Critical Week: Duelling divas

Two of the biggest movies this week were released online, so I watched them in my heatwave-warmed home rather than a nicely air conditioned cinema. Charlize Theron takes on a villainous Uma Thurman in The Old Guard 2, a sleek sequel that carries on the saga of a team of immortal mercenaries. But it bogs down in the mythology before a cliffhanger ending. Much stupider, and therefore a lot more fun, is Heads of State, starring John Cena and Idris Elba as bickering leaders of the US and UK forced to work together to save Nato. The starry supporting cast includes a scene-stealing Jack Quaid and hilariously sparky Priyanka Chopra Jonas.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Heads of State
Jurassic World: Rebirth
ALL REVIEWS >

David Cronenberg's dark mystery The Shrouds is packed with intriguing ideas and striking imagery, plus churning performances by Vincent Cassel and Diane Kruger. It's also gets more enigmatic as it goes along. And Sam Riley is terrific as a scruffy surfer-like tennis pro in Islands, a provocative drama that inventively subverts its thriller-like plot and characters who never speak the whole truth. All in gorgeous Canary Islands locations. I also caught a couple of live shows: my favourite-ever Edinburgh Fringe act triumphantly hit London for one night only with Otto & Astrid: The Stages Tour at Jackson's Lane, and another iconic duo returned to London after 17 long years with Kiki & Herb Are Trying at Soho Theatre Walthamstow.

This coming week we have James Gunn's new take on Superman, Nick Offerman in Sovereign, Maxine Peake in I Swear, the Dardenne brothers' Young Mothers, Spanish comedy-drama The Other Way Around and a live performance of R.O.S.E. at Sadler's Wells.

Critical Week: Grandma's got a gun!

Summertime always brings a slow-down in press screenings, which is a relief after the flurry of London film festivals in June. But there are some great movies out there, plus blockbusters that aren't always quite as great but are good fun to watch on a big screen that's been packed out with cynical critics and gung-ho influencers. The mix of groaning and cheering is a lot of fun. The best I saw this week was the action comedy Thelma, starring June Squibb as a sparky 93-year-old (take that, Joe Biden!) who takes matters in her own hands when she's scammed out of some cash. Fred Hechinger is terrific as her worried grandson. And then there's Twisters, the thinly written almost 30-years-later sequel that's tangentially connected to the rather forgettable 1996 hit. Glen Powell is even more magnetic than the impressive tornadoes, with solid sidekicks Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Crossing • Thelma
Scala!!! • Shayda
ALL REVIEWS >

More arthouse offerings included The Outrun, a kaleidoscopically immersive memoir about addiction starring the always excellent Saoirse Ronan and set in gorgeous Orkney Isles landscapes. Hayley Bennett stars as Widow Cliquot in a lavishly produced but rather stilted biopic about the early 19th century Champagne innovator. And Louise Brealey brings an engaging edge to the offbeat Welsh drama Chuck Chuck Baby, which is wonderfully infused with pop tunes. I also saw two shows live on-stage: National Youth Dance Company's Wall at Sadler's Wells and Jack Tucker's Comedy Standup Hour at Soho Theatre.

Things are still quieter than usual coming week, but I'll be watching Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in Deadpool & Wolverine, Zachary Levi in Harold and the Purple Crayon, New Zealand drama Mysterious Ways, Swedish drama Paradise Is Burning, Mexican doc The Echo and Palestine doc No Other Land.

Critical Week: Nose to nose

I've had a line-up of events and stage shows this week, rather than movies, which makes a very nice change. I only saw three films: The Call of the Wild is based on the Jack London novel about a dog's adventure in the Yukon, with a human cast including Harrison Ford, Omar Sy (pictured) and Dan Stevens. There is no dog cast, as that's Terry Notary in digital motion capture. The film is a lovely adventure but you can always tell that it's not a real dog.

There are actual horses in Dream Horse, based on the true story of a syndicate in a small Welsh village that raised a thoroughbred champion against the odds. Toni Collete leads an eclectic cast in an earthy, crowd-pleasing charmer. And Rosamund Pike stars as Marie Curie in the biopic Radioactive, which recounts the earth-changing scientist's life with some ambitious but distracting flourishes. And because I had the time, I revisited Parasite in a cinema packed-out with a paying audience, and loved it all over again. I originally saw it at a small press screening in September.

