Critical Week: What you wish for

Things have shifted up a gear here in film awards season, with more screenings and links than it's possible to watch. Everyone wants us to consider their movies, and there simply isn't time to watch everything, so we're all making lists and watching what we can. It can be a bit overwhelming, but there are of course worse jobs out there. The big movie this week was Disney's new animated feature Wish, and I was invited to the gala UK premiere in Leicester Square and also a Christmas party the next day. The film is sweet and entertaining, but there's not much to it. A more satisfying animated movie is Adam Sandler's Leo, a nutty romp about a classroom lizard who helping the students with their problems. It's both silly and smart, and also very funny. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Robot Dreams • Napoleon • Monster
Totem • American Symphony
ALL REVIEWS >

Bridging between arthouse and blockbuster, Michael Mann's Ferrari recounts a pivotal period in the life of the car maker, played by Adam Driver. The entire cast is excellent (including Penelope Cruz and Shailene Woodley), and the film is strikingly well shot and edited. Tilda Swinton gets a superb double role as mother and daughter in The Eternal Daughter, an enigmatic haunted house movie from Joanna Hogg. I loved its atmospherics. Finnish master Aki Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves has won some big awards this year, and it's easy to see why. It's a wonderfully deadpan romantic comedy, fiercely original with topical touches. And another award-winner, Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda's Monster is a gorgeously constructed drama that carries a huge emotional kick.

And then there was the Mexican mystery thriller Lost in the Night, a riveting offbeat thriller that refuses to be what we want it to be. The wacky German satire Captain Faggotron Saves the Universe is amateurish but has its own charm. And the lively documentary Scala!!! is a delight, tracing London's iconic repertory cinema with style, humour and insight. Away from the cinema, I also saw Lovetrain2020 and the new Young Associates mixed bill (review up soon) at Sadler's Wells and Connor Burns: Vertigo at Soho Theatre.

Things keep getting busier this week, with films including the musical remake of The Colour Purple, Timothee Chalamet in Wonka, Eddie Murphy in Candy Cane Lane, George Clooney's The Boys in the Boat, Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction, Isabelle Huppert in The Sitting Duck, Melissa McCarthy in Genie, George MacKay in Femme, Hong Kong crime thriller The Goldfinger, the John Galliano doc High & Low and the Olympics doc We Dare to Dream.

Critical Week: The stars came out

Sunday was the 76th Bafta Film Awards, with a new venue at the Royal Festival Hall and a new host in the charmingly British Richard E Grant (with contributions from a lively but distracting Allison Hammond). It was a star-packed event, with a glittering audience of nominees and special guests, which allowed for the usual offbeat presenting duos (Eugene Levy with Cynthia Erivo?). Among the winners, the biggest surprise was Austin Butler being named Best Actor, which bodes well for Oscar night. And Barry Keoghan was a popular surprise winner for Supporting Actor, although perhaps Ke Huy Quan has the edge for Oscar. And then there was All Quiet on the Western Front with its unprecedented seven huge wins, including film and director over Tár and Everything Everywhere All at Once, top nominees that had to settle for just one prize each. But the issue of inclusivity still needs to be discussed, when awards like these (and the London Critics' Circle) opt for overwhelmingly white winners even with a superbly diverse set of nominees.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Joyland • Broker • Juniper
ALL REVIEWS >

As for the movies I've been watching, the biggest one was a very late press screening of Elizabeth Banks' crazed action thriller Cocaine Bear, a riotously grisly throwback to '80s nature-gone-wild mayhem movies. It took me awhile to catch up with Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker, another wonderfully humane drama that sympathises with people on the moral fringes. How to Blow Up a Pipeline is an entertaining caper adventure about a group of young people taking on Big Oil. The twisty antics kind of overshadow the serious themes, but it's good fun. From Argentina, Wandering Heart is a superbly naturalistic drama about a man trying to pull himself together after a breakup. And the Oscar-nominated doc A House Made of Splinters highlights a situation in war-torn Ukraine with a hugely resonant kick.

