Critical Week: Hyper-masculinity

For some reason, I only had one press screening this past week. Film criticism has been contracting for about a decade now, and I am getting increasingly exhausted chasing screenings of big Hollywood studio movies, which are about the only ones that get wide releases. It's easier to keep up with smaller films, both with press screenings and viewing links. I've never needed to watch everything (that would be impossible anyway), and I will no longer relentlessly pursue screenings. I'd rather spend my evenings watching stage performances anyway, and hope to do more writing about these.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Charli XCX: Alone Together
The Northman • The Lost City
ALL REVIEWS >

As for that one screening, it was a good one. Robert Eggers' astonishing Viking action epic The Northman is a wildly thrilling film with full-bodied performances from Alexander Skarsgard, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang and Anya Taylor-Joy. I also watched The French Boys 4, another collection of terrific French short dramas about complex masculinity from the folks at NQV. And that left me with a bit of time to catch up with three very different movies I'd missed along the way...

The Adam Project
dir Shawn Levy; with Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo 22/US ***
This time-travel romp isn't nearly as smart as it tries to be, but it's definitely entertaining. The reliably witty Reynolds plays a fast-talking jerk who travels back from 2050 to the present, where he needs help from his annoying 12-year-old self (the sharp Walker Scobell) to save the timeline. As Adam's dad, Ruffalo brings some terrific attitude, as do Jennifer Garner, Catherine Keener and Zoe Saldana. And the effects are first-rate. While the usual time-twisting chaos adds plenty of interest, it's a shame the story and characters are never much deeper than a warm hug.

Studio 666
dir BJ McDonnell; with Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel 22/US **.
Goofy humour and terrific old-school effects infuse this horror romp in which the Foo Fighters play themselves, recording their 10th album in a properly creepy rock-n-roll Encino mansion that was the site of a grisly murder. In the grip of writer's block, Dave Grohl is convinced he's already composed all of his original songs, then he's possessed by a demonic spirit. Slasher movie antics follow. The film tries to be funny and scary, but ends up merely silly and grisly. Although there are hilarious moments (and cameos) along the way, plus lots of fun for the band's fans.

Loev
dir Sudhanshu Saria; with Dhruv Ganesh, Shiv Pandit 15/Ind **** 
I missed this Indian drama six years ago at BFI Flare, then re-met the filmmakers at this year's festival and caught it on Netflix just before it disappears. It's an unusually nuanced drama about a complex romantic triangle, as Sahil (Ganesh) takes old friend Jai (Pandit) on a weekend trip. But Sahil is also preoccupied about his relationship with his boyfriend Alex (Siddarth Menon). The characters have big personalities that aren't always likeable, so the way they interact is both sharp and sometimes provocative. It's also made in an earthy style that finds unexpected wit and emotion while never overstating the themes.

This coming week, I have a number of films to watch, including Gaspar Noe's Vortex and the shorts collection Upon Her Lips: Butterflies. And I have two theatre press nights as well.

Critical Week(s): Lights, camera, action!

I've rather enjoyed stepping out of my usual routine over the past month or so, with a long catch-up break visiting friends and family after two years, then two weeks of film festival capped by the all-night mayhem of this year's Oscar ceremony. Whether I'll return to my usual schedule is still up in the air, but I'm definitely re-thinking how I spend my time. For example, I was unable to attend the only press screening of Marvel's latest epic Morbius, and I was fine with that. It's the first one I've missed, and I feel that if the studio doesn't want me to see a movie, that's going to be OK from now on. This post is catching up on about two weeks of regular-release movies I watched between festival films... 

BEST NEW FILMS:
The Worst Person in the World
Poppy Field • Jump, Darling
Mothering Sunday • Down in Paris
PERHAPS AVOID:
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
ALL REVIEWS >

The most starry of these films was The Bubble, which being a Judd Apatow movie is of course far too long for what it is: a comedy about making a movie during the pandemic. It has its moments, and the cast is up for it, but tighter editing and sharper writing never go amiss. Much more fun was The Lost City, a relentlessly silly romp in the jungle with Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum and Daniel Radcliffe. On the other hand, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 merely honed in on the most irritating things about the likeable 2020 movie, so this one feels painfully unfunny and manages to waste Jim Carrey as well.

Further afield, Jennifer Reeder's offbeat horror Night's End is witty and very clever, creating a terrific sense of gnawing fear, plus some big jolts. Francois Ozon's expertly made French drama Everything Went Fine is based on a true story about dying with dignity, but manages to avoid politics for something more engagingly personal. The Shakespeare Sisters adapt William Shakespeare's iconic romance into the present-day comedy Much Ado, making the most of a low budget and talented cast. Antony Hickling's thoughtful odyssey Down in Paris is a fascinating night of earthy soul-searching. And the British horror comedy Followers finds a new way to use video-screen imagery to create tension, even if the film feels a bit thin.

