Rather than reiterate all of the films in Bill’s selection, which features titles on my Not to Be Missed list, my collection is a non-exhaustive list of films that have left their imprint on me between our 2014 and 2015 editions. I include one I have not seen – starring Marlon Brando – because ever since I first read about the film and saw excerpts from it, it’s been top of my anticipatory list of cinematic pleasures.
Films — by Collection
- Darren Bevan
- David Larsen
- Films for Teens
- James Croot
- Letterboxd
- Meet the Filmmakers: Auckland
- Meet the Filmmakers: Wellington
- Patricia Watson
- Rebecca McMillan
- Staff Picks: Angela Murphy
- Staff Picks: Bill Gosden
- Staff Picks: Cianna Canning
- Staff Picks: Felicity Drace
- Staff Picks: Hayden Ellis
- Staff Picks: Jenna Udy
- Staff Picks: Kailey Carruthers
- Staff Picks: Kate McArthur
- Staff Picks: Lisa Bomash
- Staff Picks: Lynn Smart
- Staff Picks: Megan Duffy
- Staff Picks: Michael McDonnell
- Staff Picks: Olivia Young
- Staff Picks: Poppy Granger
- Staff Picks: Rachael Deller-Pincott
- Staff Picks: Sandra Reid
- Staff Picks: Sibilla Paparatti
- Staff Picks: Tom Ainge-Roy
- The Lumière Reader
- Tim Wong
- Wellington Film Society's Picks of NZIFF 2015
Staff Picks: Sandra Reid
![45 Years](/assets/resized/sm/upload/ti/gj/mo/e1/45%20YEARS%20copyright%20Agatha%20A.%20Nitecka-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=ee8c35b015)
45 Years
Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay are deeply affecting in award-winning roles as a retired Norfolk couple preparing for their 45th-anniversary party, when a ghost from the past raises awkward, long-buried questions.
![Alice Cares](/assets/resized/sm/upload/3b/54/xg/ve/Ik_ben_Alice%20Cares%20_%20Key%20Still-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=b500ac319d)
Alice Cares
Ik ben Alice
Can a robot establish a ‘human’ relationship with someone? In this account of a Dutch pilot study, we see three elderly women become attached, with varying degrees of resistance, to a caredroid named Alice.
![Arabian Nights – Volume 1: The Restless One](/assets/resized/sm/upload/dg/im/ki/x2/Arabian%20Nights%20%E2%80%93%20Volume%201%20The%20Restless%20One_KEY%20STILL-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=69411b455d)
Arabian Nights – Volume 1: The Restless One
As mil e uma noites – Volume 1, o inquieto
In three parts, with multiple stories, Portuguese director Miguel Gomes’ epic Arabian Nights was easily the most original, ambitious – and most critically acclaimed – film at Cannes this year.
![Arabian Nights – Volume 2: The Desolate One](/assets/resized/sm/upload/zb/88/g0/14/Arabian%20Nights%20%E2%80%93%20Volume%202%20The%20Desolate%20One_KEY%20STILL-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=017a4c746c)
Arabian Nights – Volume 2: The Desolate One
As mil e uma noites – Volume 2, o desolado
In three parts, with multiple stories, Portuguese director Miguel Gomes’ epic Arabian Nights was easily the most original, ambitious – and most critically acclaimed – film at Cannes this year.
![Arabian Nights – Volume 3: The Enchanted One](/assets/resized/sm/upload/gb/nm/gt/mo/Arabian%20Nights_1001%20Noites%20%233_KEY%20STILL-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=921f620145)
Arabian Nights – Volume 3: The Enchanted One
As mil e uma noites – Volume 3, o encantado
In three parts, with multiple stories, Portuguese director Miguel Gomes’ epic Arabian Nights was easily the most original, ambitious – and most critically acclaimed – film at Cannes this year.
![The Assassin](/assets/resized/sm/upload/hy/by/8o/ac/ASSASSIN%20(THE)_KEY%20STILL-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=eea54924c0)
The Assassin
Nie Yinniang
Shu Qi plays the eponymous killer in this ravishingly beautiful foray into historical martial arts territory from Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien. Winner of the Best Director Award at Cannes.
![The Colour of Pomegranates](/assets/resized/sm/upload/ho/wq/7w/wg/COLOUR_OF_POMEGRANATE-%20Key%20Still-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=e3ee44974e)
The Colour of Pomegranates
Sayat Nova
A painstaking restoration of Sergei Parajanov’s 1969 arcane and hypnotising masterpiece, a highly unconventional biopic of the 18th-century Armenian poet Sayat-Nova recounted in a succession of opulently exotic tableaux.
![Dreamcatcher](/assets/resized/sm/upload/o5/75/jr/hr/Dreamcatcher_Key%20Still-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=f3cf7107a8)
Dreamcatcher
Filmmaker Kim Longinotto accompanies the irrepressible ex-hooker Brenda Myers-Powell as she storms the streets, prisons and high schools of Chicago to inspire young women caught in the cycle of abuse with the story of her escape.
![Girlhood](/assets/resized/sm/upload/44/f1/mv/on/Girlhood%20NEW%20KEY%20(2)-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=700da713b7)
Girlhood
Bande de filles
Newcomer Karidja Touré makes a mesmerising impression as a teenager drawn out of her shell and into a black girl gang in Céline Sciamma’s energetic and deeply empathetic drama, set in the tough suburbs of Paris.
![Listen to Me Marlon](/assets/resized/sm/upload/1r/uh/2i/du/Listen%20to%20Me%20Marlon_KEY%20STILL_MarlonBrando__byUnknown-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=cf9b693e04)
Listen to Me Marlon
With never-before-seen photos, audio and film footage, British documentarian Stevan Riley delivers an enthrallingly intimate look at the brilliant, troubled and always charismatic Marlon Brando.
![The Lobster](/assets/resized/sm/upload/gg/ha/go/4i/THE%20LOBSTER%20KEY%20-%20Photo%20Despina%20Spyrou-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=76f3bb0e0d)
The Lobster
Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth) casts Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, John C. Reilly and Léa Seydoux in a surreal English-language fable set in a world where singles are forced to couple up or be turned into animals.
![Phoenix](/assets/resized/sm/upload/zo/gz/dq/ar/Phoenix_New%20Key-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=adab01bb86)
Phoenix
The director and riveting star of Barbara reunite for another moving film noir-inflected tale of love and profound suspicion, this time set amidst the reconstruction of Berlin in the immediate aftermath of WWII.
![Red Army](/assets/resized/sm/upload/m7/3f/ae/f6/Red%20Army-Key%20Still%20small%20file-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=7f5fb51f8b)
Red Army
“Gabe Polsky’s electrifying look at a once-unbeatable Soviet hockey team and the link between sports and politics… deserves a big boo-yah from audiences for being illuminating and hugely entertaining.” — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
![Results](/assets/resized/sm/upload/0e/fx/vi/ge/Results_KEY%20STILL%20Photo%20credit%20Ryan%20Green-credit-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=eb9bbbad38)
Results
Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders, personal trainers in an Austin gym, and their new New York schlub client, Kevin Corrigan, embark on colliding paths to self-improvement in Andrew Bujalski’s wry rom com.
![Holding the Man](/assets/resized/sm/upload/54/og/04/3k/Holding%20the%20Man_KEY%20STILL-0-520-0-390-crop.jpg?k=4769e3ff5d)
Holding the Man
The memoir of a gay love affair that began at school when the author fell for the captain of the football team and ended in tragedy 15 years later is already a classic of Australian literature, and now an inspiring, heartbreaking film.