Allan Hunter has worked for Screen since 1990. He is based in Edinburgh and recently retired as co-director of Glasgow Film Festival
Best film
1. Resurrection
Dir. Bi Gan
Resurrection felt like a joyous riposte to the doom sayers in a year of often grim tidings for the ‘cinema experience’. Bi’s fever dream distils a century of cinema into one spellbinding film. Set in a futuristic world, in which refraining from dreaming is the key to immortality, the film sets out to prove the reward is not worth the sacrifice. A labyrinth of stories in distinctive styles celebrates Murnau, Welles, the Lumière brothers and all those who have embraced the magic of the movies. A kaleidoscopic love letter to cinema, written in fireworks.
2. The Secret Agent
Dir. Kleber Mendonca Filho
Dazzling, dual-timeline thriller served up with all the sweaty energy and swagger of hardboiled crime fiction. Filho combines political insight with family autobiography and blood-soaked embellishment to create a vivid picture of 1970s Brazil. A commanding Wagner Moura grounds all the excess and exuberance.
3. Sentimental Value
Dir. Joachim Trier
Trier’s tender, Bergman-esque saga explores a family in which suffering, absence and resentment reside deep in their DNA. Stellan Skarsgard has rarely been better as the self-absorbed filmmaker whose latest project might unlock the things that have remained unsaid between him and his actress daughter (Renate Reinsve). A mature, measured piece combining melancholy and playfulness as it acknowledges the healing potential of art.
4. Left-Handed Girl
Dir. Shih-Ching Tsou
Tsou brings a generous understanding of human nature and the price of independence as she charts the lives of a mother and her two daughters seeking a fresh start in the night markets of Taipei. Sharp-eyed and big-hearted with an irresistible charm, it is a ray of sunshine with an adorable Nina Ye as the youngest daughter.
5. No Other Choice
Dir. Park Chan-wook
Satire, social commentary and black comedy are blended in Park’s inspired adaptation of Donald Westlake’s 1997 novelThe Ax. Unexpected redundancy and a brutal jobs market push a mild-mannered family man (Lee Byung-hun) to increasingly desperate measures as his perfect life unravels slowly. As entertaining as it is timely.
6. Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk
Dir. Sepideh Farsi
7. Nouvelle Vague
Dir. Richard Linklater
8. I Swear
Dir. Kirk Jones
9. We Believe You
Dirs. Miriam Akheddiou, Laurent Capelluto
10. Late Shift
Dir. Petra Volpe
