‘This is big blissful entertainment’: global film critics on the one movie that defines their country

What single film best represents a nation? Here, 12 writers choose the one movie they believe most captures their home’s culture and cinema – from a bold cricket musical to a nine-hour documentary, gritty crime dramas to frothy tales of revenge

Viet and Nam review – hallucinatory love story feels the pain of a nation

Elusive film about a gay Vietnamese man looking for his dead father’s remains recalls the films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul

The shocking hit film about overworked nurses that’s causing alarm across Europe

A Swiss film about a nurse pushed to her limits one night is being praised for the picture it paints of treacherously underfunded healthcare. The director talks about the ‘heart-pounding’ story that inspired her

What Does That Nature Say to You review – funny and complex Korean dad-boyfriend standoff

Hong Sang-soo makes a genuinely intriguing addition to his booze- and conversation-fuelled oeuvre

‘You’re stealing my identity!’: the movie voiceover artists going to war with AI

As new tech imperils the £3bn dubbing artists industry, professionals including India’s Ryan Reynolds and India’s Jon Snow explain why audiences should listen to their fears

Three Friends review – charm aplenty in super-tasteful comedy that couldn’t be more French

All the typecast antics, such as having extramarital affairs, discussing feelings in depth and the occasional theatrical shrug are here in this typically bourgeois ensemble piece

Al Djanat: The Original Paradise review – striking account of Burkina Faso homecoming

Chloé Aïcha Boro’s watchful documentary charts the disharmony and legal wrangling caused by a dispute in her family over sacred burial land

Along Came Love review – l’amour, loss and lingering shame in eventful French relationship movie

Director Katell Quillévéré explores the ravages of romance in an intelligently performed period piece about a shamed mother and a closeted husband

Woman and Child review – drama of rage and pain in the Iranian marriage market

Saeed Roustaee’s new film takes aim at a slippery, entitled male who thinks he can lord it over a widow he plans to marry

Spring Night review – elliptical tale of Korean lovers is study of elemental passion

After meeting at a wedding, Su-hwan and Yeong-gyeong plunge into a desperate relationship fuelled by alcohol, and powered by tremendous performances

The Little Sister review – a discerning drama of queer Muslim coming-of-age

Hafsia Herzi’s film manages sexuality with confidence, featuring an affecting lead performance from newcomer Nadia Melliti

Holy Cow review – unlikely French teen cheesemaker drama with a big heart

A largely nonprofessional cast shine in Louise Courvoisier’s gritty rural tale that feels satisfyingly real

Holy Cow review – warmhearted story of smalltown teen turned competition cheesemaker

An 18-year-old from a family of comté-makers is left alone to look after his little sister in Louise Courvoisier’s warm-hearted and optimistic drama

Four Mothers review – a put-upon writer is run ragged in Irish comedy charmer

James McArdle plays a novelist whose care-giving duties are suddenly expanded in this nicely acerbic remake of Italian hit Mid-August Lunch

Misericordia review – waking dream of a movie is one of the strangest films of the year

A man moves in with his employer’s widow in this playful but dreamlike and inscrutable drama from Alain Guiraudie, the director of Stranger By the Lake