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Lucrecia Martel's debut as writer/director captures the many layered character of the Argentinian upper-class so perfectly that explanatory scenes would appear bourgeois in their desire to tidy the place up a bit.

The action, when it comes, is introduced with an impact that will make you drop your popcorn, and you’ll be on the edge of your seat for what follows.

It may be staggeringly beautiful and inventive, but it’s posturing nonsense all the same.

Come And See is an intimate epic, in which all the promise of adolescence is perverted by war.

While the film's more nostalgic elements are likely to help to keep adults on board it is also invigorated, not only by Goodhill's unorthodox approach to the works but also by the diverse casting.

Working as his own cinematographer, Gkanatsios turns up the atmosphere with the inky blues, aquamarine greens and high neons of night.

For all its intricacy and cleverness, this is a film that never loses its central focus.

Rarely becoming laugh-out-loud funny to compensate for any sophistication in the conceit, Corporate Animals is at its best when it takes the ludicrous scenario into the craziest, ickiest areas.

Hákonarson's woman against corporate Mafia premise is solid enough but The County never manages to generate the emotional intensity that the feuding brothers brought to his previous film.

Bull knows what he's doing when it comes to the action.

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.

It's a slick and intoxicating vision to say the least.

The mysteries left unresolved after the near two and a half hours are more puzzling than compelling.

In his attempt to avoid Western cliches, Winterbottom is in danger of going too far the other way.

Praised in some quarters for young writer/director Buddy Giovinazzo's virulent veracity, it's the sort of unapologetic scuzz-fest whose ultra-low budget becomes a serendipitous badge of honour.

What lifts Déjà Vu above the crowd is the raw emotion emanating from the musicians to audiences who are often shocked by the uncompromising nature of their stance.

The novel angle it takes is the best thing going for this film, and it is a smart twist to an rote story.

This is an entertaining if occasionally anachronistic slice of silliness.

Russo's approach is much more impressionistic than you might imagine, seeking to retain an air of mystery even though he takes a largely neo-realist approach.

Like Milton's, Zebrunias’ devil is cast in semi-heroic mode, a comic character against whom events continually seem to conspire.

The director is adept at confronting ordinary people with extraordinary situations to test their resilience.

A cleverly constructed piece of low-budget filmmaking, Directions punches well above its weight.

It is the fear of the stigma, the unknown and the misinformation about HIV that Doin’ My Drugs makes its predominant mission to correct - a society where people can be open about their status, and more importantly one where they no longer fear being teste

Dramatically powerful and thematically challenging, this is a remarkably impressive feature début.

The thing that will keep you watching Dough is the cast and performances.

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

It's all fun and games until somebody decides to read ancient manuscripts aloud.

Beautifully acted all round, Driveways is a small film with a big heart.

Lee Tamahori opts to swim in the shallow waters of gaudy exploitation rather than explore some of the deeper issues of the politics of power.

Centering on a beautifully observed performance by co-director Verónica Llinás, this is a film that treats its outsider heroine with dignity and reminds the viewer what it really takes to survive in this way.

Using handheld camera and naturalistic lighting, director Marius Holst's style might be summarised as Dogme-lite.

For all the 3D eyeball-poking efforts, barbershop-quartet singing fish and more colours than an explosion in a paintbox, the thin story never rises beyond merely okay.

It’s a real shame that the director doesn’t show enough interest in his own story or characters to make them anything more than sketches and surfaces.

Cage gets killed over and over and comes back to the same place to start again. Bor-ing!

The disparate vignettes of Echo are held together by strange rhymes and resonances.

Complementing the visual variety is an emotional openness and generosity of spirit naturally appealing to those who dream of finding better worlds.

As in most successful sex comedies, the key to this film is that it’s not really sex that’s the problem, but rather the great weight of other concerns – about self-esteem, social status and ageing – associated with it.

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'.

It's complicated and increasingly violent

The pleasure of Garland's film lies more in the deeper questions of what makes us 'human' and in the tensions generated between Caleb, Nathan and Ava than in the plot, which suffers from predictability.

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

Throughout the film, there's a feeling that the writers are picking their way gingerly through a minefield of possible problems, thereby failing to commit fully to the character of Steven Morrissey.

There's a dozen reasonable ideas, none of which are developed into fruition.

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

The subtlety comes from Crystal's underplaying, although the rat-a-tat-tat ad-libs and improv one-liners slow the movie down.

Mortensen seems to draw particular focus to the aggression, fear and pejoratives associated with neurological disorders - a side only ever faintly explored in cinema.

Generational tensions and expectations are also explored and you can feel Sarutyte's love for all of her characters, each lovingly crafted, no matter how small.

Inés Toharia’s documentary will make you consider the restoration process with fresh eyes.

The acting alone makes Flawless essential. Schumacher's script is a bonus.