San Sebastian Film Festival — A–Z of films

A warm romantic drama with a real emotional punch.

This is a delightful, multi-layered film which has much more to say than is apparent on the surface.

Pollard and Forsyth, who have previously worked with Cave on Bad Seeds videos, turn inner states into inhabitable rooms. What is real and what is unreal is not for the audience to guess.

Through an intimate story of a close-knit community, Mascaro takes on wider themes of global warming in a subtle way.

The audience should be warned that the film boasts a cliche level that could also be hazardous to health.

If the way Alina cries and hugs her friend hello, in between train tracks, does not trigger your empathy, you are possibly already dead.

The Blacks is observational, not judgemental. It catches your breath.

A painstakingly deliberate neo-noir, heavy on atmosphere and taking its time to build.

François Gédigier's inspired editing trusts that mismatched sounds and images form an emotional whole.

There are really interesting stories here and Gerö's unwillingness to shape them into more conventional narratives of corruption or redemption is a strength.

The single greatest problem with California Dreamin', is that it has been released in an unfinished two hour 20 minute assembly - due to the director Cristian Nemescu's untimely death.

An authentic, no-holds barred roller coaster ride, which gives fresh hope for a new wave of British cinema.

How much of this is about Casanova? How much about Malkovich and his continuing public self-examination?

Control is a highly eclectic tableaux of darkness and humour, life and death, characters and incidents, supernatural and commonplace.

Ovashvili tells the story with spare dialogue and absorbing attention to detail.

Arguably, the film feels the absence of the broader context of Garrell's life.

Klusak and Remunda's project injected a healthy dose of scepticism into Czech political discourse, reawakening thought, argument and doubt from a long, dreamy slumber.

A reminder of what it was like when writer/directors had the freedom to be truthful without fear of being shut down by penny-pinching producers.

Bob may have the beefed up body of a bouncer but Hardy continually emphasises his softer, hesitant side, his body language screaming flight even though he is built to fight.

Hansen-Løve's momentary excursions into animation, split screen, and possibly re-writing of world history are the most effective parts.

Now it's Denzel Washington's turn, which means this is serious and requires a smart turn out at all times and a watch that goes 'bleep'.

How the characters deal with grief is beautifully captured in the nuanced performances of McAvoy and Chastain.

There is plenty to admire here, including some clever juxtaposition of audio and image.

Though Gibney’s film has an interesting figure at its heart, the film never really feels like it is giving either strand of Kuti’s life: the music and the politics, enough attention.

If you're willing to go with the flow, this study of emotion develops and maintains a sensual and sensory intensity.

Transformation is coming, although as with Sciamma's previous films this is not a simple, one-way manoeuvre, completed in double-quick time

The characters feel shallow in comparison to the impressive action sequences.

Marinated in tradition.

At times profoundly moving, In a Foreign Land burns with indignation at the circumstances foisted on a generation who did what they were supposed to do but who have had little choice but to abandon the careers and futures they thought lay ahead of them.

Stunningly shot by cinematographer Timo Salminen, who illuminated landscapes as if they were Eckersberg paintings, the film is framed in 4:3 aspect ratio, creating the sense that there's always something just out of sight.

Art, or arse? Well, we certainly see plenty of Toth's behind as she orgasms elderly blokes back to health.

Strickland reveals an eye for landscape and place that for me recalled early Werner Herzog.

The mood is that of an office in which at any moment, anything is possible, a little bit like in the films created here.

Ethical acts are met with punishment and moments of kindness are just fleeting enough to make the next torque of tension feel all the more severe.

Dumont - for all the outlandishness of the film in other aspects - prioritises a messy realism over straightforward likeability in relation to his protagonists.

Confidently slow burning and comfortable with moving at its own speed.

Courageous and uncompromising

Instead of ticking off normal narrative beats, Vermut revels in humanity's natural unpredictability, often having his characters act on impulse or a whim.

Heat and oppression hang in the air like an unspoken accusation.

The energy and sheer visual bravura carry it along.

The film doesn’t seem to have much to say about racism, and even less about its potential links to family, class and gender – all of which hang in the background, threatening to force the filmmakers to make a more serious and challenging film.

Sexuality, Francois Ozon's latest film declares, can be as complex as desiring another person can be simple.

Ageing, Paralluelo observes - for the elderly as everyone else - goes on, even when we fear it might not.

A film of astonishing maturity and compassion.

Pasolini's unfinished life remains painfully unresolved, as it should be.

Petzold depicts a country in shock, where everyone is trying to rediscover a sense of self and where survival may be viewed less a miracle than something unbearable in the face of so many losses.

It only lasts an economical 70 minutes but seems considerably longer

A suspenseful and jittery depiction of how fear can nestle in the place where you should feel safest.

It is funny and serious by turns... full of striking and humorous images.

Wenders as a curious, excited filmmaker stretches out his hands to show us all the treasures he has found.

The film has all the bullet points for audience approval and yet somehow falls short

Everything feels contrived, overblown and - perhaps the worst sin you can lay at the door of a psychological thriller - utterly predictable.

The furniture of Bille August's latest drama is comfily familiar - what marks it out is the craftsmanship.

Although there will no doubt be some cultural references that go over the heads of non-Spanish audiences, the stereotypes and prejudices played with are broad enough for us to get most of the jokes.

The relatable, compassionately told story should easily appeal to both adults and younger folk.

Nanau tells it like it is and the film's emotional moments - of which there are many - are small but powerful and unforced.

The act of revenge here is presented not as an outlet for anger but as one of desperation, an emotion that runs through the film.

Slaboshpytskiy goes to show, first through Anna and then the actions of Sergey that some transactions can hold a lot more - and worse - than we have bargained for.

There is no flab in the telling of this story, nor any excess sentiment either.

The problem is one of shifting tone - and one alarming change of character - which mean that despite the central tenet you can't help feeling that you are watching films about different men.

The Wedding is a delightful satire on Polish marriage traditions but much of what it features is so universal that people all over the world will be able to identify with it.

If you think you can come to an easy judgement, the film seems to say, think again.

Ferociously funny.

Ceylan explores such themes as moral responsibility, class and altruism with rigour.