Critical Week: Dog days

With cinemas open again in the UK, things are slowly getting back to normal, and I've had a few press screenings and even a premiere to attend in-person this week. It's great to see movies on the big screen again - I'd begun to forget the joy of being in a darkened room away from distractions. The social distancing guidelines mean the communal experience in audience reaction isn't quite back to normal, but it's getting there. We have another month like this before restrictions will be re-evaluated and perhaps even lifted. Of course, all of this means that freelance critics must now return to negotiating with distributors for precious screening seats, facing seemingly random decisions. For example, despite holding a number of screenings, Disney only offered me an online screening link for the 101 Dalmatians prequel Cruella. I loved the film's subversive approach, its feisty script and characters, and especially the sterling scene-stealing work from Emma Stone and Emma Thompson.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
First Cow • Zebra Girl
A Quiet Place Part II • Cruella
PERHAPS AVOID:
Earwig and the Witch
ALL REVIEWS >

Jason Statham reteams with Guy Ritchie for Wrath of Man, an unusually gritty and bleak movie for both of them. It's very well-made, riveting and darkly involving. Zack Snyder makes his return to the zombie genre with Army of the Dead, an entertaining but overlong rampaging heist epic set in a locked-down Vegas. James Corden is back to voice the title role in Peter Rabbit 2, but the script this time lacks the witty humour. Kids will love the silliness. Director Stephanie Zari and actors Sarah Roy and Tom Cullen attended the premiere of Zebra Girl, a superbly crafted British drama with waves of wit and emotional horror. And I was in heaven finally watching Nomadland on the big screen this week. It was my favourite movie from 2020, but I'd only seen it on my laptop. It's a masterpiece, and looks even more spectacular projected.

In addition to getting my second vaccine, this coming week I have Dylan O'Brien in the sci-fi thriller Flashback, Elia Suleiman's acclaimed It Must Be Heaven, the actor doc The Most Beautiful Boy in the World and the war dancer doc Being Thunder.

Stage: Notes from the dark side

Villain in Tinseltown
by David Harrold
dir Helen Niland
with Jonathan Hansler
White Bear Theatre, Kennington •  18-29.May.21

Adapted from Oscar-winning British actor George Sanders' autobiography Memoirs of a Cad, this witty one-man show skewers Hollywood from the inside out. While exploring the nature of stardom and ambition in the old studio system, the script finds chilling insights into today's social media landscape, where influencers sacrifice authenticity for fame. So even if it stretches a bit further than its reach, the show is packed with knowing commentary and provocative ideas.

On the set of the 1959 sword-and-sandal epic Solomon and Sheba in Spain, George (Hansler) is pondering his career. He's a suave, astute nice guy who has become typecast as a villain in the movies. And he considers why this seems to be true across the industry, as on-screen baddies are the kindest, most generous actors working, while the heroic stars in the spotlight tend to be self-centred and aloof. George says he loves taking these more colourful side roles, and yet he clearly aspires to the limelight, recounting stories about his glamorous costars. This includes his close friendship with screen icon Tyrone Power and his marriage to ostentatious socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor. 

When the script centres on anecdotes and personal observations about the business, including a lot of namedropping, it's riveting and resonant, albeit not particularly juicy. Less successful are extended philosophical ramblings, some of which are delivered by disembodied voices. Hansler is wonderfully deadpan as George chain-smokes and guzzles glasses of wine, meandering through stories with riotous honesty. His catty observations reveal a determination to always speak the truth, however painful it may be. And his first-hand recollection of Power's death on-set is heartbreaking.

The lavender-hued stage is a cleverly designed dressing room (by Piran Jeffcock), with a rack of costumes that all come into play. And the inventive lighting design (by Chuma Emembolu) keeps things visually in motion. Rather muffled by the sound system, there are voices, music and sound effects from off-stage, both memories in George's mind and the general bustle of the movie set. And George's frazzled wardrobe fitter (uncredited) makes a few amusing appearances to help him into and out of various outfits. 

George's monolog is generally sharply cynical about the film industry, and it strikes quite a few zinging chords along the way. There are also several very funny moments, as well as glimpses of deep emotion that might have been more effective to unpack than the more generic "art of living" theorising. Most interesting is what the play reveals about the nature of celebrity, what it costs personally to rise to the peak of popularity and the fact that there is a way to maintain integrity and be a success as an actor who isn't perhaps a star.

