1 Tale Of Tales (15)
(Matteo Garrone, 2015, Ita/Fra/UK) 134 mins.
After so many neutered Hollywood revisions, this rich phantasmagoria returns to the fairytale’s dark European origins, particularly the works of 17th-century writer Giambattista Basile. It’s a tapestry of stories involving kings, queens and monsters, by turns comically absurd, hauntingly strange and obliquely political. Sumptuous images and familiar faces (Salma Hayek, Toby Jones, Vincent Cassel) carry off the bold enterprise.
2 Embrace Of The Serpent (12A)
(Ciro Guerra, 2015, Col/Ven/Arg) 122 mins.
This Amazonian parable views western intervention from a non-western point of view, and the result is powerfully cinematic and richly resonant. Our central figure is an indigenous shaman guide, taking two white explorers into the jungle, 30 years apart, in search of a sacred plant.
3 Cemetery Of Splendour (12A)
(Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2015, Thai/UK/Ger/Fra/Mal/S Kor/Mex/US/Nor) 121 mins.
Like nothing else (apart from other Weerasethakul films), the Thai auteur’s latest is another playfully disorienting tale, blurring the lines between gentle realism and spiritual mysticism. It’s centred on a remote village in Thailand, where soldiers have been afflicted by a mysterious sleeping sickness.
4 When Marnie Was There (U)
(Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 2014, Jap) 103 mins.
Studio Ghibli’s traditional hallmarks (hand-crafted animation, open-hearted storytelling, rounded female heroines) make for a characteristically enchanting tale of a lonely, artistic tomboy who forms a bond with a mysterious girl on a mysterious island.
5 The Nice Guys (15)
(Shane Black, 2016, US) 116 mins.
Who knew Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe would make such good partners? Their inept private investigators follow a trail of sleaze and corruption through late-1970s Los Angeles in a noir-ish comedy thriller that’s full of snappy dialogue and comically lurid violence.
