Critical Week: On the road again

Hello from Rome! I'm here for a few days this week, my first-ever visit to the city, so I plan to do a lot of walking. I've also caught up with a London Film Fest movie here at the Rome Film Festival, namely Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or winner It Was Just an Accident, a riveting comical romp with dark undertones that surge to the surface in the haunting final act. Panahi was on hand to accept a special award before the screening last night, then today I attended a conversation with him about his extraordinary career. Before coming to Italy, I watched several films during London Film Fest's closing weekend, including Paolo Sorrentino's Venice festival opener La Grazia, another outrageously gorgeous odyssey starring Toni Servillo as a wry, reflective Italian president.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Bugonia • Hedda
Love+War
ALL REVIEWS >

Also at LFF: Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere offers Jeremy Allen White another wonderfully textured role as the Boss, so the film is entertaining even if it never surprises us. Richard Linklater brought his second film this year, Nouvelle Vague, a French comedy-drama about the making of Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, shot completely in period style. It looks amazing and is a lot of fun. There was also a lavish premiere for Annemarie Jacir's historical drama Palestine 36, beautifully dramatising a pivotal moment in time. The vast ensemble cast is excellent. From UAE, the psychological horror The Vile is a superbly unnerving thriller about a woman confronting her male-dominated culture. And the photography doc Love+War profiles top conflict photographer Lynsey Addario as she balances work with a lively family life.

My favourites from the London Film Festival:

1. 
   Is This Thing On? (Cooper, US)
2. Hamnet (Zhao, UK)
3. Rental Family (Hikari, Japan)
4. La Grazia (Paolo Sorrentino, Italy)
5. Wake Up Dead Man (Rian Johnson, UK)
6. Palestine 36 (Annemarie Jacir, Palestine)
7. Lurker (Alex Ross, US)
8. The History of Sound (Oliver Hermanus, UK)
9. Train Dreams (Clint Bentley, US)
10. Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos, US)

All festival film reviews are linked here: SHADOWS @ LFF >

Back in London this next week I'll see the horror thriller Shelby Oaks and the Argentine drama Belen, and I want to catch up on a couple of films that I missed because I was unable to attend screenings, including The Mastermind and Tron: Ares. I also have a live performances of Thikra: Night of Remembering.

Critical Week: I'll drink to that

In this full week between two short ones, I've been working to get ahead of things before taking a break starting next week. So I've been both attending screenings and watching films at home on links. And there were a couple of big ones along the way. Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick are back for the frothy comedy-thriller Another Simple Favour, this time set in gorgeous locations around Capri. Both silly and violent, it's also very entertaining. Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan lead a ragtag ensemble in Thunderbolts*, a more character-based Marvel film than usual, with a terrific linear narrative that outs the effects nonsense into emotional context.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Where Dragons Live • Thunderbolts*
Parthenope • Another Simple Favour
ALL REVIEWS >

Nicolas Cage gives one of his wonderfully bonkers performances in The Surfer as a guy who simply wants to return to surf the waves on the Australian beach where he grew up. Then things get outrageously messy. From Scotland, the 18th century samurai-Western mashup Tornado is set in the Highlands, slow and riveting, and superbly played by Koki, Tim Roth, Jack Lowden and more. From Italy, Paolo Sorrentino's Parthenope is yet another sumptuously gorgeous free-spirited epic odyssey, enjoyable and yet oddly out of reach. From Brazil, Karim Ainouz's bracingly colour-drenched dramatic thriller Motel Destino is bursting with passion and yearning. The Argentine drama Most People Die on Sundays has a much lighter tone than the title suggests, and it's a warm exploration of identity and connection. And the British doc Where Dragons Live is a fascinating look at a middle-class family sifting through its personal history.

This coming week, I'll have a few things to watch over the long weekend before heading off to visit my parents for a couple of weeks. Films include the musical drama Midnight in Phoenix, and there's also a stage production of Blood Wedding at the Omnibus in Clapham.

