social realism
Delphine Deloget’s social-realist French drama, “All to Play For,” also known as “Nothing to Lose,” premiered at Cannes in 2023.
Capernaum fuses documentary elements with a fictional narrative to tell one of the most emotionally impactful stories of the year.
After spending his entire career finding the profundity in the mundane, Kore-eda has produced his finest example of this yet in Shoplifters.
Terence Davies’ 1988 debut Distant Voices, Still Lives, newly rereleased by Arrow Academy, deserves to be treasured as one of the great British films.
Leave No Trace is Debra Granik’s first fiction feature in eight years, and proves that she is one of the social realist filmmakers most urgently needed in cinema right now.
Musanna Ahmed attended this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest and shares his review for A Northern Soul and his interview with director Sean McAllister.
Italian-American filmmaker Jonas Carpignano has shown in only his second feature, A Ciambra, to be one of the most empathetic social realist filmmakers working today.
Funny Cow is one of the most harmful depictions of the British working class in popular culture since Sacha Baron Cohen’s Grimsby, in addition to being one of the most mindbogglingly racist and homophobic films in recent memory.
Dark River feels more like a transitional gateway to better films, bridging the gap between Clio Barnard’ older social realist efforts and flirtations with experimental works likely to come.
The Florida Project offers a unique and essential glimpse into contemporary poverty in America, encompassing both its wonders and hardships.
Thirty years on, Alan Clarke’s fitfully funny film, Rita, Sue and Bob Too, still holds up as a first-rate character study and resonant critique of the Thatcher era.
City of Tiny Lights reflects urban British society as it really is, with culturally diverse characters and communities at its heart.
Gorgeous black and white look aside, Six Rounds proves too underwhelming in the screenplay and character departments to be a true knockout.
One of the first films from Sub-Saharan Africa to make waves on the international stage, Black Girl remains nothing less than masterful.
The right to die debate is treated with great dignity in Youth in Oregon, which is also buoyed by Frank Langella’s sensitive performance.
