Critical Week: Here kitty kitty

With the summer blockbuster season now winding down, films screened this week have been a little less mainstream. First, there was the Australian horror thriller Bring Her Back, which stars Sally Hawkins as a foster mother with terrifyingly grisly intentions (pictured are Jonah Wren Phillips with the cat Junkman). It's extremely violent rather than suspenseful, skilfully made by the Philippou brothers to make the audience squirm. And then there's Oh, Hi!, a very dark spin on the romantic comedy starring Logan Lerman and Molly Gordon. It's funny, sexy and surprisingly nasty too.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
2000 Meters to Andriivka
The Naked Gun • Late Shift
Dreams • The Bad Guys 2
ALL REVIEWS >

Even further afield, there was the British drama The Ceremony, which follows two immigrant workers on a mission into the wintry, rainy Yorkshire moors, beautifully shot in black and white with an edgy and somewhat elusive story. Young Hearts is a seriously charming coming-of-age story from Belgium, using a youthful point of view to explore both first love and endemic prejudice. The final chapter of the Oslo Stories Trilogy is Sex, which is a conversation-based drama full of naturalistic performances and pointed insights into connections. And the documentary 2000 Meters to Andriivka, by Oscar-winner Mstyslav Chernov, is a stunner, embedding the audience with a group of young soldiers who are fighting Russians in the Ukraine. It's essential viewing. I also attended the world premiere of the second season of the Netflix show Wednesday, a lavish event attended by Tim Burton, the creators and the entire cast (Insta post below).

This coming week I'll be watching Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in Freakier Friday, Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson in the action comedy The Pickup, the horror thriller Weapons, French comedy Les Musiciens, the naturalistic Bambi: A Tale of Life in the Woods, and a live performance of Lost Watches at Park Theatre.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rich Jack Cline (@ukcline)

Critical Week: Everybody wants to rule the world

While the television is covered with major sporting events at the moment, the gloomy weather is driving people into the cinemas. And there are plenty of things worth seeing. As usual, I'm a bit ahead of the pack on many of the films I saw this week. But I never heard about a press screening for Despicable Me 4, so I bought a ticket and was happy to find it the best in the franchise so far. It's still fast and blissfully nutty, but there's a smart edge to it this time. I also caught the British animated adventure Kensuke's Kingdom, based on the beloved Michael Morpugo novel about a young boy stranded on an almost deserted island. It's beautifully designed and well-written.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Sisi & I • Problemista
Despicable Me 4
Fly Me to the Moon
ALL REVIEWS >

In live-action, there was Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum subtly falling for each other in the Apollo 11 comedy-drama Fly Me to the Moon, which is colourful and very charming. Jacques Audiard's new film Emilia Perez won multiple prizes at Cannes, notably for the staggering central performances in a bold, moving story about violence and transformation. Sandra Huller is as terrific as always in Sisi & I, as the handmaiden to the Austrian empress; the film is witty, inventive and involving. The Korean horror Sleep begins as a sharply well-made light drama about sleep-walking before turning genuinely freaky. And from Iran, My Favourite Cake is a warm and hugely involving late-in-life romance with a big emotional kick. On stage, I attended the opening cabaret of this month's London Clown Festival at Soho Theatre and Dorian: The Musical at Southwark Playhouse.

This coming week I'll be watching Glen Powell in Twisters, Saoirse Ronan in The Outrun, June Squibb in Thelma and the British drama Chuck Chuck Baby, plus two stage shows: National Youth Dance Company at Sadler's Wells and more of Jack Tucker at Soho Theatre.

LFF: At the movies

Big movies continue to come fast and loose at the 65th BFI London Film Festival, including a couple of films that weren't announced much at all. George Clooney came along for the premiere of his new film The Tender Bar, and the new Joaquin Phoenix drama C'mon C'mon was last night's Surprise Film. Alas I didn't see either one, and will be waiting for regular press screenings in due course. In the mean time, this is what I've been watching...

