Critical Week: Road rage

It's been nearly five months since my normal everyday schedule ended abruptly, and I had a couple of firsts this week that make it feel like there may be light at the end of this long tunnel. I went to a restaurant with table service (outdoors on a gorgeous evening), and on only my third trip into Central London I had my first press screening in an actual screening room (with severe distancing measures). The movie on that big screen was Unhinged, a vicious thriller with Russell Crowe that arrives in cinemas next week.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Most Wanted
Stage Mother • Myth
FULL REVIEWS >

Other movies this week were an above-average mix, including the ripping true story Most Wanted, a Canadian drug-case drama starring the excellent Antoine Olivier Pilon and Josh Hartnett; the wrenchingly personal drama Retaliation, about the fallout from child abuse starring a raw Orlando Bloom; the gritty immigrant drama American Fighter; the ambitiously offbeat hybrid of WWII action and a haunted house in Ghosts of War, starring Brenton Thwaites and Skyler Astin; the corny but topical childbirth comedy Babysplitters, starring Community's Dani Pudi; and the clever guerrilla filmmaking comedy-drama Myth.

My list of films to watch over the coming week includes the animated comedy Animal Crackers, Patrick Stewart in Life With Music, Bella Thorne in Infamous, the indie romance Around the Sun, the backstage TV comedy Casting, the horror movie The Vigil, the arthouse film Last and First Men and the intriguingly titled doc Pornstar Pandemic.

31st Flare: Get ready to jump

The British Film Institute's 31st Flare: London LGBT Film Festival charged through its first weekend with a flurry of screenings, events, seminars and parties. This is a very lively season on the Southbank, with a colourful crowd and strong discussions. It's great to be able to interact with filmmakers, actors, journalists and festival programmers in this kind of relaxed setting. Here are some highlights from the weekend, including Heartstone (above), the film to which my jury awarded the Queer Lion at the Venice Film Festival last September...

Heartstone
dir-scr Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson; with Baldur Einarsson, Blaer Hinriksson 16/Ice ****
Dark and sometimes very grim, this Icelandic teen drama tackles a serious topic in an intensely personal way. Set in a rural area, the small community ramps up the emotions to the breaking point, pulling the audience into the story with serious force. The film's loose editing may weaken its balance and pace, but it's an involving and deeply moving filmmaking debut... FULL REVIEW >

Dear Dad 
dir Tanuj Bhramar; with Arvind Swamy, Himanshu Sharma 16/Ind ***.
For Western audiences, the mix of cheerful silliness and earthier realism in this Indian drama will feel somewhat jarring. But there are sharp insights along the way, as the cast and crew invert the usual coming out formula. It's an engaging road movie with a few corny sidetrips, but it grapples with some very big issues with a level of honesty that Western filmmakers should take note of.

1:54 
dir-scr Yan England; with Antoine Olivier Pilon, Lou-Pascal Tremblay 16/Can ***.
There's a driving momentum to this dark drama that makes it difficult to watch. But the acting and filmmaking are compelling, holding the attention with vivid emotions and topical resonance. This is a story about bullying that refuses to play out the way we hope it will, pushing its characters in increasingly painful directions. It's somewhat overwrought, but also important.

Centre of My World
dir-scr Jakob M Erwa; with Louis Hofmann, Sabine Timoteo 16/Ger ***
Sunny and colourful, this inventively written and directed German coming-of-age drama has a light touch that's thoroughly engaging. But there's also an offbeat dark undercurrent that gurgles up as the story continues, sending the characters down into rather disturbing situations. It's a bold, complex film that turns far too heavy but carries a strong punch.

Last Men Standing 
dir-scr Erin Brethauer, Tim Hussin; with Peter Greene, Jesus Guillen 16/US ***
As an exploration of the lives of long-term survivors of the Aids epidemic in San Francisco, this film has plenty of archival value. It recounts the stories of eight people with an unusual honesty, adding an emotional kick along the way. But the filmmakers focus on the past, which makes the film feel morose and relentlessly gloomy. It's as if these people are unable to look forward.