Outside the cinema I had the fringe theatre play Undetectable at the Kings Head (already reviewed) and the extremely starry press night for Message in a Bottle (review incoming), a thrilling dance performance staged to Sting's memorable songs and pointedly themed around the refugee experience. There was also a lively launch event for the new production of the Hairspray musical, which opens in April at the Coliseum starring Michael Ball and Paul Merton. I attended the Critics' Circle National Dance Awards, which was a terrific ceremony packed with luminaries from the dance world, including Cats star Francesca Hayward, who was named Best Female Dancer for her work with the Royal Ballet. And finally, the British Film Institute hosted the launch of the 34th edition of BFI Flare, London's LGBTIQ+ film festival, another lineup of great cinema that runs 18-29 March at BFI Southbank. The event included the lively annual launch party, complete with a seriously yummy cake designed to match the festival artwork (see below). This is my 22nd year covering this festival.

There's a bit more stage to come this week too, plus press screenings of The Invisible Man with Elisabeth Moss, Colour Out of Place with Nicolas Cage, Villain with Craig Fairbrass, Scott Graham's drama Run, the noir thriller Blood on Her Name and the romcom Straight Up.

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It’s the annual #BFIFlare cake! A particularly delicious one, I should add. Tonight’s was the programme launch for the festival’s 34th year.

A post shared by Rich Jack Cline (@ukcline) on Feb 18, 2020 at 2:53pm PST

TIFF: King of the castle

Well, we've reached the end of the 59th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, and all that's left is to hand out the awards, watch the closing film and have a party! As part of the Fipresci jury, we were asked to watch 27 films and award two international critics' prizes - one for a competition film and one for a first-time Greek filmmaker. Our deliberations weren't too tough this time, and we have our winners, so today we can enjoy the return of the sunshine as we get ready for tonight. I certainly have no intention of going near a cinema until this evening. Prize winners will appear on the website's festival page, as will my best of the fest. And here are a few final films...

Happy New Year, Colin Burstead
dir-scr Ben Wheatley; with Neil Maskell; Sam Riley 18/UK ****
Beautifully observed and played, this often excruciating British drama mines a family reunion for maximum pain. But with each squirm-inducing scene, filmmaker Ben Wheatley and his gifted improvisational cast find the humanity in these flawed people and strained relationships. In other words, even if the film ultimately feels a bit slight, it's impossible to watch without seeing ourselves up there on-screen.

Pearl
dir Elsa Amiel; scr Elsa Amiel, Laurent Lariviere; with Julia Fory, Peter Mullan 18/Fr ***.
There's a great movie in here, although filmmaker Elsa Amiel resists committing to a perspective, which leaves the narrative feeling constantly distracted by subplots and side characters. A few intensely powerful scenes hint at a striking drama about a bodybuilder who reluctantly unbottles her maternal instincts. But some timid, awkward direction and an out-of-balance cast leaves the audience on the outside looking in. Even so, it's brittly moving.

Maya
dir-scr Mia Hansen-Love; with Roman Kolinka, Aarshi Banerjee 18/Fr ***
There's a loose honesty to this film that makes it easy to watch, even if writer-director Mia Hansen-Love never quite manages to sell the story. Springing from a powerfully topical premise, the film instead takes an extended sideroad that stubbornly refuses to get back on track. This means that the central romance involving the title character feels both incidental and unconvincing. And the deeper issue of post-traumatic stress remains essentially unexplored. Even so, it looks seriously lovely.

Joy
dir-scr Sudabeh Mortezai; with Anwulika Alphonsus, Mariam Sanusi 18/Aut ***.
There's a documentary urgency to this drama that makes it feel bracingly authentic. In tracing the journey of a young woman who enters a pact to be trafficked from Nigeria to Austria, filmmaker Sudabeh Mortezai avoids any hint of a cautionary message: she simply follows the events with clear-eyed empathy. The narrative wobbles a bit in the third act, but what the film has to say is seriously important and darkly moving.

Obscuro Barroco
dir Evangelia Kranioti; with Luana Muniz 18/Br ****
Pulsing with rhythmic energy, this brief documentary is a dream-like trip into the life of the iconic late Brazilian trans performer Luana Muniz, who provides a poetic voiceover. Greek filmmaker Evangelia Kranioti gorgeously captures Rio's people and places through Muniz's eyes, including strikingly evocative footage of the annual Carnival festivities. The words and images offer a visceral exploration of the city's notorious nightlife. And the film is also a remarkable depiction of how each of us must transform ourselves to become who we truly are.

