Bel review – the powerful life force and haunting absence of a traumatised singer-songwriter
Beldina Odenyo alchemised the pain of exile, loss and racism into music as Heir of the Cursed before her death in 2021, as this attentive tribute explores
The Black Garden review – haunting study of growing up in war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh
Alexis Pazoumian’s documentary follows Samvel and Avo, two preteen boys whose lives will be unavoidably scarred by brutal conflict
The Whisper Man review – Robert De Niro sleepwalks through silly Netflix potboiler
A father and son must team up to find a serial killer in a cheaply made and increasingly uninteresting thriller
The Secret Woman review – Claes Bang is dastardly gaslighter in Danish amnesia thriller
In spite of capable performances and deployment of hygge, gothic and Nordic noir elements, you’ll search for a feasible plot or a character insight in vain
Idiots review – throwback bro comedy is an entertaining summer seat-filler
Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr lead a goofy roadtrip comedy that is just sharp enough to keep you strapped in
Colony review – zombies return to the mall with a fresh and frenzied range of scares
This time the ranks of the undead have acquired a hive mind, making them even more formidable adversaries. Can a maverick academic save the day?
The Wreck review – scuba drama about siblings under pressure
Gabe Winsor’s inventively staged tale is charming and sweetly lo-fi, but the emotion never quite clicks
De Gaulle: Résistance review – a galloping bromance for Churchill and France’s wartime hero
This biopic of the great Gallic general – which culminates at Bir Hakeim, in advance of a second film – is a fine, quietly amusing romp with a touch of classic 60s war films
The Last Sunrise review – Amazon’s soapy YA romance is thankless and bland
Another familiar concoction fails to make use of its sunny location and chooses cheap melodrama over romantic charm
Hanging By a Wire review – cable car rescue documentary dangles viewers on the edge of disaster
The extraordinary fate of eight people trapped above a chasm in Pakistan makes for a tense, skilfully assembled survival story with unexpected flashes of comedy
The Dog Stars review – Ridley Scott’s lethargic postapocalyptic drama is a misfire
An adaptation of Peter Heller’s 2012 novel never finds its footing with overly familiar survival beats and a glum lack of energy
Rise of the Footsoldier: Retribution review – never-ending hardman-on-a-mission franchise heads to Ibiza
The seventh in the series takes longstanding lead gangster Tate, played to the hilt as always by Craig Fairbrass, to the White Isle to knock some heads together
Penny Lane Is Dead review – Aussie slasher comedy zips from Neighbours to nasty
Mia’Kate Russell’s 80s-set Ozsploitation horror is a tad slapdash, but the grungy gore and seething catfights save it from dud status
Zip Wire review – cancer-curing scientist is on the hook for cable-dangle thriller
This nonsensical film sees an OCD-afflicted scientist fending off assassins while hanging from an aerial wire, and fails to get pulses racing for even a minute
The Visitor review – existential Lithuania-set homecoming drama leaves everything in limbo
This portrait by Vytautas Katkus of a man contemplating his recent fatherhood and his own father is steeped in ennui and ends up drifting