Locarno Film Festival — A–Z of films

Hamaguchi’s most pointed provocation is not that the nursing home becomes excessive in its care, but that ordinary neglect has trained us to see basic tenderness as excess.

Landis keeps the humour dry, the speech naturalistic, yet his keen sense of the absurd provides for some laugh-out-loud moments.

Primarily a patchwork piece devoted to conveying an enigmatic sense of place, rather than following a clear through line.

A beguiling mix of magic-realist fable, coming-of-age drama & post-colonial critique.

It's a potent idea for a film, and Deodato pulls it off well, with taut pacing and montages which contribute to a growing sense of disorientation.

The Western exhausted its cliches and died in parody. Costner works the vein, as if ignorant of its history.

That sense of human frailty – in mind as well as body – which haunts much of European colonial literature is strongly in evidence here.

Seldom in cinema has eschatology been treated with such intelligence, or inspired such aching awe.

The General does an extraordinary job of keeping the audience gripped.

It is one of the most shattering anti-war movies ever made, a masterpiece so deeply sad and unrelenting that some may find it hard to watch.

Wilde's direction is assured, there's some gorgeous framing and frequent Rogen collaborator Adam Newport-Berra's camera makes the most of what's in front of it.

In the realm of the insane reason has no place. Anything is possible. Even the impossible

The issue is that if you strip out the elevated craft and A-list performances, what is left is the sort of bread-and-butter plot arc Cagney & Lacey used to rely on back in the day.

For an outsider, it's hard to imagine a country growing up without these narratives.

This is an extraordinary film. De Niro in the central role delivers one of those powerhouse performances that simply blows the audience away.

Joaquin Phoenix is utterly convincing in this role, conveying the longing and confusion with glimpses of the happier guy he could be.

A lot of the film's subversiveness comes from the juxtaposition between what the narrator says (and you can almost hear the chuckle in Rey's voice) and what we see.

This is a tale which rewards the intelligent viewer and, ultimately, has much more to say for itself than the average crime thriller.

The meandering pace can get tedious at times, but cinematically it's a masterpiece.

By isolating the footballer from the general run of play, an ordinary league match becomes a study of one man's craft.