On the road: Take the plunge

Being away for the holidays, I've prioritised hanging out with family and friends over work - so I'm a bit behind with everything apart from food! But I've managed to watch a few films here and there. Just out in cinemas here in the US, The Plague stars Joel Edgerton as a boys' water polo coach who seems either unable or unwilling to tackle the horrific bullying on the team. It's strikingly well made, with a terrific central performance by young Everett Blunck. 

The gentle drama Rebuilding features yet another excellent role for Josh O'Connor as a Colorado rancher trying to start over after a wildfire. It's quietly powerful. Ron Howard's Eden tells the true story of Europeans trying to find paradise in the Galápagos in the 1930s, with a cast that includes Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney and Ana de Armas. The cast makes it watchable even when it gets rather soapy. The documentary The Perfect Neighbor is assembled from body-cam footage as Florida cops teal with a messy situation that escalates until someone dies. It's hard to watch, but important. I also caught up with a few pulpy movies from recent years, including the cat-and-mouse thriller Carry-On in which Jason Bateman terrorises security agent Taron Egerton in Los Angeles airport. It's seriously stupid, but fun. Mel Gibson plays an action-oriented Santa in Fatman, an uneven mix of comedy and violence that never comes together. Walton Goggins is seriously intense as the baddie; Marianne Jean-Baptiste (yes, really) shines as Mrs Claus.

Over this next week, I'll be watching a few more contenders before ballots are due in various awards. I'm also flying back to London, so will no doubt catch up with some gems (!) on the flights. Before that, I will be finalising year-end lists of my best and worst from 2025 - watch this space...

Venezia79: Back to nature

The 79th Venice Film Festival continues under sunny skies, as we look for ways to enjoy the location even as we scurry between cinemas and press rooms. I've made a pact to at least have one gelato per day (handy that the festival has its own gelateria), but getting that first coffee in has been trickier with long queues everywhere. But then I also have two 15-minute walks through old Venice each day and 20 minutes on a vaporetto to get some lovely scenery and fresh air. And yes, I remember that I'm here to watch movies. Here are a few more highlights...

Master Gardener

dir-scr Paul Schrader; with Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver 22/US ***
With his usual provocations about accepted morality, Paul Schrader heads to the Deep South for an intriguing drama that plays with a range big ideas while remaining tantalisingly out of reach. The characters are complex and full of their own private secrets, which creates a sense of mystery as the plot dabbles with the elements of a thriller. But this leaves the film feeling eerily incomplete, simply because the people remain so opaque.

Argentina, 1985

dir Santiago Mitre; with Ricardo Darin, Peter Lanzani 22/Arg ****
Including a heavy dose of sharp humour in the screenplay helps make this rather momentous true story unusually accessible. So while it hinges on a procedural investigation and historical courtroom trial, director-cowriter Santiago Mitre continually reveals the humanity of the characters, pulling us in deeper. The case itself is harrowing, a landmark moment when a military dictatorship went on trial for its horrific crimes against the people.

Ordinary Failures [Běžná Selhání]

dir Cristina Grosan; with Tatjana Medvecka, Nora Klimesova 22/Cz ****
Set in the very near future, this Czech drama will be instantly identifiable to anyone who feels like they are barely hanging on amid the varied pressures in their lives. And in this case, the world literally is collapsing around the characters. With Klara Vlasakova's insightful satirical script and Cristina Grosan's glacially sharp directing, the film quietly provokes the audience with a series of injustices, deliberate and accidental. All of this combines gorgeously to create a riveting story that has an important, timely and deeply moving impact.

Eismayer

dir-scr David Wagner; with Gerhard Liebmann, Luka Dimic 22/Aut ***.
Based on true events, this Austrian drama traces an unexpected relationship between two men at a military service boot camp. Filmmaker David Wagner traces the narrative with remarkable focus, avoiding distracting subplots to bring out details and intimate feelings. It may seem a little simplistic, but it's fascinating to see a story like this in a place where men have to be tough, without emotions or weaknesses. And later, when power and bravado begin to shift, this becomes an inspiring exploration of honesty, resilience and tenacity.

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

 

Critical Week: Family matters

While covid continues to impact cinema on multiple layers, things are beginning to feel much more normal with an increasing number of films shown to the press in actual screening rooms. Seats are still distanced, but it's been nice to get used to seeing colleagues again regularly. And I've also had a bit of theatre to liven things up in between the movies. Films this week included The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to The Sopranos telling an involving story about the entwined mob families, including several familiar characters, and a few sharp new ones. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Sweetheart • The Green Knight
The Man Who Sold His Skin
ALL REVIEWS >

Dev Patel gives another knockout performance in David Lowery's ambitious The Green Knight, which unfolds as an ancient legend with all kinds of inventive touches. Benedict Cumberbatch stars in the quirky biopic The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, which feels a bit over-done but is witty and clever. Ben Whishaw gives an outrageously physical performance in Surge, a London drama that shifts into a harrowing odyssey. The South African supernatural thriller Gaia is beautifully set in a lush forest where four people have a collision with nature itself. And the shorts collection Parental Guidance takes some knowing and often very dark looks at family life through a queer eye.