This coming week I'll be watching Michael B Jordan's Creed III, Lily James in What's Love Got to Do With It, Michael Shannon in A Little White Lie, the Aussie drama Lonesome and the French drama Love According to Dalva, plus a couple of theatre shows.

Venezia74: Speak your mind on Day 6

I finally made it across the lagoon in the warm sunshine from the Lido to Venice today. (It took me this long last year as well!) After the two morning films, I jumped on the vaporetto, and then spent the afternoon roaming around one of my favourite places on earth, visiting a couple of museums (Damien Hirst's fabulous Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable at Palazzo Grassi, and the glories of the Guggenheim Collection) and of course eating gelato. Then back over to Lido for two more movies at the 74th Venice Film Festival, so a rather full day...

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
dir-scr Martin McDonagh; with Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson 17/US *****
Writer-director Martin McDonaugh is on blistering form with this fiendishly clever personal drama, which arrives masquerading as a funny, violent police thriller. With take-no-prisoners performances from the entire cast, particularly a storming Frances McDormand, the film tackles our angry world head-on with a surprisingly heartfelt plea for compassion. And it tackles the riveting story as well as a series of pungent themes with remarkable honesty.

The Third Murder
dir-scr Hirokazu Kore-eda; with Masaharu Fukuyama, Koji Yakusho 17/Jpn ****.
Expertly orchestrated by master filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, this is on the surface a police procedural thriller. Except that it's actually a detailed exploration of a group of intertwined characters who may or may not be telling the truth. Which is kind of the point for what turns out to be a provocative look at the nature of justice in a world full of imperfect people. It's also the kind of movie that demands close attention from the audience.

A Family [Una Famiglia]
dir Sebastiano Riso; with Micaela Ramazzotti, Patrick Bruel 17/It 1h37 **
This may look like a gritty Italian drama that addresses a dark corner of Roman society, but nothing about it feels very believable. Despite some strong acting by the lead actors, the characters are impossible to sympathise with simply because their overpowering self-interest is so contrived. There are some intriguing comments about male-female dynamics and co-dependence, but any astute observations seem to emerge almost by accident.

My Generation
dir David Batty; with Michael Caine, Paul McCartney 17/UK 1h25 ***.
A groovy trip through swinging 1960s London, this colourful documentary explores the seismic shift in British society as working class artists teamed up to break the rules and become global stars in music, acting, art and fashion. Narrated by Michael Caine, its full of enjoyable personal anecdotes, terrific songs and lots of clips edited together into a swirling concoction. It may feel rather gimmicky, but it's packed with entertaining surprises.

Tomorrow we have the world premiere one of the most anticipated films of the festival: Darren Aronofsky's Mother! There's also Jim & Andy, about Jim Carrey and Andy Kaufman, and Loving Pablo, with Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.

LFF 5: Stare into the abyss

Amy Adams was on hand to lend some Hollywood glamour to the red carpet for the 60th London Film Festival tonight - with the gala screening of her new film Arrival (pictured above). And she'll be back later in the week for Nocturnal Animals. There are quite a few actors pulling double duty this year, including David Oyelowo and Natalie Portman. Meanwhile, those of us in the ranks of the film journalists are starting to look like the walking dead, as too many movies and too little sleep begins to catch up with us. Here are some highlights from Monday...

Paterson
dir-scr Jim Jarmusch; with Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani 16/US ****
Evoking the poetry of William Carlos Williams, this whimsical comedy-drama explores the profundity of everyday details in Williams' hometown of Paterson, New Jersey. Writer-director Jim Jarmusch lets this hilarious story unfold gently, taking the time to soak in the small things that liven up both our seemingly monotonous lives and our seemingly similar personalities.

After the Storm
dir-scr Hirokazu Kore-eda; with Hiroshi Abe, Kirin Kiki 16/Jpn ****
Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda continues his string of gently revelatory dramas with this story about a rather typical modern family. As they explore the connections between them, the characters are pondering the past and the future, and realising that they may need to live in the present if they're ever going to be happy. There are no fireworks in this movie, but Kore-eda's writing and directing are simply beautiful, as always.

