From world bank woe to marilyn monroe ... and something for the perverts

Bamako

This is an indictment of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, accused of subjugating the developing world with loans at the expense of people's well-being. Abderahmanne Sissako's film moves between a gripping trial of those institutions in a modest communal backyard in the Malian capital, and the human relationships unravelling in households within earshot of it.

London to Brighton

Paul Andrew Williams' low-budget debut - made for just #500,000 (HK$7.6 million) - couldn't have become the runaway success it has without a tight narrative, gritty cinematography and brilliant performances from female leads Lorraine Stanley and Georgia Groome, who play two London prostitutes on the run to the seaside after a fatal altercation with a sick gang leader.

The Obscure

A Cheng, Wang Shuo, Yu Hua ... obscure names to ordinary cinemagoers, perhaps, but not to followers of contemporary Chinese literature. Lu Yue's film places the three and various of their contemporaries in a seminar discussing the meaning of poetics - while in a Calvino-esque turn, two of the staff serving tea and cleaning their ashtrays play out a loose narrative the writers dream of during the meeting.