Screenings also started this week for the 65th London Film Festival (6-17 Oct), including the pandemic comedy 7 Days, Jacques Audiard's intertwined romance Paris 13th District, the beautifully animated refugee doc Flee, and the Finnish road movie Compartment No 6.

Coming up this next week, I have several more London Film Festival movies to watch, plus Daniel Craig's final Bond movie No Time to Die, Bill Nighy in Living and the British horror Shepherd.

London Film Fest: Heavy is the head

As the 63rd BFI London Film Festival heads into its first weekend, the range of films continues to be astonishing - from children's adventures to freak-out horror, experimental art films, indie comedies and even a blockbuster or two. This doesn't actually feel so much like a festival as a particularly condensed film season at the British Film Institute. Basically, it's the greatest hits from Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Venice and Toronto, with a number of world premieres thrown in for fun. Critics are already run ragged by Day 2, with so many movies that it's impossible to even see half of our wish lists. But we'll give it a go. Here are Friday highlights...

The King
dir David Michod; with Timothee Chalamet, Joel Edgerton 19/UK ****
The gloomy intensity that floods through this British historical drama very nearly swamps the screen, leaving it rather murky and brooding. But the script is so sharp, and the actors so good at finding the textures of their characters, that the story comes to life with some surprising moments of modern-day resonance. And filmmaker David Michod stages both the tense conversations and muddy battles with gusto.

Luce
dir Julius Onah; with Kelvin Harrison Jr, Naomi Watts 19/US ****
Strikingly well written and directed, this drama has a powerhouse cast that brings huge themes strongly to life. Based on JC Lee's play, the film uses barbed dialog to grapple with a powerful issue, which makes it intimate and deeply unsettling. Director Julius Onah skilfully cuts through the heavily weighted story to focus on personal reactions and relationships, which helps the film deliver a number of pungent kicks... FULL REVIEW >

Little Joe
dir Jessica Hausner; with Emily Beecham, Ben Whishaw 19/Aut ***
There's a cleverly unnerving tone to this subtly artful thriller, which combines science-fiction elements with the undercurrents of an old-fashioned monster movie. Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner keeps the lights bright and the colours garish all the way through, yet still creates a relentless sense of tension as characters try to work out if something truly horrible is afoot.

Wounds
dir-scr Babak Anvari; with Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson 19/UK ****
Following on from his inventive Iranian horror Under the Shadow, filmmaker Babak Anvari breathes fresh life into an American-set scary movie. There's a energising, realistic scruffiness to this bonkers story of an everyman who discovers the hard way that there's nothing of depth in his life. This attention to darker themes marks this as much more than a gonzo freakout. But it's that too.

I Lost My Body [J'ai Perdu Mon Corps]
dir Jeremy Clapin; voices Hakim Faris, Victoire Du Bois 19/Fr *****
With a spectacular visual sensibility, this animated French thriller tells a strikingly original tale that inventively sparks the viewer's imagination. Offbeat and fiendishly clever, the film has been designed in a way that looks fully cinematic, offering vivid perspectives and a fully formed experience that appeals to all the senses. It's also a refreshingly grown up movie that will connect with the childish dreamer inside... FULL REVIEW >

Bacurau
dir-scr Kleber Mendonca Filho, Juliano Dornelles; with Barbara Colen, Thomas Aquino 19/Br ****
A staggering exploration of Brazil's past and present, this darkly satirical fable is witty, engaging and deeply disturbing. Filmmakers Kleber Mendonca Filho and Juliano Dornelles capture the matter-of-fact rhythms of a close community while also unflinchingly tapping into the violent impulses that come both within and from outside. And while there is a continual stream of humour, it's the violence that lingers. Mainly because of what it means.

Links:

Shadows LONDON FILM FEST homepage (full reviews will be linked here) 

Official LONDON FILM FEST site 

Critical Week: Odd couple

One nice thing about the films I've seen this week is that I haven't needed to write long reviews for each one. So here are shorter comments on the movies I've caught up with over the holidays so far, starting with the one pictured above (that's Will Smith with, yes, Joel Edgerton)...

