Critical Week: Watch out

There were a range of more offbeat movies to watch this week, which always makes this job a bit more fun. Not a blockbuster in sight! Furthest afield was the Belgian-Congolese odyssey Omen, a powerful exploration of identity with terrific characters and colourful settings. From Ireland, All You Need Is Death is a delightfully unnerving folk horror about a cursed song. And from Japan, Spy x Family Code: White is frankly bonkers animation (a feature expanded from the Netflix series) about a assembled family made up of a spy, an assassin, a telepath and a dog who can see the future. Jaw-droppingly hilarious.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Close Your Eyes • Opponent
The Teachers' Lounge • Omen
Since the Last Time We Met
ALL REVIEWS >

Back to more mainstream fare, we had the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black, a strongly well-made if incomplete film anchored by a tremendous performance by Marisa Abela. I loved The Book of Clarence, an uneven biblical comedy-drama that's both silly and earnest, but works thanks to LaKeith Stanfield. And then there was Liuben is an awkwardly dubbed Spanish-Bulgarian drama with a strong story about a repressive society. And the delightful Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces engagingly traces the comedian's life from stand-up to movie stardom and beyond.

I also watched three films from Argentina: Close Your Eyes is an epic-length mystery that makes the most of its extended running time with an attention to character and detail; Since the Last Time We Met is a remarkably sensitive look at a rekindled relationship; and Carnal Sins is a clever, beautifully made folk horror about a monster in the woods. 

This coming week I'll be watching Zendaya in Challengers, Johnny Depp in Jeanne du Barry, Matthew Modine in Hard Miles, the Canadian romcom The Nature of Love, Mexican drama All the Fires, the mock-doc Swede Caroline and the final compilation in the series Boys on Film 24: Happy Endings.

Critical Week: Scary movies

It's been a busy week at the movies for me, even if the cinemas are a bit hit and miss at the moment, with a bunch of releases that look unlikely to threaten Barbie's dominance of the box office. I finally caufht up with Disney's remake of Haunted Mansion, which is as much of a limp mess as the 2003 film was, abandoning characters for corny references and mindless action. Much better was Aporia starring Judy Greer, an inventive and involving time-bending drama with no special effects at all. I also enjoyed Ben Kingsley teaming up with Jane Curtin and Harriet Sansom Harris in the stranded-alien caper Jules, which is simple and charming.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Red, White & Royal Blue
Aporia • Dreamin' Wild
L'Immensita • Medusa Deluxe
PERHAPS AVOID:
Haunted Mansion
REVIEWS >

A bit further afield was the gorgeous stop-motion animation in The Inventor, which recounts the story of Leonardo da Vinci with wit and colour. Lucy Hale and Grant Gustin star in the cute romcom Puppy Love, which is fine for those looking for something unsurprising. Jeremy Allen White is terrific in a supporting role in Fremont, a clever and very quirky arthouse movie about Afghan immigrants. The superb Japanese drama Love Life remains remarkably sunny as it explores some very dark themes. And the Romanian drama RMN takes no prisoners in its exploration of xenophobia in a rural community.

This coming week I'll be up in Edinburgh watching shows at the Fringe and covering them here. I also have a couple of films to catch up on if there's time. I also hope to reattend the new staging of La Cage Aux Folles at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, as the press night was rained out after about an hour of the show on Tuesday.

LFF: Feeling festive

The 65th London Film Festival launched on Wednesday evening with a gala screening of The Harder They Fall at a grand new venue, the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank (critics watched the film there very early in the morning). The festival still has some online elements, but is largely back in-person this year, with a full schedule of press screenings that's keeping me busy. As usual for journalists attending, this feels less like a film festival than a lot of standing in long lines to get into screenings. But it's a terrific season of top titles from the past year's leading festivals - with only a few exceptions, all of the most prominent movies from Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Toronto and New York are showing here. So I have a lot of great films to look forward to over the next 10 days. Here are some highlights from the first few days, followed by my usual weekly roundup...

