Abacus: Small Enough to Jail tells a compelling story about institutional racism in the guise of a banking documentary.
Chicken People
Chicken People is ostensibly a documentary about the world of competitive chicken shows, yet it succeeds most as a documentary about the nature of obsession.
Chavela
Chavela is a revealing, mostly conventional portrait of one remarkable woman, alongside a culture which at various times embraced, abandoned and then embraced her again.
Mayhem
Although Mayhem is far from perfectly executed, the executions throughout the film are near perfect.
Hotel Salvation
Hotel Salvation conveys a philosophical examination of where contemporary India finds itself now and where it sees itself headed in the near future.
The Other Side of Hope
Aki Kaurismäki’s latest gets by on the simple pleasures unique to his oeuvre.
Napalm
Eschewing intellectual history for the personal, Claude Lanzmann’s North Korean journey explores the sadness beyond the political facts.
Ciao Ciao
Ciao Ciao is focused on the malfunctions of China’s urbanist ideology, and how they are realised in the setting of uncertain personal lives.
The Grown-Ups
Maite Alberdi’s nuanced documentary is refreshing and non-patronising glimpse into the lives of people with Down’s Syndrome.
The Young Karl Marx
Raoul Peck’s biopic treads with caution, but despite its flaws it’s an accessible, gripping introduction to it subject.