Sundance Film Festival — A–Z of films

Mysteries lend the romance an irrational trajectory.

Not surprisingly, for a movie dripping in bodily fluids, it's about as sexy as cold rice pudding.

Never could the warning, 'Stay away if you're easily offended,' be more appropriate.

Sit down and delight, you fans of ballet...

Horrendously executed in every regard.

Brick is something altogether peculiar, more than the sum of its parts

As an example of pretentious filmmaking, Dear Wendy scores high marks.

Daniel's music is heard throughout, adding immeasurable depth to his story.

Anyone who has seen Herzog's Fitzcarraldo will know of the director's fascination with doomed quests and magnificent obsessions, and in Treadwell he has found his dream subject.

A depressingly banal story.

Roos, as a writer, has a flair for comedy, but he could do with someone else on board as director to rein him in.

Building confidently upon its central twist, Hard Candy is a strong two-hander

Edgy camerawork fails to distract from the fact that Hustle & Flow - a hit a Sundance - is about as edgy as the crust on Mom's apple pie.

Full of fascinating revelations.

The performances are flawless, the story laced with black humour.

Brody's concentrated performance, as a man who may, or may not, be going out of his mind, creates a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere that pervades the film.

Creates hauntingly evocative, empty spaces that bleed history.

A remarkable acievement.

Geared simply, straightforwardly and, above all, honestly to providing absolute entertainment.

You'll soon forget the blues - this colour palette is as vibrant as the personalities.

The latest piece of gangland roughage is suitably violent, with a who-gives-a-monkeys attitude.

What should be a romantic mush cake, with lemon icing and a cherry on top, is treacle pud, with hot fudge and molasses.

It is hard not to be entertained.

This film is a labour of love for July, and it definitely shows.

McKean's vision has a truly dreamlike quality.

The finished product is determined to ascribe human emotions to avian activities.

What raises the movie above the average is former Spin magazine editor Shapiro's journalistic eye, which ensures that all the angles are covered.

Mullan brings a gruff, no-nonsense persona to his role, making Frank's emotional journey well worth taking.

A film both extreme and tender, yet tremendously entertaining.

Police Beat is a strange little film. Niang is stiff and wooden at times, but, at others, the flow is perfect.

Realistic and deeply heartfelt.

A story of extraordinary poignancy and importance.

Simultaneously an incredibly powerful indictment of the Western world’s apathy... and a testament to the innate goodness of man.

Stirring and creatively wrought

A tragically funny glimpse of a family in meltdown, made all the more excruciating by the veneer of sophistication blanketing everyone involved.

As a surreal piece, it feels too much like a horror film, and viewed as a horror film, it lacks direction.

The setting may be small-town, but this is a vision in microcosm of a whole nation that has been driven inevitably towards anxiety and unease by self-imposed pressures and impossible aspirations.

An accomplished but difficult to watch film.

While the three Twilight Zone-style movies - Dumplings, Cut and Box - are not without merit, they are far from satisfying or truly terrifying.

Whether the story is true or not does have a bearing on how good you think it is.

Acting of this calibre can change the world, if only for a moment.

It isn't the blatant affronts - the aspects aimed to shock - that upset me, but the fact that the film lacks heart.

Australia's finest horror film in years.