In the Fade (18) ****

Dir: Fatih Akin

With: Diane Kruger, Numan Acar,

Runtime: 106 minutes

A WINNER at Cannes and the Golden Globes and a hit at the Glasgow Film Festival, Fatih Akin’s thriller receives a long-awaited UK release. Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds) is superb as Katja, a wife and mother whose life in Hamburg has finally settled into a happy groove, only for the future to be torn apart. She seeks justice in the courts, but will she find it? Slick and fast-paced, In the Fade picks up on a modern European threat in democracy’s midst and brings it down to a personal level, with shocking and haunting results. Miles better than most of the thin fare on offer during cinema’s World Cup drought.

GFT till June 28

Arcadia (12A) ***

Dir: Paul Wright

Runtime: 78 minutes

LUCKY Paul Wright. The Scots director of For Those in Peril was given the dream job for any filmmaker of diving into in the BFI national and regional archives and coming up with pearls to celebrate the summer solstice. He has assembled a wonderful series of images from the past century, including footage from folk carnivals and annual harvests, with an accompanying soundtrack featuring new work by Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory and Adrian Utley from Portishead. What emerges is a flu dream of a film, sometimes bewildering but always entrancing.

GFT till June 28; Filmhouse July 2-5