London Film Festival — A–Z of films

This initially seems like a set-up for a film exploring mental reconciliation after estrangement but the Larrieus have other ideas - perhaps too many of them.

Jude and Lazarescu also show how the structure of society has a habit of making you conform to it, whatever your intentions - a barbed idea intended to stick in the minds of those who live in today's Europe where the Roma still face wide-spread prejudice

His - and Johnson's - real triumph in Anomalisa comes in the smaller gestures and human moments

It's light tone and sprightly 80-minute length belie the depth of Veiroj's film, which is almost bursting at the seams with ideas about self-definition.

Mixes observations on capitalism, society and storytelling.

The production and costume design by Huang Wen-ying combine historical accuracy with a revelation of detailed splendour.

Brutally effective in what it does overall, which is fuse western and horror tropes to create a slow-burning, visceral experience that, although not flawless, should ensure fans of both genres are satisfied.

The result is a gripping, disturbing experience, though one which risks numbing as much as it informs or shocks viewers.

This is very much a warts and all portrait, but in the process it brings us much closer to its subject, feeds a depth of appreciation many fans of those stunt shows will not have felt before.

You have to care for these people to give a damn. That's hard.

It's true what they say about violence. Too much and you become immune.

Malgorzata Szumowska takes a playful approach to the subjects of eating disorders and grief with suprisingly effective results.

For all its supernatural stylings, it's the natural connections that count.

Tempting though it might be to think, this is not a mockumentary. Brand is serious.

The levels of twee are fairly high, and contrasted with the bizarre and often regressive gendered comedy it’s likely to divide audiences right down the middle.

With old-school romance pumping through its veins, fans of the genre will find this a pleasing indulgence.

A beautifully crafted piece.

Takes a bawdy idea and turns it into something far more complex.

"At the heart of the kingdom there is nothing," it says, but all the fascinating splendour that exists around that gap!

Fairman and Gogarty try to give a sense of the appeal of this hedonistic abandonment, while simultaneously showing how deeply saddening and traumatic much of the activity is.

Well-paced, genuinely funny most of the time and emotionally resonant.

Larraín's judgement when it comes is fiercely Old Testament - harsh, unexpected and fast.

Though Vicens stumbles in the execution towards the bloody finale, he at least keeps the tension strumming.

Kate Dickie is amazing.

There is an unvarnished authenticity to these men and their situation.

The director is adept at confronting ordinary people with extraordinary situations to test their resilience.

Akiz has crafted a film which may fall down a little when it comes to special effects but which soars in its depiction of life on the brink.

Centering on a beautifully observed performance by co-director Verónica Llinás, this is a film that treats its outsider heroine with dignity and reminds the viewer what it really takes to survive in this way.

Structurally illustrates how the indigenous people don't see time as being a chronological straight line but as multiple realities existing simultaneously.

Ponsoldt's film is more interested in what lies beneath the skin of the men than the covers of the book.

It is by turns sad and disturbing - with occasional bouts of highly dubious dark humour.

This is a film of two halves, the first - and best - has the cold creeping dread of icy sea water slowly soaking into your swimming costume.

What is quite wonderful in all this flowing and "fade, fade, fade," fading is that the characters and their stories belong to no one specifically. They belong to a cinematic spirit world and maybe nobody even wanted them.

Even though the structure of the film is fairly formulaic it opens a window onto worlds rarely glimpsed from outside.

Weitz wisely has no time for fluff - these are clever women charting tricky territory and spending 78 minutes in their company is an easy choice to make.

Less psychological and more formulaic than his previous feature, this is still relentlessly entertaining.

One of the bleakest whodunnits to grace our screens for some time, for all its wit and intermittent playfulness, this slice of Noida noir is full of compromised characters.

A small gem of a film and one worth seeking out.

Quiet and unassuming yet making some devastating points, Hamaguchi's film is shot with deceptive simplicity.

Two docs for the price of one? Both would have been better on their own

Her energy is remarkable and what this film shows is the humility, intelligence and bravery of a girl lucky to be alive

In the literal act of performance there is room to talk about self as performance, and that is where High-Rise is strongest.

Hitchcock/Truffaut has the intriguing aura of a first episode with all the questions answered easily producing 500 more to be asked.

A sensitively handled female coming-of-age tale.

In his customary style, Cousins makes a lot of points, not all of them hitting home.

This film feels fresh and real even to those of us who have been there.

The director has uncovered a wealth of archive material.

By locating its own dedicated critic within the action of the film, it is possible to point out the triteness and question whether life can be so simply encapsulated within the tidy confines of literature.

The randomness of death in times of war aside, Land Of Mine - perhaps unavoidably - leans towards the conventional in its overall narrative arc.

Riley really does listen to Marlon and, by extension, encourages us to.

Amare's performance is a real gem.

Lanthimos satirises our obsession with relationships and modern day electronic dating rituals although the results are not nearly as funny and knowing as the director clearly thinks.

