Film Reviews by Steve

The middle part of the director's excellent trilogy about the adjustments that take place in the key stages of life. This one catches Jesse and Celine (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, both treasurable) ten years after Before Sunrise. The film captures elegantly and wisely the thirtysomething condition: when enough experience has accrued to feel meaningful regret; of having to make definitive decisions, coupled with a last chance to review the decisions already made; but time enough to change. Still young, but when time first comes to check your pulse and take your temperature.

Linklater sets their conversation against the beauty of Celine's home city of Paris (reminiscent of Jacques Rivette's Paris Nous Appartient). The film is eighty minutes of dialogue, but there are no lulls. Just a developing euphoria with the joy that love and providence can bring. A conversation that leads us to a conclusion of overwhelming intent... and a tantalising cliffhanger.

Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung play Brief Encouner in this heartbreaking film of a thwarted love affair in 1962 Hong Kong, from which they never recover. Chris Doyle's photography of the city by night; the beautiful music; and the stars, the Bogart and Bergman of our time; and the ending, which is making me sob right now, are overwhelming.

A classic that changed the way films look. A hyper-kinetic, friction free ride through three decades of gang conflict in a Rio slum. If only those who it influenced could make a film half as authentic, creative and intelligent as this. Its plot actually evokes Manhattan Melodrama (1934) which feels right; this is a classic crime film, for the ages.

This has the look of millennial Asian horror (from the director of Ring), but it also offers a huge emotional impact. It is a clever visual allegory of a dead child's supernatural plea for her grave to be found. A brilliant, unsettling ghost story which mirrors back our own existential fears; which is what great horror always does.

True story following the desperate measures taken to survive by a climber, trapped under a rock in a crevice for five days. Flashback, hallucination and visceral recreation of his ordeal takes us through the 127 hours; his release is a vicarious spiritual exultation (partly thanks to Sigur Ros). James Franco's solo rendition is superb.

Long, leisurely, bucolic tale from a Lawrence short story (not the novel), with a standout performance by Marina Hinds. The photography is a joy, but this is not mere heritage cinema. The film is heavy with brilliantly evoked detail of the environment, the human heart, and the emancipation of the Edwardian lady.

High Plains Drifter set in the Peak District, with Paddy Considine (who co wrote with Meadows) seeking those responsible for the death of his brother. Not just a suspenseful revenge drama, but Meadows again creates a real environment, whether the enervating poverty of his small town, or the feeble lives of his criminal gang.

Brain exhausting fantasy featuring the thoughts of a man dying in a road accident, representing his last eight minutes of brain activity after the body dies. In this rotoscoped world, he dreams of, or recalls, visits to his friends to discuss philosophy, conspiracy and the universe. A hundred minutes of dense, difficult dialogue; but fascinating.

An ambitious film made over twelve years, featuring Ellar Coltrane, who grows up before our eyes from infant school to university. The cast (featuring Linklater regular Ethan Hawke, who is excellent) is on hand for the whole journey. No gimmick this, but a unique, detailed and poignant portrayal of childhood, its joys and its threats.

Dramatic reconstruction of the tragic drowning of Chinese illegal immigrants in Morecambe Bay, compelled to their deaths by gangs in China and the UK. Broomfield exhibits the links between their fate and the food in our mouths. Broomfield is no Ken Loach but delivers a compelling, shaming polemic.

Tasty, nasty, violent film starts off focusing on the exposure of a relatively sheltered teenager to the machinations of a depraved criminal family, going crazy under threat. About halfway it takes a turn into the heart of darkness of the family's astonishingly pragmatic and vicious mother. Then it really takes off courtesy of Jacki Weaver's staggering portrayal.

One of the great prison film. A nineteen year old Corsican Arab learns to survive and then thrive in this barbarous, destitute institution. While the film comments on the penal environment and the experience of French Moslems, it's Tahar Rahim's outstanding performance that most powerfully endures.

Powerhouse, realistic political drama of a Stasi official in the old East whose loyalties begin to shift as he carries out surveillance on a charismatic, liberal couple working in the theatre. A film that makes you question your own worth and values. Starts slowly, but builds to an amazing ending that will haunt the rest of my life.

In the post millennium horror explosion, plenty have mastered the look, but few have hitched their technique to a story as satisfying as this: The Turn of the Screw, with a little extra twist. Nicole Kidman's froideur is perfect for her part as the disturbed widow. An exemplary ghost story that chills through eerie insinuation.

Relationship drama, loosely constructed around the investigation into the death of a young women, is an atmospheric mood piece about the sadness and loneliness of the city (Sydney). A contemporary film noir. Features a wonderful cast (Geoffrey Rush, Barbara Hershey...) and an unusual, original plot twist.