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching the blockbuster sequel Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Jake Gyllenhaal in Ambulance, Nicolas Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Dermot Mulroney in Agent Game, the French comedy Anais in Love, the Irish thriller You Are Not My Mother and the quirky biopic Aline.

Critical Week: Winter bites

For a film critic, it's not about screenings at the moment, it's about awards! Over the past few weeks, three groups I vote in announced their nominees: London Critics (I'm chair of their awards), Online Critics and the Dorian Awards. The Online Critics also announced their winners this past week, Dorians next week. And our London Critics' Circle Film Awards is coming up on 20th January, so I have a lot of work to do getting that all lined up in just over two weeks.

Meanwhile I'm also watching movies. In the past week I watched the Norwegian true WWII thriller The 12th Man, which has a terrific sense of energy to it, and a nice focus on the heroism of average people, Sgt Will Gardner is a gritty, gruelling drama about an Iraq veteran (played by writer-director Max Martini) trying to overcome a brain injury and reconnect with his life. It's powerful and important. Scaffolding is an engaging Israeli drama about a young guy who realises that maybe there's more to life than behaving like a macho thug, as his father and peers have taught him. And on British television, The Queen and I is a rather lazy satire about turning the royal family into ordinary citizens, augmented with lots of silly slapstick and easy jokes. David Walliams goes for broke as the villainous new prime minister. I also caught these three gems - a streaming hit and two awards-worthy docs...

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Bird Box
dir Susanne Bier; scr Eric Heisserer
with Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Jacki Weaver, Danielle Macdonald, Tom Hollander, Lil Rel Howery, Colson Baker
18/US Netflix 2h04 ***.
Without any hesitation, this apocalyptic thriller dives straight into an inexplicable nightmare, which helps paper over some audacious lapses in logic and a nagging feeling that the script is rather thin. After a freaky prolog that frames the story, the narrative cuts back five years to the arrival of some sort of phenomenon that gives people a vision that pushes them to suicide. As chaos erupts, a handful of survivors huddles together, understanding that whatever it is, it only takes a brief look at it to spark the urge to end it all. The title refers to a journey downriver in a boat as Bullock and two children try to reach safety, keeping two birds in a shoebox as a warning device. Director Susanne Bier does a terrific job building suspense with a cast playing strikingly realistic, engaging characters who are at the end of their rope. Each of the actors is terrific, playing their roles without compromise. Even a rather unnecessary romance avoids being irritating, simply because the actors sell it. Bier also cleverly resists a clear depiction of whatever it is that's causing this horror, putting us in the characters' perspective with glimpses of its effects that are frightening enough. So it's a little frustrating that the plot descends into little more than a slasher thriller - albeit a pretty terrifying one - as these likeably messy people are picked off one by one. A twist involving mental illness adds an intriguing wrinkle, and the production is skilfully assembled, shot in ways that keep the suspense levels high and the characters at the centre. If only it had somewhere more interesting to go, or something more profound to say about the world we live in right now.

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Love, Gilda
dir Lisa D'Apolito; with Chevy Chase, Martin Short, Laraine Newman, Lorne Michaels, Melissa McCarthy, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader
18/US 1h28 ****
Warm and intimate, this documentary recounts the life story of the iconic comic Gilda Radner in her own words, as top comedians (like Poehler and McCarthy) read from her journals. Not only is this a vivid exploration of Radner's life, but it's also a remarkable look at how the need to perform expresses itself, sometimes leading to pure magic. Moving along at a quick pace, the doc traces her happy childhood and how she decided to be funny instead of worrying that she wasn't a perfect specimen of femininity. Her early comedy cohorts are a who's whom of 1970s talent, leading to the formation of the very first Saturday Night Live ensemble (she refers to improv as a circus performance without a net). And then there were the usual pressures of fame, which led her into a severe eating disorder. Her one-woman show on Broadway brought her lifetime memories together with a variety of musical-comedy talent, showing her that she longed to be more than just "Gilda Radner". So she took some time to look at herself. Then she met Gene Wilder on the set of Hanky Panky (1982) and the two became inseparable. And her cancer diagnosis forced her to reconsider her identity once again. The film is a treasure trove of unseen clips, backstage footage and iconic TV moments featuring Radner with the likes of John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Bill Murray. It's fascinating to see how she created unforgettable characters like Emily Litella and Roseanna Roseannadanna, and also how celebrity came unexpectedly fast, making her wonder if she would ever find a real relationship with a man. Not only was she a great entertainer, but her tenacious attitude is deeply inspiring. As is her mantra that, "I can do almost anything if people are laughing."

