Flare — A–Z of films

This isn’t a plea for people to swap one source of authority for another. The focus is on encouraging us to think for ourselves.

A lot of effort has gone into production design, resulting in a film which looks really good for its budget, but the most important factor is Anderson’s eye for the sort of details which stand out to teenagers.

Covert glances and dauntless gestures between the three protagonists, that keep us guessing about who knows what, weave a web as diaphanous as the stitching on fine cloth.

At key moments, director Damian Kocur slows his camera right down. We drift through the estate, through the sort of spaces which an architect might have thought would look pretty, with no idea how disaffected young people would use them.

A torch song of a film.

The bond they have feels real and lived-in, their conversations full of the shorthand which develops over time between people who share almost everything.

While it's a road well-travelled, here it's a road travelled well.

Much messier and more like real life than the average coming-of-age film.

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.

Despite the powerful allure of the romance in the film there is a lot more going on. An equal amount of attention is paid to the importance of identity.

For all the debt owed to Sister Rosetta Tharpe the essence here is not translation uncovered but transgression buried. That makes the decision not to further explore these hidden histories all the more surprising.

Packed full of richly observed detail.

Vitija rarely gets distracted from her approach, and this is a strength – not easy to achieve with so much material to pull together.

Anyone who has cared for a loved one whose mind is disintegrating will recognise some of these feelings.

There’s a lot of interesting work here and it’s startling to realise that it’s director Byun Sung-bin’s first venture into features.

The animation interconnects, sometimes in the same image, with a beautifully recreated Eighties suburban world.

There’s a lot going on in Júlia Murat’s accomplished drama.

De Filippis understands the value of the small stuff.

Pleasingly disconcerting.

A quirky yet moving character piece full of absurdist comedy, with an optimistic streak which is rare in cinema today.

Young star Paul Kircher puts in an impressively sensitive and emotionally raw peformance.

Shot in a superficially chaotic style which gradually coalesces into something meaningful, Wolf & Dog perfectly captures the haste and ambiguity of teenage life.