London Film Festival — A–Z of films

Campillo has a weakness in not knowing when to trim all the talking.

Napier - who is surely going to step up from short films soon - tightly controls the mood.

Nuanced and thoughtful, alert to the individual suffering behind the headlines, cogniscent of the bigger picture.

Essential viewing for anyone with an interest in the craft of filmmaking.

A beautifully drawn portrait of a complex situation that doesn't resort to the usual empty assumptions that nothing like this can ever work.

Kindness and joy not always come to mind when one thinks of the fashion world. This is the rare portrait where they do. As the documentary unfolds, we marvel at the diversity, the celebratory mood.

You don’t need to be English – or even British – to appreciate this brilliantly constructed film.

This isn't a film for those interested in the nitty gritty of how work like this is assembled. Rather, its focus is on the philosophical and experiential issues associated with the rise of the machines.

Everything feels alive and the production design by Judy Becker is impeccable.

The feeling of exposure to evil never fades

A tremendously powerful piece of cinema.

This simple yet charming film is perfect for young children.

Once past the strangeness of the narrative, Big Fish And Begonia is beautiful, lyrical in every sense.

As a film about non communication it feels real

Intelligent, humane and multi-layered, The Breadwinner is a much more substantial film than its central heroic narrative might suggest.

British actor Dickinson – surely on the first step to a lot more film roles – slides seamlessly into Frankie’s groove, the accent and the body language spot on.

Samurai revenge stories are not exactly thin on the ground and it takes something special to get attention today, but Blade Of The Immortal is just that.

Brawl In Cell Block 99 is one of the best action films of the year.

The film reeks of privilege, which should not matter, but it does

Saturday Night Live regular Mooney, who has a twinkly mischievousness and comic timing reminiscent of a young Gene Wilder, plays James as naive, but never stupid.

Quinn cleverly mixes the natural playfulness of the animal with more sinister inclination.

It is fundamentally a film about the workings of infatuation with a charmed fever that contaminates its characters.

As a metaphor for the way the world views changing relationships and mores the film is affecting.

Carpignano is interested in the margins - and the fringes of those margins.

The sense of poise created, as people move through spaces or talk back and forth, objects often leaving the frame in one direction as another enters from the opposite side, achieves a soothing rhythm.

This ambitious feature debut is packed with interesting ideas.

Though a short film, even one of half-an-hour as Legrand’s was, can be carried almost solely on this sort of tension, a feature needs something more.

This is an intimate and contemplative film that seeks to gently observe and listen.

Alexander Payne's latest, unclassifiable film gallivants with us through a number of different worlds that all seem familiar, yet perplexing.

Significant both in raising the profile of a woman too long overlooked and - crucially - in giving her back control over her own story.

The proportion of films opening with HP Lovecraft quotes that manage to live up to the visionary writer's work verges on the infinitesimal, but The Endless is one of the special ones.

Lelio makes no bones about how he wants us to feel, to the point where it sometimes feels as though he is stating the obvious is six-foot neon letters.

Whether she is probing at the ideas of the ties that bind us to a home or considering the morality of goat horns, she constantly nudges us to move around and, perhaps, get a better view.

Few voices are missing from this incredibly thorough piece of work.

Samuel Maoz steps into the rhythm of the foxtrot to give structure to the three separate chapters of his intense, reverberating film.

The film is in danger of resembling a caricature of working class life, circa 1960

Annette Bening plays a different character, raging against the truth, a bitch angel feeding her emotions.

At its best, this is a film that has something to say about democracy itself.

The film’s most gripping aspect is the delicacy with which it handles its extraordinary emotional depth

A predictable twist on the old Greek legend.

When it's not busy trying to impress, the film conjures up a lot of atmosphere and succeeds in disturbing.

The story, built on the shifting relationship between the two brothers, holds considerable interest, even though the plot starts to ramble.

The Safdies invest their own knowledge of their home turf to give it all a frenetic and authentic sense of urgency.

Haneke is a master of his material, revealing just enough to keep the viewer on tenterhooks but not enough to give an easy explanations.

Lukas Feigelfeld's imagery is lush and evocative, sometimes verging on the psychedelic.

The energy is electric

This is an unflinching portrayal and, those who are recently bereaved or are in that large group of the populace - including myself - who have ever watched a loved one succumb to terminal illness, should approach it with extreme caution.

The framing device has a more 'grown-up' sweep, but it is younger children who are likely to get the most out of these simple stories, which often involve a repetition of phrases or ideas in the way of many traditional fairy tales.

The bobbins are a brilliantly employed metaphor, something that feels freshly sprung from a fairy tale, only silly until you consider how sinister they are.

Morgen infuses new life into Jane Goodall's groundbreaking wildlife study that took place over half a century ago.

Gilliam's monster, when we finally see it, is so hideous a thing that we can only be grateful this film is played for laughs.

