Critical Week: She's behind you!

This past week has been a flurry of awards voting deadlines, watching both contender and holiday releases. Then after several critics' groups started announcing their year-end winners, the Golden Globe nominations came out on Monday, and awards season is now in high gear until Oscar night in March. Among the eclectic group of movies I watched this week, perhaps the most fun was had with The Housemaid, Paul Feig's latest female-led blackly comical thriller, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. It's twisty, nasty and entertaining.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Goodbye June • Lurker
The President's Cake
Baby • Scarlet
ALL REVIEWS >

And then there was Nia DaCosta's sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, picking up the story from Danny Boyle's movie last summer, starring Ralph Fiennes and Jack O'Connell. It's brutally nasty, with intriguingly thoughtful moments along the way. Rose Byrne gives a tour fe force performance in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, a staggeringly immersive drama abotu a woman grappling with motherhood. H Is for Hawk stars the excellent Claire Foy as a woman dealing with grief by raising a feisty goshawk. It's warm, earthy and very moving. From Japan, Kokuho is a lavish, powerfully involving epic about a boy determined to become a great kabuki artist. The scale is both enormous and vividly intimate. Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys play frazzled parents in Hallow Road, almost entirely set inside their car. The plot doesn't quite work, but it's riveting. I also finally caught up the wonderfully warm and funny comedy The Ballad of Wallis Island, a ridiculously likeable music-infused British movie starring Tim Key, Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan. And there were two live performances, The Fit Prince at King's Head Theatre and Boys in the Buff (ooh err!) at Golden Goose Theatre, all before flying out to see my family in California for the holidays. 

Coming up this next week, I don't really know what I'll be watching, as I'm spending time with my parents and family members. I'll no doubt see something on the flight! And at some point I do still need to watch The Plague with Joel Edgerton, Rebuilding with Josh O'Connor and, now that it has a Golden Globe nomination, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle.

Critical Week: Phone home

Awards season is properly cranking up, with lots of screenings (and online links) for movies that are coming out in December and January - so we can see them ahead of voting deadlines, which are quickly approaching. It's great to see these films on a big screen when possible. Certainly, two unusually striking films I saw this week deserve that - both are very long movies based on true stories. Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme stars Timothee Chalamet (above) as an aspiring ping pong champ, and it's a singular visual odyssey, high energy and utterly riveting. It's also a little exhausting. And then there's Mona Fastvold's The Testament of Ann Lee, starring Amanda Seyfried as the founder of the Shakers in 18th century England and New England. It's a swirling, mesmerising journey that leaves us thinking. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Rental Family • Cactus Pears
Wicked: For Good
The Thing With Feathers
Zodiac Killer Project
PERHAPS AVOID:
The Ice Tower
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A bit more mainstream, Emma Mackey stars in filmmaking maestro James L Brooks' Ella McCay, a sparky and enjoyable comedy-drama about a family and political ambition. Bill Skarsgard leads the cast of Gus Van Sant's Dead Man's Wire, based on the true story of an unusual 1977 kidnapping. It's a gripping, strikingly well-made film. June Squibb stars in Scarlett Johansson's directing debut Eleanor the Great, a lively and likeable comedy-drama about memories and perception. Nicolas Cage leads The Carpenter's Son, an offbeat horror film based on an apocryphal gospel about the childhood of Jesus Christ (played by Noah Jupe). It's ambitious and creepy, and a little overwrought.

And then there was Park Chan-wook's overlong but sharply observant comedy No Other Choice starring Lee Byun-Hun as a guy who takes desperate measures to find a job. Sope Dirisu stars in the gorgeous British-Nigerian drama My Father's Shadow, as a man who takes his two cheeky sons on a day out in 1993 Lagos. The wonderful Iraqi drama The President's Cake centres on a young girl navigating her way through a restrictive system simply to bake a cake. The moving French drama Nino features yet another astonishingly transparent performance from Theodore Pellerin. And the Taiwanese drama Left-Handed Girl takes a snappy, fresh approach to connections between generations of women. I also attended the British premiere screening of Landman season 2 with Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore and Ali Larter in attendance.

It's another big week coming up, and I'll be watching Jodie Foster in A Private Life, Josh O'Connor in The Mastermind, Lav Diaz's epic biopic Magellan, the Spanish adventure Sirat and the animated films Scarlet and Little Amelie, plus festive live performances of Growled at the RVT and The Magic of Christmas at Brick Lane Music Hall.

BFI Flare: Life's a beach

The 39th BFI Flare charges into its first weekend with a flurry of terrific films, many of which are attended by filmmakers and actors who are happy to discuss their work and chat with the audiences. Which is what sets this particular festival apart from others in London where the talent remains in a VIP festival all their own. Over the years covering this event, it's been great to see such a wide range of excellent films that approach queer topics from every conceivable angle. Here are four more highlights for this weekend... 

Hot Milk
dir-scr Rebecca Lenkiewicz; with Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw 24/UK ***
Beautifully shot on the Mediterranean seaside, this introspective drama is tightly contained within the perspective of a young woman frustrated that she doesn't have control of her own life. The film is packed with intriguing relationships, but writer-director Rebecca Lenkiewicz never quite allows the audience in, which makes it difficult to sympathise with anyone on-screen. Still, the big themes hold the interest, and the location comes vividly to life.

High Tide
dir-scr Marco Calvani; with Marco Pigossi, James Bland 24/US ****
With a lovely light touch, writer-director Marco Calvani takes an honest and unusually resonant look at the life of an immigrant, and the film is also gently tinged with issues relating to sexuality and race. Because the approach is so knowingly realistic, the film is funny, emotional, sexy and surprising. The film makes the most of its Massachusetts coastal setting, which is populated by recognisably authentic characters. And the delicate acting and filmmaking that make it memorable.

Departures
dir Neil Ely, Lloyd Eyre-Morgan; with Lloyd Eyre-Morgan, David Tag 25/UK ****
Warm and engaging, with some sharply pointed edges, this British drama plays out as a kaleidoscopic essay looking back at a relationship that was never quite right from the start. Clever writing and acting creates characters who are likeable and unusually complex, offering surprising points of resonance throughout the non-chronological narrative. And it's beautifully shot and edited too, anchored ably by sparky actor-filmmaker Lloyd Eyre-Morgan. 

Sad Jokes
dir-scr Fabian Stumm; with Fabian Stumm, Haley Louise Jones 24/Ger ****
From Germany, this bittersweet film plays on its comedic intentions by including a stream of jokes that are silly, brittle, bleak and absurd. These provide an almost meta running commentary to the story of a filmmaker who is trying to get his life back on track after a difficult breakup and the birth of his son. Actor-filmmaker Fabian Stumm has a wonderfully easy presence on-screen, allowing the audience to travel this journey without pushing any points.

Full reviews will be linked on Shadows' BFI Flare page when published.