Bright
dir David Ayer; with Will Smith, Joel Edgerton 17/US *.
Perhaps there was something interesting in Max Landis' script for this fantasy cop thriller, but director David Ayer brings his usual sledgehammer approach, obliterating any character nuance or plot intrigue with a barrage of bullets, explosions and relentless machismo. The one decent twist in the tale is badly telegraphed from the start, and it's all so blunt that it leaves the actors lost. Smith can survive this kind of thing with his wits, but Edgerton's excellent acting chops are swamped by his excessive makeup. This eliminates any chance of proper camaraderie as they play human Ward and orc Jakoby, cops partnering in a parallel reality Los Angeles in which a psychotic elf (Noomi Rapace) is plotting to resurrect a dark lord, but first needs to track down her missing wand, which can only be touched by a bright like the young Tikka (Lucy Fry), whom Ward and Jakoby have rescued. Along with endlessly dull mythology in the dialog, scenes are packed with incoherent chases, shootouts, fights and lots of magical nonsense. Even the solid cast, which includes Edgar Ramirez, Jay Hernandez and Margaret Cho, can't save this one.

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Raw

dir-scr Julia Ducournau; with Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf 16/Bel ****

A chillingly original take on the coming-of-age story, this French drama takes a series of almost outrageously gruesome twists and turns. There's a dark undercurrent of meaning here, but writer-director Julia Ducournau seems mainly interested in freaking out the audience with some extreme femininity. It's the story of teen Justine (Marillier), who is enduring a particularly painful week of hazing as she starts veterinary school, following the footsteps of her big sister Alex (Rumpf). A strict vegetarian, the worst thing for Justine is being forced to eat a bit of raw meat. And she's horrified to discover she now has a craving for meat, including the human kind. Ducournau kind of taunts the audience with unfinished scenes and lots of waking up unaware of what happened the night before. But the film is gleefully grisly and darkly provocative. A true original.

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Aquarius

dir-scr Kleber Mendonca Filho; with Sonia Braga, Zoraide Coleto 16/Br ***.

Brazilian filmmaker Mendonca isn't terribly subtle with this over-long drama about the clash between old-world humanity and present-day commercialism, but the film has a loose energy that makes it worth a look. And Sonia Braga shines in the central role. She plays retired journalist Clara, a woman who has had a long, full life then finds herself the last occupant of the seaside apartment block in Recife where she raised her children with her late husband. Now she's the only thing stopping the developers from knocking down the building so they can construct a gleaming tower in its place. But she has no intention of going, so simply gets on with her life, spending time with her friends, children, grandson and a favourite nephew, continuing her lifelong bond with housekeeper Ladjane (Coleto) and enjoying her extensive, eclectic music collection. All of this meanders a bit, and the final act feels both heavy-handed and oddly unfinished. But watching Braga is sheer joy.

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Jane

dir-scr Brett Morgen; with Jane Goodall, Hugo van Lawick 17/US ***.

Using a treasure trove of unseen footage from the early 1960s, this documentary traces the life and pioneering work of Jane Goodall. It's fascinating to watch her as an untrained 26-year-old head into the wilds of Tanzania with only her innate curiosity and patience to work with. She was specifically selected for those qualities - and for her lack of scientific education - and as a result her observations of chimpanzees told the world things no one ever knew, in the process changing the definition of what it means to be human. This may not be a particularly original observation, but filmmaker Brett Morgan assembles this doc beautifully, making the most of the footage skilfully shot by Goodall's husband Hugo van Lawick. And since it's narrated by the luminous 83-year-old Goodall herself, it's full of pointed personal commentary. Her life journey is moving and important.

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The Work

dir Jairus McLeary, Gethin Aldous; with Brian, Charles, Dark Cloud 17/US ***.

There's rather a lot of navel gazing in this involving documentary about a group of men working through their deep-seated issues in a California prison support group. Intriguingly, the film follows several non-inmates as they join the prisoners in Folsom and find themselves right in the middle of the cathartic experience. All of these men have serious issues with their fathers, expressed through their lives in a variety of ways. And how they confront them varies from man to man, sometimes through baring the soul and sometimes through making the struggle a physical one. Each of them is in tears at some point. It's all rather intense, and extremely over-serious. But it's also a remarkably honest look at the way masculinity is expressed in American culture. And it's shot in a strikingly observational way that gets very, very personal. It's a view of male identity that's rarely if ever seen on-screen.

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I also watched the superb Irish drama Sanctuary and the acclaimed German thriller In the Fade starring Diane Kruger, as well as a couple of Christmas films, including the Victoria Christmas movie, Sarah Jessica Parker in The Family Stone (2005) and Jodie Foster's Home for the Holidays (1995), which I'd never seen before.

And there are a few more films I need to see this coming week, before the final round of voting in a couple of awards, and also just to wrap up my year - things like Angelina Jolie's First They Killed My Father and the British dramas Lies We Tell and Journey's End. If I have time....

