This week's new films

Cloud Atlas | To The Wonder | Lore | Gangs Of Wasseypur Part 1 | Song For Marion | Mama | Before Dawn | Crawl | Ollie Kepler's Expanding Purple World | Fire In The Blood | The Road: A Story Of Life And Death | We Are Northern Lights | Breath Of The Gods

Cloud Atlas (15)
(Andy & Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, 2012, Ger/US/HK/Sin) Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent. 172 mins

You've got to admire the ambition of trying to tell six stories at once, together spanning the 19th to 24th century. There are connections and parallels, of course, but also wild variations in tone and effectiveness. The experience is a little like channel surfing between Tom Hanks movies, but it's greater than the sum of its parts.

To The Wonder (12A)
(Terrence Malick, 2012, US) Olga Kurylenko, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams. 113 mins

Those entranced (or put off) by The Tree Of Life will get more of the same from this elliptical tale of a couple (Kurylenko and Affleck) falling in, then out of, love.

Lore (15)
(Cate Shortland, 2012, Ger/Aus/UK) Saskia Rosendahl, Kai Malina, Nele Trebs. 109 mins

It's a brave war drama that views Germany's defeat through the eyes of a beautiful Hitler youth, and her erotic awakening with a Jewish boy, but this assured film somehow mixes harrowing desperation with spellbinding sensuality.

Gangs Of Wasseypur Part 1 (15)
(Anurag Kashyap, 2012, Ind) Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chadda. 160 mins

A violent, generation-spanning revenge saga, set in Bengal's mining country.

Song For Marion (PG)
(Paul Andrew Williams, 2012, UK/Ger) Terence Stamp, Gemma Arterton, Vanessa Redgrave. 93 mins

No prizes for guessing where this is going when perky Arterton forms a seniors' choir. Grouchy Stamp signs up when his wife (Redgrave) dies, and a big competition looms.

Mama (15)
(Andrés Muschietti, 2013, Spa/Can) Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier. 100 mins

Two feral children spook out their adoptive mom in this generic domestic horror.

Before Dawn (18)
(Dominic Brunt, 2012, UK) Dominic Brunt, Joanne Mitchell. 82 mins

Low-budget zombie apocalypse ruins idyllic country break. Again.

Crawl (15)
(Paul China, 2011, Aus) Georgina Haig, George Shevtsov, Paul Holmes. 78 mins

Aiming for a Blood Simple-like tension, this Aussie thriller ekes out its kidnap plot with some style, but doesn't quite deliver.

Ollie Kepler's Expanding Purple World (15)
(Viv Fongenie, 2010, UK) Edward Hogg, Andrew Knott, Jodie Whittaker. 89 mins

Bereavement, theoretical physics and cheese send a paranoid Londoner into mental illness.

Fire In The Blood (TBC)
(Dylan Mohan Gray, 2012, Ind) 84 mins

Documentary detailing pharmaceutical giants' "genocidal" withholding of Aids drugs from developing countries.

The Road: A Story Of Life And Death (PG)
(Marc Isaacs, 2012, UK) 78 mins

Diverse immigrants in north-west London recount their experiences.

We Are Northern Lights (12A)
(Nick Higgins, 2012, UK) 99 mins

Scottish film compiled from hundreds of amateur submissions.

Breath Of The Gods (U)
(Jan Schmidt-Garre, 2013, Ger/Ind) 105 mins

Documentary on the origins of modern yoga.

Out on Friday

Arbitrage

Richard Gere's banker comes unstuck in the economic crash.

Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters

Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton do some damage, fairytale-style. Out from Wed

Stoker

Nicole Kidman stars in Park "Oldboy" Chan-wook's Hollywood debut.

Broken City

Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg lead a political thriller.

Trashed

Jeremy Irons leads a doc studying waste.

Caesar Must Die

The Taviani brothers bring the bard to a prison in Rome.

Safe Haven

Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel in a Nicholas Sparks romance.

Sleep Tight

A creepy Spanish doorman sabotages his residents' lives.

The Bay

Found-footage horror chronicling a viral eco-disaster.

Acoustic Routes

Documentary on the great folk guitarist Bert Jansch.

Gangs Of Wasseypur Part 2

Concluding part of the Indian crime epic.

The Gospel According To St Matthew

Reissue of Pasolini's 1964 account of the life of Jesus.

Coming soon

In two weeks ... Sam Raimi's expensive prequel, Oz: The Great And Powerful … Soderbergh experiments with drugs in Side Effects …

In three weeks ... Steve Carell brings the magic in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone … Phil Daniels spins Vinyl …

In a month ... Nicholas Hoult climbs the beanstalk in Jack The Giant Slayer … Drugs and time travel in John Dies At The End …

Steve Rose

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/feb/23/this-weeks-new-films

Alex Proyas Alex Taylor Alexa Rae Alexander Korda