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Shirkers
dir-scr Sandi Tan
with Sandi Tan, Jasmine Ng, Sophia Siddique Harvey, Tay Yek Keak, Grace Dane Mazur, Stephen Tyler, Ben Harrison, Philip Cheah
18/US Netflix 1h36 ****
As a little girl, Sandi Tan believed that she found freedom by escaping into her imagination. Desperate to become a filmmaker, she was overflowing with ideas. Her first moviemaking project with her best pal Jasmine was a freeform Singaporean fantasy thriller called Shirkers, in which she played a 16-year-old serial killer. Now 25 years later, she is trying to figure out what went so bizarrely wrong all those years ago. The story centres on her inspirational film teacher George Cardona, a married man who took her on an unforgettable road trip around America and then directed Tan's script for Shirkers. Then he vanished, taking the film (and Tan's savings) with him. Tan filters her story through her childhood obsession with anything outside the acceptable mainstream. The documentary is shot and edited with a wonderfully deranged sense of juxtaposition, a riot of movie clips, snapshots, home video and various forms of art and animation. This gives the narrative a riveting pace that sparks intense curiosity about even the quirkiest details. The making of the film is packed with hilarious observations (the clips from it are frankly fabulous), so as things begin to turn strange, the doc becomes even more intriguing, with a number of chilling twists in the tale. Tan tried to just move on, but Shirkers wouldn't let her go, and it fully came back into her life two decades later. This is an extraordinary story about creative ambition and villainy, with a terrific mystery to unpick. And it comes to vivid, resonant life due to Tan's passion and skill as a movie lover and filmmaker.

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Screenings start up again slowly next week. In my diary I have James Franco in Don't Come Back From the Moon, Freida Pinto in Love Sonia, Robert Guediguian's The House by the Sea and the acclaimed documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening. It's also the week after the Golden Globes, with Bafta nominations announced on Wednesday, so will push awards season forward dramatically.

Critical Week: Light up the night

My favourite press screening this week was for Pawel Pawlikowski's Cannes-winner Cold War, a black and white Polish drama that's quite simply a masterpiece. A companion piece to his Oscar-winner Ida, it's a smart, complex love story spanning 50s and 60s Europe. On a much bigger scale, the spin-off sequel Ocean's Eight has a new cast of A-list actresses and another twisty but very easy caper plot to play out. It's mindless fun.

Smaller films had some edge to them. Adrift is a harrowing true story of survival at sea starring Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin. The Escape is an involving and very personal marriage drama starring Gemma Arterton and Dominic Cooper. And Alex Strangelove is a refreshingly original take on the gay teen comedy, avoiding cliches to find this generation's perspective on the topic.

More offbeat films included Stanley: A Man of Variety, an experimental mental hospital freak-out in which Timothy Spall plays all the roles. Happiness Adjacent is a low-budget romantic-comedy set on a Los Angeles to Mexico cruise, but it makes some provocative observations. And Al Berto is a Portuguese period piece about idealistic artists who think their nation is freer than it is after the revolution.

This coming week I have two American indie dramas: the edgy romance Golden Boy and the pointedly topical At the End of the Day. And there are also four films from the London Indian Film Festival: Bradford-set comedy Eaten by Lions, offbeat family comedy Venus, mother-son drama My Son Is Gay and filmmaker doc Bird of Dusk.

On the Road: Nice work if you can get it

Our Brand Is Crisis

dir David Gordon Green; with Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton 15/US ***.

Despite an uneven tone, this breezy political drama touches on several important themes as it freewheels through a scruffy story of American campaign strategists working for rival candidates in an election for Bolivia's president. Based loosely on real people, the film has an authenticity to it that holds the attention, even as it veers wildly between politics, comedy and even slapstick. Of course, Bullock can bridge these gaps effortlessly, and she's terrific as the burn-out reluctantly making a comeback against her fiercest rival, played by an underused Thornton. But then all of the supporting roles are thinly written. This is Bullock's show, and her performance makes the film worth a look. As does what it says about the American political system.  

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CRITICAL WEEK
There are several other films out now in America that I'm hoping to catch up with, including The 33 and By the Sea, and also - purely for work reasons of course, as they open later in the UK - The Peanuts Movie and Love the Coopers.

