Works

Abi Morgan’s shrewd, charming and sometimes trippy detective series, set in the built-up concrete jungle of east London, did something genuinely new...almost feels like therapy.

“a fascinating refraction of the Amanda Knox trial into an examination of perception.”

"The Selfish Giant shares its title with an Oscar Wilde children’s tale, but this unflinching, moving story of two Bradford boys who steal copper, illegally race ponies and flirt worryingly with danger all day long is rooted in a very real, modern Britain."

“In the best traditions of classic Hong Kong action films, gun battles are choreographed like deadly bullet dances…a pulse pounding and beautiful looking British crime film”

“The second feature from the Turner Prize-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen is a rare attempt to depict the reality of male sex addiction, and the result is an unqualified masterwork.”

"Be warned – it takes a while to come out of the Audio Obscura state of mind. It’s a kind of hypersensitive trance, induced by a sonic montage of interior monologue, atmospheric sound and minimalist score – Under Milk Wood meets Philip Glass, or thereabouts."

“A journey across borders. The histories that unfold are marked by war and exile; “identities in flux”. Axis of Light has drawn a truly wonderful portrait of artists”

“It's good to be reminded that the joyful arrival of the Messiah – like the arrival of any baby – was also fearful, mysterious and disturbing…a stunning new piece for choir and ensemble that meditates on the Nativity entirely from a female perspective.”

“Clio Barnard’s tightrope-walking experiment with fact, fiction and the spaces in between. Ostensibly a biopic of the playwright Andrea Dunbar, this multidimensional collage explodes our expectations of the form.”

“To convince audiences that something so appalling is taking place right under their noses seems an impossible task, but it would be a cynical viewer indeed who wasn’t moved by I Am Slave.”

“A beautiful animated film about grief, loneliness, speechlessness and the cleansing power of natural forces.”

“What is best about A Mighty Heart is that it doesn’t reduce the Daniel Pearl story to a plot, but elevates it to a tragedy. A tragedy that illuminates and grieves for the hatred that runs loose in our world.”

“Poppy Shakespeare is maddening…pitching the viewer into a state of temporary insanity. You never feel as if you are pressing your nose up at the Bedlam window; rather, you were sitting in a corner, scratching your shorn head.?”

"An ocean away from the Wire’s corner boys, this is the pedestrian reality of drug abuse: people hurting themselves in small rooms. Naturalistic dialogue and performances within carefully framed and composed shots: properly cinematic, grown-up direction…damn fine filmmaking”

"We're all told that the people in Guantanamo were the most dangerous terrorists in the world. We wanted to show the gap between what you thought people in Guantanamo would be like and the reality of meeting them.”

“A fascinating documentary about the first single-handed around-the-world sailing race, begins like a Boy’s Own adventure tale but ends up more akin to tragedy. Again and again you want to shout at the screen: “Turn back. All will be forgiven.”

“A hard-hitting docudrama about a migrant Chinese worker who comes to England and ends up on the fateful road to Morecambe Bay, where 23 Chinese cockle-pickers drowned in February 2004…the horror leaks out of almost every frame”

"Hard Candy is an impressive film in which a dominating female torments her victim. That the female is a child makes it all the more disturbing. That the film is so well-made and effectively acted makes it even more challenging."