Belle
dir-scr Mamoru Hosoda; voices Kaho Nakamura, Ryo Narita 21.Jpn ****
A spectacularly animated riff on Beauty and the Beast, this Japanese drama layers in social media themes with complex explorations of pungent issues like grief and child abuse. It's a fascinating approach to a story that's packed with surprises, even as it sometimes feels wildly over-emotional or somewhat gimmicky. Filmmaker Mamoru Hosada (see Mirai) is skilled at maintaining perspective to tell a story that's vividly visual and hauntingly resonant... FULL REVIEW >

The Harder They Fall
dir Jeymes Samuel; with Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors 21/US ***.
Loud, stylised and loaded with attitude, this action Western pits two gangs of outlaws against each other in a violent series of gun and fist fights. Essentially a blood-splattered fantasy, the film has deeper resonance in its themes, while filmmaker Jeymes Samuel puts the focus on the snappy carnage. It's all strikingly well-staged with a powerful ensemble cast, but the mayhem almost drowns out the story's subtler meaning... FULL REVIEW >

The Feast
dir Lee Haven Jones; with Annes Elwy, Nia Roberts 21/UK ****
Strikingly directed by Lee Haven Jones, this Welsh drama has a blackly comical surface with churning folk-tale horror elements underneath it. And Roger Williams' script taps into some very deep ideas along the way, including a wider resonance that relates to the impact greedy humans have had on the planet. It's a gripping, grisly, remarkably assured feature debut for Jones, and it carries a vicious kick.

Compartment No 6 [Hytti Nro 6]
dir Juho Kuosmanen; with Seidi Haarla, Yuriy Borisov 21/Fin ****
A celebration of brief connections that can change a life, this offbeat Finnish comedy-drama is set on a long Russian train journey. But it isn't the typical road movie that it seems to be, about a budding romance or friendship; it's a more nuanced exploration of self-discovery. Filmmaker Juho Kuosmanen has a terrific eye for detail, both in people and places, so the story reverberates with witty real-life touches... FULL REVIEW >

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C R I T I C A L   W E E K

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
No Time to Die
Knocking • Pier Kids
PERHAPS AVOID:
John and the Hole
ALL REVIEWS >

Among the films I saw this week are Wes Anderson's delightful new ensemble comedy The French Dispatch, Ridley Scott's punchy epic 14th century morality drama The Last Duel, Joanna Hogg's audacious autobiographical sequel The Souvenir Part II and the adaptation of the darkly moving hit stage musical Dear Evan Hansen. There was also the warm but cliched drama South of Heaven with a superb Jason Sudeikis,  the shot-for-shot cartoon remake Night of the Animated Dead, which doesn't add much to the original, and the astute street-life documentary Pier Kids.

Films next week are almost all LFF titles, although many will soon hit cinemas as well, including Spencer, Ron's Gone Wrong, Last Night in Soho, The Lost Daughter and Belfast. I'll also catch up with Venom: Let There Be Carnage, On the Fringe of Wild and Night Drive, which open next week.

Critical Week: Reject oppression

It's been a busy week for me, as I chair the London Film Critics, and we announced our nominations on Tuesday.  Meanwhile, I keep watching movies in lockdown, all send virtually through a variety of streaming systems, usually with my name and/or email address watermarked across the screen (which can sometimes be distracting). There were a few heavy-hitters this week, including the great Daniel Kaluuya in the ripping true drama Judas and the Black Messiah, about the political machinations within the Chicago chapter of the Black Panthers in 1968. Oscar powerhouses Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto lend their considerable skills to the rather straightforward serial killer thriller The Little Things. And John David Washington and Zendaya have an extended tense conversation in the stylish and fascinating stage-like drama Malcolm & Marie.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
MLK/FBI • Blithe Spirit
Boys Feels: High Tide 
ALL REVIEWS >

Smaller films included the warm comedy-drama Love Sarah, starring Celia Imrie and a lot of delicious baked goods. The superb Shahab Hosseini stars in The Night, about an immigrant family that checks into a freak-out hotel. The surreal Greek drama Apples is about a world inflicted by a pandemic that causes amnesia, and the story is packed with clever insight. There were two award-worthy docs: The Truffle Hunters is the utterly delightful story of the old Italians who guard their old world profession, while MLK/FBI is a blood-boiling look at how J Edgar Hoover ruthlessly harassed Martin Luther King and smeared his name in the 1960s. Finally, there was a collection of four short films in Boys Feels: High Tide - each of them is an astute look at youthful yearning.

This coming week I'll be watching Anthony Mackie in Outside the Wire, the Indian biopic The White Tiger, Nahuel Perez Biscayart in Persian Lessons, the Danish thriller The Exception and still more awards contenders.