Raindance: Making movies

The 29th Raindance Film Festival is heading into its final weekend in London, as audiences get a taste of independent films that are often unlikely to turn up in either cinemas or streaming sites. I'm still watching the films online, but have been meeting filmmakers at the House of Raindance social space as well. My usual weekly routine continues amid the festival, so it's covered below. But first a few more Raindance highlights...

The Rossellinis
dir Alessandro Rossellini; with Alessandro Rossellini, Isabella Rossellini 20/It ***.
There's an offhanded honesty to this documentary, in which Alessandro Rossellini explores his sprawling family and the meaning of his famous grandfather's legacy. Key film clips and extensive archival footage are included that tellingly explore layers of family history. But the filmmaker's goal is to reveal stories that have never been told and find the defining factor that keeps him so closely connected to his aunts, uncles and cousins... FULL REVIEW >

King Car [Carro Rei]
dir Renata Pinheiro; with Luciano Pedro Jr, Matheus Nachtergaele 21/Br ***.
Blackly comical and wildly outrageous, this satirical Brazilian thriller plays on the idea that cars have consciousness and would change the world if they could communicate with humanity. While set in the present, filmmaker Pinheiro cleverly evokes a 1980s vibe, including a terrific Christine-meets-Knightrider kick as the story spins into an epic battle against government oppression. And there are several even more bonkers elements to the story as well... FULL REVIEW >

Against the Current
dir Oskar Pall Sveinsson; with Veiga Gretarsdottir, Gretar S Petursson 20/Ice ****
Beautifully shot in spectacular locations, this introspective documentary traces a daring physical challenge. And as a trans woman, Velga Gretarsdottir's life has been full of challenges. The movie doesn't shy away from bleak elements of her life, but it maintains a sense of positivity, facing each obstacle with dignity and tenacity. Filmmaker Oskar Pall Sveinsson keeps the tone earthy and warm, celebrating a woman who has never followed the crowd... FULL REVIEW >

Zip It
dir-scr Anicee Gohar; with Mohanad "Kojak" Aglan, Nabila Yassin 21/Egy ****
This documentary about rising star Egyptian fashion designer Kojak takes on the thorny issue of being a queer artist in the Middle East with openness and honesty. Filmmaker Anicee Gohar vividly captures Kojak's energy and style, including lots of glitter and glamour. Even at just an hour long, this film provides a remarkably complex portrait of a bright young designer who is quietly determined to change his harshly proscriptive culture.

Full reviews of festival films will be linked at Shadows' RAINDANCE HOMEPAGE 
For full festival information, visit RAINDANCE FILM FEST 

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C R I T I C A L    W E E K

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Card Counter • Beans
The Beta Test • A Cop Movie
ALL REVIEWS >

Non-festival films I caught up with this week include Chloe Zhao's Marvel epic Eternals, which has a fantastic ensemble cast led by Gemma Chan and some lovely character touches, but is disappointingly dense and effects-laden. Josh O'Connor and Odessa Young are terrific in the British period drama Mothering Sunday, which is unusually sexy for the genre. The British comedy Pirates bristles with energy even if it feels silly. Paolo Sorrentino's The Hand of God is a gorgeously autobiographical coming-of-age drama. And the shorts collection The Male Gaze: Celluloid Dreams features a remarkable set of vintage films about masculinity and sexuality.

This next week, in addition to Raindance films, I'll be watching the reunion sequel Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Almodovar's Parallel Mothers, Ryan Reynolds in Red Notice, Tom Hanks in Finch and Clint Eastwood's Cry Macho.

Critical Week: Sing it loud

It's the week between blockbusters (Captain Marvel last week, Us next week) so there's an eclectic collections of films in the cinemas, apparently the ones distributors had no idea what else to do with, hoping they don't suffer too much in the shadow of a megahit. Meanwhile, I'm watching my usual offbeat set of press screenings. Far and away, the best this week (and so far this year) is Wild Rose, a British drama about a Glasgow girl (the staggeringly good Jessie Buckley) with a gift for country music, and an otherwise messed up life. Along with Buckley, the film features awards-worthy work from Julie Walters and Sophie Okonedo. Please remember this next awards season (I will)!

