McElwee’s intended docu-travelogue about General Sherman’s American Civil War campaign turns into a narcissistic look at his faltering romantic exploits with the Southern women around him, yet its unabashed subjectivity feels surprisingly fresh and compelling.
A construction worker becomes an actor in a theatre production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in this moving and sincere film about how art can help us process grief and cope with daily strife, played by a real-life family of acting professionals who give such naturalistic performances.
A polished but disturbing period film with a ‘modern’ sound design, set in the years after WWI in Copenhagen, as an unemployed and pregnant young woman seeks refuge with an older woman who operates a clandestine baby adoption service.
A Finnish youth environmental activism documentary that is surprisingly genteel, and hence quietly effective and reflective, encouraging us to be compassionate to activists—and as activists—in active modes of disruption.
A staunch if conniving Catholic wife becomes a husband-cum-taxidermist’s worst nightmare in this ‘60s Mexican cult classic that plunges us into the depths of anger and frustration as well as laying bare the hypocrisy of religious faith in creating false narratives.
Glass’ sophomore feature is tense, stylish, violent, sexy and takes some artistic risks, headlined by an excellent Kristen Stewart playing a gym manager who falls in love with a female bodybuilder in a drugs-and-guns-infested small town.
This breakout hit from Sundance about growing up as an Asian-American in the late 2000s is energetic and emotionally resonant, overcoming its sense of familiarity through the sincerity of its filmmaking.
As vital a documentary as any in the last ten years, Derki courageously enters the lion’s den that is terrorist-infested Syria by posing as a war photographer, giving us an unprecedented view of what it is like to be in the company of religious extremists young and old.
Dupieux’s outstanding single-location film works as a sardonic meta-filmic commentary on art and performance as an audience member with a gun takes a theatre show hostage for producing ‘boring work’.
Grand yet intimate, this Cannes Un Certain Regard award winner, about a man who strikes up a friendship with a black stray dog in a small town, mostly avoids overt sentimentalism in its portrayal of changing times in rural China.
Eternality Tan 