Critical Week: Reject oppression

It's been a busy week for me, as I chair the London Film Critics, and we announced our nominations on Tuesday.  Meanwhile, I keep watching movies in lockdown, all send virtually through a variety of streaming systems, usually with my name and/or email address watermarked across the screen (which can sometimes be distracting). There were a few heavy-hitters this week, including the great Daniel Kaluuya in the ripping true drama Judas and the Black Messiah, about the political machinations within the Chicago chapter of the Black Panthers in 1968. Oscar powerhouses Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto lend their considerable skills to the rather straightforward serial killer thriller The Little Things. And John David Washington and Zendaya have an extended tense conversation in the stylish and fascinating stage-like drama Malcolm & Marie.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
MLK/FBI • Blithe Spirit
Boys Feels: High Tide 
ALL REVIEWS >

Smaller films included the warm comedy-drama Love Sarah, starring Celia Imrie and a lot of delicious baked goods. The superb Shahab Hosseini stars in The Night, about an immigrant family that checks into a freak-out hotel. The surreal Greek drama Apples is about a world inflicted by a pandemic that causes amnesia, and the story is packed with clever insight. There were two award-worthy docs: The Truffle Hunters is the utterly delightful story of the old Italians who guard their old world profession, while MLK/FBI is a blood-boiling look at how J Edgar Hoover ruthlessly harassed Martin Luther King and smeared his name in the 1960s. Finally, there was a collection of four short films in Boys Feels: High Tide - each of them is an astute look at youthful yearning.

This coming week I'll be watching Anthony Mackie in Outside the Wire, the Indian biopic The White Tiger, Nahuel Perez Biscayart in Persian Lessons, the Danish thriller The Exception and still more awards contenders.