Former perv-master Almodovar goes all new man with this latest offering, widely considered to be his most accomplished film yet. After the accidental death of her beloved son, Manuela leaves Madrid for Barcelona, where she plans to look up old friends, exorcise her ghosts, and, just maybe, tell her long-estranged ex about the son he never knew he had. But this involves bring up some painful and unpleasant secrets from the past, and present. Almodovar's characteristically camp humour is still pre find out more...

Eight-year-old Zachary has, so far, enjoyed life as his father's favourite son, as the possessor of a gift for healing and as younger sibling to a tearaway, a jock and a bookworm, but this relatively idyllic childhood in Québec is cast under the shadow of his dad's suspicions when he is discovered wearing a dress. Seven years on it's 1975 and Zac is in thrall to Ziggy Stardust and his cousin's boyfriend, a confusing situation for him, made more complicated by a history of trying to satisfy his d find out more...

Lumet's complex and atmospheric thriller is based on a real event. Pacino is superb as the neurotic and incompetent gay bankrobber who needs the money from the robbery to finance his lover's sex change operation. The film's beauty is it's closely detailed psychological observation. Excellent.

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A lovingly created homage to the melodramas of the 1950s sees Frank and Cathy Whitaker's picture perfect marriage masking a relationship based on lies. A blossoming friendship with the black gardener and a husband whose fallen in love with another man leave Cathy shunned by her friends and neighbours, her outwardly idylic world finally revealed for the sham that it is. Far from Heaven looks stunning, the recreation of the period nothing short of immaculate, but I have never been a fan of 1950s m find out more...

A superb study by the brilliant Sayles of a married woman who realises she is gay. She falls in love with Ruth, is shunned by her husband and straight friends, and suffers huge emotional upheaval. Sparkling dialogue, tender characters, superb acting and some real comedy. A touch of directorial genius. find out more...

An intelligent, thoughtful, highly engaging biopic of Harvey Milk, the San Francisco based idealist, who became the first openly gay activist to run for political office in the US. Before his assassination Milk was a leading cog in the battle for civil rights for the gay community, as in the 1978 fight against Proposition 6, which could have banned gay and lesbian individuals from teaching in schools. The story may have been a terriby tragedy, but the tone of the movie is upbeat and vibrant, Gus find out more...

Combining the talents of Cronenberg and Burroughs was bound to produce weird results, and weird they surely are. Themes such as drugs and homosexuality are all explored as bug-killer powder addict Lee withdraws into his malformed psyche. With veins like yours kid!!! find out more...

Based on a true story, the film charts the troubled life of Barbara Daly, who married into the American Baekeland dynasty (the inventors of bakelite). Despite the melodramatic nature of the plot, the performances of the three leads are subtle and engaging. These are not characters to like, but they are fascinating nonetheless. Exquisitely shot, 'Savage Grace' is a harrowing, moving and disturbing dramatisation of faded love and familial obsession - events that ended with a brutal murder. find out more...

If you thought Hedwig and the Angry Inch was a film unlike any other you'd seen before, get ready for Shortbus: a frank and fun film about the sex lives of humans, ostensibly set in New York, but relevant to every one of us. The plot plays a supporting role in what is, in many ways, a beautifully disguised self-help documentary. Sex therapist Sofia (played by Canadian radio star, Sook-Yin Lee) has frequent, athletic (yet frustratingly unfulfilling) intercourse with her boyfriend. Her seeming ina find out more...

"Josephine Decker has created a new style of thriller that employs allegory, incorporates touches of David Lynch as well as Magritte -esque imagery. Decker's setting of a remote farm feels like a metaphor for what turns out to be hell. The raw and emotional (and yes, sometimes funny) dialog tells a story that can seem familiar at points but really is meant to keep you guessing and off balance. I really enjoyed how the undertones of this film came to life through her very deft contrast of the find out more...