Critical Week: Reach out and touch me

There have been a flurry of screenings this week, as studios try to make sure critics see their films before the Cannes Film Festival gets underway next week. Two films opening this week were screened a bit late to the press. Billie Eilish's July 2025 Manchester concert has been filmed in 3D in Hit Me Hard and Soft, directed by Eilish herself, working with 3D aficionado James Cameron. The concert footage is stunning, remarkably immersive and intimate; the backstage doc material is rather thin. And then there's the videogame action sequel Mortal Kombat II, this time starring Karl Urban as fan-favourite Johnny Cage. He's hilarious, and helps non-fans get through two hours of dense mythology and astonishing grisliness. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Kokuho • Romeria
PERHAPS AVOID:
Mortal Kombat II
ALL REVIEWS >

Wider audiences will enjoy the straight-to-streaming animated adventure Swapped, a colourful and very nutty body-swap romp with a terrific voice cast led by Michael B Jordan and Juno Temple. Leo Woodall puts his likeable charisma to fine use in Tuner, a mashup of drama, romantic comedy and crime thriller. Costars Dustin Hoffman and Havana Rose Liu help make it thoroughly entertaining. Sam Nivola ably leads the cast of the enjoyable teen road-trip comedy Driver's Ed, with ace support from Kumail Nanjiani and Molly Shannon. And Pedro Almodovar's new drama Bitter Christmas is another gorgeously layered tale about creativity. I also saw three live performances: the fabulous Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at Sadler's Wells, the immersive dinner theatre Chat Noir at the Lost Estate, and Bullyache's challenging A Good Man Is Hard to Find at Sadler's Wells East.

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching Allison Janney in Miss You Love You, Sally Field in Remarkably Bright Creatures, Emilia Jones in Fairyland, Curry Barker's horror thriller Obsession and a live performance of Remachine at Sadler's Wells East.

Critical Week: The boy is back

There weren't many movies for me this week, as the television show I'm working on had very long days. But I managed to catch three of this week's releases. For the fourth live-action film, Hellboy: The Crooked Man returns to its snarky roots. Skilfully made, this is a snappy, edgy and genuinely horrific film, with a strongly witty central performance from Jack Kesy.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
My Old Ass • Sleep
The Outrun • Megalopolis
ALL REVIEWS >

In the cinema, I saw Francis Ford Coppola's ambitious passion project Megalopolis, which is a real stunner. It's a bit messy and over-reaching, but the scale and artistry are simply glorious, as are the meaty performances from an eclectic cast that includes Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Giancarlo Esposito and Shia LaBeouf, plus key roles for Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Fishburne and Talia Shire. And the drama Rez Ball, set in the Navajo nation, is a rousing basketball movie that plays closely by the genre rules. The setting provides strong topicality.

This coming week will be another very busy one working on-set, but I'm also planning to see Joaquin Phoenix in Joker: Folie a Deux, Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal in La Maquina, Quentin Dupieux's comedy biopic Daaaaaali, the romcom All Kinds of Love, the drama Beauty Grace Malice and the surfing doc Maya and the Wave, plus a couple of live performances if possible. 

 

Critical Week: Larger than life

It's been a fairly relaxed week at the movies for me, as I've just tried to get caught up on things, posting reviews from autumn festivals and catching up on some films. There are a lot of awards-buzzy movies I haven't seen yet, so there's still a ways to go. One I'd been looking forward to certainly didn't disappoint: Vicky Krieps delivers a wonderfully nuanced performances as Austria's Empress Elisabeth in the inventive and rightfully award-winning biopic Corsage. And a terrific cast brings a more introspective tone to the sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, a blockbuster that I liked better than the first film, mainly because it dodges the usual Marvel pitfalls. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
No Bears • Wakanda Forever
Homebody • Being Thunder
PERHAPS AVOID:
A Couple • Dear Zoe
ALL REVIEWS >

Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes and Nicholas Hoult star in the blackly comical The Menu, which tilts intriguingly from parody into horror. Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek team up with their children Jake Hoffman and Schuyler Fisk in the warmly dramatic romcom Sam & Kate. Romain Duris and Berenice Bejo join director Michel Hazanavicious for the witty and perhaps too-meta zombie movie pastiche Final Cut. Ryan Kwanten goes Blade Runner for the enigmatic futuristic Hong Kong noir Expired. The comedy Homebody creates an unusually knowing body-swap scenario. And the Latin American horror Blood-Red Ox is confusing but packed with clever details.

