Frustrating and moving, though not in equal measure. In an attempt to juggle dense concerns - including conflict resources, (neo)colonial aftershocks, and the neutered efforts of Western actors - Blood Diamond ultimately centres white naval-gazing. Whether it's African-born nasties like Danny Archer or blinkered allies like Maddy Bowen, their identity crises become the core.

Which was maddening for me, personally, to navigate. Being a white South African, I understand contending with an internal labyrinth of conflicting forces and trying to…

Definitely a "return" for Cronenberg in that Crimes of the Future circles back to previous obsessions, though with much less clarity. Here you'll find the same overarching concern for the dulling of human experience - and the harmful lengths we go to in order to recapture it (see Crash or Videodrome). But this outing is overlong and so damn muddled.

It seems to begin as an intriguing exploration of the director's own impact on cinema: making art of the grotesque…

Seen at the Prince Charles Cinema, projected in 70mm.

Watching Roma is similar to standing on the edge of the shore, your feet submerged, feeling the tide swirl and shuffle sand around you. While others see someone standing completely still, only you seem to experience that deep tugging – a sinking caused by your own weight and the turbulent water around you. Cuarón’s protagonist, Cleo, is neither still nor moving. She is presented to us as stuck between both forms…

Burning is worth viewing just for the brief moment in which a child silently observes a greenhouse consumed in a blaze. Not only does the scene add to the film’s overall evasiveness and mystique, it also provides an adequate metaphor for the proceeding action. Beautiful images that frame hissing and crackling psyches which are home to fear and envy, building to a dramatic height. As the narrative flowed to its conclusion, however, I did feel some of the excitement ebb…