CARNAGES
Cert 15, 130 mins
In the opening scenes of Delphine Gleize's multiplotted debut feature, a bloodied bull shish-kebabs a teenage matador - and is swiftly dispatched to the abattoir.
The rest of the picture follows the lives of the eccentric gaggle of people who inherit the offcuts: as restaurant main course, doggie-snack, experimental material, folk-medicine or trophy. The horns, for instance, go to a trailerdwelling taxidermist who sleeps with his octogenarian mother. Sometimes straining for its effects, but mostly worth experiencing.
THE LAST EMPEROR: DIRECTOR'S CUT
Cert 15, 227 mins
Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-hoovering epic, the story of Pu Yi, China's final dynastic ruler (above) remains one of cinema's most opulent experiences. But it was never the most subtle - and 59 minutes of new footage fails to add any new shades. What strikes most, 16 years later, is the obviousness of it all - the only film in history with 4,000 dressy eunuchs and not a good line of dialogue between them.
The Last Emperor: Director's Cut
Cert: cert15