The Critics' Circle Film Section also held its annual lunch with the British Board of Film Classification, an event that has been virtual for the past two years. It was great to be back in-person again, learning about the BBFC's new endeavours and going through some of the borderline cases over the past year. And it was also nice to be in a room full of critics as well - for the second time in a week after last Thursday's special Critics' Circle all-sections award lunch for Emma Thompson.

Movies to this coming week include Lili Taylor and Jason Schwartzman in the romcom There There, Lukas Dhont's teen drama Close, Costa Rica's drama Clara Sola, the French animated comedy Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, and the Indian action epic RRR. I'm also flying out to Southern California to visit my family and friends for a couple of weeks, and of course to watch more movies too.

Venezia79: New horizons

After 24 hours in Italy, I'm finding my rhythms here. This year I'm commuting across the lagoon each day, which is a lovely way to start and end the day. And I'm remembering the fun of lurking in the crowd at the red carpet to see the super glammed-up stars (yesterday was Julianne Moore, Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Jodie Turner-Smith and more). Yes, its Day 2 and the 79th Venice Film Festival is fully underway, with plenty of public glitz while journalists quietly scurry around out of sight. Some more highlights...

Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

dir Alejandro G Inarritu; with Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani 22/Mex ***

If anything, this film makes it clear that nobody says "no" to Alejandro G Inarritu. It would be hard to imagine a more indulgent, rambling, throw-everything-at-the-screen kind of movie if you tried. But this also isn't a filmmaker you can easily dismiss, as each sequence is skilfully laced with moments of visual brilliance, thematic provocations and darkly emotional honesty. Channelling Fellini at his most flamboyant, Inarritu pours a lot of personal and artistic energy into this epic, although a leaner, earthier approach would have been more effective.

Tár
dir-scr Todd Field; with Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss 22/US ****
Overstuffed as it is, this epic drama spends pretty much its entire extended running time poking the audience with various sticks. So watching the film is frequently exhilarating. There is so much to think about swirling through the dense dialog and drama that we begin to wonder what writer-director Todd Field is saying here, apart from the obvious commentary about how personal actions and public reactions can combine in a toxic brew in this social media age. And there’s no denying that Cate Blanchett delivers a jaw-dropping performance.

Padre Pio
dir Abel Ferrara; with Shia LaBeouf, Cristina Chiriac 22/It ***
Shot in striking locations under the glaring sun, while also delving into the tortured visions of a pious man, this certainly isn't your usual biopic about a saint. But then it's directed and cowritten by Abel Ferrara, who always refuses to play by the rules. It looks amazing, and overflows with big themes and fascinating people, but the story gets a bit lost. Strongly textured naturalistic performances add some weight, but the subdued pace and anecdotal structure are tricky to engage with. And it's more intriguing for its depiction of a historical event.

Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy

dir-scr Nancy Buirski; with Jon Voight, Brenda Vaccaro 22/US  ****
This fascinating documentary places the 1969 classic Midnight Cowboy into its social context, offering unexpected insight though a wide range of connections. Filmmaker Nancy Buirski weaves together a wonderful variety of film clips to paint a picture of a movie that managed to strike a nerve at just the right time, both in the Hollywood industry and the culture at large. It's also great to revisit the making of such an iconic film as told firsthand in the words of people who were in the cast and crew.

The Fabulous Ones [Le Favolose]
dir Roberta Torre; with Porpora Marcasciano, Nicole De Leo 22/It ***.
With a wonderfully cheeky tone, this meandering Italian documentary-drama is a joyful exploration of connections between a group of middle-aged Italian trans women. It's a warm, honest film that reflects a varied range of feelings and experiences. Beautifully shot and edited, the movie is assembled artistically by director-cowriter Roberta Torre, revealing a wonderfully matter-of-fact affection for these colourful people who refuse to be normal, so instead they are fabulous. 

