THREE AND A HALF STARS A teenage boy forms an attachment with an older, male, co-worker. DRAMA FRANCE French #ENZO Starring Eloy Pohu, Maksym Slivinskyi ENZO is a heartfelt coming-of-age film that sidesteps melodrama to tell the story of Enzo (Eloy Pohu), a teenager whose world opens up when he who defies his bourgeois family, takes a masonry apprenticeship and forms a friendship with Vlad (Maksym Slivinsky), a charismatic Ukrainian co-worker ten years his senior. Director R

THREE STARS A businessman has plans for Phoenicia if he can raise the cash. Others would rather he didn't, they'd rather him dead. ADVENTURE COMEDY US English #THEPHOENICIANSCHEME Starring Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapelton Wes Anderson’s THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME is exactly what you expect from the idiosyncratic director: a finely crafted, exquisitely styled confection that dazzles the eye but doesn’t always satisfy the appetite. Like an elaborate wedding cake - rich with intric

TWO AND A HALF STARS A petty criminal is unable to shake off the enduring pull of his first love. DRAMA FRANCE French #BEATINGHEARTS Starring François Civil, Adele Exarchopoulos Gilles Lellouche ’s BEATING HEARTS ( L’Amour Ouf ) is an ambitious and often chaotic modern romantic epic, aiming for operatic grandeur but landing somewhere closer to melodramatic excess. With a sweeping narrative that spans decades, the film aims for passion and tragedy but its emotional reach far

THREE STARS A farming couple rip up their fences and put their trust in nature. DOCUMENTARY UK English #WILDING Starring Isabella Tree, Matthew Collyer Around twenty years ago, Isabella Tree and her husband took the unusual decision of letting their property go to 'ruin'. Unusual because it was several hundred acres of agricultural land not terribly far from London, Knepp Hall was a stately pile that had been in the family for generations and most of all, unusual because pos

THREE STARS A UK couple are made homeless and decide to walk the Cornish coast to clear their heads. DRAMA UK English #THESALTPATH Starring Gillian Anderson, Jason Isaccs Director Marianne Elliott, best known for her theatre work, makes her feature debut with THE SALT PATH, an adaptation of Raynor Winn’s bestselling memoir. It’s a handsome, if uneven, drama that has a crack at balancing hardship, resilience and nature’s healing power. The results are mixed. “Walking gives us

FOUR STARS Chaos runs rampant in the kitchen of a New York restaurant. DRAMA US Spanish & English #LACOCINA Starring Raúl Briones, Rooney Mara Directed with considerable nerve by relative newcomer Alonso Ruizpalacios, LA COCINA is a frenetic exploration of the chaos, camaraderie, and class tensions simmering beneath the surface of a busy New York restaurant kitchen. Think of it as a cipher for modern America with all its inequity, anger, aggression and aspiration. Inspired b

THREE AND A HALF STARS The life and times of French crooner Charles Aznavour is given the biopic treatment. PERIOD DRAMA FRANCE French #MONSIEURAZNAVOUR Starring Mehdi Idir, Marie-Julie Baup The latest off the biopic production line is the story of French crooner, Charles Aznavour. A protege of Edith Piaf and pin-up boy of the 1960’s, he became one of the country’s most respected and adored singers.  MONSIEUR AZNAVOUR is clearly a passion-project for the writing-directing pa

THREE AND A HALF STARS The true story of Peter Greste, a journalist who was jailed for nearly a decade on trumped up charges. DRAMA AUSTRALIA English #THECORRESPONDENT Starring Richard Roxburgh, Rahel Romahn In this post-truth age of artifice and political construction, THE CORRESPONDENT is a poignant reminder of the importance of vigilance. Not so long ago, Australian journalist Peter Greste was reporting on the Arab Spring uprising when, in the blink of an eye, he was jail

FOUR STARS A man is wronged. Years later, armed with a new identity, he seeks revenge. PERIOD DRAMA FRANCE French #MONTECRISTO Starring Pierre Niney, Bastien Bouillion Another Alexandre Dumas page-turner has been given a vivid and, at three hours long, epic treatment by the directing couple who last year gave us four, swash-buckling hours with THE THREE MUSKETEERS . This time THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO tells his lengthy tale of muskets and misdeeds, incarceration and revenge.

THREE STARS Angus has two days to learn bass guitar, form a band and impress a girl. PERIOD DRAMA NZ English #HEADSOUTH Starring Ed Oxenbould, Benee It’s 1979 in the sleepy city of Christchurch, New Zealand. Teenage Angus ( Ed Oxenbould ) suddenly wakes up, metaphorically speaking, when Fraser, owner of the music store Middle Earth Records (yes, really) introduces him to punk.  It was like aliens had abducted is brain, so energetic, so intoxicating, so utterly different  was