Belfast
dir-scr Kenneth Branagh; with Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan 21/UK ****
Kenneth Branagh returns to his hometown to write and direct a warmly involving autobiographical tale about growing up during the Troubles in the late 1960s. The story strikes a nice balance as more of a nostalgic ode to his parents than a dark political drama. The setting adds edge, and gives the strong cast some terrific scenes to play, but what lingers is the warm family connection.

The Phantom of the Open
dir Craig Roberts; with Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins 21/UK ***.
A likeable crowd-pleaser, this lively British comedy recounts a true story with style. It's the iconic tale of Maurice Flitcroft, who blagged his way into the British Open despite never having played a round of golf. The story's appeal is that it really happened, and the characters spring to life in Craig Roberts' inventive direction. And it's a punchy reminder sieze every opportunity to chase your dreams.

Inexorable
dir Fabrice du Welz; with Benoit Poelvoorde, Melanie Doutey 21/Bel ***.
There's quietly gnawing suspense from the opening shots of this Belgian drama, which slides from earthy realism into full-on horror before its time is up. Director Fabrice du Welz creates a superbly queasy atmosphere, drawing us in with likeable characters and hints of mystery long before revealing any secrets. So even if it feels superficial, the film is a skilful merging of revenge fantasy with haunted house nastiness.

Hit the Road
dir-scr Panah Panahi; with Hassan Madjooni, Pantea Panahiha 21/Irn ****
Despite its sparky sense of humour, a sharp melancholy underscores this Iranian road movie. Writer-director Panah Panahi (son of auteur Jafar) takes the audience on a trip that feels both boisterously rambunctious and darkly momentous at the same time. The four family members stuck together in this car are each revealed to be complex, observant and deeply emotional, even as they maintain their ability to make each other laugh.

Full reviews of festival films will be published as possible and linked at Shadows' LFF HOMEPAGE 
For full information, visit BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 

LFF: Queen of hearts

It's only day two but I'm already feeling a bit worn out by the 65th London Film Festival, and I'm blaming it on these super-early screenings. While most of the year morning movies start around 10.30am, during the festival it's 8am, which is perhaps a bit early for something violent or sexual, or indeed violently sexual. But we're trained professionals, so we persevere. Alas, limited capacity means that even arriving 45 minutes early was no guarantee of getting in, and I spent more time waiting in queues today than actually seeing films. And I was actually on the red carpet tonight with Kristen Stewart, briefly. Here are highlights from inside the cinemas...

Spencer
dir Pablo Larrain; with Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall 21/Ger ***.
Taking an inventive, ambitious approach to a familiar story, writer Steven Knight and director Pablo Larrain elicit resonant emotions over a few days in the life of Princess Diana. Calling this "a fable from a true tragedy", the film uses surreal touches to get deep under the surface of events depicted. This adds humour, melodrama and even horror, while pulling us down into the rabbit hole.

Red Rocket
dir Sean Baker; with Simon Rex, Bree Elrod 21/US ***.
Pushing his loose, improvisational filmmaking style in a new direction, filmmaker Sean Baker combines comedy with a hint of a thriller for this engagingly unhinged exploration of masculinity and ambition. It helps that the lead character is such a likeable loser, because as he ricochets from one potential crisis to another, we find it eerily easy to identify with him. And the setting becomes another character in the story.

Bergman Island
dir-scr Mia Hansen-Love; with Vicky Krieps, Tim Roth 21/Swe ***.
A textured look at the nature of relationships that's played as a warm homage to all things Ingmar Bergman, this multi-layered drama isn't quite as grim as you'd expect it to be. Writer-directer tinges the story's knowingly sad angles with glimpses of hope and even happiness. This is a provocative depiction of the challenge of balancing a connection with deeper, lingering feelings. And it's gorgeously shot in striking locations.

Cop Secret [Leynilögga]
dir Hannes Thor Halldorsson; with Audunn Blondal, Egill Einarsson 21/Ice ****
Wild and loose, this punchy 1970s-style police thriller from Iceland starts with a bang and never lets up. Hilariously over the top, the film gleefully deploys the tough-guy genre cliches. The film is entertaining both for its gritty crime action and the way it makes the usual homoerotic subtext in a buddy movie much more central to the narrative. But can the nation's toughest cop admit that he's gay?

