Glasgow Film Festival — A–Z of films

Well designed for children aged around five to 12, with a good balance of sentiment, adventure and humour.

The closer the glance at the specifics, the more universal the plight becomes.

A sumptuous period epic littered with over the top direction and action scenes that wouldn’t feel out of place in a gritty Hong Kong police flick.

For many viewers, the film will require taking a step back, ditching assumptions and making a conscious effort to listen. It's worth it. These girls have a lot to say.

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, presenting as well as producing, paints a bleak portrait of the impact of pressures on the seal trade.

Øvredal takes a handful of old tricks - a cheery song playing unexpectedly, lights blinking out in a corridor one by one, the tinkling of a bell - and uses them to chilling effect. The result is a film you really won't want to watch alone.

A simple story told well, this is an affecting piece of cinema that punches well above its weight.

Benny is an affectionate tribute but it suffers from being as slight as its subject and nowhere near as powerful.

The sex element, while erotically shot, is almost exclusively reserved for the moment in which Clare was enjoying the experience, thus stripping away the usual voyeuristic downside that often accompanies this genre.

The bright light of this fictional thing illuminates those real lives scattered around the edges of the tale.

The make-up team have clearly been told not to stint on the blood.

A dense and dark storyline that is compelling in and of itself, rather than simply ladelling on lots of game-changing twists.

An engaging, riveting watch.

A mixture of tragedy, laughter and wildly clashing perspectives makes Check It a compelling subject.

A welcome piece of righteous fury with a distinctly Firthian twist.

We get to watch Lynch work on a sculpture, sit and smoke, or interact with his toddler daughter Lula in the present. Family photos and home movies light up the past.

The final moments of this film, as bodies shamble out of the shadows, capture the real darkness of the zombie genre in a way that recalls the best of George Romero's work.

Walker's performance as a woman mentally imprisoned by the strength of her own feelings is painful to watch, in a good way.

Swayze toned down his abilities as a dancer to play Castle, but still looks riveting.

Huppert's outstanding performance embraces with unswerving delicacy the controversial decisions she faces.

There's some fascinating, deep psychological stuff on display here, and this is the real strength of the film.

Fuller is absorbing in the central role, really giving it her all.

Whilst it has something going for it as a study of awkwardness, it never quite takes this far enough to break new ground.

Frequently and not at all randomly, the film switches to colour, posing a charming riddle that reflects states of happiness or other kinds of intensity.

The director resembles a sniper who remains unseen, but whose presence can nonetheless be felt.

The film moves deftly between humour and poignancy, generating a strong emotional response in its quieter moments.

This is psychogeography, a place outback and beyond, where licit and illicit and moral and immoral are buried in shades of grey.

Hristov stands back and silently observes as the election campaign plays out, showing rather than telling, how much economic circumstances can drive both word and deed.

Cristian Mungiu is such a master of vivisecting human interrelations that we might almost overlook how he sets the tone with animals, vegetables and minerals.

A stylish and heartwarming tale of triumph against adversity that is somewhat undermined by its predictable story and lack of guts in its final third.

Kuosmanen constantly shifts perspective, asking us to view the situation from a different angle - and another place of emotional truth.

Happy Hunting makes stunning use of the natural landscape and is delivered with a style that maximises the impact of its slender plot.

A beautifully crafted film.

The insane amount of violence is in danger of becoming totally monotonous, but is rescued by Iko Uwais' dynamic and hitherto unrevealed comic sense of motion and timing.

Anna Dorval as the transplant's recipient, Dominique Blanc's surgeon, and Emmanuelle Seigner's turn as the mother of the donor are all note-perfect.

Aaron's performance is beautifully judged: quiet, unobtrusive but absorbing.

Shooting in small rooms, in busy domestic spaces and a crowded nightclub, Sitaru creates a sense of being always in a crowd, so that collisions, whether sexual or violent, seem almost inevitable.

An astonishingly mature feature debut from Hamoud.

The carefully constructed atmosphere in Lambert's film doesn't allow viewers much breathing space.

The full use of what film can do is eye-opening - the juxtapositions jolt awareness of what is important and remains necessary.

Harris shines in the central role.

It’s absolutely a little squalid, but focusing on these elements ignores the often sublime visuals that permeate the film.

Dickson Leach makes good use of the countryside setting, to suggest the additional pressures that exist for farming families while allowing the environment to provide poetic interludes.

There’s a strange voyeurism to the film, especially given the isolated nature of North Korea.

Shrivastava balances the stories well and the skilled ensemble cast means that things always remain interesting, with no one story stealing attention from the others.

Just when you think you know this story, Oldroyd and Birch begin to show you that you don't.

One of the qualities of The Last Seduction is its denial of pastiche.

Most of those who fell for this film when it came out still love it today. There's just one problem: it really isn't very good.

Hunnam gives a compelling performance as a man railing against the bigotry of his time, and yet simultaneously embodying it as a white explorer in a place already well-known to its inhabitants.

