Guillermo Del Toro's blockbusting tale of a young girl struggling to make sense of the violent world around her was a big 2006 arthouse hit. Continuing his exploration of the impact of the Spanish Civil War on his generation (it was also the backdrop for his excellent ghost story, The Devil's Backbone) Del Toro's fantasy mixes strong horror with fairytale-style aesthetics to great effect, making Ofelia's escape into an imaginary realm a poignant response to the cruel realities of her existence. find out more...

Scarlet-haired punk Lola (Potente) has just 20 minutes to raise 100,00 marks, otherwise her petty criminal boyfriend Manni (Bleibtreu) will have to explain to his psychotic gangster boss, how he managed to leave the proceeds of a shady drug deal on the Berlin subway. With time running out it looks likely that Manni may have to rob the convenience store across the way in order to save his skin. And as each second ticks by Lola is forced to make decisions that go on to influence future events. Th find out more...

Marv is a lunkhead of incredible strength, an aggressive power he puts to merciless use when his one true love is murdered. Hartigan is the embittered, but moralistic cop who's sworn to protect a stripper and Dwight is the lover of Shellie and the inadvertent dark angel of Gail's Old Town girls, a feisty group of hookers. These are just a selection of the random characters in Rodriguez's adaptation of Frank Miller's Sin City graphic novels and it's difficult to decide which of the two is the bi find out more...

A highly acclaimed and influential account of Algeria's turbulent past made in psuedo-documentary style. The tense plot surrounds the rise of nationalist organisations in '54 and the French government's attempts to quell them. This film was the prototype for most political thrillers of the 1970s. 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...