THREE AND A HALF STARS A filmmaker returns home to cast his estranged daughter in the lead role. She turns him down, reopening old family wounds. DRAMA NORWAY Norwegian #SENTIMENTALVALUE Starring Stellan Skarsgård, Renate Reinsve SENTIMENTAL VALUE arrives freighted with expectation; a Cannes-anointed meditation on family, art and inheritance, that, thankfully, proves far easier to love than its sombre packaging suggests. While it clearly wants to be taken as a serious reckon

THREE STARS A classical musician learns he has a brother who plays in a brass band. He needs his brother, and the band needs a conductor. COMEDY-DRAMA FRANCE French #MYBROTHERSBAND Starring Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Lottin MY BROTHER’S BAND is a warm crowd-pleaser that knows exactly what it wants to be and achieves it with grace. A tender French feel-good drama about music, family and second chances, it gently recalls the best of British like BRASSED OFF or THE FULL MONTY, w

FOUR STARS Two men travel the back blocks of north America collecting folks songs for posterity. Men whose personal relationship goes far deeper than their professional one. DRAMA US English #THEHISTORYOFSOUND Starring Paul Mescal, Josh O'Connor If your idea of a good time is sitting in mone-chrome calm for a couple of hours while a pair of impeccable, handsome men meander through early 20th-century America collecting folk songs, THE HISTORY OF SOUND is the film for you.  Di

THREE STARS Convinced of his innocence, General Herman Göring surrenders to the Allies, setting the stage for one of history's most significant trials. DRAMA US English #NUREMBERG Starring Russell Crowe, Rami Malek James Vanderbilt’s NUREMBERG arrives with the grand confidence of a prestige drama: big cast, bigger subject, and the kind of glossy, old-school production that once fuelled Hollywood’s award seasons. It’s a film that wants to reckon with history while reminding u

TWO STARS Barb becomes enmeshed in saving the life of a young woman, kidnapped in the frozen, winter landscape of Minnesota. DRAMA US English #DEADOFWINTER Starring Emma Thompson, Judy Greer This is the sort of film that confirms just how rough the landscape must be for actors of Emma Thompson’s calibre. A hackneyed horror-thriller with pretensions of grit (one she, surprisingly, co-produced presumably because this is how you get to work), DEAD OF WINTER wastes its star on a

THREE STARS Linda's world is buckling, and neither her child, husband, therapist, doctor nor apartment are helping. DRAMA US English #IFIHADLEGS Starring Rose Byrne, Conan O'Brien There’s no denying the impact of IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU, Mary Bronstein’s grim, claustrophobic portrait of a mother unravelling. Whether that impact feels worthwhile will depend on your tolerance for discomfort. Starring Rose Byrne in a performance as raw as it is punishing, this is a film desi

THREE AND A HALF STARS John Davidson has Tourette's. Everyone thinks he's inappropriate and swears too much. DRAMA UK English #ISWEAR Starring Robert Aramayo, Maxine Peake Kirk Jones (WAKING NED DEVINE ) is no stranger to sentiment, and I SWEAR is no exception. Based on the true story of John Davidson, a Scotsman diagnosed as a teenager with Tourette syndrome, it’s a film with heart, humour and a fair amount of grit. If it doesn’t quite stick the landing, it certainly at lea

THREE STARS Grace's world is buckling, and neither her child, husband or mother-in-law are helping. DRAMA US English #DIEMYLOVE Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson It’s fair to say that Lynne Ramsay has never been interested in making films that are easy to digest. She makes you work hard and DIE MY LOVE is one of those films. Adapted from Ariana Harwicz’s novel about a woman unravelling at the intersection of motherhood, rural isolation and unresolved grief, Ramsay

THREE AND A HALF STARS A fly-on-the-wall documentary about Jacinda Ardern's five years in New Zealand's highest office. DOCUMENTARY NEW ZEALAND English #PRIMEMINISTER Starring Jacinda Ardern What makes PRIME MINISTER so compelling isn’t its access, though there’s plenty of that, but its perspective. And kindness. That gets mentioned a lot. Directors Lindsay Ute and Michelle Walshe have crafted a documentary that’s as unprecedented as Jacinda Ardern’s own political journey, o

THREE STARS Japanese students take politics into their own hands when surveillance technology arrives at their high school. DRAMA JAPAN Japanese #HAPPYEND Starring Hayato Kurihara, Yukito Hidaka Neo Sora’s feature debut HAPPYEND unfolds in a recognisable near-future Japan where teenage restlessness rubs awkwardly against an increasingly watchful society. It opens with a clutch of high-school friends on the brink of graduation, bored, cheeky - they sneak their way into a tech