Critical Week: Living your best life

I don't really need to do my annual roundup of the London Critics' Circle Film Awards, since you can watch the virtual ceremony HERE. It was a lot of work to pull this together, and it was great to see all but one of our winners send a video thank you. Reactions have been really positive - I think people like having it all packed into a neat 30-minute package, even if they miss having a proper party. The best thing about holding the ceremony this way is that people around the world can watch it.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Minari • Madame
Judas and the Black Messiah
A Skeleton in the Closet
PERHAPS AVOID:
Modern Persuasion
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar
ALL REVIEWS >

Back to screenings this week, I saw two high-profile films that are under embargo, so I'm not yet allowed to write about Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumolo's comedy Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (out tomorrow) or Lee Daniels' biopic The United States vs Billie Holiday starring Andra Day (out on 26th Feb). But reviews will be published soon.

Films a bit off the beaten path included the British indie comedy-drama Running Naked, which is essentially a gentle bromance with a misleading title. The bonkers masked-ball thriller X has some great ideas but is a bit too choppy to pull things together. And the involving, off-handed Argentine comedy-drama A Skeleton in the Closet has a lot to say about the pressures and power of family connections. I also caught up with two awards-season films that I'll cover in the next FYC blog entry: Radha Blank's rightfully acclaimed pointed comedy The Forty-Year-Old Version and the devastating trans identity doc Disclosure.

Coming up this week, I've got the Gary Oldman thriller Crisis, Anne Hathaway in Locked Down, the comedy Freshman Year and Beautiful Secret, the 21st edition of the Boys on Film shorts franchise.

31st Flare: Make an opening move

The 31st edition of the British Film Institute's Flare: London LGBT Film Festival kicked off on Thursday night with the world premiere of the BBC drama Against the Law, produced to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act. It's a powerfully cinematic movie that deserves to be seen on the big screen, as it includes documentary clips of men who lived through the events depicted from the 1950s, starring Richard Gadd and Daniel Mays (above).

Against the Law
dir Fergus O'Brien; with Daniel Mays, Richard Gadd 17/UK **** (world premiere)
An inventive blending of period drama and talking head documentary, this pointed film is beautifully edited to make the most of both strands. Each feeds into the other with a powerful sense of momentum, giving the final scenes a proper emotional kick. And there's also a sense of timeliness, as the story recounts events from 60 years ago that would change British law about homosexuality a decade later. And the events still resonate loudly today.

After Louie
dir Vincent Gagliostro; with Alan Cumming, Zachary Booth 17/US ***. (world premiere)
Big ideas circle around this earthy drama set among New York artists. The characters are bright and engaging, even as they are deeply flawed, and the talky script takes an unexpectedly honest approach to hot potato topics, exploring how nostalgia for the gay rights movement of the 1990s might not be the healthiest way to move forward. It's perhaps too deliberately provocative to be properly moving, but Alan Cumming delivers a beautifully complex central performance.

Taekwondo
dir-scr Marco Berger; with Gabriel Epstein, Lucas Papa 16/Arg ***. 
Essentially a mash-up of writer-director Marco Berger's Hawaii and producer-codirector Martin Farina's Fulboy, this film places nine athletic young men in an isolated house for a sweltering summer getaway and observes the physicality between them. There's a hint of a plot between two of the guys, and a few traits emerge here and there, but the movie is basically a tactile, tantalising tease that pays off only in the final moments... FULL REVIEW >

B E S T   O F   T H E   Y E A R

Moonlight
dir-scr Barry Jenkins; with Trevante Rhodes, Andre Holland 16/US ****.
With its intimate approach and deeply resonant themes, this film gets under the skin right from the start, putting us in the shoes of the lead character at three points in his life. His journey to self-discovery is difficult, partly because he is painfully withdrawn due to his tough life experiences. And what this movie has to say is so important that it deserves all the the attention and awards it gets... FULL REVIEW >

It's Only the End of the World
dir-scr Xavier Dolan; with Gaspard Ulliel, Vincent Cassel 16/Can *****
Few filmmakers are as bold as 27-year-old Canadian Xavier Dolan, who regularly takes on family relationships using bravura filmmaking that brings out unexpected, unfiltered emotions. This film, based on a play by Jean-Luc Lagarce, is a staggering dissection of the dynamic between parents, children and siblings. It's heightened to the point that it's often painful to watch, but it's also urgent, honest and essential... FULL REVIEW >

Critical Week: In the shadows

I only saw two movies this week - but then I am on holiday at the moment! Dane DeHaan stars in A Cure for Wellness, an overlong, visually sumptuous horror thriller set in a Swiss sanatorium where something nasty is going on underwater. Alas, the script simplifies things rather than deepening them over two and a half hours. More enjoyable is the Matt Damon romp The Great Wall, a big East-meets-West action adventure blending mythology with history. Silly and over-reliant on digital effects, but entertaining.

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On Saturday, since I'm in Los Angeles, I was able to attend the Dorian Awards winner's toast at The Pikey on Sunset Blvd. I'm a voting member of Galeca, which hands out the prizes, but I'd never attended the event. It's a casual, lively gathering featuring champagne and frites, and I enjoyed a chance to interact with other critics as well as the winners and special guests. Here are some pics...

The creators, writers and cast of The Real O'Neals turned up to collect their award for Unsung TV Show of the Year.

Left: composer Nicholas Brittell and actor Trevante Rhodes collected the awards for Moonlight, including Film, Rising Star (Rhodes), Director, Screenplay, Actor (Mahershala Ali) and LGBTQ Film. Right: cinematographer Lunis Sandgren accepts the award for La La Land as Visually Striking Film of the Year.

Left to right: actress Amy Landecker picked up the award for Transparent as TV Comedy, Michelle Visage collected the prize for RuPaul''s Drag Race All Stars as Campy TV Show, and producer Ashley Golden was presented the award for Full Frontal With Samantha Bee as TV Current Affairs Show of the Year.

The event was unusually relaxed, allowing for some terrific rambling conversations, photo ops and lots of laughter. A highlight for me was getting to meet Bradley Whitford (right with his partner Landecker) and having a lengthy friendly drunken political rant about Trump and climate change issues. Exactly the kind of conversation you'd want to have with Whitford! Of course, now I want to plan a trip back to LA every year to coincide with this event.

See the full list of Galeca nominees and winners.

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Movies opening here in the USA this weekend that look interesting include Jordan Peele's offbeat horror Get Out and the Nicholas Hoult thriller Collide. Hopefully I'll have time to see one of them this weekend, along with watching the Oscars on Sunday at a normal hour (as opposed to the live 1am to 6am in London). And then it's back to London on Monday!