One of greatest directors working today picks apart the romantic gamesmanship of her wonderful latest.
A teen fights for his soul in Brazilian character study Hard Paint, which screened at this year’s BFI Flare.
Robin Campillo’s stirring AIDS activist drama is a vital reminder of the power of protest.
The US writer/director takes us inside his spellbinding stop-motion opus Isle of Dogs.
Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair are struck by mass hysteria in this lunatic horror-thriller from director Brian Taylor.
The You Were Never Really director talks framing violence and working with Joaquin Phoenix and Jonny Greenwood.
It’s hammer time for the famously intense leading man ahead of his starring role in You Were Never Really Here.
Saoirse Ronan experiences growing pains in Sacramento in Greta Gerwig’s delightful indie comedy.
The cinematographer recalls how the pair hit it off on the director’s 1996 debut feature.
The director of Mudbound on how she grappled with the legacy of slavery in the Deep South.
The director of The Florida Project is quietly redefining concepts of movie magic and what it means to be a star.
Joachim Trier returns with a bold sci-fi tinged romantic drama that may just leave you feeling cold.
New films that deal with the relationship between men and women in interesting ways.
Noah Baumbach gets the best out of Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller in this sensitive and witty comedy.
Nicolas Cage runs amok in this deliciously berserk comedy-horror about parents compelled to kill their kids.
Saoirse Ronan whirlwinds her way through Greta Gerwig’s sublime directorial debut.
Elle Fanning is the star of the show in Haifaa Al-Mansour’s uneven biopic of the ‘Frankenstein’ author.
Sally Hawkins finds a scaly suitor in Guillermo del Toro’s strange, sentimental snow globe fairy tale.
Something disturbing lies beneath the surface of Joachim Trier’s head-scratching latest.
Margaret Qualley plays a conflicted nun-in-training in this sensuous drama from director Margaret Betts.
Exploring how director Francis Lee constructs the central relationship in his powerful gay drama.
Sofia Coppola’s steamy Southern potboiler is her most arresting and assured movie to date.
Nick Broomfield explores the context behind the untimely death of soul-pop sensation, Whitney Houston.
Joaquin Phoenix bares his soul in Lynne Ramsay’s noir-tinged New York thriller.
Sofia Coppola stuns the Cannes crowd with an intoxicating film about repressed female sexuality.
The writer/director tells us how she toyed with gender politics and screen hunks for her new film, The Beguiled.
A nasty case of dramatic inertia blights Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest black comedy.
Adam Sandler delivers one of his rare affecting turns as one of the co-leads in Noah Baumbach’s family comedy.
Robin Campillo’s rousing dramatisation of ’90s AIDS activism in France is a sure-fire Palme d’Or contender.
This barbed satire of art world pomposity questions the core beliefs of civilised society.
The art of flirting and flirting as art are the subjects of this extraordinary romcom from Claire Denis.
A warring couple reunite to find their missing son in this blunt drama from Leviathan director Andrei Zvyagintsev.
Director Sean Penn drops an almighty clanger with this tepid war zone drama starring Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem.
Cynthia Nixon gives an astonishing performance as the tortured American poet Emily Dickinson.
He was an abusive and tempestuous artist, but the emotional power of the late German director’s tragic melodramas is undeniable.
Bold expressions of queer passion were on offer at the 31st edition of London’s premier LGBT film festival.
The American filmmaker talks sex, love and everything in between.
The writer/director reveals how she landed the Hollywood megastar for her new film Certain Women.
The American director talks Certain Women, working with Michelle Williams and why she’s ready to take a break from filmmaking.
Annette Bening anchors this delightful, deeply personal comedy-drama from writer/director Mike Mills
The German writer/director reveals how she quietly went about making one of the great films of the 21st century.
The New Man offers a refreshingly honest look at what it means to bring life into the world.
A career-best Natalie Portman channels the spirit of former FLOTUS Jackie O in this ace biopic.
Casey Affleck delivers a career-best performance in Kenneth Lonergan’s stunning meditation on loss.
Douglas Sirk’s 1959 drama is the perfect antidote to the Pandora’s box of intolerance opened by Trump.
One of 2016’s finest pulls up just before the year ends, and Adam Driver is sat smiling at the wheel.
The star of A United Kingdom talks frankly and openly about the importance of faith in life and work.
Werner Herzog explores how the internet has shaped the modern world in this information heavy doc.
