Cannes Film Festival — A–Z of films

It’s the multiple layers of mystery – which have less to do with actual events than with what different characters are thinking – which make the film compelling.

All To Play For questions much and wagers on love and sunshine.

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

The aerial shots of the forest and the believable transformations with feathers, wings, beaks and claws as well as fish scales, make for riveting viewing.

Anderson has absolute command of his craft and his cast are moulded to it.

The unadorned observation of the physical aspects of the relationship in which middle-aged bodies are shown without artifice is one of the most hypnotic aspect of Naveriani’s vision.

The pace is relentless and raucous - so much so that many viewers will feel alienated.

The vibrancy of childhood skips from the screen.

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

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.

The narrative proceeds at a controlled pace set to a jangling score of percussion and chants, which is enough to set viewers on edge without the disturbing scenes of food being tentatively eaten and then disgorged.

Its pastiches of mid-20th Century Korean cinema are beautifully observed and a lot of fun.

Trauma here isn’t a switch turned on by a force strong enough to propel it into being, but instead, it’s a slow-burning reflective state.

Ranging and enjoyably unpredictable.

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.

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

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.

Handsomely mounted and costumed with enough sparks and pace to quicken the interest and heighten the senses.

The exposure of the film’s underlying structures...invites audiences to think about the processes of storytelling and interpretation, which is important, because it’s a story which took the missing women away.

A documentary-drama of hypnotic power.

Kordofani uses the greater intimacy offered by the camera to bring us close to the characters and reveal the complex layers of relationship developing between them.

A fresh spin on territory that has been frequently explored.

There's a difficult place between homage and pastiche, between nostalgia and the new.

A sort of soft-faced tyrany abounds.

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.

Writer/director Zarrar Khan uses techniques borrowed from the horror genre to address the experience of living in an environment where one is seen as less than fully human, or even as prey.

Beyond the stories that unfold within the vehicle, the tension of these journeys, often on dirt tracks in rural areas, is brought home.

With Maïwenn herself spiritedly taking the role of the courtesan and Johnny Depp enlisted to play the Monarch Louis XV, there should have been more sparks flying.

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

It is Scorsese at his, one hesitates to say peak, but absolute.

... houses almost feel like tombstones. Personal existential projects that demarcate that someone once cared for and poured their will and effort into them.

Something’s gotta give, so much is clear.

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

One of the most moving portraits of childhood seen recently on the screen.

A beautifully constructed piece of work in which every detail serves the whole, putting the tools of the epic at the disposal of a story which is intimate and delicately realised.

Everything about El Moudir’s film is unusual, from the structure to the mood.

This film is one of the most rounded of any of Godard’s work and can easily be viewed as ‘mainstream’ – the more philosophical riddles being purely optional.

Handsomely mounted in terms of both the wide open landscapes and the confines of the church, Thornton allows the mystery surrounding the boy’s powers to remain that way, unknowable perhaps even to the youngster.

Will anyone see this who wouldn't anyway?

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

These are the nooks and crannies where the ghosts still hang out, whistling in the dark, eager to haunt anew a crowd.

Told from a child’s point of view, immediate and haphazard, magical and unlikely.

All in all Spellbound makes for a good watch but shouldn’t be too highly hyped.

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.

Directed with a light touch by Eivind Landsvik, it’s acutely aware of the fragility of its characters.

The writer-director team of Mathieu Neart and Stéphan Castang shows a repeated willingness to take risks which really elevate the film.

It isn’t just the quality of the animation that is stunning. It’s the creativity with which is is deployed to explore these myriad phenomena.

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