Our top 5 film picks for April

This deserved winner of the Best Foreign Language Film at the recent Academy Awards is told from the point of view of Saul (Géza Röhrig), a concentration-camp inmate who works as a Sonderkommando—a prisoner forced to dispose of gas-chamber victims.

The story, which is best left to the viewer, unfolds in real time, largely shot right up close to the lead actor’s face. As such, many events happen just off camera, in the background or out of focus, which only intensifies the horror.

The sound design, which recalls Elem Klimov’s harrowing war drama Come and See, is also a masterpiece of sensory assault.

This is painful viewing at the best of times, but its power is undeniable, and it comes as close as any other film to conveying the sheer nightmare of the Holocaust.

Anyone with fond memories of The Commitments will warm to this joyous Irish film, which centres on Cosmo (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), a schoolboy who forms a band to escape his strained family life and to win over girl-next-door Raphina (Lucy Boynton).

As with director John Carney’s earlier film Once, there are a number of original songs alongside classic Eighties numbers, and the young cast have a lot of fun blasting them out.

This German film has already won praise for its audacious technique—it was shot in one single take, which reportedly took just three attempts.

The narrative follows the title character (Laia Costa) over a night in Berlin as she gradually—and rather implausibly—gets drawn into a world of crime.

The self-conscious style obscures the movie’s flaws, but while it doesn’t leave a lasting impression, you can’t help but be impressed while watching it.

No one deserves the “plucky underdog” label more than Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards, a 24-year-old from Cheltenham who managed to qualify as a ski jumper for the 1988 Winter Olympics despite a total lack of experience, funding and, frankly, talent.

Taron Egerton manages to convey Edwards’ goofy charm, and the film as a whole wins you over, despite director Dexter Fletcher’s broad-brush style.

In 1950s Moscow, a female spy (Rebecca Ferguson) begins stealing secrets from a rising KGB agent (Sam Reid), but ends up falling in love with him.

Although sumptuously shot, this somewhat typical Cold-War drama suffers in comparison with last year’s Bridge of Spies, and sadly can’t compete with the various John le Carré adaptations once again back on our screens.