The week's even starrier offering was Ben Is Back, starring a superb Julia Roberts as a mother who spends 24 hours trying to protect her teen son (the always excellent Lucas Hedges) while he's on a break from rehab over Christmas. The plot is a little corny, but the relationships are beautifully played.

Further afield there was Paolo Sorrentino's Berlusconi fantasia Loro, a 2.5-hour odyssey that's packed with magic even as it wears us out. Iceman is about a Neolithic man on a quest for revenge after his clan is massacred. It's strikingly well-made, although the plot is rather blunt. Bruce!!!! is a comedy that suffers badly because its hero (played by writer-director Eden Marryshow) is an insufferable jerk. And there were three docs: Last Breath is a riveting, skilful mix of real footage and recreations to create a thriller about North Sea divers. Silvana profiles the queer Swedish rap sensation with terrific intimate footage that almost breaks the surface. And everyone was talking about this one...

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Leaving Neverland
dir Dan Reed
with Wade Robson, James Safechuck, Joy Robson, Stephanie Safechuck, Laura Primack, Lorraine Jean Cullen, Chantal Robson, Shane Robson
release US 3-4.Mar.19, 
UK 6-7.Mar.19
19/US C4 4h00 ***
After premiering at Sundance, this controversial and compulsively watchable documentary arrives in two parts. It's assembled in an unflashy style, with archival film, snapshots and some new drone footage framing interviews with the now 40-ish Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who knew Michael Jackson when they were young boys and now claim that he sexually abused them. The first half is a little unconvincing, as they feel oddly scripted and director Dan Reed pointedly omits key facts, such as that Robson and Safechuck are working together to sue the Jackson estate for millions. So the film's depiction of them coming out in the open separately for benevolent reasons will ring hollow to sceptics. In the second half, the interviews with their mothers, wives and siblings bring things into sharper, more emotive focus, especially as they talk about why they waited so long to speak up. Even after testifying in earlier trials that nothing happened, their psychological situations make sense, which gives the doc a compelling power. And Reed's camera work is skilful, sharply well-edited together to tell the story in a clear-eyed, chronological way that pulls the viewer in. It's what he leaves out that niggles, and not just that Robson and Safechuck are seeking to make a fortune here. There's no mention of the years-long police investigations into Jackson that completely exonerated him. And no one outside the Robson and Safechuck families is on the record, even though there are many who tell different stories. It's a horrible thought that these two men may be making up these allegations, especially as it's so important that these cases are taken seriously. But films this explosive need to be watched with a critical eye, and the story behind the scenes is important.

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Coming up this next week, we have Jordan Peele's Us, Anna Paquin in Tell It to the Bees, Jafar Panahi's Three Faces, the Argentine coming-of-age drama A Trip to the Moon, and the documentary Making Montgomery Clift.

Venezia 73: Feeling holy on days 4 & 5

The sun has been out in force over the first week of the 73rd Venice Film Festival - not a cloud in the sky and temperatures in the blistering high-20s C (mid-80s F) - and it looks like next week will be more of the same. Meanwhile, the cinemas are air conditioned to shivering point. Anyway, I decided to finally take advantage of this beautiful place and visit the beach this weekend. Lovely! Hopefully I can carve out a few hours soon to go visit the main islands of Venice - I still haven't seen them, except from across the lagoon. But then I'm here for the movies, and here's what I saw this weekend (that's Jude Law, above)...

The Young Pope
dir Paolo Sorrentino; with Jude Law, Diane Keaton 16/It ****
The first two episodes of Paolo Sorrentino's controversial TV series were screened as a feature at the Venice Film Festival. It's a ripping drama that dares to take a playful tone as it sets up the tension between this hot new Pontiff and the establishment he is deliberately trying to rattle. So while it's a lot of fun, it's also rather pointed and ultimately chilling in where it ends up.

