Critical Week: Campfire stories

It's the week after the London Critics' Circle Film Awards, so much of my time has been spent wrapping up details and sifting through the photos (I published my annual album on Instagram - in four parts). There were only a few film screenings, and with the cold, wet weather I was happy to stay indoors. The big movie was Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the goofy but enjoyable fourth chapter in the saga of the London singleton so endearingly played by Renee Zellweger, this time alongside romantic foils Chiwetel Ejiofor (above) and Leo Woodall. Plus fabulous scene-stealers like Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
September 5
ALL REVIEWS >

Ke Huy Quan is a terrific lead in action comedy Love Hurts, adeptly underplaying the drama while adding wit to the action sequences. The movie is silly, but watchable. Ryan Destiny is fiercely engaging in the boxing biopic The Fire Inside, which is sharper than expected thanks to director Rachel Morrison and writer Barry Jenkins, plus the terrific Brian Tyree Henry in a nuanced variation on the coach role. And Francois Ozon is back with the very French drama When Autumn Comes, which twists and turns through its gently offbeat story, layering personal drama with insinuating intrigue. I also attended the press night for the inventive political play Antigone [on strike] at the Park Theatre.

This coming week, the Avengers are back for Captain America: Brave New World, and I'll also be watching coming-of-age romcom Bonus Track, New York romance Barrio Boy, French drama Holy Cow, Palestinian refugee drama To a Land Unknown and the stage play Miss Brexit at the Omnibus in Clapham.

Critical Week: Ignite the light

My work schedule on a TV crew was a bit lighter this week, so I was able to see a few screenings. These included the documentary Will & Harper, attended by Will Ferrell, Harper Steele and director Josh Greenbaum. It's a gorgeously involving film focussed on a long-term friendship, and its topicality makes it important as well. Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Keegan-Michael Key and director Josh Cooley came along to a screening of Transformers One, the hugely entertaining animated origin story that's packed with comedy and action.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Substance • Will & Harper
Transformers One
Girls Will Be Girls
ALL REVIEWS >

Filmmaker RaMell Ross creates a stunning visual style for Nickel Boys, a powerful drama about a teen reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. It's also beautifully played, unusually vivid and involving. From Britain, Portraits of Dangerous Women is a light-hearted multi-strand drama about a group of people whose lives intersect unexpectedly, while Inherit the Witch is a bonkers horror thriller that enjoyably evokes freaky classics. And Notice to Quit is a likeable but rather too-busy comedy starring Michael Zegen as a single dad at the end of his rope. 

This coming week, I'm planning to see Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, Joseph Gordon Levitt in Killer Heat, Alice Lowe's Timestalker, Hellboy: The Crooked Man and the documentary Rez Ball, plus anything else I can find time to see while working long days. 

Critical Week: A big bromance

I've been taking it a bit easier this week, catching up after the film festival. But there have been a few screenings to attend. First there was the mammoth sequel Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, screened to the press in Imax. Essentially a cartoon with a few humans running around in the margins, this is a movie that will make die hard fans happy, but others might be wise to steer clear. Meanwhile, Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway have a lot of fun layering on insinuating intrigue in Mothers' Instinct, a Hitchcock-style slow-burn thriller that's thoroughly entertaining.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Beautiful Game
Disco Boy
PERHAPS AVOID:
Godzilla x Kong
ALL REVIEWS >

Even better is the British feel-good drama The Beautiful Game, about a homeless football team. Thankfully, the on-pitch action is kept in check for more character-based comedy and drama. Liam Neeson and Kerry Condon are terrific in the gritty thriller In the Land of Saints and Sinners, set during the Troubles in 1970s Ireland. And the French drama Ama Gloria takes a child's eye view for a slice of life with a couple of momentous moments along the way.

This coming week I'll continue catching up on things, and I have screenings of Scoop, The First Omen, Woody Allen's Coup de Chance, If Only I Could Hibernate and Someone Like You.

LFF: Soak it in

The 66th London Film Festival moves into its second week with more nightly galas and special events. I'm largely watching from outside this year, but I attended the starry screening of Allelujah last night in the Royal Festival Hall, introduced by cast and crew including Jennifer Saunders, Judi Dench, Richard Eyre, Bally Gill, David Bradley and pretty much everyone else who worked on the movie. But I'm seeing most of these films thanks to distributors who have invited me to other screenings or sent online links for me to watch them. It sure beats sanding in queues for two hours before press screenings. Here are more highlights...