20.May.21

Critical Week: In your face

After a very long five-month lockdown, cinemas are once again open in the UK, and distributors are flooding screens with both new films and several that have been previously released online but really should get some big screen love. I'm hoping to revisit some titles over the coming weeks. New films I watched this week include Mainstream, which stars Andrew Garfield as an influencer who takes social media by storm. It's a bold, overreaching film that demands attention. On the big screen with an awesome sound system, I watched John Krasinski's sequel A Quiet Place Part II, once again starring Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe as a family trying to keep silent around terrifying monsters. It's a nail-biter, packed with thrillingly scary set-pieces.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Hating Peter Tatchell • Nomadland
Ammonite • Minari • Undergods
PERHAPS AVOID:
Those Who Wish Me Dead
Rare Beasts
ALL REVIEWS >

Less effective was the thriller Those Who Wish Me Dead, with Angelina Jolie as a tough guy smokejumper. The plot was even more contrived than that, but the filmmaking is solid. A Hitchcock homage, The Woman in the Window is gloriously well-made, with a terrific cast led by Amy Adams and a plot that barely holds water. Finn Whitehead stars in the loose, relaxed drama Port Authority, as a homeless teen who falls for a trans dancer. Another British-based animated drama from Studio Ghibli, Earwig and the Witch is visually innovative but narratively awkward. From Austria, Why Not You is an involving, very dark drama about a young man struggling in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. And from Australia, Hating Peter Tatchell is a riveting, expertly assembled doc about the groundbreaking London-based activist.

Oddly, press screenings seem to be re-opening very slowly, and I only have one in the diary for this coming week, namely the dark drama Zebra Girl. But I suspect more will come along soon. In the mean time, there are screener links to watch for Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead, Emma Stone in Cruella, the Hollywood romcom Introducing Jodea and the documentary A Space in Time. I also have some theatre and dance performances to attend, so watch for those reviews here.

Critical Week: Chart a course

Britain is slowly emerging from lockdown after five very long months, and next week's shift includes reopening cinemas. It'll take awhile to get back up to full-speed, but it feels hopeful to be moving in the right direction. Meanwhile, I'm still watching everything on links, with the biggest film this week being the thriller Voyagers stars Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp and Colin Farrell in an oddly dull and timid riff on Lord of the Flies in space. Melanie Laurent is terrific in the claustrophobic thriller Oxygen, which has a lot of enjoyable twists and turns, even if it begins to feel a little silly. Kelvin Harrison Jr once again shines in Monster, a powerful legal drama that got stuck in distribution chaos for three years. And Robin Wright makes her feature directing debut with the beautiful but thin back-to-nature drama Land, in which she also delivers a terrific central performance.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Never Gonna Snow Again
The Perfect Candidate
Servants • End of Sentence
The Crime of the Century
PERHAPS AVOID: The Reckoning
ALL REVIEWS >

From the Czech Republic, Servants is a visually stunning, thematically powerful drama set in a Catholic seminary during Soviet occupation. From Romania, Two Lottery Tickets is the dryly amusing story of three hapless friends trying to improve their aimless lives. The horror pastiche Psycho Goreman is packed with hilariously big characters and riotously grisly effects. And Alex Gibney's riveting, engaging two-part documentary The Crime of the Century is a must-see portrait of the opioid crisis from a variety of pointed perspectives.

With cinemas opening on Monday, I actually have a physical screening in the diary for next week, the first since early December, for the Emily Blunt thriller A Quiet Place Part II. Otherwise I have links to watch for various things, including Amy Adams in The Woman in the Window, Angelina Jolie in Those Who Wish Me Dead, Fionn Whitehead in Port Authority, the Austrian drama Why Not You and the short film collection The Dutch Boys. 

Critical Week: Get the party started

There's definitely a sense in London that this lockdown is finally coming to an end, with the promise that we'll soon be able to meet up in person again. Cinemas are re-opening in about 10 days after a long five-month closure, so press screenings will start up as well (I already have a few theatre press nights in the diary). In the mean time, I'm still watching everything using online links. The past week was another extremely mixed bag, from the loose, low-fi fun of the indie drama The Get Together, a messy romantic comedy centred around a chaotic house party, to the fabulous animated adventure The Mitchells vs the Machines, which has vividly developed characters and properly moving themes to add to its nutty action mayhem.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Cowboys • Apples • Undergods
ALL REVIEWS >

Each movie brought its own mood: My New York Year (aka My Salinger Year) is a warmly comical take on the same story as The Devil Wears Prada, but set in a fusty literary agency (with a superb Sigourney Weaver in the scene-stealing role). The Killing of Two Lovers is a gritty independent drama that's somewhat indulgent in its storytelling but has a raw emotionality to it. The Reckoning is unintentionally camp 17th century British horror, riddled with cliches and some painfully awkward makeup and hairstyling choices. From South Africa, Fried Barry is a gleefully squalid odyssey about a junkie who's taken over by aliens. And the extremely low-budget action comedy In Action proves that just about anyone can make a movie if they have imagination and a sense of humour.

Films I need to watch over this coming week include Kelvin Harrison Jr in Monster, Colin Farrell in Voyagers, Melanie Laurent in the thriller Oxygen, the Slovakian drama Servants and the horror comedy Psycho Goreman.