Cannes Film Festival awards 2018: read our reviews of the winning films

Shoplifters first look: a wonky family lament that weaponises Koreeda’s compassion

Japanese master Koreeda Hirokazu steals up on our feelings with a subtly, furiously humane analysis of his perennial theme – family, here at its most impromptu and vulnerable, writes Jessica Kiang.
Tuesday 15 May 2018

BlacKkKlansman first look: Spike Lee uncloaks America’s heart of darkness

Spike Lee’s raucous investigative satire of American white nationalism whoops up a true fairy tale of anti-racist swamp-draining – without obscuring the bigger picture of a bigotry that endures, says Sophie Monks Kaufman.
Thursday 17 May 2018

Capernaüm first look: a potent indictment of a 12-year-old’s scraps of life

Salvation is barely a twinkle in the eye of pre-teen scrabbler Zain, driven to sue his parents for bringing him in to a life of destitution in Nadine Labaki’s furious, tumultuous Lebanese drama, writes Caspar Salmon.
Saturday 19 May 2018

Cold War first look: Pawel Pawlikowski’s seductive tale of love in an age of borders

Shot in gorgeous monochrome, the latest film from the Polish director centres on a whirlwind romance between two musicians in a divided post-war Europe, says Nick James.
Friday 11 May 2018

Happy as Lazzaro first look: Alice Rohrwacher practises magic neorealism

Alice Rohrwacher follows The Wondera with a boldly unsentimental tale of a holy innocent, an inexplicable miracle and a tyrannous aristocrat, writes Geoff Andrew.
Tuesday 15 May 2018

Three Faces first look: Jafar Panahi takes a road trip to familiar ground

The Iranian director’s latest is both one of his most conventional films and an enjoyable return to elements from both his and Abbas Kiarostami’s back catalogue, writes Geoff Andrew.
Tuesday 15 May 2018

Ayka (The Little One) first look: Sergey Dvortsevoy tracks a runaway new mother in wintry Moscow

Sergey Dvortsevoy’s long-awaited follow-up to Tulpan holds close to a hard-pressed Kyrgyzstani migrant ducking and diving in the Russian metropolis; it’s sincere and hard-wrought if cinematically routine, says Geoff Andrew.
Saturday 19 May 2018

Dogman first look: Matteo Garrone’s film grits its teeth in the face of life’s savagings

Marcello Fonte won the Best Actor award at Cannes for his role as a big-hearted but beleagued dog sitter who tries to turn worm in Matteo Garrone’s gimlet-eyed Roman revenger. John Bleasdale reviews.
Saturday 19 May 2018

Girl first look: a touching portrait of a transgender ballet dancer

Lukas Dhont’s debut feature is a breathtakingly empathetic tale of a young woman struggling to be at peace in her body, with a breakout performance from Victor Polster, writes Katherine McLaughlin.
Tuesday 15 May 2018

Gräns (Border) first look: Ali Abassi unleashes a dark Scandinavian folk fantasy

Border guard Tina has a powerful nose for trouble in this twisted combination of procedural crime drama and animalistic romance, writes Sophie Monks Kaufman.
Monday 14 May 2018

Donbass first look: both too much and too little about the war in Ukraine

Though Sergei Loznitsa’s episodic film has valuable moments of insight, it lacks the quiet openness found in his documentaries, as it veers wildly between drama and farce, writes James Lattimer.
Thursday 10 May 2018

Girl first look: a touching portrait of a transgender ballet dancer

Lukas Dhont’s debut feature is a breathtakingly empathetic tale of a young woman struggling to be at peace in her body, with a breakout performance from Victor Polster, writes Katherine McLaughlin.
Tuesday 15 May 2018

Climax first look: Gaspar Noé’s dance demonic

Noé’s breathtaking one-room dance film turns up the heat on a troupe of unfortunate wrap-night celebrants, says Ella Kemp.
Monday 21 May 2018

Diamantino first look: a sweetly bizarre fantasy mocking the cult of fame

Unconventional storytelling, adorable pets and topical references swell this affectionate yarn about a Cristiano Ronaldo-esque soccer star being co-opted into an anti-EU plot, writes Sophie Monks Kaufman.
Tuesday 15 May 2018