Sara Sugarman’s “Save the Cinema”
Samantha Morton sparkles beyond the limits of this sugary, sentimental melodrama telling the true story of a hairdresser’s campaign to save her local cinema from property developers
Hannes Holm’s “A Man Called Ove”
Swedish comedy melodrama (recently given the remake treatment with Tom Hanks) is a sweet and weepy Capraesque fairytale that doesn’t always hit the mark but is carried by pitch perfect casting
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
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