LOVE LIFE 12A

★★★★★ OUT 15 SEPTEMBER CINEMAS

In an unnamed Japanese coastal town, the lives of a young married couple, Taeko (Fumino Kimura) and Jirô (Kento Nagayama), are upended by an unexpected family bereavement. In the aftermath of the tragedy, disruptive figures from their respective pasts emerge, notably Taeko’s first husband, deaf Korean citizen Park (Atom Sunada). Inspired by Akiko Yano’s melancholic title song, writer/director Köji Fukada’s carefully constructed domestic melodrama is perceptive in its take on how grief can undermine intimate relationships, albeit sometimes overly restrained in its storytelling.

THE NETTLE DRESS 12A

★★★★★ OUT 15 SEPTEMBER CINEMAS

At just 67 minutes long, this documentary about textile artist Allan Brown’s seven-year project to make a dress from stinging nettles initially appears light on content. But there’s a thread weaving throughout that explores Brown’s grief at the untimely death of his wife, and the restorative power of nature. Director Dylan Howitt mixes in haunting close-ups of the surrounding woodlands as he captures the diligent craftmanship involved, but Brown’s own continual narrative is ultimately quite soothing, practically inviting the viewer to be part of his healing process.

R.M.N. 15

Bread and bitter…

★★★★★ OUT 22 SEPTEMBER CINEMAS

It’s Christmas time – and there’s no need to be afraid. Unless you’re eight-year-old Rudi, that is: a small boy from a Transylvanian village who has been mysteriously struck dumb by something he saw while walking in the forest.

Director Cristian Mungiu, of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days fame, keeps what Rudi witnessed a secret for much of this multi-character, multi-lingual drama. Other things, though, come bursting out into the open: among them the racist hostility that greets a trio of migrant Sri Lankans when they’re hired by the bread factory that, since the local mine closed down, has become the only business still standing in this economically destitute wasteland.

Tensions mount just as Rudi’s father Matthias (Marin Grigore) returns from Germany to check on his son, argue with the kid’s mum Ana (Macrina Bârladeanu) and restart an on-off romance with bakery manager Csilla (Judith State). Yet while reports of marauding bears have put everybody on edge, it’s what lies within this community that poses the real risk to its survival: xenophobic prejudices Mungiu scrutinises with the same forensic rigour as an M.R.I. (the Romanian name for which gives R.M.N. its titular initialism) scans the brain of one of its residents. Bewildering ending notwithstanding, this is a complex, layered and troubling portrait of European disunion from Romania’s foremost filmmaker.

THE VERDICT If you enter Mungiu’s woods you’re in for a surprise – and it ain’t no picnic.

THE JOB OF SONGS 12

★★★★★ OUT 25 SEPTEMBER DIGITAL

People travel from afar to visit the village of Doolin, County Clare, where residents gather to play old Irish tunes on fiddles and flutes. Director Lila Schmitz’s documentary cosies up to the community to learn how music is its ‘therapy and social life’, and to weigh up how the area has coped with modernity and tourists, as evidenced by coffee shops and coaches. This warm-hearted doc also looks at the dark side of many artists’ existence – alcohol, depression, suicide – but its 74-minute run time leaves you craving more.

MAN ON THE RUN TBC

★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS

Unpicking an intricate web of greed and corruption, this documentary tackles the scandal surrounding 1MDB, a sovereign wealth fund set up to benefit the people of Malaysia, which was then exploited by mysterious high-roller Jho Low to fund his own extravagant billionaire lifestyle. With connections to several co-conspirators and complex financial movements, the film is packed with information that can sometimes be hard to follow. But shock developments, including the Malaysian Prime Minister’s complicity and Low’s connections to Hollywood, help to make for a gripping watch.