Raindance: Take your shot

The 33rd Raindance Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday with the world premiere of the British drama Heavyweight and a properly epic afterparty at with special honours were presented to screen icons Celia Imrie and Jason Isaacs. The festival runs over the next 10 days with a flurry of independent films. I'm trying to limit how many I watch, aiming for one per day. So here are the first two...

Heavyweight
dir-scr Christopher M Anthony; with Jordan Bolger, Nicholas Pinnock 25/UK ****
Unfolding in real time and largely in a single room, like a stage play, this British boxing drama has a propulsive pace as it traces the run-up to a championship bout. Writer-director Christopher Anthony keeps the tension high with edgy dialog, beefy performances, prowling camerawork and a churning underscore. The sheer machismo on display is perhaps a bit exhausting, but it's balanced by a terrific sense of underlying emotion.

A Cell Phone Movie
dir-scr Will Sterling; with Will Sterling, Tessa Glanville 25/US ****
As the title indicates, this meta-comedy was shot on a mobile phone. It looks great, skilfully filmed in wide-screen and sharply well-edited too. Actor-filmmaker Will Sterling is a charming lead, and the comedy is warm and off-the-cuff, with a continual stream of witty gags about trying to make a no-budget movie. Even more engaging are the thoughtfully serious sequences that dig deeper into the characters and situations.

Full reviews of festival films will be linked here in due course: SHADOWS @ RAINDANCE >

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C R I T I C A L  W E E K

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Red Path • 28 Years Later
Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf
ALL REVIEWS >

This week I got to attend the glamorous world premiere of Jurassic World: Rebirth, with the full cast and crew in attendance, including Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Mahershala Ali. And the film is great fun. The new Pixar animation Elio is an enjoyable if familiar space romp, but it's packed with dazzling touches. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland are back with 28 Years Later, a superbly ripping addition to the franchise. John Travolta stars in the wobbly but watchable caper comedy High Rollers. Harry Melling and Caleb Landry Jones lead the cast of Scottish period weirdness Harvest, which struggles to make its point. Writer-director Eva Victor stars with Naomi Ackie in the beautifully written and directed Sorry, Baby, putting a truthful spin on a big event. Leonie Benesch is excellent as an overworked nurse in the expertly shot Swiss drama Late Shift. And the properly stunning Tunisian drama Red Path tells a riveting true story with power and emotion. I also attended the opening night cabaret for this year's London Clown Festival

This coming week there are many more films at Raindance, plus Brad Pitt in F1, Dylan O'Brien in Ponyboi, the indie comedy Rent Free, the French comedy Colours of Time and the Colombian drama Salt Water, plus the premiere for Lena Dunham's TV series Too Much and three live performances: Quadrophenia at Sadler's Wells, Jonah Non Grata at Soho Theatre and Botis Seva's Until We Sleep at Sadler's Wells East.