On the road: Take the plunge

Being away for the holidays, I've prioritised hanging out with family and friends over work - so I'm a bit behind with everything apart from food! But I've managed to watch a few films here and there. Just out in cinemas here in the US, The Plague stars Joel Edgerton as a boys' water polo coach who seems either unable or unwilling to tackle the horrific bullying on the team. It's strikingly well made, with a terrific central performance by young Everett Blunck. 

The gentle drama Rebuilding features yet another excellent role for Josh O'Connor as a Colorado rancher trying to start over after a wildfire. It's quietly powerful. Ron Howard's Eden tells the true story of Europeans trying to find paradise in the Galápagos in the 1930s, with a cast that includes Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney and Ana de Armas. The cast makes it watchable even when it gets rather soapy. The documentary The Perfect Neighbor is assembled from body-cam footage as Florida cops teal with a messy situation that escalates until someone dies. It's hard to watch, but important. I also caught up with a few pulpy movies from recent years, including the cat-and-mouse thriller Carry-On in which Jason Bateman terrorises security agent Taron Egerton in Los Angeles airport. It's seriously stupid, but fun. Mel Gibson plays an action-oriented Santa in Fatman, an uneven mix of comedy and violence that never comes together. Walton Goggins is seriously intense as the baddie; Marianne Jean-Baptiste (yes, really) shines as Mrs Claus.

Over this next week, I'll be watching a few more contenders before ballots are due in various awards. I'm also flying back to London, so will no doubt catch up with some gems (!) on the flights. Before that, I will be finalising year-end lists of my best and worst from 2025 - watch this space...

SXSW London: Lose yourself

The first SXSW London festival kicked off on Monday night with the world premiere of the Eminem fan doc Stans, and it runs through the week until Saturday with a rather blinding range of music gigs, panel discussions, talks, events and, yes, films. They've packed rather a lot into these six days, using venues scattered across East London, with Shoreditch as the epicentre. I also attended a panel this week, hosted by the Golden Globes, exploring the global nature of storytelling. Participants came from Britain, Turkey and Ukraine, and there was a strong interaction with the audience in attendance, talking about what kinds of stories resonate beyond cultural barriers. I'll also be attending a TV series premiere this week, and several more movies. Here are three film highlights so far...

Stans 
dir-scr Steven Leckart; with Eminem, Dr Dre 25/US ****
Rather than tracing the artist's career or personal life, this documentary explores the interaction between Eminem and his most earnest fans, noting that the term "stan" was coined from his eponymous 2000 hit. This approach makes the film unusually intimate, highlighting how music connects into deeper issues. And because Eminem's music is so soul-baring, it has an unusual resonance that can silence critics who don't quite get it.

Cactus Pears
dir-scr Rohan Parashuram Kanawade; with Bhushaan Manoj, Suraaj Suman 25/Ind ****.

Hushed and observational, this beautifully shot Indian drama focusses on a 30-year-old gay man who has escaped his home culture but is now is forced to make peace with it. Packed with local traditions and interpersonal details, the film is powerfully involving as writer-director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade continually finds unexpected layers of resonance. And in a skilfully low-key way, the film offers a strong sense of hope.

Cielo
dir-scr Alberto Sciamma; with Fernanda Gutierrez Aranda, Fernando Arze Echalar 25/Bol ****

Gorgeously shot in spectacular mountain landscapes populated by lively characters, this Bolivian drama opens with a beautiful but darkly disturbing sequence that opens with a young girl swallowing a fish. With vibrant colours, writer-director Alberto Sciamma infuses this fable with offbeat magical realism, pulling us into an odyssey that is packed with moments that are touching, provocative and wonderfully funny.

Full reviews are coming, and will be linked to Shadows' SXSW LONDON PAGE >

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C R I T I C A L  W E E K

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Life of Chuck 
Dangerous Animals • Mountainhead
ALL REVIEWS >

Alongside the festival, I also watched Ana de Armas in the John Wick spinoff Ballerina. It's slickly well-made and entertaining, but oddly unsurprising. Natalie Portman and John Krasinski make an engaging duo in the comical adventure Fountain of Youth. It's a lot of fun, but there's not much to it. Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells star in the black comedy I Don't Understand You, which is enjoyable but never quite bridges the gap between silliness and nastiness.