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

Critical Week: Enjoy the view

London began reopening this week, and after four months of lockdown it feels like Christmas! The weather is brightening up too, although it's still chillier than it should be. Meanwhile, the movies I've been watching have been a bit further from the mainstream than previous weeks, including Ed Westwick and Louise Linton in the pitch-black rom-com Me You Madness, which is uneven but engaging. Dustin Hoffman stars in the brain-bending Italian thriller Into the Labyrinth, an over-ambitious film that looks great and has a nice Lynchian touch. And the edgy teen drama Beast Beast adopts an approach that feels fresh even as it explores familiar themes.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Gunda • True Mothers
In the Earth • The Banishing
PERHAPS AVOID:
I'm Not in Love • Sensation
ALL REVIEWS >

There were also four documentaries. Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation is like a double biopic, beautifully edited together to explore the parallel lives of two iconic writers who were close friends. Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies is a terrific trip into film history, warmly exploring the life of producer Alan Ladd Jr, who was responsible for getting a huge number of timeless classics made. And from Norway, Gunda is a wordless black-and-white look into a pig's life on a farm. It's utterly enchanting, and sharply pointed too. I also caught up with this Oscar-nominated documentary...

The Mole Agent  [El Agente Topo]

dir-scr Maite Alberdi; prd Marcela Santibanez

with Sergio Chamy, Romulo Aitken, Berta Ureta, Marta Olivares, Rubira Olivares, Petronila Abarca, Zoila Gonzalez

release Chl 21.Aug.20, US 28.Aug.20,  UK 11.Dec.20 

20/Chile 1h24 ****.

This documentary plays like a reality show, as a private investigator hires an elderly man to go undercover in a retirement home. The story unfolds with the engaging pace of a breezy adventure, as each scene is infused with witty observations. Filmmaker Maite Alberdi shoots this expertly, making it feel more like an scrappy comedy than the fly-on-the-wall doc that it actually is. But of course, there's something much more serious going on here, and Alberti's film becomes a warm exploration of age that's both entertaining and deeply moving.

After interviewing a hilarious line-up of men in their 80s and 90s, investigator Romulo hires the alert Sergio and teaches him to use spy cameras in pens and glasses and call in reports using FaceTime. His job is to make sure that the mother of Romulo's client isn't being mistreated. Once inside, Sergio settles in to his secret task, interviewing people and reporting back to Romulo. Meanwhile, sparky resident Berta befriends Sergio and makes a move. And she's not the only one. But then with 40 women and only four men, it's hardly surprising that the charming Sergio is elected king.

Alberdi hilariously plays with the format, as she drafts in a wide range of colourful characters. She even sends her film crew inside on a bogus job, so they can secretly document Sergio's mission. His reports are remarkably observant, and he even solves another mystery in the nursing home, but it's his compassion that wins us over. And his conclusion to the case is eye-opening. Alberdi's approach is so offhanded and amusing, that she catches us off-guard with the film's real agenda, exploring about how it feels to get old and live in a nursing home away from loved ones. These spirited retirees have a lot to teach us.  

PG themes • 24.Apr.21

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Even with cinemas still closed, there is no end of films to see at home, and review screeners to watch include Glenn Close in Four Good Days, Christopher Walken in Percy vs Goliath, RJ Mitte in The Oak Room, the designer doc House of Cardin, the rugby doc Steelers, the shorts collection Upon Her Lips: Pure Feels and the 15th anniversary director's cut of Another Gay Movie.

Critical Week: They're baaack...

Screenings in London this past week included two very late-screening films coming out this week: Poltergeist (pictured above) is a remake of the 1982 Spielberg/Hooper classic. It's nicely shot and acted but feels rather exactly like other ghost movies being made at the moment (most notably Insidious). Tomorrowland is a relentlessly optimistic Disney movie starring George Clooney with a strongly positive message, a solid cast and some lovely effects, although it's a bit too simplistic to be something special.

Two other films featured veterans in a relaxed mood: Al Pacino is an ageing rocker in Danny Collins, a chilled-out comedy-drama with strong support from Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner, Christopher Plummer and Bobby Cannavale. Dustin Hoffman is a master conductor in The Choir (aka Boychoir), an enjoyable if somewhat too-earnest coming of age movie.

Further afield: Olivia Colman leads the ensemble (which includes Tom Hardy) in the artfully offbeat musical London Road, using actual transcripts to explore a community's reaction to a serial killer. Everyone's Going to Die is an underpowered British drama about a connection between two extremely mismatched strangers. Unhallowed Ground is a rather cheesy British horror movie that has some terrific freak-out moments along the way. Infini is an underwritten Aussie sci-fi horror that looks cool but fails to develop its characters. And Seek is a scruffy-charming Canadian indie about a geeky journalist looking for his dream man on the nightclub scene in Toronto.

