THE RIDER

Dir: Chloe Zhao | USA

After suffering a near fatal head injury, young South Dakota Sioux cowboy Brady (Brady Jandreau, a rodeo star on whose real-life story the film is based on) is told never to ride again – but the sport is his lifeline as well as his passion – and he struggles to find his place within a world where the phrase ride or die takes on real, high stakes meaning.

Stunning, contemplative, inspired direction by Chloé Zhao which immersed me in a world I know little about… I think that Brady Jundreau’s presence just took the experience to another level.

– Maddy Probst, Film Hub South West & Watershed

This is what cinema’s are for: stunning and intimate cinematography, stories that question everything we think we know about humanity and performances so fierce we can feel it.

-Tara Judah, Watershed

COLD WAR

Dir: Pawel Pawlikowski | France/UK

In the ruins of post-war Poland, Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and Zula (Joanna Kulig) fall deeply, obsessively and destructively in love. As performing musicians forced to play into the Soviet propaganda machine, they dream of escaping to the creative freedom of the West. But one day, as they spot their chance to make a break for Paris, both make a split decision that will mark their lives forever.

Classic combination of taut story telling, beautifully composed images and wonderful use of music. It took me back to the black and white Eastern European classics of my student days discovering the power of cinema.

– Brian Clay, Moviola

Despite its immense sadness, this film lifted my heart in a way that modern love stories in cinema have stopped doing. A stunning soundtrack that enhanced and perfectly melded with its visuals and a great case study on the effectiveness of simplicity.

-Liz Chege, Come the Revolution

BLACKKKLANSMAN

Dir: Spike Lee | USA

John David Washington (the son of Lee regular Denzel Washington) stars as Ron Stallworth, the real-life black detective who went undercover in the late 70s in the Ku Klux Klan. Though he communicates with members on the phone (even managing to dupe the Grand Wizard, David Duke, played by a skin-crawlingly good Topher Grace), he sends his white, Jewish partner (Adam Driver) to ‘stand in’ for him at meetings and rallies.

Is it a buddy movie? Retro cop show? NO It’s shocking, sophisticated and very clever.

– Susannah Shaw, Curzon Cinema & Arts

As an expat American who grew up in a multiracial neighbourhood, I was bowled over by Spike Lee’s brilliant satire. It reminded me that while race relations have come a long way in the US, simmering racial tensions and inequality still exist, made far worse with Trump stoking the flames of far-right white racial resentment.

-Donna Anton, Hayle Film Club

LADY BIRD

Dir: Greta Gerwig | USA

Lady Bird stars Saoirse Ronan as confused, precocious teenager Christine – or, as she prefers to be called, Lady Bird. She’s in her last year at a Catholic school, and dreams of a different life of cosmopolitan culture and Ivy League universities on the East Coast, lofty aspirations that cause clashes with her mother (Laurie Metcalf), a nurse working tirelessly to keep her family afloat.

A perfectly judged coming-of-age comedy-drama whose mother-daughter relationship, so beautifully depicted by Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf, had me laughing and crying in equal measure.

-Donna Anton, Hayle Film Club

YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

Dir: Lynne Ramsey | France/USA

Joe (Phoenix, who won the Best Actor prize in Cannes for his brilliant performance) is a Gulf War veteran turned assassin for hire who rescues young girls who have been kidnapped into the sex trade. When Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), a senator’s daughter, is taken, he’s contacted to take care of it – but Joe’s escape plan suddenly derails, unleashing a maelstrom of violence…

The work of three masters (Ramsay / Phoenix / Greenwood) at the top of their respective games working in perfect harmony.

-Neil Fox, The Cinematologists & Falmouth University College

LEAVE NO TRACE

Dir: Debra Granik | USA

Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie gives an incredible breakthrough performance as Tom, a teenager who has been living in the Oregon woods with her troubled father Will (Ben Foster), from an early age. Camped in the forest, they are peaceful, lo-tech survivalists, perfectly attuned to each other and the natural world. When a chance encounter blows their cover and social services intervene, the pair escape on a perilous journey back to the wilderness, where they are finally forced to confront their conflicting desires and re-evaluate their relationship…

A brilliant follow-up to Winter’s Bone with superb under-played performances from the two leads.

– Brian Clay, Moviola

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING MISSOURI

Dir: Martin McDonagh | USA

Frances McDormand delivers a blistering performance in Martin McDonagh’s scandalously funny drama about the battle between a grieving mother and the local head of law enforcement.

It’s been seven months since her daughter was murdered and foul-mouthed, tough-as-nails Mildred (McDormand) is fed up. Outraged that the investigation has gone quiet, she sets about provoking the local police department with a series of messages plastered on three billboards outside her home town. So begins a rapidly escalating and very public feud between Mildred and venerated community leader Police Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson).

Beautifully written and acted, breathtaking, couldn’t even bear to leave to go to the toilet.

-Malisa Sledmere, No 6 Cinema

Excellent acting and excellent story!

-Curtis Fulcher, Bridport Arts Centre

SUMMER 1993

Dir: Carla Simon | Spain

In summer 1993, following the death of her parents, six year old Frida leaves Barcelona and her grandparents for the countryside where she will now live with her uncle and aunt. Exploring an unfamiliar and estranging rural world, still burdened by the trauma of her profound and confusing loss, she struggles to settle into the new family dynamic.

Beautifully evocative landscape of rural Spain that works as a gentle hand to hold for a young girl whose mother has recently passed away in a cathartic film that reminds you of the joys of being a child.

-Oliver Treasure-Smith, Curzon Cinema & Arts

Clear eyed, open hearted, devastatingly emotional. Showed the fragility and the ruthlessness of children. Had to sit in the cinema for half an hour after the film finished to have a good cry.

-Anna Navas, Plymouth Arts Centre