On the Road: Like a rolling stone

I've just spent the last three weeks in Los Angeles where my priority was to spend time visiting friends and family around the Thanksgiving holiday. But of course I also couldn't help catching some films along the way, and I even got to attend a couple of terrific awards-season screenings. The nicest surprise was James Mangold's dazzling A Complete Unknown, starring an impressive Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan with terrific support from Edward Burns (as Pete Seger) and Monica Barbaro (as Joan Baez). I also really enjoyed the powerful biopic Unstoppable, starring Jharrel Jerome as Anthony Robles and Jennifer Lopez as his mother Judy (we even got to meet Jharrel, Anthony, Jennifer and Judy after the emotional screening). And Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson are excellent in the Halina Reijn's raw, complex drama Babygirl.

And then there was the animated sequel Moana 2, a crowd-pleaser that feels a bit simplistic compared to this year's much more innovative animated movies. That Christmas is another rather easy-going, unchallenging but enjoyable animated adventure. Further afield and far more ambitious, September 5 is a staggeringly well-made real-life thriller with Peter Sarsgaard and John Magaro set at the Munich 1972 Olympics. Jack Huston's impressive directing debut Day of the Fight is an unusually personal boxing drama starring Michael Pitt. And Iranian exile Mohammad Rasoulof's The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a riveting dramatic thriller about a family straining against official morality.

And then there were the films I watched on the long flights. Colman Domingo is fantastic in the bracingly authentic prison drama Sing Sing. Tig Notaro's comedy Am I OK is packed with knowing observations and hilarious dialog. Dev Patel is astonishing as writer, director and star of the Indian action thriller Monkey Man. Channing Tatum goes evil for the darkly creepy Blink Twice. Zac Efron and John Cena team up for the rude but entertaining comedy Ricky Stanicky. And the documentary Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero is refreshingly unfiltered as it explores the musician's explosion into the limelight.

This coming week I have more films to catch up with for awards voting, and also some that are coming to cinemas this month, including Jude Law in The Order, Tilda Swinton in The End, the animated epic The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, Kerry Washington in The Six Triple Eight, Ralph Fiennes in The Return, Jared Harris in Reawakening, the Hong Kong comedy Love Lies, the comedy sequel Heavier Trip and the French epic The Count of Monte Cristo ... as time allows.

Critical Week: It wasn't me

It's been a momentous week in the UK, with a general election on Thursday that delivered on its expectations to completely upend the nation's government. On the 4th of July, no less. Meanwhile in the movies, Eddie Murphy returned for a fourth time for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, an overly retro sequel that feels like a movie we saw 40 years ago (we did). But Murphy is still great on-screen in this role. Also on Netflix, Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron reteamed for A Family Affair, which is as silly as it looks, and also an amusing guilty pleasure.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Kill • The Conversation
Orlando, My Political Biography
Unicorns • The Nature of Love
ALL REVIEWS >

I saw two horror creep-outs: Mia Goth is back for MaXXXine, the third film in Ti West's series about young women seeking fame, this time a pornstar going mainstream while yucky violence breaks out all around her. Also very yucky, Longlegs stars Nicolas Cage in perhaps his most bonkers role yet (which is saying a lot). It's a relentlessly unsettling freak-out. And I was also delightful stressed out revisiting one of the finest thrillers ever made, Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 gem The Conversation, followed by a terrific Q&A with legendary sound and film editor Walter Murch.

Three films use surrealism to address big themes: Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars in the eerie dark drama Tuesday, as a mother confronting death (in the form of a parrot) about her daughter's life. Ewan McGregor and Ellen Burstyn lead the offbeat and intense Mother Couch, about a woman who forces her adult children to grapple with her mortality. And Paul Raci is a guru teaching The Secret Art of Human Flight in an quirky comedy-drama that's bleakly emotive. And then there were father and son Stellan and Gustaf Skarsgard teaming up for the gloomy and haunting Scandinavian mystery What Remains, and fiercely inventive Chinese drama Black Dog, which deservedly won a couple of prizes at Cannes. I also attended Carlos Acosta's breathtaking stage production of Carmen at Sadler's Wells.

This coming week isn't looking quite as crazy as this one was. I'll be watching Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in Fly Me to the Moon, Sandra Huller in Sisi & I, Korean thriller Sleep, Iranian drama My Favourite Cake and the British animated adventure Kensuke's Kingdom. In live theatre, I'm attending Dorian: The Musical and the opening cabaret for Soho Theatre's Clown Festival.