Critical Week: Stay alert

I've now passed eight weeks of lockdown (the first 10 days were in California), and while watching streaming movies is keeping me busy, I'm getting increasingly bored being stuck at home, staying safe and well even as I'm increasingly suspicious of my hay fever symptoms. Like everyone, I've filled time by going out for the occasional walk, taking on some cooking challenges and binge-watching TV shows. But we're here to talk about the films, and some of these felt like work...

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Socrates • Empathy, Inc.
PERHAPS AVOID:
The Wrong Missy • Redcon-1

David Spade and Lauren Lapkus (above) star in the stupid comedy The Wrong Missy, which has some amusing moments but no actual laughs. Woody Allen's likeable but uneven new comedy-drama A Rainy Day in New York stars Timothee Chalamet and Elle Fanning as a young couple who take separate odysseys leading to superficial self-discovery. Tom Hardy gives a fearsome performance in Capone, as the iconic gangster loses his mind in the last year of his life.

Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield star in the slow and rather thin, but beautifully shot romance The Photograph. Simon Bird's British comedy Days of the Bagnold Summer is wry and endearing, anchored by the superb Monica Dolan and Earl Cave, plus some starry scene-stealing cameos. And Imogen Poots and Alex Wolff lead the mopey, moody drug-addiction drama Castle in the Ground.

The powerful drama Never Rarely Sometimes Always takes on big issues with earthy, provocative honesty. From Italy, Fairytale is a pastiche candy-coloured comedy with a dark kick to it. And New French Shorts 2020 is a strong collection of seven mini-dramas that won acclaim at festivals over the past year.

There's another random collection of streaming movies to watch this coming week, including Nicholas Hoult in Rebel in the Rye, the animated comedy Scoob!, the apocalyptic thriller Edge of Extinction, the Spanish comedy I Love You Stupid, the Mexican drama I'm No Longer Here, the Icelandic comedy The County and the narrative doc The Painter and the Thief.

See the website for FULL REVIEWS

Sundance London: Do the right thing

The fifth Sundance Film Festival: London kicks off tonight at Picturehouse Central, and the next four days will feature 14 feature films and 15 shorts, plus some revived classics. It's a great chance to see movies that are just a bit off the beaten path and then mix with the filmmakers and cast members too - and Picturehouse is a great place to hang out! Here are my comments on four films, with more to come over the weekend...

Crown Heights
dir-scr Matt Ruskin; with Lakeith Stanfield (pictured above), Nnamdi Asomugha 17/US ***
A powerful true story is recounted skilfully as this drama spans 21 years in the life of a man wrongfully accused of murder. Writer-director Matt Ruskin has several urgent things to say about the American judicial system, although his approach chronicles the events like a well-made TV docudrama rather than building a proper cinematic narrative arc. This leaves us feeling informed but not hugely involved, but it's essential that this story is told.

The Big Sick
dir Michael Showalter; with Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan 17/US ****
With a network of complex, realistic relationships, each with its own trajectory, this film feels rather long and somewhat tonally jarring for a comedy. It veers from snarky humour to giggly romance to some very bleak emotions as it goes along, but the themes it explores are powerfully resonant. And they give the film a surprising kick that echoes long after the credits roll.

Marjorie Prime
dir-scr Michael Almereyda; with Lois Smith, Jon Hamm 17/US ****
A rather talky script and lofty themes make it obvious that this film was adapted from a stage play (the playwright is Jordan Harrison). It's the kind of movie that holds the attention simply because it touches on so many big ideas in ways that spark thought. It's too brainy to be emotionally involving, but it's a bracing exploration of memory that carries a real wallop. It might even change the way you define your relationships.

Bushwick
dir Cary Murnion, Jonathan Milott; with Dave Bautista, Brittany Snow 17/US 1h34 **.
This busy thriller unfolds in unexpected ways as it propels us along with the characters through an inventive premise. But it's all a bit haphazard, with uneven writing and acting and a gnawing sense that there isn't much of a point to all the carnage. Still, it's a ripping little action movie that refuses to let its low-key production values get in the way of its big ambitions.

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CRITICAL WEEK
The only non-festival movie I've seen in the past week is Wonder Woman, which I really loved despite the too-digital climax. Sundance London continues over the weekend (watch for more updates here and full reviews on the site). Screenings coming up next week include the Tupac biopic All Eyez on Me and Tom Cruise's The Mummy reboot.