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Shooting Dogs
Released in the US as Beyond the Gates, Shooting Dogs is based on the factual story of a Catholic priest and a young English teacher who are caught in the middle of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Unlike Hotel Rwanda, which was filmed in South Africa using South African actors, the film was shot in the…
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The Squid and the Whale
A film about the emotional, financial and practical struggle of a bitter divorce – the relevance of the obscure title only becomes clear towards the end. The story is broadly based on director Baumbach and his brother’s teenage experiences of their parents divorce in Brooklyn in the 80s. Jeff Daniels excels as the insufferable, competitive…
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Dancer in the Dark
Dancer in the Dark is the third film in Lars von Trier’s Golden Heart Trilogy – the previous two were Breaking the Waves (1996) and The Idiots (1998). The story centres on Selma (Björk), a Czech immigrant to the US, who works in a factory but has a degenerative eye condition. She is determined to…
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Frozen
Its been two years since the disappearance of her sister, but Kath (Shirley Henderson) is still consumed by the loss. She steals a video tape from the police that shows her sister Annie’s last known movements, and finds a mysterious image on it. Kath retraces her sisters final steps and becomes haunted by images of…
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Possession
A.S. Byatt’s 1990 Booker Prize-winning Possession is adapted here for the screen to sumptuous effect. Academic researchers Michell (Eckhart) and Bailley (Paltrow) warily join forces to explore evidence that revered Victorian poet Ash’s (Northam) most accomplished work, historically accepted as love poems to his wife, may have been inspired by another woman – poet Christabel…
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Ten Canoes
A beautifully crafted tragi-comedy set in the timeless freshwater swamps of Arnhem Land in Australia. The multi-layered story of a man guiding his younger brother in a choice of love meanders between a narrator, a not-so-long-ago hunting party and an ancient myth. Unlike many films telling the tale of other cultures from an external and…
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Pan’s Labyrinth
Del Toro, no stranger to science fiction or tales of the Spanish struggle between Fascism and left wing politics (Blade 2, Hellboy, The Devils Backbone) offers us something different here, skilfully blending history with fantasy. In Second World War fascist Spain Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is faced with a stark choice. On the one hand she…
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Caravaggio
Not so much a faithful biography as an examination of the homo-erotic in the Renaissance artist’s work. Jarman’s film focuses on speculation about the relationships between Caravaggio and his models – a tale of a love triangles and scandals ensues, but what stands out is the directors signature artistic flourishes and theatrical tableaux. Some may…
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The Lives of Others
Von Donnersmarck’s powerful, beautifully crafted film captures life in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, when secret police or Stasi agents scrutinised the population for signs of dissent or divergence from toeing the line of the totalitarian regime. The story tells of three main characters a successful writer (Koch) suspected of subversion,…
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This is England
Funny yet deeply moving take on 1980s UK youth culture from a troubled 13 year old’s viewpoint. The story centres on skinheads in the East Midlands of England in 1983 who adopt a younger boy, Shaun (Turgoose), initially as a mascot and then as a fully-fledged member of their gang. The film illustrates how the…