The Singer

Peter Bradshaw: A gentle, autumnal film, with nice performances from Gérard Depardieu and Cécile De France.

Yella

Philip French: It's a gripping business thriller with a compelling performance from Nina Hoss.

Clubland

Philip French: Starring Brenda Blethyn, who is frighteningly good, in what is a pretty tiresome film.

Padre Padrone

Gritty realistic story told in a stylised, impressionistic, at times Brechtian manner.

Clubland

Peter Bradshaw: Brenda Blethyn stars in this amiable, if directionless little Australian picture which is part coming-of-age comedy and part mid-life crisis.

Syndromes and a Century

Peter Bradshaw: Apichatpong Weerasethakul's surreal tale of tangled human relationships should be seen by as many people as possible.

The Lives of Others

Retail: The winner of the best foreign-language Oscar presents the cold, bleak reality of what lay on the other side of Checkpoint Charlie.

The Yacoubian Building

Peter Bradshaw: Boasting a splending central performance from Adel Imam, Marwan Hamed's version of Alaa Al Aswany's novel is a portmanteau account of a handful of characters living in an apartment building in Cairo in 1990.

Small Engine Repair

Philip French: In this modest, highly promising feature debut as writer-director, Niall Heery brings a fresh eye to bear on traditional Irish themes.

My Nikifor

Philip French: It's an intriguing picture, with an 86-year-old actress playing the lead.

Reprise

Philip French: The film has the elegant exuberance of a display of indoor fireworks.

Opera Jawa

Peter Bradshaw: This gamelan musical by the Indonesian film-maker Garin Nugroho is an intricate oddity.