Critical Week: Hearing voices

Another week of lockdown, another unusual collection of movies released into the streaming networks. At least the weather has been glorious, tempting me outside in between the films. The best thing I've seen in several weeks, The Vast of Night is a low-budget sci-fi thriller by first-time filmmaker Andrew Patterson that skilfully nods to 1950s classics while echoing present day issues.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Guest of Honour
The Vast of Night • You Don't Nomi
The Uncertain Kingdom
PERHAPS AVOID:
A Clear Shot • The Accompanist
The Dinner Party

The highest profile film was The High Note, starring Dakota Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross and Kelvin Harrison in an enjoyable but trite romantic comedy-drama set in the music world. The Last Full Measure has a powerhouse cast and an inspiring story, but is belittled by its over-worthy tone. David Thewlis is superb in Guest of Honour, Atom Egoyan's perceptive drama about identity and connection. And Willem Dafoe gives a full-bodied performance in Tommaso, Abel Ferrara's Rome-set dark drama about a filmmaker who's losing the plot.

Steven Berkoff puts his one-man-show version of Edgar Allan Poe's Tell Tale Heart on the screen as a moody freak-out. Three micro-budget indies are somewhat underpowered: The Departure is a sharp but abrasive dating drama, The Dinner Party is a bonkers cultish horror romp, The Accompanist is a quirky overserious romantic drama. And for Pride month, HomoSayWhat is a fascinating, provocative doc about the origins of societal homophobia.

Coming up this next week, there's another offbeat collection of movies, including the British comedy Dating Amber, the futuristic thriller The Last Days of American Crime, the award-winning Chilean drama The Prince, the Italian comedy Citizens of the World and the football doc The Australian Dream.

Critical Week: A warm embrace

Press screenings are slowing down as usual for this time of year, as journalists try to catch up with things they haven't seen yet. Attending the London Film Festival put be ahead of the curve, but there are some late-season releases I'm still chasing. I only had four screenings this past week: the staggeringly powerful drama Waves with Kelvin Harrison Jr and Alexa Demie (above), plus Lucas Hedges, Sterling K Brown and rising star Taylor Russell. The Brazilian drama Greta is dark and sometimes a little too serious, but has some strong things to say about people on the fringe of society. Starring Steven Berkoff and Martin Hancock, The Last Faust is basically a museum piece, an ambitiously artistic telling of both parts of Goethe's epic story, accompanied by paintings, sculptures, photographs and a novella. And I finally caught up with the devastatingly emotional doc For Sama, a deeply personal account of life in wartorn Aleppo.

Outside the screening room, it was a privilege to attend an event at which Peccadillo Pictures placed its archive at Bishopsgate Institute. Peccadillo has released a number of seriously notable films over its 20 year history, with more to come. Their releases over the years have included Embrace of the Serpent, Weekend, The Shiny Shrimps. I'm interviewing the director and lead actor from their upcoming Georgian drama And Then We Danced tomorrow.

Coming up this next week: Sam Mendes' already acclaimed war drama 1917, Todd Haynes' drama Dark Waters, Clint Eastwood's Atlanta Olympics bombing drama Richard Jewell, Daniel Kaluuya in Queen & Slim, and the John Cena comedy Playing With Fire. We also have our annual meeting with the Critics' Circle and the BBFC, always enjoyably informative as they tell us about the year's knife-edge ratings decisions.