's charismatic screen presence, his passion for reasoned argument and the power of his rhetoric.

Hooligan Sparrow is a chilling reminder of the extent of state repression and corruption in China.