Full reviews of festival films will be posted when possible and linked at Shadows' LFF HOMEPAGE  
For full information, visit BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 

Critical week: The artistic process

As Britain begins to lock down again to weaken a second wave, I had one in-cinema screening this week, and also one live (outdoor) theatre performance. Otherwise, my life continues to be online. There were two special press screenings on Netflix sponsored by the American Film Institute, with added Q&As after the films. Over the Moon (pictured) is an animated adventure with a Chinese setting, gorgeously designed and unusually imaginative. The Q&A featured director Glen Keane and actors Ken Jeong and Cathy Ang. The Boys in the Band is a remake based on the landmark 1968 play, a superbly observed black comedy set in the New York gay subculture with an excellent all-star cast, all of whom participated in an unusually raucous Q&A, including Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells and Matt Bomer.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Boys in the Band • The Glorias
Summer of 85 • Eternal Beauty
FULL REVIEWS >

This week's other big-name movie was Julie Taymor's insightful and bracingly original biopic The Glorias, starring Julianne Moore and Alicia Vikander (and two others) as Gloria Steinem at two points in her life. Sally Hawkins stars in Eternal Beauty, an offbeat drama about life trauma that's cleverly written and directed by actor Craig Roberts. And my one real press screening was for the Irish drama Herself, which features a superb central performance by cowriter Clare Dunne as a single mother pressured from all sides.

There were two funny-creepy independent black comedies: Scare Me, in which the terrific Aya Cash (see the current season of The Boys) and actor-filmmaker Josh Ruben try to terrify each other, and Say Your Prayers, in which two hapless religious siblings botch a hit on an atheist. And there were also two docs: the insightful I Am Greta offers a remarkably detailed portrait of climate activist Greta Thunberg, while The Painter and the Thief beautifully chronicles the unusual relationship between an artist and the junkie who stole her paintings.

Films this coming week include Robert De Niro in The War With Grandpa, as well as Making Tracks, From the Vine, The Wanderings of Ivan and Song Lang. And virtual press screenings begin for the London Film Festival as well, so I already have several in the diary, including the opening film, Steve McQueen's Mangrove, plus Riz Ahmed in Mogul Mowgli, Evan Rachel Wood in Kajillionaire, the horror hit Relic, Honeymood, Siberia and I Am Samuel.

Critical Week: You better not pout

It seems rather early, but the holidays kicked off this week with the first festive movie, A Bad Moms Christmas, a sequel to last year's sweetly gross-out comedy with added grandmothers. More of the same, it's kind of the definition of mindless entertainment. There was also a press screening for Paddington 2, which might actually be better than the wonderful original film. It's a pure delight, a great story with superb characters and a range of silly, surreal and razor-sharp comedy.

And I can't remember the last time I was invited to attend a premiere, but tonight I was at the Royal Albert Hall for the world premiere of Kenneth Branagh's remake of the Agatha Christie classic Murder on the Orient Express. It's a big, classy whodunit with a nice mix of comedy and emotion stirred in to add weight to the characters. The entire cast was at the premiere, including Branagh, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penelope Cruz, Daisy Ridley, Olivia Colman, Josh Gad, Willem Dafoe and Derek Jacobi.

There was also a spin on the zombie genre with the raucous office block black comedy Mayhem, as well as the remarkably straight-faced B-movie style bigfoot thriller Sightings. Plus two foreign films: the involving, mesmerising thriller Thelma from Norway and the movingly personal drama Santa and Andres from Cuba. And two docs: 78/52 gets into lots of enjoyable detail about how Hitchcock created that iconic shower scene, while The Freedom to Marry explores the activists at the centre of the Supreme Court's decision on marriage equality.