Brimstone
dir-scr Martin Koolhoven; with Dakota Fanning, Guy Pearce 16/Ned ***.
With a cool, clear eye, Dutch filmmaker Martin Koolhoven creates an expansive Western that vividly captures the perspective of a woman in a harshly male-dominated world. It's a ripping tale, told out of sequence in four overly-gruesome chapters that weave into an epic tale of retribution. There are a few niggling plot points, and the brutality sometimes feels almost celebratory, but the characters and themes are provocative and haunting.

Four Days in France [Jours de France]
dir-scr Jerome Reybaud; with Pascal Cervo, Arthur Igual 16/Fr **
There's a great story at the centre of this rambling, indulgent French drama. it has great characters, strong themes and lovely locations, and yet filmmaker Jerome Reybaud never manages to let the audience into his reasons for anything on-screen. Random scenes, unexplained motivations and a generally aimless structure make it feel even longer than its nearly two and a half hours.

The Untamed [La Región Salvaje]
dir Amat Escalante; with Simone Bucio, Ruth Jazmín Ramos 16/Mex ***.
From Mexico, this defiantly original film mixes relational melodrama with an unusual kind of monster movie. As it circles around a group of people whose interconnections are seriously tortured, a primeval creature complicates things in very strange ways. As a result, the film is almost overpoweringly foreboding. But it's strong group of characters and instantly recognisable situations make it impossible not to get sucked into the madness.

Indivisible [Indivisibili]
dir Edoardo De Angelis; with Angela Fontana, Marianna Fontana 16/It ***
A brittle sense of humour drives this offbeat drama set in a gritty seaside town in Italy. The central story is a bit too quirky to believe, but the gimmick provides enough of a hook to hold the audience's interest and provide some emotional resonance as well. But frankly, once things are set in motion, there aren't many places this story can go.

I'm still planning out what I will see on Monday, but I am aiming to kick the day off with Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge.

LFF 10: See the world

The gang from Youth lined up on the red carpet last night at the London Film Festival: Paul Dano, Harvey Keitel, Paloma Faith, Rachel Weisz, Michael Caine and director Paolo Sorrentino. I had a slightly slower day today - just two films and a night off at the theatre! Here are a few more highlights...

Dheepan
dir Jacques Audiard; with Jesuthasan Antonythasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan 15/Fr ***
With a powerfully topical subject, this drama both grapples with big issues and gives in to some oddly slanted politics that seem to convey a rather lopsided message. It's strikingly well made, with a solid cast and a sometimes startling realism. But filmmaker Jacques Audiard seems to get caught up in both the violence and the unrealistic dreams of refugees.

Taxi Tehran 
dir Jafar Panahi; with Jafar Panahi, Hana, Omid 15/Irn *****
Banned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi continues to make sharply clever films that manage to just fit within the rules of his sentence (this is his third). Once again cleverly exploring the nature of filmmaking itself, this film also offers a strikingly earthy, funny exploration of Iranian culture. And human nature.

Gold Coast 
dir Daniel Dencik; with Jakob Oftebro, Danica Curcic 15/Den **.
Beautiful landscapes and an artful, almost experimental approach make the most of this rather pointed drama about colonial Europeans in Africa. Packed with big ideas about how humans bend the laws of nature at their peril, the film is ambitious but also self-important and morally simplistic. And the way the story is told eliminates any opportunity for either narrative kick or emotional resonance.

Chemsex
dir William Fairman, Max Gogarty; with David Stuart, Matt Spike 15/UK ****
An unblinking exploration of one of London's more disturbing drug scenes, this documentary plays on both fascination and distaste for sexual activities that go against the flow. It sometimes feels sensationalised, veering perilously close to Reefer Madness territory, but the issue is real. And what it has to say about both addiction and sexuality is hugely important.

Screen Talk:
Todd Haynes

The filmmaker sat down with festival director Clare Stewart to talk about his work in front of an audience of 450 gripped cineastes. The conversation was extremely literate, as Haynes went into his thought processes, methods and experiences while making Superstar, Poison, Safe, Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven, I'm Not There, Mildred Pearce and Carol. He discussed running themes (illness, isolation, societal demands) and recurring actresses - he clearly adores both Julianne Moore and Cate Blanchett and offered intriguing insights into the different ways they work.