Andrea Arnold returns with a stylish but shambling teen road movie starring charismatic newcomer Sasha Lane and Shia LaBeouf.
A sensual Argentine relationship drama and a documentary about gay marriage in Myanmar were among the highlights of this year’s festival.
Actor Brady Corbet moves behind the camera for this bold, baroque exploration into the roots of political evil.
The director of Sid and Nancy reflects on the mistakes he made and discovering Gary Oldman.
This intimate portrait of a doubly-disgraced US politician is one of the most vital documentaries of our time.
Mallory compassionately chronicles one woman’s long and painful battle with substance abuse.
Steven Spielberg goes big with this magical children’s story adaptation. But is it twisted enough for Roald Dahl?
The French writer/director on the non-diversity casting of her intimate ‘modern love story’.
Jodie Whittaker delivers a commanding performance in this acutely observed Brit comedy.
Independence Day: Resurgence sees Jeff Goldblum return as Earth’s lone voice of interplanetary reason.
The young star of Blue is the Warmest Colour talks exclusively about going behind bars for Down by Love.
Vital documentary The Hunting Ground gives a voice to the survivors of sexual attacks.
A new documentary portrait of JT LeRoy poses fascinating questions about identity, authenticity and artistic legitimacy.
The Watermelon Woman – the first film directed by an African-American lesbian – is among the titles screening at Liverpool Small Cinema.
Xavier Dolan returns to Cannes with a star-studded ensemble drama about a dysfunctional family. It’s all a bit flat.
Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem’s suffering obscures the true victims in Sean Penn’s excruciating war zone drama.
The French actor gave an inspiring talk about gender equality at the Cannes Film Festival.
Despite its frenetic energy and fine young leads, Andrea Arnold’s film never manages to rise above mediocrity.
Jeff Nichols makes it five-for-five with this gently stirring drama about an interracial couple in ’50s America.
Marion Cotillard shines in this uneven but soulful meditation on marriage and depression.
There’s a dash of old-school movie magic in Steven Spielberg’s whizzpopping family fantasy.
The great Pablo Larraín delivers a stirring, soaring portrait of Chile’s most treasured poet.
French director Alain Guiraudie follows up Stranger by the Lake with another alluring and elliptical thriller.
Despite an effervescent Kristen Stewart, Woody Allen’s frothy period comedy fails to deliver a coherent message.
The director of Mustang on why women must fight against conservative oppression.
An extraordinary modern fairy tale about femininity and sisterhood from Turkey’s Deniz Gamze Ergüven.
This opaque, gorgeous mystery movie is Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s follow-up to 2004’s Innocence.
Wales’ finest son sheds his batsuit to search for God and transcendence in Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups.
One of the founders of the maverick movie studio tells the story behind its famous trademark.
Five emerging filmmakers offer essential first-hand advice for how to bring your creative vision to life.
New York’s Film Society of Lincoln Center has curated a season dedicated to early explorations of LGBT themes.
Before you see Louder Than Bombs revisit director Joachim Trier’s haunting meditation on depression.
Rachel Tunnard’s impressive debut feature takes a lighter look at the stresses of modern living.
Sebastián Silva directs and stars in this astonishing queer drama about adult infertility.
The German director of Victoria reveals the craziest thing he’s ever done for love.
This detailed and fascinating insight into India’s justice system throws up plenty of surprises.
A female director making a tense action thriller is a rare beast. We meet a new and great one.
American socialite and soprano Florence Foster Jenkins is the subject of this elegant French drama.
BFI Flare’s opening film, The Pass, is about a prominent footballer who represses his sexuality. We explore why this is still happening for real.
An aspiring filmmaker reveals how she set about channelling real-life struggles into her first script.
A new film, PS Jerusalem, asks some difficult questions about the way we consume stories of socially marginalised people.
Beauty and tragedy abound in Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson’s melancholic stop-motion treasure.
One of America’s most lauded screenwriters and a maestro of stop-motion animation have teamed up for Anomalisa.
Something wicked this way comes... Robert Eggers’ New England folk tale is steeped in magic and menace.
The Hungarian director reveals how personal obsession fuelled his award-winning Holocaust drama, Son of Saul.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit animator Richard Williams is one of seven directors featured in this excellent short film compendium.
Dakota Johnson and Rebel Wilson shine in this progressive comedy about sex and singledom.