Critical Week: Hit the road

I've been taking it a bit easy this week, following the busy weekend I spent organising the 44th London Critics' Circle Film Awards. It was a great event, packed with our terrific nominees and winners, and the coverage continues across the media (I posted several pics on Insta). As for watching movies, there have just been four, all very watchable but not quite there... 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Perfect Days • The Iron Claw
The Taste of Things
Turning Red
ALL REVIEWS >

Clara McGregor stars with her dad Ewan in Bleeding Love, an offbeat father-daughter road movie that's somewhat uneven but has its moments. Kingsley Ben-Adir takes on the iconic title role in Bob Marley: One Love, a biopic that tries far too diligently to create a myth when the man's actual life was amazing enough. The Stone Age thriller Out of Darkness plays with cheap jump scares rather than actual suspense. But it's well-made, even if the hair, makeup and costumes are all wrong. And the dark British drama Hoard has lots of visual style and huge emotional kicks, but struggles to engage the audience very deeply.

This coming week I'll be watching Dakota Johnson in Madame Web, Olivia Colman in Wicked Little Letters and the fantasy Glitter & Doom, among other things. I'll also be flying off to Los Angeles for a family reunion, so I hope there are movies on the flight that I haven't yet seen.

Critical Week: Signature move

Awards season is in full swing now that the actors strike has ended, and I've had a couple of nice Q&A screenings this week (see Insta for pics). Big year-end movies are beginning to appear too. Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson, Jeremy Allen White, Lily James and writer-director Sean Durkin came along to present The Iron Claw, their astonishingly involving, powerfully moving true drama about a family of wrestlers. And Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby and Ridley Scott were on the red carpet for the Leicester Square premiere of Napoleon, a first-rate epic biopic about the French leader that looks properly amazing on the biggest screen possible. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Rustin • Saltburn
May December
ALL REVIEWS >

Meanwhile, Colman Domingo is excellent in the biopic Rustin, about the unsung Civil Rights organiser. Alexander Payne's The Holdovers is a 1970s-style wintry delight starring Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph. Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick are fierce in the harrowing Aussie Outback thriller The Royal Hotel. Taika Waititi's true-life comedy Next Goal Wins is a gently witty story about the world's worst football team, starring Michael Fassbender. Jesse Eisenberg turns into a meathead for Manodrome, a very dark drama that doesn't always work but gets us thinking. From New Zealand, the drama Punch is thoughtful and moving. Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron is even more spectacular than expected. Godzilla Minus One is a beefy prequel set in post-war Japan. The doc American Symphony finds surprising emotion while following Jon Batiste as he composes an orchestral piece. And the Powell and Pressburger classic The Red Shoes is even more dazzling in a new restoration. I also caught up with this one...

Dance First
dir James Marsh; with Gabriel Byrne, Fionn O'Shea 23/UK ***
While director James Marsh adds considerable visual flourish to this imaginative biopic about Samuel Beckett, there's a nagging feeling that the story is incomplete, as if it is skipping across the surface of a darkly complex figure. So while the script and performances add nuance in the characters and relationships, everything feels eerily out of reach. Thankfully, superb performances as Beckett from Gabriel Byrne and especially Fionn O'Shea give the film layers of insight and context. 

Films this coming week include Disney's new animated feature Wish, Michael Mann's Ferrari, Tilda Swinton in The Eternal Daughter (a full 15 months after I missed the screening in Venice!), Mexican thriller Lost in the Night, Australian drama A Stitch in Time, deep-fake doc Another Body and arthouse cinema doc Scala!!!, plus LoveTrain at Sadler's Wells and Connor Burns: Vertigo at Soho Theatre.

Screen: August TV Roundup

As the lines blur between how we watch television and the movies, I continue to use series to break up my feature film watching. Here's what I watched over the past month or so...

