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5. The Lobster
In a strange vision of the future, single people are forced to lodge at The Hotel where they must find a mating partner in forty days or else they are transformed into an animal. That is the bizarre and hilarious set-up for Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos' English language debut (he may be known to those with an interest in world cinema for his darkly comic Dogtooth, a film about a family who refuse to let their children leave the home and therefore have a strange perspective of the world). The film won the Jury Prize at Cannes (as well as the Palm Dog Award for its four-legged star Bob) and features Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Olivia Colman and more.
4. The Green Room
One of the best underground hits of last year was Blue Ruin, a tense revenge tale that was funded through Kickstarter and received rave reviews. Its young director Jeremy Saulnier follows it up with Green Room, which receives its UK premiere at the London Film Festival. An ultra-violent, nail-biting thrill ride, it's the story of a standoff between punks and skinheads (the latter who are, in a surprising bit of casting, lead by Patrick Stewart) set in the claustrophobic confines of a sweaty neo-Nazi bar.
3. Sunset Song
Terence Davies is an icon of British filmmaking. Distant Voices, Still Lives is regarded as one of the great home-grown movies of all time while Davies' documentary about his hometown of Liverpool, Of Time And The City, won awards across the globe. After a four year absence he returns with Sunset Song - a movie he claims has been 15 years in the making. Sunset Song is a lush period drama set in Scotland at the start of the 20th century. It is based on the 1932 novel of the same name which was hailed as "The Best Scottish Book Of All Time" by the Edinburgh Book Festival.
2. High Rise
"Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months." Thus begins J.G. Ballard's classic novel about the break-down of social order as the tenants of a high-rise divide into three warring tribes: the lower, middle and upper floors. Kill List director Ben Wheatley is tasked with the adaptation of Ballard's controversial and shocking story about literal class war with Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons and Sienna Miller leading the cast.
1. Carol
Oscar talk has surrounded Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara since Carol first screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May where Mara picked up the festival's award for Best Actress. The film is a British and American co-production from Far From Heaven and I'm Not There director Todd Haynes. It's an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's celebrated novel The Price Of Salt in which a department store clerk falls for a married woman, set against the gorgeously recreated backdrop of 1950s New York.