New York Film Festival — A–Z of films

Effectively assembles footage and facts in a relentless barrage that just overwhelms you, while confidently establishing connecting threads that have terrifying implications.

Annette Bening gives a glorious, all-encompassing performance.

Despite his besst intentions, James never really fully achieves the cinematic element that would lift this above being a well-illustrated encyclopaedia article.

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

The Battle of Algiers is an unforgettable piece of cinema, utterly absorbing and very hard hitting.

Certain Women is a film suffused in uncertainties.

Though it focuses on one company, this film encapsulates a struggle faced by travelling cinemas across India and in other parts of the world.

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

The symbolism in Fire At Sea is so organic that it might dawn on you hours or days after seeing the film.

Jim Jarmusch has always been great at extracting stories from his subjects. Here, his role is focused more on containment.

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.

The film preserves a sense of immediacy and is achingly relevant for our times much in the same way Cathy Come Home was for the Sixties.

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

This film is not an encyclopedia entry but a living, breathing adventure ride into French cinema through the eyes and ears of the filmmaker.

Almodóvar exudes a new found confidence.

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.

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

Manchester By The Sea is a masterful study of clumsiness.

Jenkins doesn't just show us the experience of his young protagonist, he bathes us in it.

A triumphant piece of filmmaking.

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.

A powerful piece of cinema sustained by some great performances.

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

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

All in all, this is a troubling but well-presented and thorough examination of the settler conundrum facing Israel today.

He may provide too much shock detail for some audiences but the director proves himself a master story-teller.

Huppert is perfect - no trace of self-pity waters down the complicated emotions at work.

The film really shouldn’t work, but it does.