This coming week we have screenings of: Slow West with Michael Fassbender, Mr Holmes with Ian McKellan, Return to Sender with Rosamund Pike, Results with Guy Pearce and the festival favourites Eden and Les Combattants. Plus another three-day weekend!

LFF 4: Take a bow

Quartet director Dustin Hoffman and his cast members Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins and Sheridan Smith are all in London today for their film's gala screening at the 56th BFI London Film Festival as the glamorous festivities continue around the city. Also doing the rounds today are Chris O'Dowd and his four songstress costars (Jessica Mauboy, Deborah Mailman, Shari
Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell) in The Sapphires. Not that critics get to enjoy the glitz - most of us are stuck in early morning press screenings and overcrowded press conferences.

Quartet
dir Dustin Hoffman; with Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon 12/UK ***.
The subtle intelligence of Ronald Harwood's script undergirds what's otherwise a rather breezy-glowy drama. And the veteran cast members make the most of this subtext, while director Hoffman adds a spark of humour and a whiff of romantic comedy. It centres on an English retirement home for musicians, which is shaken by the arrival of an iconic soprano (Smith) who had a brief, messy marriage to another resident (Tom Courtenay). As the annual gala performance approaches, someone gets the idea to reunite the quartet from a famed performance of Verdi's Rigoletto, which Jean really isn't up for. The cast is, of course, having a ball - and it's warmly infectious to watch, with just enough spark that it avoids sentimentality and a continual stream of little moments that catch us off guard with earthy humour and raw emotion. In other words, it's a nicely made film that lets us just sit back and enjoy ourselves.

Midnight's Children
dir Deepa Mehta; with Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami 12/Can ***.
It's usually a risky proposition to let a novelists adapt their own work for the big screen, and this film is a case in point. It's packed with moments that are hugely involving, but Salman Rushdie's (right, on the LFF red carpet) script is badly over-written, filling in way too much detail while indulging in constant literary touches that are fascinating but distracting. In some ways, this is like an Indian Forrest Gump, as Bhaba's central character is born at the stroke of midnight as India gets its independence, then marks key moments of his life along with his country. Along the way we get a running history of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh along with a very dramatic life story that relies on a heavy dose of magical realism. It's fascinating and beautifully shot and acted, but far too wordy for its own good.

The Sapphires
dir Wayne Blair; with Chris O'Dowd, Deborah Mailman 12/Aus ****
Based on a true story, this crowd-pleasing comedy is packed with sparky characters and situations, plus powerfully dramatic moments that catch us by surprise. It also uses great music to keep our toes tapping all the way through... REVIEW >

What Richard Did
dir Lenny Abrahamson; with Jack Reynor, Roisin Murphy 12/Ire ****
Even before things take a turn in this beautifully shot and acted Irish drama, we know something is coming (the title's a hint too). Filmmaker Abrahamson is a master at subtle suggestion, taking scenes that feel happy and freewheeling and adding a gentle undercurrent of menace. So when the story gets much more darkly emotional, it's deeply unnerving. Reynor gives a superbly natural, understated performance as Richard, a golden-boy 18 year old with a group of rugby pals, a new girlfriend (Murphy) and very cool parents. But his actions at a drunken house party cut a swathe through his optimism, and as he struggles to deal with the situation, he feels like his whole life is unravelling. Loosely based on a real event, the film never turns into a melodrama despite the potential in the premise: it remains raw and edgy with a lively vein of humour that turns bleaker and bleaker as the story develops. A haunting gem.

Room 237
dir Rodney Ascher; with Bill Blakemore, Geoffrey Cocks 12/US ***.
Subtitled "Being an Inquiry Into The Shining in 9 Parts", movie geeks will love this documentary, which lets five of them expound their sometimes outlandish theories about a seriously confounding film. Not many of their theories hold water, but it's a terrific exploration of filmmaking as art. Stanley Kubrick was a genius filmmaker who never did something by accident, so the quirks and jarring background detail in The Shining must mean something, right? Some of these theories are observant and thought-provoking, while others are just bonkers. In the end, there aren't many ideas here that are terribly insightful (would you be shocked to know that Kubrick wove mythology and fairy tales into his work?), and frankly you could pretty much prove anything by deconstructing a movie frame by frame. But it's a thoroughly entertaining exploration of the extremes of fan culture. And a marvellous look at the repeated images and themes in Kubrick's work.