Scopophilia
dir Electra Angeletopoulou, Natalia Lampropoulou; scr Sotiris Petridis; with Konstantinos Liaros, Matina Koulourioti 18/Gr ***
An inventive revamp of Hitchcock's classic Rear Window, this Greek thriller uses webcam hacking as the mode of voyeurism for a young man housebound with a respiratory infection. It's a clever idea, and the film has a bright young cast who make it engaging enough to stick with it. Even so, the filmmakers never take the time to develop the characters. This means that the audience is unable to become complicit with them, so we aren't sucked into the suspense of the situation. Nor can we properly feel the wallop of what happens. Still, it's visually involving and has some superb twists and turns along the way. Plus of course nods to a range of vintage horror movies.

Free Subject
dir-scr Stella Theodoraki; with Theodora Tzimou, Dimitris Kitsos 18/Gr ***
An ambitious, epic-length exploration of artistic expression, this Greek drama centres on a classroom of students given free reign in an art project. Their work is woven into the narrative itself, a fascinating tapestry of fact, fiction and fantasy that touches provocatively in the places where life and art mingle. And it also explores how important it is to be transgressive and even alienating if an artist hopes to find the truth. The film is far too long, culminating with a lengthy musical number that feels badly indulgent. But it's an intriguing look at the difference between art for intelligent people and sell-out populism.

Sunrise in Kimmeria
dir-scr Simon Farmakas; with Athos Antoniou, Kika Georgiou 18/Cyp ***
This ramshackle Cypriot comedy definitely has its charms, but it's also badly overstuffed with characters and subplots that extend the running time far longer than necessary. The plot is engaging: about a simple, straight-talking farmer who finds a UFO that is actually a downed corporate space probe its American owners are trying haplessly to recover. Everyone must hilariously navigate local politicians, religious leaders, goons and busybodies. The script lightly touches on topical themes, but Simon Farmakas basically sidesteps any of that. So the movie ends up as a bit of silly fun. Tightening up the editing and trimming perhaps half an hour of irrelevant goofiness would have made it even funnier.

The Mountain Tears
dir-scr Stelios Charalampopoulos; with Loukia Katopodi, Spyros Georgopoulos 18/Gr **.
Soulful but lifeless, this Greek historical drama will certainly resonate with audiences in its homeland, but writer-director Stelios Charalampopoulos never finds the broader resonance in the story. An homage to The Odyssey, it centres on a journey that's both physical and mythical, set over the tumultuous first half of the last century. There are several striking moments, but the film's pace is wilfully dull, as very little happens on-screen and the storytelling is so minimalistic that it's imperceptible to non-Greeks.

Critical Week: Where'd the time go?

Time travel movies always do your head in a bit, although Rian Johnson's Looper isn't as impenetrable as some. No, my problem this past week was recovering from the full-on Paralympics schedule I kept up over the previous two weeks. But I'm starting to feel a bit more normal now, just as meetings are kicking in to organise the Critics' Circle Film Awards in January! Clearly there's no rest for me in the near future.

Anyway, back to Looper, which was screened last week to UK critics: we're embargoed from saying much about the film, which stars Joe Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis as the same hitman character meeting up in a time loop. So what can I write about. We also saw Woody Allen's latest Euro-pudding, To Rome With Love, which is very fluffy but still worth a look. Oliver Stone's Savages is a return to Natural Born Killers nastiness without the bite, mainly due to a pretty dire script that even a terrific cast can't rescue. And it gets worse: Sam Riley and Garret Dillahunt star in Walter Salles' take on the Jack Kerouac novel On the Road, which simply doesn't hold together at all, despite gorgeous production values.

The nicest surprise of the week was British comedy sequel Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger, of which I didn't expect much. It starts in the same annoying vein as its predecessor, but wins us over with an infusion of Christmas spirit that worked on me even on a sunny September morning. Two other independent films held my interest even though they're both flawed: Sally Potter's drama Ginger & Rosa is a dark coming-of-age drama starring Elle Fanning and newcomer Alice Englert. While Jason Biggs is superb in the lively grassroots politics comedy titled, erm, Grassroots.

This coming week is even busier, screening-wise, with Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson in the comedy Pitch Perfect, Olivia Munn and Paul Schneider in The Babymakers, the British action thriller Tower Block, the Swedish political comedy Four More Years and the Queen documentary Hungarian Rhapsody, plus a chance to revisit Raiders of the Lost Ark on the Imax screen.