Critical Week: Back to black

Asaf Kapadia's documentary Amy provided an emotional experience for London critics this week, a beautifully made film recounting the wrenchingly sad story of local girl Amy Winehouse. It stood in stark contrast to the two other big releases of the week: the surprisingly loose and thoughtful sequel Magic Mike XXL, which combines silly striptease antics with an exploration of male friendship; and the formulaic Terminator Genisys, which attempts to reboot the sequel without any inventive writing or directing and only one solid performance (from Emilia Clarke). Although Arnie's deadpan humour livens things up.

I also caught up with last week's release Minions, the Despicable Me prequel that's surprisingly low-key and charming rather than the usual sharp-edged digitally slick action mayhem. And I watched the 10 shorts that Peccadillo has collected for Boys on Film 13: Trick & Treat - another terrific collection of mini-epics dealing with various aspects of sexuality.

Coming up this week: Saoirse Ronan and Domhnall Gleeson in Brooklyn, the doc-style horror film The Nightmare, the doc Misery Loves Comedy and a few more. Thankfully, with a heatwave in London, it's refreshing to take a break in an air-conditioned screening room!

LFF 1: Aye aye, captain!

The 57th London Film Festival kicked off last night with the Leicester Square premiere of Captain Phillips, and star Tom Hanks braved the suddenly chilly evening with his wife Rita Wilson as well as director Paul Greengrass and a range of celebrities, from Tom Ford to Terry Gilliam. Tonight it was Sandra Bullock and Alfonso Cuaron's turn to present Gravity. Here are some highlights from the first day...

Captain Phillips
dir Paul Greengrass; with Tom Hanks, Barkhi Abdi 13/US *****
Coming straight from the headlines and adapted with a documentary-style attention to detail, this fiercely well-crafted thriller would be impossible to believe if it weren't true. And even though we know the end of the story, this film generates so much nerve-shredding suspense that we feel like we need to be debriefed afterwards... FULL REVIEW >

Gravity
dir Alfonso Cuaron; with Sandra Bullock, George Clooney 13/US ****
Cuaron takes us on a 91-minute thrill ride deploying cutting-edge cinema technology and a harrowing performance from Sandra Bullock to root us in our seats. So even if the plot is rather contrived, the film looks so amazing that we barely breathe as we're hurled here and there just on the cusp of Earth's atmosphere... [full review coming soon]

As I Lay Dying
dir James Franco; with James Franco, Tim Blake Nelson 13/US ***
For his first narrative feature as a director, Franco ambitiously adapts William Faulkner's notoriously grim novel. And what a surprise: the film is relentlessly downbeat, and pretty dull too. Franco may prove that he has a fresh visual eye, but the highly emotive story is oddly uninvolving... FULL REVIEW >

Jeune & Jolie
dir Francois Ozon; with Marine Vacth, Geraldine Pailhas 13/Fr ****
Ozon explores a transgressive side of sexuality in this internalised drama about a teen prostitute. But this isn't the usual trip to the seedy low-life: these are well-off people who seem balanced and intelligent. And it's tricky for us to admit that this is just as realistic as the grimier depictions we see in preachier films... FULL REVIEW >

The Congress
dir Ari Folman; with Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel 13/Isr ***.
A film of two halves, this brain-bending drama/thriller is either a provocative exploration of identity in an increasingly digital age or an indulgent visual kaleidoscope that only the filmmaker can understand. Either way, it's bracingly original and often thrilling to watch... FULL REVIEW >

Critical Week: Manly men in skirts

There were two memorable screenings in London this week, including Hammer of the Gods, the corny ancient-Britain 300/Braveheart romp, and Hugh Jackman's valiant attempt to revive the reputation of The Wolverine. Both films value chaotic action over plot or characterisation, and both also know that audiences love nothing more than gratuitous bare male torsos. Although at least Jackman himself turned up to introduce his film at the screening, eliciting crazed cheers from the crowd and laughter from director James Mangold and the screening's host Alex Zane, who couldn't get a word in edgeways.

We also had two action comedies this week: Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy were a terrific double-act in the hilarious but over-violent buddy cop movie The Heat, while veterans Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich were back for more underdeveloped comical spy antics in RED 2. Much darker and more interesting, Only God Forgives stars Ryan Gosling as a hapless guy caught in a nasty spiral of revenge partly orchestrated by his mother Kristen Scott Thomas, who's on blinding form. And The Great Hip Hop Hoax documents the jaw-dropping true story of rappers Silibil n' Brains, who hit the big time when they claimed to be from California. But they were actually guys from Scotland. A terrific story.

This coming week we have Matt Damon in Neil Blomkamp's Elysium, the all-star comedy-drama The Way Way Back, the festival favourite Like Father Like Son, the Gilberto Gil doc Viramundo and Ferzan Ozpetek's A Magnificent Haunting.