American: The Bill Hicks Story
What Is It? This bio-doc about one of America's most notorious - and cult-worshipped - comics is actually from the British team off Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas.
But since Hicks was the comedy Hendrix - more revered over here than in his native land - the Brit origin makes a lot of sense.
When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors
What Is It? Director Tom DiCillo raids the archives and uncovers a treasure trove of previously unseen material about one of the most influential bands in history.
Follow their fast rise, brief reign and spectacular, tragic fall with footage that's rarely been seen outside the US.
Where To See It
The Road
What Is It? Held over from last year by editing worries and awards hope, John Hillcoat's staggeringly bleak adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel finally makes its way to the UK.
Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee are the father and son looking for a better life as the world around them slowly dies. Stark but soulful.
Where To See It
Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans
What Is It? Just how weird can Werner Herzog and Nicolas Cage get? Try: very.
A trippy, whacked-out take that doesn't so much remake the Abel Ferrara movie as snatch the basic conceit of a corrupt, drug-snorting copper and pelt it straight to the maddest end of the spectrum.
MICMACS
What Is It? A welcome return from Amelie/A Very Long Engagement's Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who this time blends his usual fantastical whimsy with a grounded satire on the arms trade.
It's a sumptuous wash of wordplay and wonder in the tale of a man who must decide whether to live a short, but clear existence with a bullet lodged in his brain, or have it taken out and survive in a coma.
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Nowhere Boy
What Is It? Artist Sam Taylor-Wood makes her directing debut for this look at John Lennon's early years.
Scripted by Control writer Matt Greenhalgh, Nowhere Boy delves into the musical roots of the future Beatle and sifts through the family friction that helped form him and fuel his band.
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A Serious Man
What Is It? Looks like winning Oscars hasn't changed the Coens any - A Serious Man is already being described as one of their best.
Coal-black comedy is the tone for this screwball parody thriller that finds Larry Gopnik (theatre vet Michael Stuhlbarg) finding his life spinning into chaos.
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Cold Souls
What Is It? Is it possible to extract someone's soul? And what happens when you do? That's the question posed by Sophie Barthes' first film, which sees Paul Giamatti playing a version of himself in a Charlie Kaufman-like tale.
Giamatti's having trouble detaching himself from a depressing role in Uncle Vanya, so an unscrupulous doctor (David Strathairn) plucks out his soul and stores it for him. And then it goes missing…
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Paper Heart
What Is It? Juggling fact and fiction and blurring the boundaries between the two, comedienne Charlyne Yi tries to prove if true love really exists in this sharp mockumentary.
It's a geeky look at romance and co-stars Michael Cera, who may or may not have been in a relationship with Yi at the time of filming...
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Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire
What Is It? Acclaimed at the Sundance and Toronto fests, director Lee Daniels brings a brutally honest look into the hellish home life of Precious, a teenager rejected by her mother and repeatedly abused by the woman's boyfriend.
A tough watch, but bracing and brave.
Where To See It
We Live In Public
What Is It? Good enough that it won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Ondi Timoner's doc follows an internet pioneer who grew up with a life fueled more by TV than family and who predicted back in the 1990s that we'd all be living online.
He also spent money shoving 100 artists into a New York bunker to film every aspect of their lives and work - and when that was shut down, he turned the cameras on his own life... This is part of the result.
Where To See It
Kicks
What Is It? First-time director Lindy Heymann delivers a Liverpool-set comedy drama about two very different female friends who bond over their love for a footballer and ponder an extreme response when they learn he's about to be sold.
Funny, frank and stabbing acutely at the cult of sporting celebrity.
Where To See It
The Boys Are Back
What Is It? Clive Owen stars in this based-on-truth tale of a father trying to raise sons from different marriages following the death of his beloved second wife.
Shine's Scott Hicks directs a moving family drama that sidesteps the standard schmaltz for a more adult and muscular approach.
Where To See It
A Prophet
What Is It? French director Jacques Audiard's meditation on violence is set within a prison, where young French Arab Malick (Tahar Rahim) slowly learns how to survive - and win powerful friends.
A tense and uncompromising character study that played well at this year's Cannes.
Where To See It
Up In The Air
What Is It? Hailed at the Toronto Film Fest and heavily buzzed elsewhere, Juno director Jason Reitman's new film finds him back in the Thank You For Smoking-style world of corporate America.
This time the focus is Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), who has the job of removing other people from their jobs.
