Venice Film Festival — A–Z of films

We cry with Amanda and David and when the sun comes through again, their smiles are like a gift.

Recalling the bone-dry wit of the likes of Pablo Larrain mixed with a dash of the absurdity of Samuel Beckett, this is as much a waiting game as an action plan.

For those who know and love Van Gogh's work, the effect is hypnotic, a translation of his vision into a new medium.

Scruggs still suffers from the problem that afflicts too many other anthologies - not all the tales come up to the same level in telling the essentially Coen-esque truth over and over.

Not much explanation is needed to be immersed in the mournful and well-edited examination of a city in which the citizens become unwitting "foot soldiers" in a shapeless but enduring war.

Becky Parsons and John M Tran's cinematography brings out every detail of the crowded rooms before us and puts us to close to the grain of the wood that we can almost smell it.

The finest film of the year so far.

Innately melodramatic, unremittingly langurous, Death In Venice is as complete a film as can be, existing in its own space and on its own terms.

Szöcs has good ideas for the look and framing of the film but a feel for the characters is missing.

Long, slow and at times painful.

The dialogue is irreverent and sharp like a raven's claw.

This is a story about grief and loneliness here masquerading as one about rockets.

Introduzione all’Oscuro aims more for emotional beats and resonances than factual musings.

Although the story is slight, Cheng treats the subject matter with care, allowing a slow but certain heat to build between José and Luis.

There are so many ‘solutions’ to the enigma of the plot that analysing it or watching it repeatedly is more fun than the first viewing.

It's accessible for beginners yet provides a good deal for those with experience of such work to get their teeth into.

The film remains mysterious without being confusing - you don't need to grasp every detail to understand its metaphors and message and its enigmatic aura invites repeat viewings.

All the more powerful because of its deep roots in myth.

Kier, Goldblum, and Lavant are never less than fantastic in their portrayal of modes of crazed, unreliably self-assured masculinity.

The blurring of fictionalisation is just one of the layers that encourages contemplation almost deep enough to justify the film's expansive canvas.

A film that looks back, that gazes also into you.

In Assayas's smashingly sad comedy of manners, shoes drop left and right.

In his desire to inform our heads, Leigh often forgets that he needs to engage our hearts us as well.

The sprawling house provides insight into Mia and Eugenia's personalities before we get to know them directly.

We are at a point where the wonders of earth and an awe in regards to nature cannot be shown often enough.

Going along with a bonkers plot and lashings of melodramatic confrontations between the characters is a hell of a lot easier to do when you have a well-done Wuxia spectacular to delight your eyes.

Phoenix gives his character more depth than such men are usually afforded but deliberately takes a back seat, allowing Reilly the dramatic lead role he has long deserved.

This is possibly the raciest picture ever to get a U-rating.

Hugely enjoyable, shamelessly melodramatic and technically swish.

Sunset while resisting the digital, flings us into a dreamworld where nostalgia for the past is twin to premonition of our future.

If we compared the original to a Mark Rothko canvas - a distillation of raw emotion - this version is more akin to a colossal, baffling kinetic sculpture, one that seems to exist in more dimensions than it ought to.

Zoabi uses farcical comedy as his warm-hearted messenger, presenting his argument with a disarming hug and a surprising dash of romance.

With gusto and humour John Carpenter delivers a steady stream of explosive gun fights and brutal action.

A stunning film, Malick's greatest work to date.

Where most films of this ilk are driven by aggression, Marx instead pushes hers forward with a mix of melancholy, quiet desperation and futility.

Even its vapidity fails to contribute anything new to the subject matter it's dealing with.

While content is important, it is context that is king in a documentary, and this film could do with a lot more of it to orient viewers, especially those who don't have a full working knowledge of the American South.

In the moments when Yeksan's film is good, it is truly stunning.