Critical Week: Teacher's pet

This week's line-up of press screenings was refreshingly female-oriented, offering a respite from the usual masculine bravado that's trumpeted on the big screen. Maggie Gyllenhaal is terrific in the understated drama The Kindergarten Teacher, which is remarkably sympathetic for how creepy the story turns. Brie Larson storms the superhero genre in Captain Marvel, an unusually engaging character-based action thriller with a cool 1990s vibe. Keira Knightley is at the centre of The Aftermath, a post-war romantic melodrama that's finely shot and acted but let down by a drippy script. And the bracingly original Icelandic comedy-thriller Woman at War focusses on a mother-to-be trying to protect the planet from abuse.

The rest of the week's movies were just as eclectic. The futuristic comedy-drama 2050 is witty and stylish as it explores falling in love with sexbots. Set in a foreboding forest, Devil's Path is a creepy thriller following two men who seem to be hiding secrets. An inventively intense drama from Portugal, Sunburn features four friends on holiday struggling to deal with repressed 10-year-old emotions. Peccadillo's short film collection No Ordinary Boy: Boys on Film 19 is another set of skilfully made mini-dramas exploring, this time, a darker angle on sexuality. And on my flight back to London I revisited the 1976 version of A Star Is Born, starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. It's a far more female-oriented version of this story than last year's hit remake, which makes it even more strongly involving and ultimately much more moving. I'm not sure I'd seen it since watching it as a young teen on its original release (I loved it back then too).

Screenings this coming week include Julia Roberts in Ben Is Back, Jessie Buckley in Wild Rose, Paolo Sorrentino's Loro, the black comedy Bruce!!!, the caveman thriller Iceman, and two documentaries: Last Breath, about a stranded deep-sea diver, and Silvana, about the Swedish hip-hop artist.