The wordless aftermath of a global catastrophe sees a cat team up with other creatures in tremendously imagined apocalyptic visionHumans are nowhere to be seen and the animals have taken over in this gorgeous animated adventure that was the dark horse …
In this fantasy-satire of bourgeois family life, a girl is suddenly able to see everything her messed-up parents are up toHere is a high-concept satire of bourgeois family life with all its secrets and lies from German film-maker Frédéric Hambalek; it …
Ambitious feature by Timm Kröger moves from lurid colour to stark black and white following an academic’s Alpine adventures in the metaverseThis twisted and twisty German feature takes the modish notion of the multiverse for a spin and sends it into a …
A family playing a game are sent back in time to a medieval village where they must kill werewolves in order to return to the futureThis rather sweet time-travelling comedy raises welcome memories of French classic Les Visiteurs, especially with the la…
Low-budget limitations work in this French thriller’s favour, in which Earth is turned upside down At one point in this smart, low-budget French disaster movie/post-apocalyptic thriller, teenager Ben (Lucas Ebel) pees into an unplumbed toilet dumped in…
A grieving boy is drawn into a magical land in Wolfgang Petersen’s ambitious fantasy adventure, rereleased for its 40th anniversaryThis 1984 family fantasy adventure has been rereleased for its 40th anniversary; it is an ambitious German production in …
There are stabs of the same fear that made The Beast fascinating, but this tale of a bored teenager in a scary, affectless future is too unfocusedProminent French film-makers are supported by their national industry and even their lockdown projects ha…
Duris stars as a father protecting his son, who may or may not be mutating, in Thomas Cailley’s well-crafted thrillerThomas Cailley’s sci-fi fantasy has too much sensitivity and good taste to be the proper horror-thriller or creature feature that it al…
Robert Hloz’s debut is a competent copy of Hollywood sci-fi, but it’s too heavily indebted to its influences to develop its own philosophyApparently the first sci-fi film from the Czech Republic in 40 years, this so-called Czech Blade Runner is actuall…
Director Édouard Salier tells the story of twin brothers training to become stellar explorers. But whether we should accept that space is reserved for humanity’s best remains unclearA strain of science fiction has emerged lately, especially in Europe a…
Berlin film festival: Adaptation of Czech absurdist novel finds Sandler on a trippy cosmic mission while his marriage breaks down on EarthHere’s an existential sci-fi wearing its influences and its supposed humour really heavily, as if entering some su…
Franz Rogowski plays a Nazi ringmaster in a deluded blend of magical realism, gratuitous violence and sentimentalityWhat better way to start the new year with what will surely be remembered as one of its worst films. This mashup of magical realism, gra…
There is gunplay aplenty in this Spanish thriller about a young renegade who can create illusions with his mind – with some neat touches amid the mayhemDirected by Daniel Benmayor, this Spanish mashup of Inception, Scanners, The Fury and The Matrix fol…
This comedy sees a troupe of clowns, living statues and ravers roaming about a dystopia where electricity has been stopped by a solar flareFor years, Bobcat Goldthwait’s cult classic Shakes the Clown was the only adult-oriented black comedy featuring a…
