Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen) is hired by piano virtuoso Dr Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali, following up his Oscar-winning turn in Moonlight) to be his chauffeur on a concert tour of the American South. Taking two mismatched characters and trapping them on a road trip is the stuff of great comedy, but in Green Book we also get a relevant tale of the 1960s racial divisions.

Marie Colvin (played here with impressive conviction by Rosamund Pike) was a tireless correspondent, travelling to some of the most dangerous conflicts in the world – from Sri Lanka to Syria to Iraq – risking her life to reveal the truth about unjust regimes and humanitarian crimes.

Melissa McCarthy is brilliantly unsympathetic in this revelatory dramatic role as literary fraud Lee Israel. With her writing career permanently stalled, incapable of getting over her ex-girlfriend and job prospects nil, she turns her craft to penning elaborate fake letters from the likes of Noël Coward.

Determined 15-year-old Lara (Victor Polster) is committed to becoming a professional ballerina after starting at a new school. Though supported by her father, Lara's adolescent frustrations and impatience are heightened as she gradually realises her body doesn't bend so easily to the strict discipline because she was born a boy.

Following up his surprise Oscar winner Moonlight, Barry Jenkins adapts James Baldwin’s novel of 1970s Harlem in this sumptuous tale of lovers divided by circumstance.

The latest from the director of Blue Is the Warmest Colour is a coming-of-age saga set in 1994 that casts a nostalgic glow on the wonders of youth.