The Umbrella Academy: series 2

Kicking off with that same slightly out-of-control tone, this show's second season has almost the exact same plot as the first one did. This time, the siblings have found themselves trapped in 1963 Dallas just before JFK's assassination. But the real problem is another impending apocalypse, and once again they need to learn how to work together and get over their daddy issues. The cast is terrific as ever (Robert Sheehan is still insufferable, Aidan Gallagher still annoying), and the swirling mess of their interrelationships are far more intriguing than the overarching story. But the early-60s setting offers some issue-based humour and drama. And the final two episodes are spectacular. (Netflix)

I May Destroy You 

Complex and challenging, this is a sometimes very bleak drama that plays out with a blast of fresh, authentic humour. It also occasionally feels almost too real to watch, and the scenes crash into each other to keep us on our toes. Actor-writer Michaela Coel is a serious talent, and she plays the central character Arabella so unapologetically that she's often difficult to like, even as we sympathise with her mental anguish after a sexual assault. It's a shattering performance with a lot to say about human connections. The script is sharp and astute, tackling the idea of consent with no holds barred, dropping in pungent references and mind-spinning twists. It's a rare show that refuses to put anything into an easy box. Essential. (BBC)

Snowpiercer

Set a decade before the events of Bong Joon Ho's now-iconic 2013 thriller, this series has a compelling throughline that holds the interest as it shifts from a murder mystery into a class-based revolution. Even so, the plot feels somewhat over-egged, trying a bit too hard to play up the allegorical layers of the premise, which makes the story feel far too dense and abrasive for its own good. But the show is boosted by a razor-sharp cast led by Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connelly. It also looks terrific, with inventive sets and effects work. And each episode's twists and turns provide terrific wallops, adding layers to the social dynamics at work in the train, which of course are eerily recognisable. (Netflix)

Homecoming: series 2

Expanding on the first season, these seven tightly contained half-hour episodes cover just a few days in the lives of several characters, but they're seriously momentous. Janelle Monae, Hong Chau, Stephan James, Chris Cooper and the awesome Joan Cusack are excellent in complex roles as people coping with the fallout from experiments relating to an all-natural memory-erasing juice. The story starts, then circles back inventively before moving forward to a fiendish conclusion that has massive ramifications, leaving us with plenty to think about. It's finely written and directed, but it's the actors who make it a must-see. (Prime)

The Luminaries

Set in 19th century New Zealand, this show is far more demanding than it needs to be, swirling somewhat erratically between at least three timelines to recount a complex murder mystery. But paying attention pays off, as the characters develop unexpected depth along the way, leading to a fiendishly intelligent conclusion that solves the case with a wink and a nudge. It's also superbly well-played by a cast that includes Eve Hewson, Himesh Patel, Eva Green, Marton Czokas and Ewen Leslie. And in addition to the pitch-black drama and gloriously picturesque settings, the show is packed with pointed observations about imperialism that are still relevant today. (BBC)

Life Is Easy

From New Zealand, this short-form sitcom follows two best friends from school as they navigate young adulthood with a body-swapping twist. It's fast, sexy and enjoyably silly, even if the snappy pacing and multi-screen editing make it tricky to get a grip on it. But scenes are packed with knowing wit as best pals Jamie-Li and Curtis (Chye-Ling Huang and Cole Jenkins) discover themselves in each others' bodies during an eclipse. Since this is a straight woman and gay man, the show is able to explore all kinds of gender and sexuality issues through wacky comedy, including body image, homophobia, racial issues and various kinds of sexual harassment. Which adds a point to the nuttiness. (Revry)

Brave New World

This series drastically simplifies Aldous Huxley's iconic novel. For example, the gender roles, clothing and styling are far more 20th century than 25th, when it's set. (They're wildly misogynistic even by today's standards.) Basically, the writers have taken the concept and created a cool-looking series that pretends to be edgy and sexy, but isn't at all. The unambitious writing is moralistic and almost childish, sidelining any salient ideas about social engineering or control. At least the cast is excellent, led by Jessica Brown Findlay, Alden Ehrenreich and Harry Lloyd, with added Demi Moore. Each provides just enough nuance to their characters to keep us watching. But it's a missed opportunity. (Peacock)

Down to Earth

Zac Efron gallivants around the globe exploring important issues and trying out local food with vegan friend Darin Olien, who can't eat any of it. The main focus is on environmental themes, particularly sustainability, which is somewhat simplified for American audiences, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Efron has a nicely unpolished charm as a host, genuinely enthusiastic about what he's discovering, and he has terrific camaraderie with Olien, the crew and everyone they meet along the way. Each episode is gorgeously shot in a spectacular place that's packed with mind-bending ideas and positive approaches to today's world problems, if only someone will listen. (Netflix)