It's visually stunning, endlessly creative, and it doesn't fail to deliver on the kaiju promise, even if the stomping scenes are also metaphorical.

This gloomy film certainly has the power of its rage and anguish, but it could have used some restraint too.

Stephane Brizé is a master of films that appear to say very little but actually speak volumes.

Its disgusting surface is supported by a framework that’s more intelligent than in plenty of prettier films.

A bold study of what it means to be Chinese in the modern age.

Desplechin, like no other, startles with his enigmatic perceptions on the gender divide.

Serves as a timely reminder of how keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive, and preventing another one from happening again, will require constant vigilance.

It either, depending on how open you are to it, completely goes off the rails in the final 20 minutes and destroys its credibility, or instead delivers a provocative moral twist

Mascaro is completely in control of his material.

At more than two hours long, it's a shame Beckett wasn't on hand to offer a bit of advice on the importance of distillation, although there is plenty here to enjoy.

Global Economic Crash: The Musical.

There is potential in the scenario and a game cast, but Farr's film is hobbled by some clunky execution and tonal uncertainty.

Deftly scripted, subtle and challenging, this is a film which reminds us why Muntean is such an important contributor to the Romanian New Wave.

It is in the women's emotions that the heart of the matter lies and Kore-eda, as always, handles them with an elegant lightness of touch.

The innate absurdity of the secret agent’s life, with all its paranoia and double standards, has rarely been so elegantly and mercilessly skewered.

Chabriel, in his first ever screen role, is a revelation.

Fonzi's performance is perfectly judged.

There are elements of courthouse film and elements of police procedural here, but the overall mood is closer to that of a Cold War spy thriller.

Looking at all these themes on paper, there is no way they should be able to co-exist within the same film, let alone do so in harmony, but Guzmán lets each wave of thought flow over the other, tributaries of history gathering to a ocean of argument.

A clear, clean picture without tricks

A psychologically astute and darkly funny look at the deep bonds of female friendship and the damage that can be wrought by those closest to you.

Atom Egoyan's terrifically paced episodic thriller Remember is hard to forget.

The film persuades viewers to zero in on the details by using its second scenario to invite constant subconscious questioning of what has changed.

A visually inventive, genuinely moving, yet understated drama of captivity and hope, which also sings a quiet tribute to the power of creative maternal impulses.

Emotions run deep and tragedy is as predictable as rust. This is Visconti at the pinnacle of his powers.

Some just won't manage to connect but others will relish its intelligence and find it deeply moving.

Zhao is in no hurry, allowing the sense of life in Pine Ridge to seep in to the bones of the film.

This is a claustrophobic, breathing-down-your-neck look at man's inhumanity to man - as though the Dardennes brothers had taken a one-way ticket to hell.

All message and no massage

Fassbender does his best to not make the man easily likable at first.

The sadness and the courage and the ambition is here

While the craft remains faultless, the effect becomes like walking through a beautiful gallery, with each painting looking lovely but with little connection to the one before or after.

An intimate and immensely moving portrait of three lost people who come together and learn to find some direction in their lives.

Bispuri is interested in how escape from one form of repression seamlessly flows into another.

A complex film where the real story unravels in the background.

It’s a wonderfully subversive act...but on its own merits (which I’m sure is how Panahi would want it to be judged) it seemed to me overlong, repetitive and self-indulgent.

What unfolds is a comedy of (t)errors with a central character who shifts very quickly between dubious but likeable guy, buffoon and sociopath.

Gay challenges the usual cliches of disease films.

This film is a shot of dayglo-coloured adrenaline to the vein, a vat of sugar poured into the eyes.

Despite this period being so rich in potential subject matter, this admittedly handsomely mounted, nimble and quite funny film chooses to take a pretty much conventional ride to a victory-lap finish.

The natural wonders of the desert can be read as an invitation to reach into the vast barrenness inside.

Perhaps because of the improvisation - although surely they must have rehearsed like crazy - even when the plot threatens to become contrived, the characters remain true to themselves.

It is the casting of Jónsson that is the film's master stroke. Known as a comedian in Iceland, he brings a great sense of underplayed comic timing to Fúsi, resulting in a big impact from small gestures.

Despite Messina's efforts, there is much to recommend the film, especially its beautiful slow shots that give the actresses room to do their thing.

Dmytryk keeps it all ticking along nicely with the assurance of an old pro, while giving all the central relationships and subtler nuances room to breathe.

This is a film that should be watched on as big a screen as possible, but even on a smaller one, the tsunami is stunning.

Showcases the hand-drawn aesthetic and an admirable focus on female characters that is part and parcel of the Ghibli brand.

Eggers draws fully on the iconography of the period, the muted greys and greens of the landscape captured by cinematographer Jarin Blaschkee broken only by repeated flashes of cardinal red, bringing with it the suggestion of cardinal sin.

Russell takes a full-tilt approach to bringing DH Lawrence’s novel alive on screen in all its earthy, sensual – and often ludicrously overblown – glory.

The trappings and style more than make up for any lack of substance.