The Tale of Silyan review – farmer adopts stork in delightfully cockle-warming mud-caked folk tale
This film set in North Macedonia follows a farming family trying to survive in a cockle-warming story
Who, If Not Us? The Fight for Democracy in Belarus review – activists display their defiance
Collateral comedy spins out from underneath the repression and violence charted in this sobering documentary that follows three indefatigable women
Fackham Hall review – Downton Abbey spoof is fast, funny and throwaway
Period drama parody has some decent and often smart gags and benefits from a game cast including Damian Lewis and Thomasin McKenzie
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 review – inept game-based horror is one of the year’s worst
The box office smash of Halloween 2023 gets a shoddily made follow-up written carelessly and devoid of an actual ending
Oh. What. Fun. review – Michelle Pfeiffer leads Amazon’s underbaked Christmas turkey
Starry cast, including Felicity Jones and Chloë Grace Moretz, can’t save misfiring cross between Home Alone and The Family Stone
It Was Just an Accident review – Jafar Panahi takes us on a nightmare trip into a land of bribes and brutality
An unfortunate encounter with a dog sets off a chain of surreal, grotesque events that expose the corruption and tyranny at the heart of Iran
Sunset Boulevard review – Hollywood never looked more glorious or more tragic
Gloria Swanson is extraordinary as faded film-star Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder’s cameo-packed self-referential masterpiece about tinseltown ghosts and delusions
Cover-Up review – atrocity exposer Seymour Hersh, journalist legend, gets a moment in the spotlight
Hersh’s record on uncovering the big stories, from My Lai to Abu Ghraib, speaks for itself. This documentary watches him at work: dogged, nonconformist and combative
Life in One Chord review – the Dunedin sound through the eyes of a music maverick
Based on a memoir by Straitjacket Fits frontman Shayne Carter, this documentary maps out the New Zealand town that birthed an indie movement
Prime Minister review – portrait of Jacinda Ardern shows a fully human being in charge for once
Documentary about New Zealand’s former leader records a shrewd but likable premier who did without the usual politician’s defences
Magazine Dreams review – powerful bodybuilding drama dogged by star Jonathan Majors’ assault conviction
The actor was convicted in 2023 leaving this a film maudit, and though he is convincing, it only draws uncomfortable parallels with his own life
Folktales review – taking on tyranny of social media as teens learn to live like hunter-gatherers
In this documentary, high schoolers camp out in subzero temperatures, making their own fires and driving sledges in the wild
Dreamers review – deep sense of empathy powers emotionally vivid refugees’ drama
A traumatised Nigerian woman seeking asylum in Britain meets a kindred spirit in Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor’s evocative tale
Son of the Soil review – bone-crunching Lagos revenge thriller with bruising swagger
Razaaq Adoti writes and stars in this scrappy gangland action romp, mixing Nollywood energy with bloody set pieces and a dash of 80s-style grit
I Only Rest in the Storm review – beguiling postcolonial blues in Guinea-Bissau
A disaffected Portuguese NGO worker dallies with a drag queen as he wrestles with white man’s privilege in Pedro Pinho’s intelligent drama