This coming week I'll be watching the live-action(ish) remake of How to Train Your Dragon, Kerry Washington in Shadow Force, Jonathan Groff in A Nice Indian Boy, the reimagined pop musical Juliet & Romeo and the drama Franklin. I'll also attend the premiere of the third season of Squid Game and the dance show Inside Giovanni's Room.

Critical Week: Take the wheel

It's been another week of movies here, and I'm enjoying how things are back to a relatively normal schedule after months of intensity. The biggest movie this week was an online feature: Ghosted is an engaging action romcom that reteams Ana de Armas and Chris Evans. Rather a lot mopier, To Catch a Killer stars Shailene Woodley as a troubled cop pulled into an FBI investigation into a mass-shooter. It's dark and timely, but feels somewhat undercooked.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
A Thousand and One
The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan
PERHAPS AVOID:
Padre Pio
ALL REVIEWS >

The best surprise this week is The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan, a familiar story sharply well told with a first-rate French cast and properly thrilling action. The latest in the franchise, Evil Dead Rise is never very scary but will please fans with its outrageously excessive gore. And then there's the inventive and hugely engaging Filipino comedy I Love You Beksman, which kicked off the Queer East Fest in London on Tuesday. 

Outside the cinema, I loved the Nederlands Dans Theater programme at Sadler's Wells. And this was my first year attending the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards as a voting member (I am a member of the Critics' Circle Theatre Section, in addition to being chair of the Film Section). These awards are great fun, held at @sohoplace, the first new theatre built in the West End in 50 years. And most winners were in attendance, so it was great to celebrate them.

This next week I'll be watching the biopic Big George Foreman, Jay Baruchel in the story of BlackBerry, Kate Bosworth in Last Sentinel, the Greek drama Broadway, the Swedish comedy RSVP and the dance art film Transparent.

A Year in Shadows: Vol 38

There was a full set of 52 covers for 2022, featuring the following films in order: Licorice Pizza, Scream, Nightmare Alley, Parallel Mothers, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Death on the Nile, Uncharted, The Duke, Ali & Ava, The Batman, Deep Water, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, The Lost City, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Downton Abbey: A New Era, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Benediction, Top Gun: Maverick, Men, Jurassic World: Dominion, Lightyear, Elvis, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Thor: Love and Thunder, The Railway Children Return, Where the Crawdads Sing, DC League of Super-Pets, Bullet Train, Nope, The Feast, Beast, Tar, Don't Worry Darling, Blonde, Ticket to Paradise, The Woman King, Lyle Lyle Crocodile, The Banshees of Inisherin, Triangle of Sadness, Living, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Menu, Bones and All, Glass Onion, Empire of Light, Avatar: The Way of Water, Babylon and Corsage. The Oscar cover was the only one not tied to a specific film.

Trivia alert!

Most crowded: 14 for The Menu, and 13 each for Death on the Nile and Licorice Pizza. 

On the most covers: Cate Blanchett (one solo, one shared); Ana de Armas (one solo, one shared); Letitia Wright (two shared); Bradley Cooper (two shared, one drawn); and Keke Palmer (two shared, one as an animated character).

Getting one cover all their own: Jessie Buckley, Austin Butler, Nicolas Cage, Diego Calva, Jessica Chastain, Olivia Colman, Tom Cruise, Benedict Cumberbatch, Annes Elwy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Holland, Vicky Krieps, Jack Lowdon, Bill Nighy, Brad Pitt and Chris Pratt.

