Lola and the Sea review – trans woman goes on road trip with angry dad
Mya Bollaers is superb as a trans woman forced to travel with her bigoted father in a film that can’t quite escape its own cliches
Lamb review – sheep thrills in Iceland
Noomi Rapace stars in this creepy story of a couple raising a strange ovine addition to their household
The 50 best films of 2021 in the UK, No 8: Azor
An eerie, unsettling drama-thriller from director Andreas Fontana sees a Swiss banker navigate Argentina’s dirty war
Lamb review – Noomi Rapace outstanding in wild horror-comedy of Icelandic loneliness
This outrageous story of a bereaved couple’s surrogate child ropes in a wild bestiary of creatures great and digital
The 50 best films of 2021 in the US, No 9: Azor
An unnervingly subtle and dreamlike conspiracy thriller set in the strange world of the super-wealthy at the time of the dirty war in Argentina
Hope review – sensitive study of the grief that lies behind a cancer diagnosis
Stellan Skarsgård plays a man whose attention has been more focused on his career than his family wrestles with accepting his wife’s terminal illness
Not Knowing review – homophobic bullies wreck Turkish water polo kid’s life
Rumours about a young athlete’s sexuality have devastating consequences in an public-service lesson that lacks dramatic acuity
There Is No Evil review – devastating everyday tales of life under Iran’s brutal regime
Mohammad Rasoulof’s Golden Bear winner examines the brutal impact of the death penalty and suppressed freedom on ordinary Iranians
Screen sensation: the single-shot thriller bringing time-travel into the Zoom era
It was shot in a week and premiered to 12 people, but micro-budget sci-fi movie Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes has since become the breakout success of the year
The Hand of God review – Paolo Sorrentino tells his own Maradona story
The Italian film-maker may owe his life to the footballer, as this vivid, autobiographical Neapolitan drama reveals
Celts review – bitchy zingers sting at a birthday party in Belgrade
Director Milica Tomović’s debut is a sharp, well-scripted party piece set in early 1990s Serbia
Drive My Car review – supremely confident Haruki Murakami adaptation
A widowed actor bonds with his chauffeur in Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s beguiling film exploring the creative process, jealousy and guilt
You Will Die at Twenty review – radiant Sudanese coming-of-age tale
A young man whose early death was foretold begins to question a life of caution
Natural Light review – bleak but beautifully shot war drama
Dénes Nagy’s sombre second world war film doesn’t give much away, but its coldness speaks volumes about the nature of conflict
Céline Sciamma: ‘My films are always about a few days out of the world’
From Girlhood to Portrait of a Lady on Fire, the film-maker’s intimate human dramas have brought her acclaim. She talks about her latest, Petite Maman