BEYOND THE RAGING SEA Cert PG 70 mins BBFC advice: Contains mild threat, upsetting scenes, language Self-indulgence on a reckless scale or a genuine attempt to draw attention to the plight of the refugees who risk their lives crossing seas to escape persecution? I was torn after watching Beyond The Raging Sea - the story of extreme athletes Omar Nour and Omar Samra. Marco Orsini's documentary is about their participation in the Talisker Atlantic Challenge - a 3,000-mile race across the Atlantic in a rowing boat without assistance. Their training took two years and presumably in ..read more

  BAGHEAD Cert 15 95 mins BBFC advice: Contains strong threat, horror I have seen enough haunted house horror films to last me a lifetime, so I groaned inwardly at the prospect of another one. However, Baghead has enough original elements to make it worthwhile - and it clearly had an impact at the box office, where it has taken millions. Director Alberto Corredor's coup was being able to count Peter Mullan among its cast. The gruff-voiced Scot plays the cursed owner of a former Berlin pub with a shape-shifting creature in its basement. Baghead can bring back the dead for only two ..read more

  IF ONLY I COULD HIBERNATE (BAAVGAI BOLOHSON) Cert TBA 96 mins BBFC advice: TBA A heart-wrenching and heroic story unfolds against the backdrop of abject poverty, freezing cold, and toxic air pollution in If Only I Could Hibernate. Zoljargal Purevdash's film, the most celebrated ever to emerge from Mongolia, explores the struggles of those living in its capital, Ulaanbaatar. It centres on a family in its Yurt district, where people live in large tents. They only survive winter temperatures of minus 35C by burning coal, wood, or cardboard. Despite facing these conditions with his moth ..read more

  GASSED UP Cert 15 102 mins BBFC advice: Contains very strong language, strong violence, threat, sexual threat, drug misuse Another month and another gritty London street thriller about young people turning to crime as the only way out of a vicious circle. George Amponsah's Gassed Up alights upon five pals who snatch mobile phones to order. They all speak this ghastly urban English, referring to themselves as bruv, cuz and fam, even though they prove they would let each other down without thinking about it. The plot is seen through the eyes of Ash (Stephen Odubola), a young man ..read more

  EXHIBITION ON SCREEN: JOHN SINGER SARGENT 2024 Cert PG 93 mins BBFC advice: Contains infrequent mild nudity I was astonished. John Singer Sargent's portrait subjects looked as if they could have been painted in the 2020s. The young women had complexions that were so fresh and hair that were so modern, yet they lived around the turn of the 20th century. I was especially agog at the image of Madame Ramón Subercaseaux, one of the acclaimed artist's many wealthy subjects. Only her surroundings gave a modest clue to the date of her sitting. According to one contributor to David Bickerst ..read more

  MAIN ATAL HOON Cert 12A 137 mins BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence, injury detail, images of real bodies Would many of us persevere with ambition if it took more than 40 years to fulfil? Atal Bihari Vajpayee had many reasons to give up on his long and weary road to the top of Indian politics. But even though it appeared his party would always be an also-ran and betrayal and corruption would be perennial obstacles, he refused to walk away. Ravi Jadhav's Main Atal Hoon is a bold attempt to cram Vajpayee's successes and failures into two and a quarter hours. Pankaj Tripathi ..read more

  LOVER Cert 15 145 mins BBFC advice: Contains drug misuse, suicide references, domestic abuse I doubt many who have watched Lover have not had their hearts broken at some point. Indeed, I recall how seriously we all took relationships as students when very few stood the test of time. However, none I know would have gone to the extremes of Manikandan K's character, Arun, in Prabhu Ram Vyas's film. Arun has been in a six-year relationship with Divya (Sri Gouri Priya), lasting through their college years and beyond. However, while she has created an impressive career, his dreams of ..read more

  ABRAHAM OZLER Cert 15 143 mins BBFC advice: Contains strong violence, threat, injury detail, suicide, drug misuse My opinion of Midhun Manuel Thomas's Abraham Ozler swayed like a hammock in a storm. It has a gripping opening which segue's into a sequence of mysterious killings but, for a while, it is doused by a heavy handed investigation. However, its finale is unexpected and enthralling, despite leaving some unanswered questions. My reaction shouldn't surprise those who have read damning reviews while the film has done some very sprightly box office business. The contract ..read more

  FIGHTER Cert 15 164 mins BBFC advice: Contains strong violence Fighter is so bad that it prompted me to consider creating a new everyfilm category for audible groans. Five or six times, Mrs W exhaled in dismay as a catalogue of completely implausible situations hit the screen. And to deny that it is a rip-off of Top Gun is frankly ludicrous. Hrithik Roshan might as well have borrowed Tom Cruise's leather jacket, complete with furry collar. Roshan is Maverick in all but name - the Indian Air Force's most creative and daring pilot whose inability to follow rules threatens the life of ..read more

  CLOSE YOUR EYES (CERRAR LOS OJOS) Cert 12A 169m BBFC advice: Contains infrequent strong language It is mysterious and evocative and gives its audience pause for thought but I wish that Victor Erice's Close Your Eyes had been less than three hours long. The movie is set in 2012, 20 years after the disappearance of a famous actor during production of a picture in which he was the star. Having found his car and shoes at a cliff edge, the police presume that he has killed himself but a body is never found. Thus, a popular TV programme, Unresolved Cases, delves into the mystery with the ..read more