Bifan: Smile for the camera

With jury duty completed, I've had some time to explore beyond Bucheon, starting with taking a journey into central Seoul (about an hour by metro) on a very, very rainy Tuesday. Still, it was fun to walk around an area that's very different from Bucheon - both older and newer, with cool shops and restaurants packed in tiny, winding streets. Then the juries were taken on a day out for an archery experience that was a lot of fun - learning the history and tradition, training and then competing - followed by an amazing festival dinner. I also took the morning to head back over into Seoul and walk around the main palace, this time in blazing sunshine. And of course, I'm watching films as well. Here are two more I saw earlier, plus two more Japanese titles...

Smoking Causes Coughing [Fumer Fait Tousser]
dir-scr Quentin Dupieux; with Gilles Lellouche, Vincent Lacoste 22/France ***.
Leave it to demented genius Quentin Dupieux to offer a course correction for the superhero genre, producing this wry comedy in the style of a cheesy 1970s TV series, starting with some riotously exaggerated violence. Consistently amusing scenes are underlined with silly details, clunky tech and a surprisingly heartfelt emotion. In the end, it feels a bit slight and corny, but its considerable charm is difficult to shake... FULL REVIEW >

Evil Dead Rise
dir-scr Lee Cronin; with Alyssa Sutherland, Lily Sullivan 23/US ***
As the horror franchise returns, writer-director Lee Cronin sidesteps plot and characters to focus on creating the grisliest movie imaginable. It's an approach that keeps the audience squirming at each mind-bogglingly awful thing that happens to a bunch of relatively normal people minding their own business. Genre fans will enjoy the yuckiness, but the connection to the other movies is tenuous, and there's not much else to it... FULL REVIEW >

Life of Mariko in Kabukicho

dir Shinzo Katayama, Eiji Uchida; with Sairi Ito, Yutaka Takenouchi 22/Japan ****

Freewheeling energy propels this lively Japanese movie through a series of outrageous scenarios, as a large ensemble of characters weave in and out of each others' lives. Action, comedy, romance, drama and sci-fi are stirred into the mix, creating a riotously entertaining vibe from start to finish, even when things turn violent or dark. Set out as a series of episodes in the life of a sparky young woman and the people in her Tokyo neighbourhood, the film endearingly gets under the skin.

Egoist 
dir Daishi Matsunaga; with Ryohei Suzuki, Hio Miyazawa 22/Japan ***.

An understated, slice-of-life approach both adds to the emotional depth of this Japanese drama and leaves it feeling somewhat familiar. Director-cowriter Daishi Matsunaga tells the story with sensitivity, taking on big events and some surprising events without even a hint of melodramatics. What remains is an engaging exploration of unexpected relationships, most notably how love can be expressed through selflessness. And the story reveals this in some very moving ways.

Critical Week: Drop the mic

Another rather crazy week at the movies for critics, with screenings of forthcoming releases mingled with awards contenders and catch-up screenings of films I've missed this year. Plus the first of my voting deadlines in year-end awards, as big prizes like SAG and the Golden Globes announced their nominees. And also rather a lot for me to do as chair of the London Critics' Circle Film Awards! Plus the UK general election, which tonight will decide the fate of the nation (not feeling hopeful). So it's clearly not just another week.

The biggest new release screened is Spies in Disguise, an action-packed animated spy adventure voiced by Tom Holland and Will Smith. Adam Sandler veers wildly off-type (in a very good way) for the bold, in-your-face drama Uncut Gems, which is unforgettable cinema. Justin Long stars in the prickly but very timely comedy drama After Class. And Hugh Jackman and Zach Galifianakis voice the lead roles in the gorgeously animated global romp Missing Link.

France's official Oscar contender is Les Miserables, a present-day drama about cops patrolling a rough Parisian suburb. It bristles with life, and nails its themes skilfully. Also from France, Amanda is a gentle, rather sweet drama about everyday people in the wake of an unthinkably horrific event. And there were two docs: Asif Kapadia's sharply edited archive bio Diego Maradona and the entertainingly star-packed filmography doc QT8 Quentin Tarantino: The First Eight.

This coming week there are more awards contenders to catch up with before further voting deadlines. These include Isabelle Huppert in Frankie, Jonathan Majors in The Last Black Man in San Francisco, the animated Weathering With You, and the drama Long Day's Journey Into Night. As for regular release screenings, there's Daniel Radcliffe in Escape From Pretoria and Gary Oldman in The Courier. And since studios are refusing press screening requests, I'll be at the cinema to see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the musical Cats with the fans.