Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival — A–Z of films

Otero, who is in almost every scene, carries the film with her fresh and naturalistic performance, which is perfectly complemented by Solaguren’s impressionistic style.

Oscar shortlisted for Best International Feature and Best Documentary, this is an intense film with little respite even when no bullets are being fired.

Petzold’s most literary film to date.

There is a lot going on here, but Gandini offers a breezy and thought-provoking ride

Protagonist Adam (Andrew Scott) lives in a neatly furnished home, no longer feels the need to hide his sexuality, and tells himself he’s fine, but the music says otherwise.

Hüller has always been an unfussy actress, who allows a character's flaws to shine out in interesting ways.

Most of the film has been assembled out of Zoom chats, but it’s so well done, and the story is so compelling, that it might take you a while to notice.

There’s a lack of depth in general.

The writers start from a place where the screw is already turned and, just when you think they can't get it any tighter, find new ways to increase the tension - matching their torque with action.

It’s a film full of small acts of kindness, a film in which it’s possible to make mistakes and keep on going, and in which the audience is therefore at liberty to be entertained by a series of scrapes which might otherwise be mortifying.

Rohrwacher’s visually eclectic style is well suited to exploring the contrasts between present and past, natural and artificial, poverty and wealth.

Janis Pugh’s ability to blend crowdpleasing comedy and emotional poignancy should not be underestimated.

A meditation on both memory and movies as well as ageing and a hankering for the past that is informed by the melancholic knowledge that nostalgia is inevitably rose-tinted.

There's a deep irony in Amir being constantly told what to do by the quasi-authority figure of the sat nav while offering up a means of escape to the city's youth that doesn't rely on roads to take them there.

If it loses something in terms of definitive events, it gains a more poetic fluidity from the approach.

Rather than focusing on [the deep sea's] obvious wonders – those who fit the conventional beauty standards of humans – Rytz finds beauty in the strangeness of deep water creatures, inviting us to appreciate them on their own terms.

Moreno isn’t shy about his use of symbolism...What this effects to disguise, however, is the degree to which [the men's] own thinking has been shaped by symbols and by the belief system which surrounds them.

Das Roy has a way with words, and when the dialogue gets going it has plenty of zip.

Jude masterfully keeps the audience attached to the screen for almost three hours without relying on heightened tensions or conventional plot twists.

Despite its scale this is a small story, and at that level it's classic science fiction.

Perez manages the set-piece confrontations with precision and a nail-biting suspense.

Instead of flooring the pedal and being a wild ride, the film stays within the speed limit.

It’s a gem of a role for Raimi, who delivers the smooth talk and captures the high flying businessman look perfectly but shows us the human being behind them.

An amuse-bouche of a film, Aki Kaurismäki’s latest comedy romance may leave you wanting more but it’s also a fully rounded, good looking experience packed with all the flavours we’ve come to expect from the master of deadpan down the years.

As might be expected from an actress-turned-director, the performances are important to Tezel but she also shows an aptitude for visual storytelling.

Netzer's exploration of his past is ambitious and well-acted but has a turbulent temperament that hinders the viewer's rapport with its characters.

The car racing scenes are the best in the history of cinema.

While Ann can handle a knife, there’s a sense that her look might just as easily strike others dead.

Hesitation Wound is a melancholy piece of cinema but such an accomplished one that it is a delight to watch.

An old school slice of comfort and joy for the cold season.

For all the apparent chaos, this is a tightly controlled piece of work which fully delivers on the promise of Stolevski’s earlier films.

A fresh spin on territory that has been frequently explored.

There’s a freshness to this world, as if one had just stepped out of one’s own door and arrived in an unexpected place.

Sometimes the rumblings are of the Shaw Brothers, at others the Marx Brothers.

This cinematic exploration, a manifestation of Christian bigotry, speculates with cinematic icons and religious imagery, laying bare the power-hungry clergy.

Marantz obviously shares Shalev's viewpoint on the subject but even if you don't, the personal nature of this pacy film is a large part of what makes it so enjoyable.