Critical Week: Say your prayers

As another heatwave settles in over London, I had two film-free days this week. First was the baseball event in Hyde Park (see the post below), and the other was the Critics' Circle annual summer party on the gorgeous roof terrace at Picturehouse Central. As for films, I really enjoyed Sofia Coppola's remake of The Beguiled, but then I love her loose filmmaking style and the way she lets her actors bring out unexpected depths of character. At the other end of the cinematic spectrum, the franchise continues with Cars 3, the fifth (don't forget the Planes movies) in the series about a world populated by vehicles but not humans. The set-up is just as odd, but the movie has an earthy simplicity to it.

Much more offbeat, Bong Joon Ho's Okja is a witty, involving action adventure with very dark themes about globalisation and sharp performances from Tilda Swinton (times two), Jake Gyllenhaal and Paul Dano. Also worth a look is It Comes at Night, an inventively complex horror movie starring Joel Edgerton. It's set after some kind of undefined apocalypse but heavily reminiscent of the world today. Hickok is a cheesy Western tracing the story of the iconic historical figure, nicely played by a beefy Luke Hemsworth. And Do You Take This Man is another thoughtful drama starring Anthony Rapp, set around a pre-wedding dinner at which the usual personal issues are brought to the surface.

This coming week, screenings include Terrence Malick's Song to Song, Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke in Maudie, the Aussie sequel A Few Less Men, the horror thriller Killing Ground and the fact-based drama Dark Night.

Critical Week: Mr Cool

Don Cheadle's passion project Miles Ahead was screened to UK critics just as it was released in the US. It's a strikingly impressionistic biopic, avoiding the usual structure for a more kaleidoscopic approach that's visually impressive and emotionally tricky. Natalie Portman is terrifically steely in the Western Jane Got a Gun, which kind of loses track of its characters as it becomes more focussed on the action violence. Oddly, both films costar Ewan McGregor.

Also this week, Kevin Costner stars in Criminal, a fiendishly entertaining bit of high-concept action set in London. Rebecca Ferguson is solid in two roles in the rather moody Cold War romance Despite the Falling Snow. And Nicolaj Lie Kaas and Fares Fares are back for another cold case in the astutely well-made if oddly un-resonant The Absent One.

Even more interesting was the lunch I attended on Thursday at which the Critics' Circle presented Maggie Smith with our annual award for Services to the Arts, voted on by all six sections of the circle (film, theatre, music, dance, art, books). It was a lively event, and a very rare chance to hang out with the national treasure that is Dame Maggie, who was on great form. Alas, I didn't get up the nerve to tell her that I first saw her in person on-stage at a taping of The Carol Burnett Show when I was only 13!

Coming up this week: Disney's live-action remake of The Jungle Book, the British thriller Hard Tide, the British comedy Adult Life Skills, Peter Greenaway's Eisenstein at Guanjuato, the Bollywood blockbuster Fan and the American politician documentary Weiner.

Critical Week: The silence of the lambs

Well, it's that time of year: school holidays are coming, so adult critics are made to sit through screenings packed with sugar-infused children. Best of the lot this past week was the Shaun the Sheep Movie, an utterly charming silent stop-motion adventure based on the Wallace & Gromit spin-off TV series. We also had the sequel Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and the musical remake Annie, both of which have their moments but never quite become anything special.

We also caught up with awards contenders including the sensitive drama Still Alice, featuring a staggering performance from Julianne Moore (she's almost certain to win the Oscar) as a woman with early onset Alzheimer's. And two documentaries managed to scoop nominations in the London Critics' Circle Film Awards, the event I chair which announced its nominees today: Citizenfour is the important and gripping story of Edward Snowden, while Manakamana observes life in Nepal with an unblinking eye and a witty smirk. And Wild Tales is Argentina's entry for the foreign-language Oscar, a nerve-rattling black-comedy anthology with six stories of people who stop playing nice.

And then there was Ridley Scott's ambitious Exodus: Gods and Kings, which retells the Ten Commandments story with less emotional resonance but much more impressive visuals. Dumb and Dumber To reunites Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels 20 years later for even more idiotic mayhem, if that's possible (surprisingly, it is). And Wasp is a very clever low-budget British drama about three people on rather overcrowded romantic holiday in the South of France.

Screenings will slow down now for the holidays, but I have several discs to watch - I definitely want to catch up with the only film nominated for a Critics' Circle award that I haven't yet seen: Hitchcock's lost WWII documentary Night Will Fall. And I also have a screening of the Simon Pegg rom-com Man Up. But my main job is to prepare those year-end best and worst lists ... watch this space!