Reviews

With its Pulp Fiction-esque sprawl and community of Johannesburg teens, writer and director Mer’s Necktie Youth bears all the hallmarks of a precociously talented young filmmaker – for better or...

Featuring a pair of performances that wouldn't be out of place in a feature, Rene Pannevis' Jacked nicely showcases the continued growth of a promising director. The constant utilisation of  narrow...

Despite Closet Monster dealing with a ‘standard-fare’ topic – teenage angst and sexuality – it manages to prevent itself from seeming derivative.  Unafraid to reveal the still-lurking nastier...

What if God were alive and living with his dysfunctional family in Brussels? The Brand New Testament answers this question and raises many more with its whip-smart and hilarious satire on religion, morality...

Hamstrung by the Church of Scientology’s understandable lack of cooperation, Louis Theroux borrows meta recreation techniques from the likes of The Act of Killing to ingenious effect. Actors’...

Light Years has the kitchen-sink stylistic trappings of an Andrea Arnold film, yet the conflict that drives the narrative is far less apparent. As a result it is at times laboriously low-key, but there are...

Maggie Smith dominates The Lady in the Van, revisiting a theatre role that earned her great accolades. The quieter Alex Jennings as Alan Bennett is a solid choice for her exasperated sparring partner, in...

Somewhat understandably, Mr Gaga is overly reliant on enchanting and hypnotic footage of Naharin’s shows, and the film is bolstered by frank interview input from its subject. Rather than answer the...

In blending Jean-Pierre Jeunet-esque whimsical adventure with a sentimentalised recollection of past love Desplechin straddles and ultimately crosses the line between charm and irksomeness. Stylistically...

Sunset Song’s chronicling of rural wartime hardship is nothing we haven’t seen before. Abusive patriarchs, repressed women and traumatised soldiers are unoriginal ingredients, but Davies turns them into...

This painfully intimate family drama depicts the intense bond between sisters with uncanny power. Together Josephson and Deasismont embody both the joy and rivalry of siblinghood so recognisably that it’s...

A pulpy, old-fashioned cat-and-mouse thriller, Desierto pulls no punches - but offers few surprises - as it exhaustedly staggers towards its high-octane conclusion. Desierto makes no bones about what it...

Take a look at that still up there. If it takes your fancy, then the ever-prolific Takashi Miike's latest, Yakuza Apocalypse, is probably for you. If not, turn back now. Gloriously trashy, Yakuza...

Simultaneously philosophical, sombre and pretentious, yet playful, fun and firmly tongue-in-cheek, Francofonia employs a whimsical and varied approach - not unlike that of Chilean master Patricio Guzmán - to...

A promising plot collapses into a completely shapeless and tedious film beefed up to feature length by the inclusion of a huge amount of irrelevant mundane detail, such as an odd obsession with the...