Causeway
dir Lila Neugebauer; with Jennifer Lawrence, Brian Tyree Henry 22/US ****.
Theatre director Lila Neigebauer makes a remarkable feature film debut with this delicately crafted drama, which explores a topical issue through an especially internalised perspective. This requires sensitive performances from Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry, who are extraordinary as two people struggling to get their lives back on track after serious injuries. Never obvious about anything, the film gets deep under the skin.

Allelujah
dir Richard Eyre; with Jennifer Saunders, Bally Gill 22/UK ****
Based on the Alan Bennett play, this gently edgy comedy is a celebration of the tenacity of Britain's National Health Service in the face of relentless government interference, from sell-offs to cut-backs. It's is a remarkably complex, engagingly freeform romp. And coming on the heels of a pandemic, it could hardly be more timely. But the filmmakers hold back their biggest statement until a seriously powerful wallop the final moments.

Emily the Criminal
dir-scr John Patton Ford; with Aubrey Plaza, Theo Rossi 22/US ***.
There's a serious theme running through this engaging drama set in the criminal underworld of Los Angeles. Writer-director John Patton Ford cleverly pulls the audience in along with a hugely engaging central character adeptly played by Aubrey Plaza. It's a remarkable look at a society that makes it almost impossible for someone to escape their past. So even if it dips into several thriller cliches, it remains gripping.

Godland [Vanskabte Land, Volaða Land]
dir-scr Hlynur Palmason; with Elliott Crosset Hove, Ingvar Sigurdsson 22/Ice ****
Under gloomy skies in unforgiving landscapes, this visually striking epic follows a Danish priest to rural Iceland in the 19th century, where he confronts both a strange new land and also his own beliefs. It's a dark and brooding drama, but continual moments of wit and artistry make it remarkably compelling. And writer-director Hlynur Palmason digs deeply into the souls of the characters to challenge the audience to think about big issues in new ways

1976
dir Manuela Martelli; with Aline Kuppenheim, Nicolas Sepulveda 22/Chl ****
This strikingly thoughtful dramatic thriller tells a story set in the wake of Chile's 1973 coup, as a dictator cracked down on the country. Filmmaker Manuela Martelli takes an observational approach, letting the narrative take shape in bits and pieces with characters who are afraid to say too much to each other. It's beautifully shot and edited, and performed with steely understatement by a gifted cast.

And four more LFF films that I saw in Venice...

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
dir Laura Poitras; with Nan Goldin, Megan Kapler 22/US ****.
With this extraordinary film, documentarian Laura Poitras takes a multifaceted look at a fascinating artist. As a biography of photographer Nan Goldin, this is a clear-eyed look at her life, work and survival. And it seamlessly connects her efforts to raise awareness of the Sackler family's direct responsibility in more than half a million deaths from opioid addiction. All of this is skilfully woven together with a remarkably gentle hand... FULL REVIEW >

No Bears
dir-scr Jafar Panahi; with Jafar Panahi, Vahid Mobasheri 22/Irn ****.
Despite being banned from making movies, master filmmaker Jafar Panahi continues to tell powerful cinematic stories from Iran. This hugely involving film uses wry humour to capture cultural absurdities that have an impact on two love stories, while further complicating the process of making movies. More importantly, this is a personal depiction of people who are struggling to survive when traditions and borders turn them into desperate refugees... FULL REVIEW >

The Son
dir Florian Zeller; with Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern 22/UK ***
After The Father, writer-director Florian Zeller adapts another of his thorny plays for the big screen, this time about parents trying to help a troubled teen son. It's a dark story, with rare moments of lightness as characters struggle with elusive ideas that defeat almost everybody. Clinical depression is an important topic to dramatise, although it also means that the plot needs to retain a nagging level of uncertainty... FULL REVIEW >

Saint Omer
dir Alice Diop; with Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanga 22/Fr **.
There's a terrific story at the centre of this French drama, bursting with powerful themes and clever juxtapositions. But filmmaker Alice Diop remains in her head while she puts this onto the screen, as chilly, inexpressive scenes remain stubbornly out of reach. It's very sharply shot, as a genuinely riveting courtroom case steals focus from the loosely undeveloped plot thread that is clearly meant to be the film's main thrust... FULL REVIEW >

All London Film Festival reviews, once they're uploaded, will be linked to SHADOWS' LFF PAGE >

