Critical Week: Take the call

Once again, I am avoiding the chaos of the Cannes Film Festival and enjoying the much lighter screening schedule in London these days. I know I'll catch up with the best from Cannes over the coming months. And I'm abandoning London myself next week until early June. Back to the movies, we had a lively themed screening of rising-star filmmaker Curry Barker's horror thriller Obsession. It's an unusually engaging scary movie, funny and moving. And hugely unnerving too.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Orphan • Diamonds • Obsession
High Tide • The Christophers
The Wizard of the Kremlin
ALL REVIEWS >

There were also several starrier movies to watch. The comedy-drama Miss You Love You is essentially an extended conversation between Allison Janney and Andrew Rannells. But they are so good that it's riveting, beautifully written and directed by Jim Rash. Sally Field and Lewis Pullman make a terrific duo in Remarkably Bright Creatures, a heartwarming tale about being open to the world around you, centring around an octopus. Scoot McNairy and Emilia Jones are excellent as a father and daughter in the sensitive memoir Fairyland, which skilfully captures the subculture of 1970s-80s San Francisco. And from Hong Kong, We're Nothing at All is an extraordinary blend of personal drama and riveting procedural thriller, circling around a bomb explosion on a bus. I also watched a live performance of Remachine at Sadler's Wells East.

Coming up this next week, I only have one press screening due to the Cannes slump, but it's the first Star Wars movie in seven years, The Mandalorian and Grogu. I may see it twice. And of course it's the 70th Eurovision Song Contest live from Vienna on Saturday night. Another reason for so few screening is that I'm flying to California next week to visit family. I'll be sure to report back on my in-flight viewing and whatever else I get up to over there. 

Critical Week: Too cool for school

Things have been a bit quieter for me this week, as I haven't had too many films to watch. Although while the weather has been warmer, we're still in complete lockdown, meaning it's impossible to met up with friends or go into town. So I've been catching up on things and watching what I can to get a little ahead of the curve.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Night of the Kings • The Mauritanian
The United States vs Billie Holiday
The Father • Song Without a Name
PERHAPS AVOID:
Crisis • Tyger Tyger
ALL REVIEWS >

The most mainstream film I saw this week was Moxie, the comedy directed by Amy Poehler for Netflix. It stars Hadley Robinson in a hugely engaging tale about girl power, and rather a lot more. I also enjoyed the black comedy Pixie, an engagingly messy road movie set in Ireland as young people navigate a brewing war between gangster priests (led by Alec Baldwin) and the local mob (Colm Meaney). 

Smaller films included the remarkable British drama Justine, a sensitive look at a troubled young woman, and Tyger Tyger, an enigmatic and artful film set on the outer fringe of Southern California society during a killer pandemic. And from Ivory Coast, Night of the Kings is a staggeringly involving prison drama that's well worth a look. There were also two strong short film collections exploring aspects of youthful masculinity: Boys on Film 21: Beautiful Secret and The Latin Boys: Volume 2.

We also had the virtual programme launch event for the British Film Institute's annual Flare LGBTIQ+ film festival, which next month will be held online for the second year running. The kind folk at the BFI sent me a small version of the annual logo cake to enjoy for the launch, a tradition I've enjoyed each year while covering this event over the past 23 years. (See my Insta post below.)

This coming week's collection of movies includes Disney's animated Raya and the Last Dragon, the award-winning Filipino drama The Verdict, the Japanese true drama Fukushima 50 and bonkers filmmaker Quentin Dupieux's Keep an Eye Out.

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Venezia 73: Holding it together on day 8

We're in the final stretch now, and the lack of sleep, long distances of walking, contrasts between hot sunshine and chilly air conditioning are all taking their toll. But the parties are starting up. Our jury decides on its winner today (still two more films to see), and the weekend will see a range of celebrations. Then next week it's back to work as usual. Anyway, here's what I saw on Tuesday (that's Natalie Portman, above, in my best of the fest so far)...

Jackie
dir Pablo Larrain; with Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard 16/US *****
Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain takes a clear-eyed approach to this fictionalised account of the days following JFK's assassination. Anchored by a pungent performance by Natalie Portman, the film digs deep into the complexities of grief, with glancing blows to celebrity culture and political expediency. Never slick or sentimental, its layers of resonance are hard to shake.

The Journey
dir Nick Hamm; with Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney 16/UK ***
Anchored by tremendous performances by Timothy Spall and Colm Meaney, this British drama imagines a real-life political conversation in the style of The Queen or Frost/Nixon. Even though it's simplistic and contrived, Colin Bateman's script is snaky and often very funny as it traps mortal enemies Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness in a car for an hour or so. The resuly is entertaining, although it could have had a lot more bite.

Voyage of Time
dir-scr Terrence Malick; narr Cate Blanchett 16/US ***
Call this the logical next stage in the evolution of Terrence Malick: his swirling approach to natural history has eschewed even a hint of a plot to instead trace time from drifting bits of matter to, well, drifting bits of matter. With all of Earth's existence in between. It's often breathtakingly gorgeous, and there are some very clever touches. But it's also rather corny, and a bit obvious.

Paradise
dir Andrey Konchalovsky; with Yuliya Vysotskaya, hristian Clauss  16/Russia ***.
With a bold visual and structural style, Andrey Konchalovsky gives the Nazi deathcamp movie an eternal twist, exploring the actions and motivations of three distinct people in the face of unspeakable horror. It's a difficult film, somewhat simplistic in its morality and pushy in its themes. But it has a visceral power that can't help but strike a chord.