Lanthimos confirms his reputation as one of contemporary cinema’s most original and unsettling directors

Carell is extremely impressive here.

If there is rather more surface than substance and the ending is signposted, it is a surface full of intricacy and a signpost of admirable elegance.

Kötting's real skill comes in the marrying together of images with Lek's memories, pushing at ideas of desolation, anxiety and trauma that take us into emotional territory that mere words cannot.

Not every risky idea works, but where they are successful, the results are dazzling.

Denis and Binoche take a perceptive and light approach to what could have been hackneyed material.

The Kopps' film provides insights into the fundamental nature of storytelling, its psychological relevance and its importance in intellectual development.

Deadpan absurdity, everyday madness and enlightenment through routine merge in an attempt to answer the big questions of life.

Though the filmmaking is good, the bleakness of the message is unremitting.

The splendour of the artwork is not matched by the tale being told, which is of the paint-by-numbers variety.

There's no doubt youngsters will enjoy the trippy and exuberant visuals of this film.

The way director Emmanuel Gras eases under the skin of his main subject makes for fascinating viewing.

The balance of the super real with intricately timed artifice and how they collapse into each other is Baumbach's crown achievement.

Undoubtedly one of the best films ever made.

A sharp script full of camp and an emotional punch that knocks us over at the end.

There's more to this film than just another erotic romance.

Ozturk's cinematography would be stunning even without such remarkable subjects, and the film is a visual delight from start to finish.

This is a sudden and astonishing arrival for an adult actor.

Both Hedlund and Mitchell deliver strong performances and balance well against one another.

This is astonishing filmmaking.

The attempted act of consummation has a theatrical element to it. She is too passive, he is too angry.

Like all good road trips, the destination may be a the top of the protagonist's mind but the film says a lot more about his past and present than his future.

Cone's characters are fresh and real.

Even if the facts are fiction, you still get the sense of a man who is driven, at least in part, by an urge to bring some sort of happiness by shooting film rather than bullets.

It may be an odd choice for a biopic but it is certainly a brave one

An excellent demonstration (in places) of Daan Bakker's agility and ability as a writer and director.

Assur is adept at creating striking images - such as the shadows of the ravens of the title on a barn wall or the threat of violence posed by a piece of machinery.

Hazanavicius directs with flair for the style and mood of the Sixties.

As entertaining as the above is with its two charismatic leads, it is not an especially novel path for a 'crime couple' thriller to take, and it is in the last act that Racer kind of goes off the rails.

The craft, the knowledge, the deep communication with the animal, shown without words - this is breathtaking, transcendent cinema.

Hawkins has waited decades for a role like this, in which she can fully exercise her talents.

A vivid illustration of just how close life can come to mockumentary when you start to scrutinise it.

Kain's finely judged performance is a joy to watch.

It avoids every cliche laid down in the history of search-and-rescue movies

By simply observing the men as they move around, the film avoids over-interpretation, working hard to leave space for each person watching to find their own narrative as to why each man might have chosen this sport.

It has the ungainly but attractive ambience of an old fairy tale being passed down through the generations, becoming more and more embellished on each retelling.

The film wears its story lightly. Even when Simón is dealing with heavier themes her focus is on Frida and her emotions.

Those who doubt the artistic potential of the horror genre should be nailed down and made to watch this.

There is artistry here and an absence of cliche.

We see the killer at home, observe him moving through life like an ordinary man, but something is always subtly off key.

The film has grit as if volcanic dust had scorched its rose tinted glasses

Thelma appears aloof on the surface, but her constant choice of statement lipsticks, despite her otherwise conservative dress code, hints at the emotions screaming from within.

The weirdness thrives on understatement

Fortunately, McDormand never lets Mildred's hold on us slip, balancing the conundrum of a woman who is simultaneously a mum, who likes a beer and a game of pool, and a Rambo-style avenging angel.

This creative and visually arresting adaptation of Brian Selznick’s critically acclaimed novel marks a filmmaker at the top of his game.

Annemarie Jacir's characters may not leave the city of Nazareth as they take a circular road trip in Wajib but the emotional distance they travel is considerable.

It quite subtly toys with the iconography of the genre - poking at the outlying parts of it, the parts dealing with "foreigness" and "home" rather than the more dependable elements of right and wrong.

Palmason accentuates the tedium by holding almost every shot far longer than necessary or shooting scenes in pitch black mines or against stark landscapes white with lime dust.

Trengove strikes a good balance between showing the cultural importance, even though on the wane, of old-fashioned masculinity and personal drama between Xolani and Kwanda, slowly ratcheting up the tension to breaking point.

Nothing plays out as you expect, with Ramsay maintaining an unsettling staccato that keeps both the action and the viewer on edge.

This is a very particular film - one where particles of detail crystallise into observation, meaning and import accreting like nacre around grit, producing a pearl, a natural jewel.