There's strong work here in places but as was to be expected, the film struggles when it comes to providing a wider framework for events.
Dressed for the occasion in an elegant evening dress, Amanda enters the huge and luxurious limousine waiting in front of her house to take her to the gala where she will receive a prize for her acting career. Suddenly the windows are tinted black, Amanda's cell phone is disabled and she cannot open any of the doors. And then a voice, distorted by a metallic filter, starts a series of lurid, invasive and shocking commands.
Teen shockers are growing up. This is an excellent example of the cruel step-parents scenario, which, in the past, would have degenerated into mad-axe behaviour.
Orphans are taken in by a couple
who aren't as altruistic as they
first appear.
There is no doubt that the women's stories are heartbreaking, but they are not helped to express their views by Rahmanian, who persists in thrusting the camera in their faces at every opportunity.
Four teenagers attempt to overcome their problems at a day centre in Tehran.
Debut feature director Francis Lee grew up on a Yorkshire farm and it shows in every inch of this film.
Young sheep farmer Johnny numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex, until the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker offers the promise of something else.
Nicole Garcia has a loose-limbed almost casual approach to directing, her easy way with actors drawing you in to this emotionally complex tale of loneliness and connection.
A loner teacher finds his life changed by an encounter with a single mum.
In Gone Baby Gone, Affleck transposes Dennis Lehane’s searing novel about child abduction to the big screen without sacrificing either its dark mood or moral ambivalence.
A private investigator looks for a missing four-year-old.
Though his parallels are subtly evoked by a voice-over that is barely a whisper, Curean’s “non-interventionist” approach risks accusations of complicity in the casual animal cruelty he documents.
In a landscape now largely abandoned by humans, wild horses face gradual extinction.
There is a skittishness to Guy Myhill's debut that initially feels impressionistic but ultimately seems like carelessness as his narrative weaves unsteadily through its central character's coming of age, unsure where to place its emphasis.
A youngster faces a troubling coming of age and romance thanks to his mother's overbearing and vicious boyfriend.