Sharing one cover with one or more other people: Paul Adelstein, Ben Affleck, Jenny Agutter, Adeel Akhtar, Sheila Atim, Angela Bassett, Tom Bateman, Dave Bautista, Vanessa Bayer, Javier Bardem, Annette Bening, Vicki Berlin, Reed Birney, Kenneth Branagh, Russell Brand, Jim Broadbent, Tachel Brosnahan, Sandra Bullock, Zlatko Buric, Warren Burke, Neve Campbell, Aimee Carrero, Jim Carrey, Arturo Castro, Timothee Chalamet, Hong Chau, Jemaine Clement, Madelyn Cline, George Clooney, Michaela Coel, Courteney Cox, Daniel Craig, Penelope Cruz, Jamie Lee Curtis, Willem Dafoe, Hugh Dancy, Viola Davis, Dolly De Leon, Charlbi Dean, Harris Dickinson, Daveed Diggs, Michelle Dockery, Winston Duke, John Early, Idris Elba, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Colin Farrell, Ali Fazal, Winslow Fegley, Ralph Fiennes, Dan Fogler, Dawn FrenchGal Gadot, Brendan Gleeson, Danai Gurira, Kathryn Hahn, Alana Haim, Iyana Halley, Armie Hammer, Woody Harrelson, Kevin Hart, Jessica Henwick, Cooper Hoffman, Nicholas Hoult, Stephanie Hsu, Kate Hudson, Tenoch Huerta, Robert James-Collier, Jameela Jamil, Leah Jeffries, Dwayne Johnson, Daniel Kaluuya, John Krasinski, Zoe Kravitz,  Jude Law, John Leguizamo, Rose Leslie, Judith Light, Phyllis Logan, Diego Luna, Natasha Lyonne,  Emma Mackey, Thuso Mbedu, Scoot McNairy, Janet McTeer, Helen Mirren, Janelle Monae, Edward Norton, Lupita Nyong'o, Leslie Odom Jr, Sophie Okonedo, Robert Pattinson, Sean Penn, Brandon Perea, Dascha Polanco, Florence Pugh, Ke Huy Quan, Eddie Redmayne, Keanu Reeves, Julia Roberts, Claire Rushbrook, Taylor Russell, Zoe Saldana, Jennifer Saunders, Milena Smit, Maggie Smith, Sheridan Smith, Taylor John Smith, Mark St Cyr, Harry Styles, Channing Tatum, Anya Taylor-Joy, Callum Turner, Tom Waits, Christoph Waltz,  Jessica Williams, Penelope Wilton, Sam Worthington, Constance Wu, Rob Yang and Michelle Yeoh (note that a few names from crowded covers are missing).

As an animated character they voiced: Steve Carell, Chris Evans, Shawn Mendes, Colleen O'Shaughnessey,  Ben Schwartz, Peter Sohn, Dale Soules and Taika Waititi.

And there were four drafts of covers that weren't used, bumped out by shifting tides of release dates and press screenings. Here they are: The 355 (Jan), Confess Fletch (Sep), Athena (Sep) and Aisha (Nov).

Venezia79: Star power

Things are clearly winding down at the 79th Venice Film Festival, with only two more days of premieres at hand. Everything is feeling even quieter today with the news out of Britain about the death of Queen Elizabeth II, so I know I will be returning to a very sombre city. Meanwhile, the festival carries on. I spent a few hours yesterday at the Venice Immersive island, taking in six virtual reality productions (more on those later). And my jury met last night to discuss the 19 films contending for this year's Queer Lion (we announce our winner tonight). Here are some movie highlights...

Blonde
dir-scr Andrew Dominik; with Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody 22/US ****
Andrew Dominik takes a very big swing at the life of Marilyn Monroe, and frankly he'd have been crazy not to do so. It may be reductive to define one of the most iconic stars of all time by her unresolved daddy issues, but this is a complex biopic that takes on several pungent themes head-on. The film is charged with energy and passion, ambitiously visual and anchored by a fiercely layered performance from Ana de Armas. It also has strong things to say about celebrity culture, even as it relentlessly deals in myths.

Call of God
dir-scr Kim Ki-duk; with Abylai Maratov, Zhanel Sergazina 22/Kyr ****
The late Kim Ki-duk only just finished this offbeat romance before he died from covid. It’s an extraordinarily personal riff on how love can be so much like a dream, and occasionally a nightmare. Set in Kyrgyzstan and shot mainly in black and white, the film uses its surreal set-up to keep the audience’s expectations at bay, sending a young couple on a passionate odyssey that seems to encompass years in just a few days. And the film radiates with the idea that love is worth the pain. And that maybe the pain is essential.

Bread and Salt
dir-scr Damian Kocur; with Tymoteusz Bies, Jacek Bies 22/Pol ***
Bracingly shot in observational style, this Polish drama gets up close to its characters even as it neglects the narrative. It's an often harrowing depiction of a small town where young people think it's cool to deal in racism, bigotry and bullying. And the thoughtful central character draws us in, even if his journey remains stubbornly off-camera. Writer-director Damian Kocur has a terrific eye for real-life interaction, so the film has power as a document of a place and time. But stronger storytelling might have made it involving and moving.