Jonathan Glazer’s 2000 film mixes in a sweet, lilting romance with all the violence and swearing.
The iconic American singer-songwriter gets a fitting tribute from doc heavyweights Amy Berg and Alex Gibney.
Twenty years on, Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes are as irresistible as ever in this swooning melodrama.
The director is shelving her Bowe Bergdahl project for a new film about the 1967 Detroit race riots.
Boston Globe journalist Mike Rezendes, played by Mark Ruffalo in Spotlight, reveals how to speak the truth.
The British screen icon reflects on his remarkable career ahead of his starring role in Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth.
My French Film Festival, now in its sixth year, is a new form of film festival that is accessible to all.
The late British actor was a star of both stage and screen, but what was it that made him such a compelling movie villain?
A self-confessed Leonardo DiCaprio fangirl pens a series of passionate letters describing how she fell in and out of love with The Revenant star.
First-time filmmaker Kansas Bowling talks us through the weird world of cult production house, Troma.
Xavier Dolan’s open letter to Netflix highlights a wider issue concerning the way movies are consumed in the digital age.
Love You To Death immerses the viewer in the powerful and revealing stories of bereaved families and friends.
The filmmaking duo discuss their beautiful, bewildering fever dream.
A talk on queer melodrama in cinema introduced a Freudian idea that has blown our minds.
The British maestro on bringing his bucolic passion project, Sunset Song, to the big screen.
Anorexia as seen from all vantages within the nuclear family is the subject of this impressive drama.
Discover this rarely seen animated gem by a one-time Buster Keaton collaborator.
Ukrainian artist Feder Alexandrovich serves as a key witness to the untold story of the Chernobyl disaster.
The True Detective star joins Jessica Chastain and Kit Harrington in the director’s first English language project.
The veteran British actor discusses his craft in this essential archive interview.
Help our writer to decide whether she should take on the ultimate cine-challenge: Jacques Rivette’s Out 1
Alan Bennett’s hit autobiographical play from 1999 receives a mild but quietly magical screen adaptation.
The final roll of the dice for Katniss and crew sadly doesn’t match previous instalments.
Rural train platforms were transformed forever by this high peak of screen romance from David Lean.
This cagey documentary portrait fails to do justice to its inspiring subject, Malala Yousafzai.
The Brooklyn star on stepping back into 1950s New York and how Colm Tóibín’s source novel affected her.
A collection of early Suffragettes films – some great, some not so much.
LWLies sings the praises of one of Britain’s most intrepid and endearing film journalists.
The actor brought us to tears at her recent London Film Festival symposium.
The British actress describes the brutal realities of the Suffragette movement.
Erika Lust is a Swedish porn director informed by sex-positive, feminist, art-film values.
This episodic jaunt through east London’s drag scene offers colour a-plenty though lacks cohesion.
Don’t miss Jeanie Finlay’s portrait of an enigmatic Elvis impersonator.
A London panel event looked to ask questions about how best to achieve gender equality in the film industry.
Richard Brooks’ adaptation of Truman Capote's seminal work is well worth revisiting.
Do films like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and The Wolfpack examine how cinema can help us to understand life?
Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay are on top form in Andrew Haigh’s devastating relationship drama.
Andrew Haigh captures the timeless terror, trepidation and humour of sex in his brilliant new film.
If you love staring at sheep for long periods of time, this may be your Citizen Kane.
The director of Weekend and 45 Years talks to LWLies about how he creates authentic, lived-in characters.
This Lesotho-set drama of family reconnection is the enemy of dramatic originality.
Gender reassignment surgery is the MacGuffin in this Australian time-lapse family drama about growing up.
The writer and star of Mistress America opens up about how she learned to love her flaws.
Pixar are firing on all pistons with this wonderful, colour-coded exploration of a child’s inner psyche.
The BBFC says that the target audience for The Diary of a Teenage Girl shouldn’t be able to see it.
Getting annoyed with socially maladjusted idiots could soon be a thing of the past.
Check out this choice cut from director Signe Baumane’s brilliant The Teat Beat of Sex series.
Director of the Close-Up Film Centre Damien Sanville offers a possible route to a 35mm revival.
Asif Kapadia’s intimate portrait of the late soul singer is too set on driving its own narrative agenda.
Channing Tatum and co’s triumphant return is an endorsement for sexual empowerment, not exploitation.