This coming week we have screenings of Josh Brolin in Only the Brave, Colin Firth in The Mercy, Richard Gere in The Dinner, Jon Bernthal in Sweet Virginia, Lee Pace in Revolt and Virginia Madsen in Better Watch Out.

LFF: Have a chat on Day 7

OK, this is the point in a film festival when a critic's brain begins to turn to mush, unable to remember what he saw today, let alone what's in the diary for tomorrow. I'm sure the 61st London Film Festival is a starry parade of red carpet premieres and glamorous parties somewhere, but for me it's an endless stream of press screenings. Well, I shouldn't complain too much, today there were two receptions involving free wine and canapes. So at least I'm feeling fed and watered. Some more highlights...

The Party
dir-scr Sally Potter; with Kristin Scott Thomas, Patricia Clarkson 17/UK ****
A pitch-black comedy packed with equal measures of awkward irony and brittle tragedy, Sally Potter's offbeat film is like a stage play filmed for the big screen. Photographed in black and white with expressionistic lighting and editing that makes it feel almost like a feature-length Twilight Zone episode, it's a rampaging trawl through politics and social connections. It's also deceptively light, but carries a piercing sting... FULL REVIEW >

The Shape of Water 
dir Guillermo del Toro; with Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins 17/US ****
Guillermo del Toro lets his imagination run wild with this engaging and also rather dark romantic adventure. It's a riot of clever production design, witty dialog and heartfelt emotion that carries the audience on a journey along with the vivid characters. The whimsical family-movie tone sits a bit oddly alongside the film's resolutely adult-oriented touches, but for grown-ups this is a fairy tale full of wonder... FULL REVIEW >

6 Days
dir Toa Fraser; with Mark Strong, Jamie Bell 17/UK ***
Muscular direction and an insistent tone maintain a sense of urgency all the way through this fact-based account of a terrorist siege. The quality of the production is very high indeed, although the somewhat on-the-nose screenplay and a pulsing musical score leave this feeling more like a quickly produced TV movie than something 35 years in the works. Still, it's a fascinating account that builds to a superbly staged finale... FULL REVIEW >

Foxtrot
dir-scr Samuel Maoz; with Lior Ashkenazi, Sarah Adler 17/Isr ****
Israeli filmmaker Samuel Maoz takes an audacious journey into grief and guilt in a drama that's made unsettling by the inclusion of sardonic wit, surrealism and dark irony. With characters who are strikingly well-played, travelling through this gorgeously photographed narrative is like taking an epic voyage into the neglected corners of your soul... FULL REVIEW >

I Am Not a Witch
dir-scr Rungano Nyoni; with Margaret Mulubwa, Henry BJ Phiri 17/UK ****
A fascinating mix of allegory and satire, this offbeat tale from rural Zambia is packed with wonderful characters and surreal touches. It's a story about a group of women who are marginalised as witches and treated with voyeuristic reverence. With her feature debut, writer-director Rungano Nyoni has created a marvellous movie that might not always be easy to watch, but it sparks with artistry and originality.

The Wound [Inxeba]
dir John Trengove; with Nakhane Toure, Bongile Mantsai 17/SA ****
A finely observed drama from South Africa, produced with sometimes startling honesty as it depicts ukwaluka, the Xhosa rite of passage into manhood. The film is a bracing depiction of a tribal tradition in modern times, packed with vivid characters who are grappling with a range of big questions. What emerges is a striking depiction of masculinity that transcends cultures.

Venezia74: Come swim with me on Day 2

It's hot and sticky in Venice at the moment, and the forecast is for thunderstorms over the next few days. Still hot and sticky, but extra wet. And hopefully not flu-inducing as I dart in and out of air conditioned screening rooms. Here's what I saw on Thursday...

The Shape of Water
dir Guillermo del Toro; with Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins 17/US ****
Guillermo del Toro lets his imagination run wild with this engaging and also rather dark romantic adventure. It's a riot of clever production design, witty dialog and heartfelt emotion that carries the audience on a journey along with the vivid characters. The whimsical family-movie tone sits a bit oddly alongside the film's resolutely adult-oriented touches, but for grown-ups this is a fairy tale full of wonder.