Sweet Dreams [Fai Bei Sogni]
dir Marco Bellocchio; with Valerio Mastandrea, Berenice Bejo 16/It **
Italian maestro Marco Bellocchio makes bold movies, and this one feels deeply personal as it explores the very Italian topic of the mother-son bond. It's beautifully shot, with insinuating performances and an ambitious approach to the narrative structure. But it's also oddly over-serious, and the fragmented style of storytelling stubbornly refuses to properly let the audience into the characters' inner lives.

Being 17  [Quand On a 17 Ans] 
dir Andre Techine; with Sandrine Kiberlain, Kacey Mottet Klein 16/Fr ***.
An intriguing teaming of French filmmakers Andre Techine and Celine Sciamma, this drama tackles a series of emotive issues head-on with strong characters and striking honesty. The problem is that it feels like two separate films have been mashed together, so each storyline undercuts the power of the other one. Is this about the challenges of a community doctor whose husband works abroad? Or an edgy romance between two teen outcasts?

The Ornithologist [O Ornitólogo]
dir-scr Joao Pedro Rodrigues; with Paul Hamy, Xelo Cagiao 16/Por **.
This experimental film from Portugal starts promisingly, as it follows a bird-watcher on a trip into a spectacular wilderness. It's an intriguingly internalised odyssey, beautifully shot and played, with tantalising clues about a variety of issues. But as it continues, writer-director Joao Pedro Rodrigues drifts into pretentious metaphorical nuttiness that overwhelms any sense of narrative drama and loses the audience deep in the forest.

And two more films I saw in Venice that are showing here in London: Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner in Arrival and the Italian road movie These Days.

LFF 8: Own the moment

It's was the dame's turn to hit the red carpet at the London Film Festival last night: Maggie Smith out for the European premiere of The Lady in the Van. I've kind of hit the wall today - there hasn't been enough time to see all the films and write about them, perhaps because I'm seeing four movies every day! But tomorrow I only have two in the diary, so that should help restore a sense of balance. Here are some more highlights...

Carol
dir Todd Haynes; with Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara 15/US *****
With delicate precision, this story unfolds in a way that's both true to its period and fully relevant now. A beautiful companion piece to director Todd Haynes' own Far From Heaven, this is based on a Patricia Highsmith novel about two women trying to live their lives the best they can, but finding themselves against the grain of society. And it carries a powerful kick.

Take Me to the River 
dir Matt Sobel; with Logan Miller, Robin Weigert 15/US ***. 
After starting as a gently witty drama, this film turns dark quickly, sending its central character on an unexpected odyssey. The themes it's exploring are so intense that the film feels creepiest when everyone is smiling broadly. And even though the film is flooded with a sense of foreboding, where it goes is utterly unpredictable.

The Ones Below 
dir David Farr; with Clemence Poesy, Stephen Campbell Moore 15/UK ****
As it puts an infant child in jeopardy, this fiercely clever psychological thriller draws easy comparisons with the iconic The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. But this is no schlock horror movie; it's a much more subtle exploration of parental paranoia and urban angst in which every moment is soaked in echoes of impending doom. And screenwriter-turned-director David Farr keeps his wits about him, while scaring us out of ours.

Our Little Sister 
dir Hirokazu Kore-eda; with Haruka Ayase, Masami Nagasawa 15/Jpn ****
Exquisitely observed, this warm and gentle drama prowls around generational relationships without too much plot but plenty of resonant impact. Filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda continues his astute depiction of family interaction with characters are remarkably authentic. And the situations are lively and witty without ever tipping over into melodrama.

Desierto
dir Jonas Cuaron; with Gael Garcia Bernal, Jeffrey Dean Morgan 15/Mex **. 
While this strikingly well-made thriller touches on big issues regarding migration, it ultimately settles for being merely violent, almost wallowing in the hideous immorality of right-wing Americans who believe they should be allowed to take the law into their own hands. This lack of complexity leaves the film superficial and pointless. So forget the subject matter - the filmmakers did - and enjoy this as a ghastly horror thriller.