It’s thrilling to watch a filmmaker like Smith throw a wrench in the gears and deliver an unapologetic ode to outcasts that’s every bit as punk rock as its subjects.

The structure of the documentary itself is formulaic but well executed.

Takes a team approach to the material, using a group of documentary participants as a collective.

It’s a story which invites trust and faith in humanity even as it acknowledges that life involves risks.

While the narrative is straightforward, it's the textures encountered along the way which make it sing - from the make-up and performance of the Jan Bijvoet as pure-hearted Pierrot to a perfectly framed shot of a violin hanging from a tree and the often mournful brass scoring.

The balance held between creepiness and fascination, sheer fun and lingering disturbance is held throughout.

As indicative as John's story is, there's barely room in nearly two hours to cover much beyond the basics.

In the motherland of Belarus, it’s the “grandfathers” who are the problem.

If one bears in mind that parts of it may be more fiction than fact, it’s an interesting character study, as well as one of the more unusual cinematic portraits of a marriage under stress.

Although its central perspective is rather simplistic, there’s so much packed in around the edges that quite different narratives emerge there, making for a complex and satisfying whole.

Next Goal Wins will hit the back of the net with even footie-phobic viewers.

Viewers … must be patient and wait for their rewards – but like the old man, we are sometimes caught be surprise, confronted with sudden moments of exquisite beauty.

Will anyone see this who wouldn't anyway?

The powerful forces of family and fable, old and new, intertwine and vie for supremacy in Belgian-Congolese director Baloji’s visually striking debut.

To say too much about what happens in each episode would be to spoil the joy of encountering Song’s finely worked screenplay, which lets its characters' emotions glitter in the light.

Just as Reymont’s book immersed itself in the metaphorical colour of Polish peasant life, so the Welchmans’ film delivers a flood of literal colour.

The 4:3 format, preferred by Yasujirō Ozu, is the perfect frame for paying attention to the small mysteries that are often overlooked.

Lanthimos skillfully transforms this lustful carnival into a coming-of-age drama, emphasising the protagonist's mastery of sexuality as a connotation of her mental evolution.

There is a redemption arc here, but it’s not the whole of the story, and Arcel uses it to highlight the deep inequities so normalised at the time as to be almost invisible, even the most desperate characters tending to take them for granted.

This is a place of cleansing, not just of the body but so much more as this non-intrusive but immersive film gradually reveals.

The film deviates from more caricatured tales of domestic brutality.

While the end result is important, Hùng’s film is all about savouring the moment, something that becomes more urgent as it progresses - although talk of speed has little place in a film that unfolds with the pace and beauty of a flower.

Thrums from start to almost finish with the sweaty tension of a looming maths test.

The characters are not unrealistically attached to their well-intentioned lies, and get into trouble in part because of the ease with which they give way to awkward compromises. As a result, they feel very human.

Handheld camerawork helps to generate an intimacy that works especially well in the relationship between Marev and her mother.

For a first movie, Tesis has an astounding confidence. The performances of Torrent and Martinez are focused and electric.

The script is funny and knowing but it wavers between a straight out kids' movie and horror aimed at an older teenage audience.

As we wander through the labyrinth we are drawn further and further into its trap, made ever more keenly aware of our own hunger for knowledge, for understanding.

Multiverses have become a box office staple lately, courtesy of Marvel and the like, but they are rarely as elegantly mounted as this retro and twisty little mystery from Timm Kröger.

What is clear is the genuine affection held for its subjects, but that makes some elements of it all the more galling.

Its slow, observational style allows us to get much closer to the key figures and explore aspects of motive which are commonly lost.

Cinematographer Lukas Graf finds contrast between the nights spent in the yurt, filled with textured fabric and candlelight, and the daytime wide open, dusty landscapes of the steppe.

There's a gentle soulfulness underlying Romas Zabarauskas' tale of reconnection.

The film is informationally dense; it must have been exhausting to put together, and watching it all at once highlights just what a roller-coaster ride life with YouTube has been.

There are no shortcuts in this film, no conventions and nothing careless.