Critical Week: Take aim

Londoners aren't used to such a long spell of warm, dry weather, so it's especially unusual to see the parks turning golden rather than green. (Although this is something I grew up with in Southern California.) It's been warm enough to welcome trips into air conditioned cinemas to cool off. The bigger films this week were the Predator prequel Prey, an involving and well-made 18th century adventure with some proper suspense, even if some cliches are distracting. Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer are terrific as siblings in Jordan Peele's Nope, a witty and inventive take on the alien invasion thriller that's involving, surprising and perhaps just a little overcooked. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Fadia's Tree • Luck
ALL REVIEWS >

And then there was Brad Pitt, who saunters engagingly through the silly chaos of Bullet Train, a messy action comedy that feels oddly thin despite terrific performances from an ensemble cast that includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Joey King and the great Hiroyuki Sanada. The brightly hued animated adventure Luck has a lively story, with terrific voice work from a starry cast that includes Jane Fonda and Whoopi Goldberg. Charlotte Rampling is of course terrific in the dark, witty and thoughtful Kiwi drama Juniper. And the refugee doc Fadia's Tree tells a vividly personal story of a life diverted by conflict.

This coming week I'll be watching the thriller No Way Out, coming-of-age comedy Funny Pages, India's Forrest Gump remake Laal Singh Chaddha, comedy-drama anime Fortune Favours Lady Nikuko, quirky claymation adventure The Old Man: The Movie and the documentary Bloom Up.

Critical Week: A proper belter

It was a long weekend in Britain, but the much-promised heatwave never materialised. It was warmish, but only sporadically sunny - basically like the entire summer has been. We haven't really had seasons this year, with a mild winter, chilly spring and a summer that has only rarely been warmer than 25C/75F. It's enough to make you want to scream. Thankfully, that's not what Jennifer Hudson was doing in the biopic Respect. Her performance is simply astonishing, never mimicry but rather inhabiting Aretha Franklin from the inside out, including her distinct way of singing. Her story is powerful too, even if the film feels a little standard (and overlong) for a biopic.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Year of the Everlasting Storm
Shang-Chi • Annette
Misha and the Wolves 
PERHAPS AVOID:
The Last Job • Wildfire 
ALL REVIEWS >

Distinctly outside any boundaries, Sion Sono's Prisoners of the Ghostland stars a gruff Nicolas Cage as a man forced to rescue a damsel (Sofia Boutella) from a Japanese wasteland. It's utterly nuts, and surprisingly enjoyable. Tom Burke stars in The Show, a colourfully bonkers British horror featuring a parallel reality underworld, or something. And a Canadian horror, Bloodthirsty, takes a grisly but muted approach to the werewolf genre. All three of these were at FrightFest and have release dates coming soon. A more serious drama from Poland, The Champion of Auschwitz, recounts the involving true story of a boxer in a Nazi prison camp. It's remarkably grounded and powerful. The nicely observant drama A Wake digs into a family dynamic after a funeral, then shakes things up with a revelation. And the harrowing, edgy Danish thriller Shorta follows two cops caught up in an anti-police riot. I also caught up with one that I had missed a couple of weeks back...

Vivo
dir Kirk DeMicco; voices Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ynairaly Simo 21/US ***.
Sony Animation's first musical was nabbed by Netflix, which made it hard to see on a big screen where its colourfully lush animation would have looked gorgeous. It's a lively tale that follows a cheeky honey bear (Miranda) from Havana who connects with a cheeky teen (Simo) in Key West, leading to a madcap adventure en route to Miami. There's a lot going on along the way, even if the plot itself is pretty simple. But it's populated by wonderfully lively characters (voices include Zoe Saldana, Brian Tyree Henry and the fabulous Gloria Estefan) and several terrific songs too. It's a little gem that adeptly keeps us smiling with a lovely Latin beat.

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Films to watch this coming week include Camila Cabello in Cinderella, Justice Smith in The Voyeurs, Jon Bernthal in Small Engine Repair, Jaboukie Young-White in Dating & New York, coming-of-age drama Iceland Is Best, queer horror comedy Death Drop Gorgeous, and the German courtroom drama The Collini Case. We also have the programme launch for October's London Film Festival.

