Patrick Peters

Shot over three years, this is one of the more considered and insightful Iraqi documentaries - although some may find its stylistic contrasts a little self-conscious and distracting.

Keeping it surreal has never been so nauseating and, at times, hilarious.

Claire Denis' drama is an overly fastidious but insight-filled look at post-colonial Africa.

May be contrived and overlong, but it is also technically distinctive and utterly compelling in its analysis of Swedish attitudes towards race.

As passionate and wide-ranging as you'd hope, but disappointingly mistrusting of its audience's interest in the finer points of the case.

Both women are impeccably played by Maria Bonnevie.

A hit in Berlin, the Taviani siblings' documentary has plenty of wit and punch, although compared to the best of the medium - "Man On Wire," for instance - it sometimes comes off as guileless and clunky.

Strong performances and meticulous direction make this consistently disconcerting, but the subplot distracts from the moving human drama.

Rip Torn and Darren Burrows respectively over- and underplay their hands in this archly restrained Memphis melodrama.

The cast are terrific, but byt he end, the film is struggling to stay together as much as the family it depicts.

This plays very much like a standard biopic, lacking the dangerous spirit of the movie that inspired it.

A compelling story told with Morris's usually flair. Still, hard not to think of it as a disappointment by the director's exalted standards and a missed opportunity to explore society's dysfunctional relationship with its media.

Unsparing in its portrayal of the seedier side of French society, only Polisse's loose focus keeps it from matching The Class for emotional punch. It's still a worthy companion piece to TV police procedurals like Spiral.

Hogg stages some scenes with a sure sense of composition and dramatic tension but too often the film feels self-conscious and ponderous.

A frustratingly ungraspable movie collage compiled with real visual flair.

A decent snapshot of pre-Beatle Britain, this is much more a fact-based gay melodrama than a trenchant portrait of Joe Orton's life, loves and art.

A fond and always accessible portrait, but the lack of objectivity and drooling images of Gehry's work deprives this documentary of any objectivity.

Brimful of glorious sounds, this affectionate fan letter says as much about Pops Staples's artistic and political evolution as it does about his devoted daughter, one of the all-time greats.

The structure similarly misses the flashbacking subtlety of the original. Even the characterisation lacks depth.

Beautiful to look at but lacking a strong point.

Despite the odd moment of visual bravura, this mockumentary is too aware of its own satirical daring. Consequently, it's never as dark, dangerous or amusing as it thinks - and the soundtrack is diabolical.

A slyly subversive insight into the role of women in the Israeli military, this is a surprisingly compassionate satire that makes its political points without resorting to caricature.

Has its moments of spectacle and danger, but offers too few genuine insights or rite-of-passage epiphanies.

Disappointing third act to this brave drama about love and sex in our later years.

A satisfaction conclusion to the trilogy.

The action meanders occasionally, but the performances are consistently disarming and Luciano Zito and Diego del Piano’s black-and-white photography complements the mood of ironic melancholy.

This is a gentle, camp but nonetheless revealing satire on how a nation circumvented the social strictures imposed upon it by Franco's fading fascist regime.

Abrasive but affecting.