Michelangelo Frammartino’s “Il buco”
One of the most breathtakingly beautiful films of the last few years takes an almost zen approach to telling the parallel stories of a shepherd and a group of cave explorers while remaining easily accessible to a wider audience; a sublime cinematic experience
James Gray’s “Armageddon Time”
Unsentimental autobiography of Gray’s childhood in 1980s Queens is a low key but engaging story of prejudice, injustice and growing up that somehow feels on the cusp of greatness it never quite reaches
Jeff Tremaine’s “Jackass Forever”
Subversive, scatalogical slapstick hinging on masses of schaedenfreude with a weird family dynamic at its core that skewers (not literally) the male form and never pretends to be more than its dumb self
Domee Shi’s “Turning Red”
A solid, entertaining and smart addition to the Pixar canon; if this upset you, you probably deserve to be upset
Owen Kline’s “Funny Pages”
Anti-coming of age that is grotesque, funny, uncomfortable and compelling in equal measure; it disturbingly mixes the grease of middleage with the ignorant sweat of youth, focusing on a young aspiring comic artist’s journey
Halina Reijn’s “Bodies Bodies Bodies”
Based on a story by Kristen Roupenian with a crackling script from Sarah DeLappe, this is a fresh take on the genre with terrific direction from Halina Reign supported by excellent casting and a more down-to-earth approach that ends beautifully.
Joseph Kosinski’s “Top Gun: Maverick”
Terrific flight sequences sandwiched by nostalgic soap opera melodrama with tokenised women and minorities sidelined in what at times feels like an extendended commercial for men’s hair dye in a jingoistic frame
Matthew Warchus’ “Matilda the Musical”
An adaption of the stage musical(Matthew Warchus, Dennis Kelly, Tim Minchin) adapted from Roald Dahl’s book Mathilda, this is a joyous rendition with enough to differentiate it from Danny DeVito’s non-musical film to exist on its own while not invalidating its predecessor
Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s “Earwig”
Beautifully shot with nice production design and haunting music, this ambient-horror lacks anything to engage be it a story, suspense, sense of mystery, connection to the characters or anything we’ve not seen before
Sebastian Meise’s “Great Freedom”
A unique and poignant prison drama which brings to light the struggles of post-WW2 gay rights as well as the importance of bridging divides
Lars von Trier’s “Kingdom”
Absurdist, Twin Peaks-inspired Danish melodrama-horror is a deliciously unpredictable joyride so long as you can roll with the insanity
Lukas Feigelfeld’s “Hagazussa: A Heathen's Curse”
Earthy and sensual horror debut of quiet potency and staggering beauty
Ti West’s “X”
A well crafted retro-horror that finds time to skewer fundamentalist Christian values and touch on issues of aging and sexual politics while maintaining its lightness
Ti West’s “Pearl”
An outstanding prequel to “X” which is fresh and stands on its own paying homage to Hitchcock in his prime as well as the movies of the period
Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “The Woman King”
An entertaining action epic which frames African history from a long overdue perspective with a terrific cast and pacy script
Eskil Vogt’s “The Innocents”
A tense horror on the dark side of childhood which plays like “Lord of the Flies”, Anton Leader’s “Children of the Damned” and Josh Trank’s “Chronicle” with a down-to-earth Swedish sensibility that heightens the stakes
Sara Dosa’s “Fire of Love”
This captivating and unique documentary on the life long volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft is full of unique sights and ideas diminished slightly by extraneous narration
Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”
Another modern spin on classic whodunit movies that’s well crafted, enjoyable and about as serious as Craig’s sleuth, Benoit Blanc
Steven Soderbergh’s “Kimi”
Competent enough but forgettable low-key thriller that doesn’t come anywhere near Soderbergh’s earlier work hampered by a weak script from David Koepp and bland cinematography lifted by a solid performance from Zoë Kravitz
Sam Mendes’ “Empire of Light”
An intimate, poetic narrative which is a coming of age story that touches on racism, mental illness and exploitation that manages to be uplifting without being vapid