Director McQueen, drawing on the visual aesthetic of his previous works Shame and Hunger, never shies away from frames that capture the ways that beauty exists in the most painful situations.

12 Years a Slave is, like The Trial, a trapdoor over the abyss. Although less abrupt than Kafka's novel, the movie wastes little time before plunging its viewer into a nightmare of dehumanization.

Ambitious, honest and horrifying all at once, 12 Years a Slave may not be the easiest film to watch more than once, but it will stay with you forever once you see it.

A director working at the top of his game. A cast giving their all. The result is an important, beautifully made film that deserves, nay, needs to be seen.