Critical Week: Keep looking up

This is the final week in this year's wildly over-extended awards season, with the Academy Awards capping things off on Sunday night in Los Angeles. They're promising a fresh take on the awards show, mixing in-person events with virtual elements, so it will be interesting to see what the show's director Steven Soderbergh and friends come up with. And a relief to finally have this year's marathon behind us. Shadows' annual SWEEPSTAKES has racked up a record number of awards, tallied together to see this year's true winners.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Homeward • Tu Me Manques
Black Bear • Into the Labyrinth
ALL REVIEWS >

It's also been a busy week at the movies for me, with a bunch of smaller films. The Outside Story stars the terrific Brian Tyree Henry (above) as a homebody who gets locked out of his flat and learns some cosy but (ahem!) key life lessons. It's gently engaging, as is Percy vs Goliath, which stars Christopher Walken as a real Canadian farmer who takes on a greedy multinational corporation (is there any other kind?). And then there's the gifted RJ Mitte starring in the conceptual thriller The Oak Room, which spins stories within stories in a way that's likeable and rather chilling.

A bit further afield, the involving Stone Fruit uses nonstop dialog and naturalistic performances to knowingly explore a waning relationship, while Making Sense mixes brainy science with sudsy soap-style plotting for some low-budget fun. There were two lively, colourful docs:  Steelers tells the story of the world's first gay-inclusive rugby team in London, and House of Cardin looks at the fashion designer's work, and a bit of his personal life. The short film collection Upon Her Lips: Pure Feels features five strong clips about female emotionality, while the 15th anniversary director's cut of Another Gay Movie offers a great excuse to revisit this silly and strikingly bold pastiche comedy. And then there's this drama from Hong Kong, the only Oscar-nominated feature I hadn't seen. So now I'm all ready for Sunday night's ceremony...

Better Days

dir Derek Kwok-cheung Tsang
scr Lam Wing Sum, Li Yuan, Xu Yimeng
with Zhou Dongyu, Jackson Yee, Yin Fang, Huang Jue, Wu Yue, Zhou Ye, Zhang Yifan, Ran
release Chn 25.Oct.19, US/UK 8.Nov.19
19/China 2h15 ****

Taking on intense academic pressure as it's multiplied by ruthless bullying, this drama from Hong Kong has a striking visual style that cuts to the core of the issue. Director Derek Kwok-cheung Tsang shoots this with loads of visual style, capturing small details of teen life while depicting the everyday challenges of survival for China's underclass. The knotted plot is overlong, but it's powerful, important and strongly moving. And the two central performances are knock-outs.

The story takes place in 2011 in Anqiao, as Nian (Zhou) is preparing for her university entrance exam. After a friend commits suicide due to bullying, the mean girls ramp up their violent attacks on Nian. Her mother (Wu) is only concerned about grades, so Nian feels she can't talk to her. She's also so conscientious that she can't help but go to the assistance of teen petty criminal Bei (Yee) as he's being brutally beaten by thugs. Afterwards, they develop an unusual friendship, as he becomes her protector.

Students in Nian's class are desperate to get into prestigious universities, and because she's not as pretty as the other girls but gets better marks, they ruthlessly harass her in ways that are genuinely horrific. Young detective Zheng (Fang) is shocked by these cold-hearted girls. And it's painful to see how such vile abuse has left Nian scared and worryied about the mental health of her only remaining school friend. And all of this is beautifully countered by her warmly offbeat connection with Bei.

Nian believes that everything will be fine once she makes it past the exam, but Bei tries to ground her. Their evolving friendship is infused with humour and beautifully played interaction that hints at a possible romance without being seedy about it. The script sometimes gets preachy regarding the topic, but it feels earned. Yes, the violence is difficult to watch at times, while some of the plot's twists are emotionally wrenching, but the tenderness is simply gorgeous.

15 themes, language, violence • 19.Apr.21

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In the next couple of days, I'll catch up with this week's big releases Stowaway, a space-mission drama with Toni Collette, and Mortal Kombat, the videogame-based action battle thriller. There's also Bruce Dern in The Artist's Wife, the 1950s-set Czech drama Charlatan, the Dutch revenge-comedy The Columnist and the care home doc Some Kind of Heaven. I'll also be up all night on Sunday to watch the Oscars live at London time.

The Best of 2018: 38th Shadows Awards

These are films I saw in 2018, regardless of their release dates. All were seen by public audiences in cinemas - either on general release, specialty screenings or at festivals, during the past 12 months. These were especially difficult lists to narrow down!

A far more extensive version of this is on the website at 38TH SHADOWS AWARDS, for those who can't get enough of this sort of thing: longer lists, many more categories, trivia-o-rama.

My top film this year is not only a bracingly ripping true story, but it captures and confronts the current cultural mood with skill and invention. It's also a wonderful return to fighting form for filmmaker Spike Lee, who last won my best film prize in 1989 for Do the Right Thing.

