GET OUT (NC16)

104 minutes/ 4 stars

In this work of horror, writer-director Jordan Peele turns the screws of racial anxiety to breaking point.

Black man Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) is visiting the leafy suburban home of his white girlfriend's parents, but underneath the liberal acceptance, something is off.

Plenty of movies address racial inequality, mirthlessly and preachily. Not this film.

Peele, from the television sketch show Key & Peele, makes Chris an easy protagonist to root for and, through his desperate eyes, see the creepiness just beneath the surface, waiting to pop out.

RAW (R21)

99 minutes/ 4 stars

This startling, gruesome movie, winner of a Critics' Week prize at the Cannes Film Festival, stands apart because it strives for poetry as much as it does dread.

The naive, soft-hearted Justine (Garance Marillier) is a freshie at a veterinary college. She is having an awful time coping with the bullying and hazing. Even her older sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf, above with Marillier), a senior, is unexpectedly harsh.

It is hard to think of a recent work of horror that mixes the lyrical with the horrific with the same effortless sense of style.

AMERICAN HONEY (R21)

163 minutes/ 4.5 stars

British writer-director Andrea Arnold's visually beautiful coming-of-age story is propelled by a great rock and dance soundtrack. It picked up a Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize and a Bafta nomination for Best Picture.

Star (newcomer Sasha Lane), escaping a sexually abusive father, is recruited into a "mag crew" - nomadic teen groups selling magazine subscriptions - by older guy Jake (Shia LaBeouf, above with Lane). The outfit is run by Krystal (Riley Keough), who lets her charges party as hard as they like, as long as they follow the iron rule: Earn or be kicked out.

WHERE: The Projector, Level 5 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road MRT: Nicoll Highway WHEN: Sunday, 8.20pm ADMISSION: $13.50 INFO: theprojector.sg

TONI ERDMANN (M18)

162 minutes/ 4 stars

If you want "dad jokes" - jokes so poor only fathers with a captive audience of children have the temerity to make - Winfried (Peter Simonischek) is the king of them.

In this German comedy, nominated for an Oscar (Best Foreign Language Film), Winfried wants closeness with estranged daughter Ines (Sandra Huller). She craves order and the respect of her peers, while he wants to play pranks involving fake teeth and terrible wigs.

Writer-director Maren Ade takes care to craft Ines as the globalised German, driven to excellence, hurt by her father's inability to value her accomplishments.

WHERE: The ProjectorMRT: Nicoll Highway WHEN: Sunday, 2pm ADMISSION: $13.50 INFO: theprojector.sg