

Miwa Nishikawa’s “Under the Open Sky”
This story of an ex-Yakuza trying to go straight after spending much of his life in prison deals effectively with specific social commentary on the Japanese system while never quite feeling completely authentic or fully realised

Alexandre Koberidze’s “What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?”
Poetic, naturalistic romance with magical realist elements is a love letter to the Georgian town of Kutaisi as much as it’s a philosophical fairytale

Russell Owen’s “Shepherd”
Bland cinematography and editing along with a clunky, trope-heavy script fails to capitalise on its epic setting or ideas

Audrey Diwan’s “Happening”
Harrowing visit to a past to which no sensible human being would want to return told masterfully and intimately through a terrific lead performance by Anamaria Vartolomei

Ruth Paxton’s “A Banquet”
Some exceptional direction from Paxton and terrific performances fail to save a meandering script which compares unfavourably to Rose Glass’ “Saint Maud” for which it has some striking similarities

Gastón Duprat & Mariano Cohn’s “Official Competition”
In a year full of satire, this wins out with a sharp and witty script, outstanding performances and great humour that plays out like a combination of Fellini’s “8½” and Frank Oz’s “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” with an Almodovar sensibility

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

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

Jacques Audiard’s “Paris, 13th District”
Adapted from short stories by graphic novelist Adrian Tomine with a screenplay by Audiard, Céline Sciamma and Léa Mysius, this slice of life about a trio of twenty-somethings’ relationships and their sex lives is solid if frothy light