This is like finding old photos in the cupboard, being prompted to remember.

The Lure is overlong and could do with some tightening up, but there's plenty to enjoy about it.

Sadly, like many biopics, the film blends so many elements of the life of its subject that it starts to lose focus, and falls back on a relationship conflict to lend some backbone.

Margarita Breitkreiz gives a formidable performance.

Mauro Herce's cinematography is stunning and merges perfectly with the soundscape created by Emilio García Rivas.

There are strong, even hilarious, performances throughout.

The Maltese Falcon provides us with one of the earliest, and undoubtedly one of the best, examples of Hollywood Noir.

In between the shoddy scene transitions and frantically delivered lines, there are striking moments of directorial genius.

The script has a heartfelt carefulness but it is never preachy, with 'naughty' conversations about the home's teacher's willy exploding likely to have pre-adolescents (and adults who well remember these sorts of conversations) hooting with laughter.

A triumphant piece of filmmaking.

Though shot on cheap black-and-white film stock, NOTLD was the film that would turn the whole horror genre blood red, with its innovative use of graphically realistic gore effects.

The strongest scene is the first one, where Sebastián shows us what he can do as a filmmaker when not distracted by a commitment to going over the top.

The tension between Philippe and his dad ultimately drives the film in ways that lead Salle to cut corners with other characters and leave it caught in the doldrums when Niney is absent.

There are strong performances throughout, but it's Gang Chen who carries the film with every furrow of his brow and stoop of his shoulder.

Complex, sometimes conflicting emotions are beautifully played by Gedeck.

There's relatively little to mitigate the downcast moments, but Rehman's passion for his work and the vast amount he has learned along the way come through clearly.

In keeping with the hagiographic tradition, Hamy keeps his performance rather flat, but this is problematic for The Ornothologist as a film; its success as a piece of art is somewhat at odds with audience appeal.

The director has a flare for encapsulating a world of emotion in a single moment.

Both Vysotskaya and Clauß deliver extraordinary performances in this thoughtful and challenging film.

An entertaining, bold little film with a clear voice of its own.

Stewart valiantly tries to soldier through but cannot make her character spring to life.

You can turn it upside down, inside out and back-to-front and you might be able to work most of it out, but there will always be one thing that doesn't fit.

The Postman Always Rings Twice is a masterclass in noir.

Definitely one of Arnie's best and a landmark action movie.

The Princess Bride is marvellous entertainment for all ages, and endlessly rewatchable.

Davies looks at questions of the soul, family, war, creativity and how to be true to yourself - all in stunningly beautiful images.

Even now, the hairs rise at the back of the neck.

Z effectively shows us the daily grind and takes us through one disappointment after another without ever ceasing to be engaging.

Every time we are afforded a glimpse of the outrageous figure, the film crackles with energy.

The posturing and overly theatrical nature of the delivery is going to make or break the experience for many.

The combination allows for fascinating interplay of concerns.

Secretary is a testament to the need to leave politics out of the bedroom and just look at things honestly once in a while.

Alternately, funny, engaging, witty and insightful, it cuts to the core of teenage cruelty.

David Hylan and Raydra Hall's gently paced documentary is very much a small town story, part local history lesson, part memorial to those who didn't make it.

Spectres Are Haunting Europe plunges us into the thick of the action and leaves us to try and make sense of it for ourselves - just as the migrants have to.

The film concludes with what is probably the most influential special effect in the history of cinema.

It's easy to forget that beyond its huge influence it is also hugely entertaining.

There's certainly a giant monster, there's definitely some degree of rampaging.

The subjects are all articulate and engaging and there's a good deal of interesting content.

Its real achievement is the skill with which it balances its inspirational message with an honest portrait of day to day life and what it means to be an athlete.

Hrebejk and Jarchovsý deftly employ humour as a way of mocking and undercutting their anti-heroine while preventing their overall point about power and corruption from becoming preachy.

The humour itself is as light as a feather – a symbol used by Andeel in his animation to good effect – but the reaction from the regime(s) is about as subtle as a brick

Don't be suckered in by the promises of bloodsucking.

The West Country slang in use is at times impenetrable, but it’s clear that writer Alex Simmonds has spent a long time learning its intricacies, and the actors are doing their best to capture the spirit and tone of this community.

A charming and entertaining take on the film within the film scenario, with solid performances from all of its cast.

A classic white-knuckle ride.

For long time fans of Firth, this is a wonderful collection of some of his best material.

Everything is exquisitely shot and wonderful in its alienness.

The film benefits from not taking itself too seriously.

All of the children are endlessly charming, to the point where one wonders what has been edited out.

An arresting debut.

Bastian's film is an intriguing portrait of a society in flux.

Kurosawa's masterful synthesis doesn't stop with the script. He weaves a late Edo period samurai film, in its painstaking historic detail, into modernity.

This modern fairytale has its dark side, but it’s not as grim as something the Brothers Grimm would have concocted.