BEST FILM:

1. BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee)
2. Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski)
3. The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)
4. If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins)
5. Generation Wealth (Lauren Greenfield)
6. Capernaum (Nadine Labaki)
7. We the Animals (Jeremiah Zagar)
8. Colette (Wash Westmoreland)
9. Shoplifters (Hirokazu Koreeda)
10. Sofia (Meryem Benm'Barek)

DIRECTOR:

1. Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War)
2. Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)
3. Ari Aster (Hereditary)
4. Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk)
5. Nadine Labaki (Capernaum)
6. Bart Layton (American Animals)
7. Chloe Zhao (The Rider)
8. Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)
9. Jeremiah Zagar (We the Animals)
10. Meryem Benm'Barek (Sofia)

WRITER:

1. Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk)
2. Pawel Pawlikowski, Janusz Glowacki (Cold War)
3. Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland, Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Colette)
4. Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara (The Favourite)
5. Daniel Kokotajlo (Apostasy)
6. Bart Layton (American Animals)
7. Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)
8. Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting)
9. Alex Garland (Annihilation)
10. Madeleine Sami, Jackie van Beek (The Breaker Upperers)

ACTRESS:

1. Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
2. Joanna Kulig (Cold War)
3. Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place, Mary Poppins Returns)
4. Agnes Jaoui (I Got Life!)
5. Eva Melander (Border)
6. Toni Collette (Hereditary, Hearts Beat Loud, Madame)
7. Anna Brun (The Heiresses)
8. Natalie Portman (Vox Lux, Annihilation)
9. Claire Foy (Unsane, First Man)
10. Rosamund Pike (A Private War, Beirut, Entebbe)

ACTOR:

1. Michael B Jordan (Black Panther, Creed II, Fahrenheit 451)
2. Brady Landreau (The Rider)
3. Rupert Everett (The Happy Prince)
4. Tomasz Kot (Cold War)
5. Marcello Fonte (Dogman)
6. John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman, Monsters and Men)
7. Zain Al Rafeea (Capernaum)
8. Steve Carell (Beautiful Boy, Vice, Welcome to Marwen)
9. Alex Lawther (Freak Show, Ghost Stories)
10. Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

1. Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
2. Florence Pugh (Outlaw King)
3. Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place)
4. Sarah Perles (Sofia)
5. Cynthia Erivo (Widows, Bad Times at the El Royale)
6. Sissy Spacek (The Old Man & the Gun)
7. Danai Gurira (Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War)
8. Sakura Ando (Shoplifters)
9. Molly Wright (Apostasy)
10. Elizabeth Debicki (Widows, The Cloverfield Paradox)

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

1. Brian Tyree Henry (Widows, If Beale Street Could Talk, White Boy Rick, Hotel Artemis)
2. Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Outlaw King)
3. Daniel Kaluuya (Black Panther, Widows)
4. Timothee Chalamet (Beautiful Boy)
5. Nicholas Hoult (The Favourite)
6. Jonah Hill (Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot)
7. Richard E Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
8. Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place, That Good Night)
9. Barry Keoghan (Black '47, American Animals)
10. Jude Law (Vox Lux, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald)

WORST FILM:

1. Mile 22 (Peter Berg)
2. The Strangers: Prey at Night (Johannes Roberts)
3. Truth or Dare (Jeff Wadlow)
4. Midnight Sun (Scott Speer)
5. Fifty Shades Freed (James Foley)
6. Life Itself (Dan Fogelman)
7. Strangeways Here We Come (Chris Green)
8. The 15:17 to Paris (Clint Eastwood)
9. Venom (Ruben Fleischer)
10. Action Point (Tim Kirkby)

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N O N - F I L M   D I V I S I O N

TV SERIES:

1. Pose (FX)
2. Schitt's Creek (CBN)
3. Fleabag (BBC)
4. Everything Sucks! (Netflix)
5. Killing Eve (BBC)
6. The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (Prime)
7. Patrick Melrose (Showtime)
8. A Very English Scandal (BBC)
9. Atlanta (FX)
10. Trust (FX)

SINGLE:

1. This Is America (Childish Gambino)
2. Nothing Breaks Like a Heart (Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus)
3. One Kiss (Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa)
4. Shallow (Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper)
5. Promises (Sam Smith & Calvin Harris)
6. Happier (Marshmello & Bastille)
7. Make Me Feel (Janelle Monae)
8. Better Now (Post Malone)
9. Ruin My Life (Zara Larsson)
10. This Is Me (Keala Settle)

Requisite Blog Photo: Next dimension

with Rita Di Santo