1 Toni Erdmann (15)
(Maren Ade, 2016, Ger) 162 mins
This wonderful comedy has some excruciating, laugh-out-loud moments, but they’re all the funnier for the bittersweet story around them. “Toni Erdmann” is the buck-toothed, badly disguised alter ego of lonely dad Winfried, whom he deploys to break through to his stiff, corporatised daughter, chiefly by ruining her career. It sounds like slapstick, but goes much deeper.
2 Loving (12A)
(Jeff Nichols, 2016, US) 120 mins
An interracial marriage that made US legal history is handled with delicacy and grace here; a welcome change from the usual issue-movie bombast. The focus is tight on Richard and Mildred Loving (Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga), whose simple desire to live together sees them arrested and banished from their native Virginia, until the American Civil Liberties Union takes up their cause.
3 T2 Trainspotting (18)
(Danny Boyle, 2017, UK) 116 mins
Old habits die hard as Ewan McGregor and co reunite, 20 years on, for one of the most energetic mid-life crises ever committed to screen. There’s a lot of going over old ground, old grudges, old streets – even old drugs – but it’s less of a tired sequel and more a closing of the circle.
4 Cameraperson (15)
(Kirsten Johnson, 2016, US) 102 mins
The cinematographer distills her life’s work into a powerful collage of clips: war-torn countries, family members, ordinary people, life, death. What seems at first random gradually becomes a moving, questioning, innovative film, both personal and universal.
5 Sing (U)
(Garth Jennings, 2016, US/UK/Jap) 108 mins
An animal talent contest might be a thuddingly obvious hook for a family animation, but this crowd-pleaser knows how to put on a show, cycling through multiple characters (voices include Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and Scarlett Johansson) and an exhaustive playlist, with a contagious eagerness to entertain.
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