Zama
dir-scr Lucrecia Martel; with Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Lola Duenas 17/Arg **.
This is a fairly difficult movie even by the standards of adventurous Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel. An existential odyssey based on the 1956 novel by Antonio Di Benedetto, it simply refuses to coalesce into any kind of sensible narrative as the title character's life becomes a swirling nightmare of bureaucracy and cross-cultural messiness. And that's actually the point. At least it's fascinating, beautifully shot and acted, and packed with witty satire.

The Insult
dir Ziad Doueiri; with Adel Karam, Kamel El Basha 17/Leb ***
A terrific personal Lebanese drama is somewhat swamped by much bigger issues, as filmmaker Ziad Doueiri floods the story with the complexities of the nation's history and politics. Everything in this film is important, but when they're all overlaid on top of a courtroom drama, it tips the balance away from the more resonant story of two men having a face-off over a deeply personal clash.

Human Flow
dir Ai Weiwei; with Ai Weiwei, Boris Cheshirkov 17/Ger ***.
At an epic two and a half hours, this documentary is a little exhausting to sit through. But the topic is hugely compelling for anyone who feels compassion about other people. It's a film about refugees, and Chinese artist Ai Weiwei cleverly uses a variety of cameras to visit camps around the world, capturing both the individual impact in specific stories and the global scale as millions are displaced around the world. Even without using voiceover narration, the amount of information in here is astonishing.

> Tomorrow's screening schedule includes Jane Fonda and Robert Redford in Our Souls at Night, Vince Vaughn in Brawl in Cell Block 99, Andrew Haigh's Lean on Pete and Samuel Maoz's Foxtrot.

Critical Week: What big hair you have!

A rather vicious bout with food poisoning derailed a few film screenings for me this week, leaving me feeling a bit like the Sun King on his deathbed in The Death of Louis XIV, an achingly slow-moving but mesmerising 18th century drama by Albert Serra. It also has a surprising underlying sense of humour to it, plus a lovely performance from Jean-Pierre Leaud. Terrence Malick's Song to Song is another gorgeous collage of a movie with a plot that was slightly less defiantly elusive than his more recent movies. It also has striking performances from Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchet and more. And Maudie is the warm true story of Nova Scotia painter Maud Lewis, sometimes a bit too quirky and quaint for its own good, but Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke add nice textures to their offbeat roles. And then there was this one...

---

A Few Less Men
dir Mark Lamprell; scr Dean Craig; with Xavier Samuel, Kris Marshall, Kevin Bishop, Ryan Corr 17/Aus *
Screenwriter Dean Craig's 2012 comedy A Few Best Men was painfully unfunny, only livened up by Stephan Elliot's subversive direction. No one expected a sequel. But here it is, and the three returning actors at least dive in with gusto. Even so, Craig's script is even more unbearably inane this time, proving that comedies need gags that have something to do with characters or situations. Here, the jokes are random, usually extended set-pieces involving death and/or bodily functions, all with a vile homophobic undertone. And the plot simply makes no sense. It starts where the first film ended, after the wedding of sensible nice-guy David (Samuel), whose idiotic and unlikely English buddies (Marshall and Bishop) are coping with the death of a friend. The hijinks ensue as they try to get the body back to London so camp mobster Henry (Corr) can bury his brother. But they crash-land their private jet and end up carrying the coffin across the Outback on a single day that would need to have about 72 hours in it (Henry flies from London to meet them in Perth while the sun is still in the sky). The actors just about emerge with their dignity intact, simply by never acknowledging how bone-chillingly awful this movie is. There are welcome antics from scene-stealers like Lynette Curran, Deborah Mailman, Shane Jacobson and Sacha Horler. And the closing credits outtakes at least hint they had some fun making it.

---

This coming week we have Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, Luc Besson's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, the animated antics of Captain Underpants, the Morrissey biopic England Is Mine and the cleverly titled heist thriller The Vault.