Beyond the Wall
dir-scr Vahid Jalilvand; with Navid Mohammadzadeh, Dayana Habibi 22/Irn ***
Unlikely to be screened in its home country, this Iranian drama is a remarkably disturbing depiction of a harshly oppressive police state. But writer-director Vahid Jalilvand doesn't take a straightforward approach, blurring present action with flashbacks and other cutaways to create a more sensory approach to the situation. It's all played at a rather arch volume, including the quieter scenes, where more nuanced performances might have made it easier to identify with the characters. But the film is also bold and chilling.

Full reviews will be linked at Shadows VENICE FILM FESTIVAL page, eventually!

Critical Week: On a night like this

As Britain experiences a heatwave during the final week of Wimbledon and the start of the Euro-2022 women's football championship, it's perhaps a bit unlikely that people will be abandoning the sunshine for cinemas. Although Thor is likely to have some pull, smaller films will suffer. And the weather looks like it will continue like this for a couple of weeks (yay!). I saw two very big movies on the big screen this week. The riotously action-packed The Gray Man pairs the fabulous Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans as duelling, scene-stealing hitmen, while Ana de Armas (above) almost walks off with the whole film. Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson and Taika Waititi are back for Thor: Love and Thunder, Marvel's first slapstick action comedy. It's a lot of fun, even if the formula is as stale as ever.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Brian and Charles • Cop Secret
The Railway Children (1970)
ALL REVIEWS >

Adrien Brody is terrific in the redemption thriller Clean, although the script (which he cowrote) never has something original to say. The offbeat British drama All Is Vanity is very odd indeed, a great idea that struggles to have some impact. Alan Cumming leads the doc-drama hybrid My Old School, a fascinating and remarkably involving account of an epic deception. And two collections of short films explore issues of identity and sexuality in inventive, sometimes superbly provocative ways. Both Boys on Film 22: Love to Love You and Girls Feels: Into the Blue are well worth a look.

Coming up this week, I'll be watching Daisy Edgar-Jones in Where the Crawdads Sing, Juliette Binoche in Both Sides of the Blade, the Jordanian drama The Alleys, the trans activist doc Donna and the shorts collection Girls Feels: Force of Nature.

BFI Flare: Let it shine

Finally back in-person, BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival kicked off with a gala opening night on Wednesday,  as Finnish filmmaker Alli Haapasalo presented her Sundance-winner Girl Picture before a lively party at the May Fair Hotel. This is London's most festive film fest, where everyone mingles together without the usual segregation between talent and audiences. And it's great to see both the friends who make this an annual highlight and the filmmakers and actors who are here to show their work. Some highlights to start with...

Girl Picture
dir Alli Haapasalo; with Aamu Milonoff, Eleonoora Kauhanen 22/Fin ****
There's a refreshing authenticity to this Finnish coming-of-age drama that continually catches the viewer by surprise, as director Alli Haapasalo continually subverts the usual cinematic tropes in lieu of something that's engagingly honest. The story follows three girls as they face a range of pressures over three Fridays. This contained structure allows for a loosely observational style that feels improvisational and raw. And it also makes it surprisingly resonant.

Benediction
dir-scr Terence Davies; with Jack Lowden, Peter Capaldi 21/UK *****
Master filmmaker Terence Davies takes a gorgeously poetic look at the life of poet Siegfried Sassoon, blending funny, sexy and wrenchingly emotional moments into a collage that continually catches us by surprise. As the film grapples with the nature of time and mortality, this swirl of punchy scenes and period newsreel footage isn't afraid to tackle hard truths about humanity. It's an elegantly devastating work of art... REVIEW >

Cop Secret
dir Hannes Thor Halldorsson; with Audunn Blondal, Egill Einarsson 21/Ice ****
Wild and loose, this punchy 1970s-style police thriller from Iceland starts with a bang and never lets up. Hilariously over the top, the film gleefully deploys the tough-guy genre cliches. The film is entertaining both for its gritty crime action and the way it makes the usual homoerotic subtext in a buddy movie much more central to the narrative. But can the nation's toughest cop admit that he's gay?... REVIEW >