Channing Tatum leads a troupe of sensitive male strippers in this explosively sexy road trip movie.
In the wake of his untimely death, we remember James Horner’s vital contribution to this family classic.
Adèle Haenel’s ingenue allure elevates Thomas Cailley's sweet-natured survivalist romance.
A recent interview with Marianne Jean-Baptiste has inspired our angry sarcastic side.
It’s possible for a movie to have a positive impact on society and the individual.
Joshua Oppenheimer’s bloodcurdling and brilliant follow-up to his doc smash, The Act of Killing.
This rousing documentary provides a personal, feminist entry point to Nigeria’s pro-Democracy movement.
Anaïs Demoustier and Jérémie Elkaïm are perfectly cast in this rewarding tale of forbidden love.
This monochrome Iranian vampire skater movie announces its director Ana Lily Amirpour as an exciting but wayward talent.
The director of The Great Beauty returns with a gorgeous, flippant comedy on mortality with Michael Caine in the lead.
Pixar’s delightful and sophisticated latest takes us on a dazzling journey into the mind of a child.
Nanni Moretti’s chronicle of the death of a filmmaker’s mother is continuously out of thematic focus.
Asif Kapadia’s melodramatic portrait of the late jazz singer fails to hit all the right notes.
Romanian New Waver Radu Muntean delivers a superlative twist on the murder mystery genre.
Emmanuelle Bercot kicks off this year’s Cannes in blistering style with this sensitive delinquent drama.
The lauded movie composer goes deep on Steven Spielberg, Terrence Malick and Rick Moranis.
Joss Whedon has once again assembled a creamy cast to have a whole lot of fun with the blockbuster template.
LWLies talks to the actor whose star is currently in swift and unstoppable ascent.
Talking household pets are the source of a murderous rampage in Marjane Satrapi’s wicked, comic-tinged slasher movie.
The mercurial Mommy writer/director talks candidly about love, life and superheroes.
The acclaimed British documentarian on Dreamcatcher and why we all need to start standing up to child abuse.
A return to that sunny outpost for the elderly and infirm ushers lightly diminishing returns.
Despite its lesbian and lepidoptera themes, Peter Strickland’s relationship drama is anchored by universal truths about domestic role-play.
A femme-driven cumming-of-ager with ripe dialogue, nudie montages and a feisty lead in Dakota Johnson.
This glistening pearl from Terrence Malick is a heady, transcendent treatise on love.
Shake, rattle and brawl. A student drummer faces off with his psycho teacher in Damien Chazelle’s pulsating drama.
An enjoyable men-at-sea adventure yarn that falls short of capturing the drama of its true story Scandinavian source.
Could this satire on the power of propaganda be the greatest third part to a film franchise ever?
Benedict Cumberbatch’s pitch perfect turn as Alan Turing isn’t enough to decipher this remarkable true story.
Timothy Spall grunts his way to glory in Mike Leigh’s elegantly composed portrait of JMW Turner.
LWLies sits for the British cinema icon who doesn’t mince his words to talk Mr Turner.
Bleak stats aside, women are making positive steps towards equality.
The cast of Think Like a Man decamp to Las Vegas with unimaginative and borderline offensive results.
A delightful, comic animation with sophisticated social themes from the makers of ParaNorman and Coraline.
Stranger-than-fiction events power this affirmative, funny and well-cast social drama about solidarity.
The Rover star reflects on his swift transformation into an actor who's always up for a challenge.
Cédric Klapisch rounds off his star-spangled, globe-hopping serial in the Big Apple, with mildly amusing results.
This hard-boiled, unironic revenge thriller is held together by a mesmerising lead performance from Macon Blair.
The itinerant and inquisitive cinephile delivers this moving child-based addendum to his mammoth The Story of Film.
Celebrating the reclusive author whose words have been transformed into one of the year’s most beguiling movies.
A tough, traumatic investigation into widespread rape in the US army by veteran documentarian Kirby Dick.
The French director has finally reached the mainstream with a murder mystery set on a gay nudist beach. LWLies met him.
LWLies gets up close and (too?) personal with the cherished Her director.
Abdellatif Kechiche’s passionate lesbian love story is a screen romance that’s built for the long-haul.
This burnished gem from Chile is a rich and poetic character study of a woman on the look out for love.
Lars von Trier’s two-part psychosexual epic makes for invigorating, profound and occasionally baffling viewing.
Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.
