Serena Donadoni

Edwards is content with presenting Mavis as she sees herself: as the conduit for a song's message, and a voice to uplift the weary.

Cash Only features many familiar action movie markers, but it's distinguished by a raw energy and strong sense of place.

P.S. Jerusalem is as modest as a home movie but profoundly captures the conflict between individual conscience and national identity.

This musical comedy is sugary and sincere.

The restrained performances of Dubreuil and Yaron (Fill the Void) gradually reveal the flaws and strengths of this fragile couple, while Twersky is quietly devastating as an abandoned husband who fully understands devotion and sacrifice.

While Saldivar and Burgos are better dancers than actors, Collado and Flores are incredibly charismatic performers who bring every scene they’re in to life, but it’s Zayas who anchors Shine. His gravitas shot through with mischief sets the film’s tone, showing that serious-minded storytelling can still be fun.

Josue tries to reclaim his narrative with this intimate, positive portrait, but while Shepard's brave and resourceful parents encourage her, they realized long ago that his death means he no longer belongs solely to them.

In his astute look at the artistry and business of food, de Maistre makes the case that haute cuisine serves the same function as haute couture, creating an indelible experience while encouraging new ideas to filter through the industry.

In this unhurried full version, Benson allows grief to transform his characters, with few guarantees and plenty of regrets.

In this unhurried full version, Benson allows grief to transform his characters, with few guarantees and plenty of regrets.

What makes the film work is Koler's magnetic performance as Michal, who has screwball energy and a mind of her own.

What Laurent and Dion do best is present pockets of progressive change as blueprints for idealism in action.

Browning captures Eve's weariness and enthusiasm, and her lovely voice and crisp delivery gives Murdoch's labored lyrics a vulnerable immediacy.

Instead of glorifying the amber liquid, Whisky Galore! is a love letter to an isolated community trapped in amber.

When Fancher’s weathered visage finally appears, he recounts more regrets than triumphs, but in Almereyda’s affectionate biographical scrapbook, his accomplishments are small manifestations of an iconoclastic existence whose reward is a messy, cherished independence.

Acher adroitly juggles all the gimmickry, using it to comment on Holly and Guy's burgeoning relationship.

Making Rounds demonstrates the real value of medicine with a human touch.

The performances in October Gale subvert genre expectations: Clarkson displays toughness and resolve without turning into Liam Neeson, and the distressed Speedman is as vulnerable as he is determined.

My Name Is Emily gets lighter as it goes along, releasing tension and pretension for a pleasant, routine ride.

This lovely debut film contains all the ingredients of a culture-clash drama, which Lucero handles with a light touch.

Weltz presents events through the sunny filter of Scout's resourceful optimism. Every obstacle is viewed as a creative challenge.

The philosophical underpinnings of Swiss director Pierre Morath's well-paced documentary about the evolution of long-distance running evoke the motto of neighboring France: liberté, égalite, fraternité.

Yudin's surface-level portrait looks for deeper truths, but finds them in unexpected ways.

Tixier never strays far from a worshipful view of André and her sanctuary, but the film evolves into an interesting primer on the differences between life in captivity and the wild.

Greenwald and cinematographer Wolfgang Held linger on the idyllic beauty of the salt marsh and trees draped with Spanish moss, using the vivid cerulean of native blue crabs to link her characters.

Kennedy unabashedly admires scientists, and Food Evolution is his rallying cry to make advocacy as important as lab work.

Robin uses well-timed jolts and gross-out moments to awaken his solitary characters from their stupor, to shock them into acknowledging that their existence isn’t confined to the soul’s protective shell.

Extraordinary ordinariness is Two Step's saving grace.