F R O M   T H E   A R C H I V E S
Madame Satã
dir-scr Karim Ainouz; with Lazaro Ramos, Marcelia Cartaxo 02/Br ****
This gritty tale from 1930s Rio de Janeiro tells the real story of Madame Satã, Queen of Carnival from the '40s to until his death in 1976. Writer-director Ainouz creates a remarkable atmosphere--dark and sweaty, with a disarming style of cinematography and editing that makes it feel almost like a fantasy. It looks fantastic! There's a knowing, witty playfulness that keeps us gripped, even when we're not quite sure what's going on or who's whom... REVIEW >

Full reviews will be linked to Shadows' BFI Flare PAGE 
For tickets and information, visit BFI FLARE 

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The Batman was the only movie I saw during my three weeks in Los Angeles - I was there to spend time with family and friends after two strange years! Back in London, I dove straight into BFI Flare, and also began to catch up on other films that are coming out, including Pixar's superbly observed animated adventure Turning Red and the slickly insinuating mystery Deep Water, starring Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas. 

In the coming days, I'll be watching Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum in the comedy The Lost City, Francois Ozon's Everything Went Fine, the horror comedy Followers and the shorts collection The French Boys 4.

London Film Fest: Strike a pose

Definitely feeling like a zombie today, needing more sleep and more time to write! But there are only four more days, so I'll try to hold on. The 63rd BFI London Film Festival is such a mind-boggling collection of films that it's impossible to see even half of them. In the queues today, we were chatting about the movies we are missing, even though we're desperate to catch them. But the scheduling makes it impossible (not enough press screenings, overlapping showtimes, etc). It's also fun to compare best and worst films we've seen so far. The bad ones are pretty common between us all, but everyone has a different favourite. My favourite so far is the first film listed here. And down at the bottom is this week's Critical Week...

Portrait of a Lady on Fire [Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu]
dir-scr Celine Sciamma; with Noemie Merlant, Adele Haenel 19/Fr *****
With a staggeringly astute screenplay and sharply observant direction, French filmmaker Celine Sciamma breathes inventive life into this period drama. She fills scenes to the brim with subtext, and not only mines her richly layered story for resonant themes but also creates complex characters the audience can fall in love with. So the film's otherworldly beauty becomes a provocative depiction of both art and romance.... FULL REVIEW >

Knives Out
dir-scr Rian Johnson; with Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas 19/US ****
A bit of silly good fun, this play on the whodunit genre has a fiendishly constructed script packed with clever twists and turns, plus an superb ensemble of nutty characters. Some elements are a bit too broad for their own good, but writer-director Rian Johnson makes a film that's consistently amusing as it keeps the audience on its toes and piles on one surprise after another. It also gently brushes on some topical themes just to keep it relevant... FULL REVIEW >

Greed
dir-scr Michael Winterbottom; with Steve Coogan, Isla Fisher19/UK ***
Steve Coogan and Michael Winterbottom team up for another comedy, although this one is a bit more deliberately pointed then their usual collaborations. Yes, there are still moments of inspired silliness dotted throughout the ambitiously fragmented narrative, and it's expertly played by a strong ensemble cast. Many actors bring their considerable improvisational skills to the screen, although with so many big issues as satirical targets, the film feels heavy handed.

Moffie
dir Oliver Hermanus; with Kai Luke Brummer, Ryan de Villiers 19/SA ****
Strikingly well-made, and carrying a devastating emotional kick, this South African drama tells a deeply personal story that has much wider implications. Writer-director Oliver Hermanus creates gorgeous-looking films, and this one is augmented by beautiful cinematography and clever editing. It gets deep under the skin of a nation still grappling with its past, and offers a remarkably resonant look at issues of racism and homophobia.

Links:
Shadows LONDON FILM FEST homepage (full reviews will be linked here) 
Official LONDON FILM FEST site 

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I haven't seen any regular press screenings this past week - only 22 London Film Festival movies! This coming week, after the festival ends, it'll be time for Angelina Jolie back in horns for Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Ken Loach's Sorry to Bother You, the political thriller Sons of Denmark and the doc Mystify: Michael Hutchence,