Critical Week: What you wish for

Things have shifted up a gear here in film awards season, with more screenings and links than it's possible to watch. Everyone wants us to consider their movies, and there simply isn't time to watch everything, so we're all making lists and watching what we can. It can be a bit overwhelming, but there are of course worse jobs out there. The big movie this week was Disney's new animated feature Wish, and I was invited to the gala UK premiere in Leicester Square and also a Christmas party the next day. The film is sweet and entertaining, but there's not much to it. A more satisfying animated movie is Adam Sandler's Leo, a nutty romp about a classroom lizard who helping the students with their problems. It's both silly and smart, and also very funny. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Robot Dreams • Napoleon • Monster
Totem • American Symphony
ALL REVIEWS >

Bridging between arthouse and blockbuster, Michael Mann's Ferrari recounts a pivotal period in the life of the car maker, played by Adam Driver. The entire cast is excellent (including Penelope Cruz and Shailene Woodley), and the film is strikingly well shot and edited. Tilda Swinton gets a superb double role as mother and daughter in The Eternal Daughter, an enigmatic haunted house movie from Joanna Hogg. I loved its atmospherics. Finnish master Aki Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves has won some big awards this year, and it's easy to see why. It's a wonderfully deadpan romantic comedy, fiercely original with topical touches. And another award-winner, Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda's Monster is a gorgeously constructed drama that carries a huge emotional kick.

And then there was the Mexican mystery thriller Lost in the Night, a riveting offbeat thriller that refuses to be what we want it to be. The wacky German satire Captain Faggotron Saves the Universe is amateurish but has its own charm. And the lively documentary Scala!!! is a delight, tracing London's iconic repertory cinema with style, humour and insight. Away from the cinema, I also saw Lovetrain2020 and the new Young Associates mixed bill (review up soon) at Sadler's Wells and Connor Burns: Vertigo at Soho Theatre.

Things keep getting busier this week, with films including the musical remake of The Colour Purple, Timothee Chalamet in Wonka, Eddie Murphy in Candy Cane Lane, George Clooney's The Boys in the Boat, Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction, Isabelle Huppert in The Sitting Duck, Melissa McCarthy in Genie, George MacKay in Femme, Hong Kong crime thriller The Goldfinger, the John Galliano doc High & Low and the Olympics doc We Dare to Dream.

LFF 10: I'll drink to that

Another big day at the 57th London Film Festival, with red carpet glamour including Anna Kendrick and Joe Swanberg with their film Drinking Buddies (above). It was also the night for the awards ceremony, and the big winner was Pawel Pawlikowski's excellent Ida, which took the best film prize. Here are some film highlights today...

Drinking Buddies 
dir Joe Swanberg; with Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson 13/US ***. 
As an exploration of a specific point in life, this film is authentic and observant. But it has a tendency to preach at us, overdramatising issues rather than letting them play out organically. At least the cast keeps it raw, creating recognisably realistic characters we can identify with... FULL REVIEW >

Blackwood
dir Adam Wimpenny; with Ed Stoppard, Sophia Myles 13/UK ***. 
While playing with every cliche in the haunted house genre, director Wimpenny and writer Hill find an inventive twist in the tale. The key influence seems to be The Shining, with a small family menaced by strange goings-on in an isolated, over-large house... FULL REVIEW >

Cutie and the Boxer 
dir Zachary Heinzerling; with Noriko Shinohara, Ushio Shinohara 13/US ***. 
While this documentary sets out to explore the colourful life of offbeat husband and wife New York artists Ushio and Noriko Shinohara, it finds its strongest resonance in its observations about marriage itself. It's fascinating to watch their creative processes, especially the long-overlooked Noriko. And their banter is amusing. But it's what holds these opposites together that gets under our skin... [review coming soon]

Heli
dir Amat Escalante; with Armando Espitia, Andrea Vergara 13/Mex **** 
This rather grim Mexican drama depicts how the tentacles of the drug trade can irreversibly change innocents who get too close to the danger. With moments of staggeringly awful violence and brutality set against an everyday vibe, this clever and skilfully made film is deeply unnerving... FULL REVIEW >

It's All So Quiet 
dir Nanouk Leopold; with Jeroen Willems, Henri Garcin 13/Ned ***.
The title of this Dutch drama is almost annoyingly accurate: this is a sleepy, almost silent drama about people who are so repressed that it's the height of enlightenment when they crack the hint of a smile. But the film's beautifully observed by writer-director Leopold and actors who have to convey the characters' feelings without many words... FULL REVIEW >