★★★★
Directorial indie debuts are packing some real punches in 2017. In the wake of outings from Hope Dickson Leach and William Oldroyd comes Francis Lee’s God’s Own Country, a rural romance of cold winds and warm hearts. Another in a pleasing tide of British features, here is a film of equal profundity and assured cinematography.
★★★★
Another tough project from the hard-hitting director of The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. Kathryn Bigelow has brought her knack, for capturing the brutally real, closer to home for Detroit and the film’s all the harder to watch for it.
★★★
Were Judi Dench not so frustratingly exceptional in her second turn as the Queen of Britain and Empress of India, Victoria and Abdul might have just about gotten away with being a forgettable cinematic oddity. Unfortunately, for the film, Dench remains here impeachable as ever, effortlessly casting all that around her beneath the dustiest of shadows. Unable to come close to the talent it has secured, Victoria and Abdul is a great disappointment; a film with all of the potential but none of the ambition. It’s fine but that’s all.
The Film Blog 