PLAYING CATCHUP

The Plot Against America

Philip Roth's prescient 2004 novel describes an alternate autobiographical history as Charles Lindbergh becomes US president in 1941 and makes an deal with Hitler not to interfere in the European war. Which effectively roots antisemitism into US society. The show is sharply produced, with a solid cast (led by Zoe Kazan, Morgan Spector, Winona Ryder and John Turturro) playing a Jewish Newark family facing this shift in culture. The script is insightful if a bit flabby, padding out each hour-long episode with scenes that don't always feed into the larger story. But it's packed with present-day parallels, and chilling observations about American culture and politics. (HBO)

I Know This Much Is True

Tackling an important topic, filmmaker Derek Cianfrance takes an indulgent storytelling approach with this dark drama, demanding a lot of the audience. It's not easy to watch, as each scene spirals into shouty chaos, often for no apparent reason, and the narrative heaps misery on the characters. That said, Mark Ruffalo is on peak form as twin brothers, one a hothead and the other with schizophrenia, neither of them remotely sympathetic. And the supporting cast is excellent (Rosie O'Donnell is particularly good). But there's barely a moment of peace, as Cianfrance shoots impatient outbursts in gritty close-up. Still, there are undercurrents of raw emotion, and the final episode makes it worth sticking with it. (HBO)

The Witcher

This fantasy series has a fiendishly clever structure that doesn't resolve itself until the final episodes, when the actual timeline comes into focus. It's made up of three connective story strands that have properly epic moments dotted through them. Like Game of Thrones with a sense of humour about itself, it's packed with riveting situations and unusually complex characters, anchored by Henry Cavill in the title role (a deeper performance than it seems on the surface), Anya Chalotra as a rogue mage and Freya Allan as a portentous orphan. It takes the misstep of staging a climactic battle at night, but the show is wonderfully entertaining. Bring on season 2. (Netflix)

UnReal: series 1-4

This show ran for four seasons, but I only just discovered it. It's the kind of premise I love, lifting the curtain on the backstage antics at a lusty reality dating show. The way these producers shamelessly manipulate contestants and each other is probably understated, so every single character is loathsome. The horrible things they do are gripping and blackly funny. Although the show digs into nasty melodrama rather than more entertaining cheesy antics, tipping a cynical nod at some big themes. It's also one of those American series that pretends to be sexy but is actually timid and prudish. (Prime)

NOW WATCHING: A Suitable Boy, Muppets Now, Insatiable (2), You (2), The New Legends of Monkey (2), Eastsiders (1-4).

LOOKING FORWARD: I Hate Suzie, Ratched, The Third Day, Away, The Boys (2).

Critical Week: Creation in isolation

With all film releases being online at the moment, studios are taking a few chances. Made in 2017, the JD Salinger biopic Rebel in the Rye has finally come out in the UK. The delay is surprising considering that it stars Nicholas Hoult (above), even if feels a bit lacklustre. Even more surprising, Bong Joon Ho's 2013 sci-fi action thriller Snowpiercer has never been released in Britain but is finally arriving this month, no doubt due to Bong's Oscar triumph (the delay was a Weinstein debacle). It was fun to revisit this bonkers classic. And Warner Bros released its animated blockbuster Scoob! straight to streaming, which is a shame for audiences who like to see high-quality animation on a big screen. It's a rather contrived corporate product, but fun too.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Boys on Film 20 • The County
Cassandro the Exotico!
ONLY OK:
Scoob! • Frankie
Rebel in the Rye

Lower profile films include the cheesy horror anthology Evil Little Things, which centres on three very creepy dolls; the apocalyptic epic Edge of Extinction is gripping, even if it reveals both the ambition and inexperience of its filmmakers; the Spanish romcom I Love You, Stupid is predictable but pointed and engaging; the hugely involving Mexican drama I'm No Longer Here has a strikingly well-observed sense of style and music; the beautifully made Icelandic drama The County expertly stirs up some righteous rage at corruption; and Peccadillo's 20th short film collection is released to celebrate the distributor's 20th anniversary. Boys on Film 20: Heaven Can Wait is an essential set of LGBT-themed shorts, even if the 11 clips are a mixed bag.

The next movies on my to-watch list are: Issa Rae in The Lovebirds, John Hawkes in End of Sentence, Denis Menochet in Only the Animals, the Argentine thriller Intuition, the Korean thriller The Man Standing Next, and the Thai documentary Krabi 2562.

Short Cuts: Death, love and rehab

Here are two Netflix films I caught up with this week, plus another film that hasn't had a UK release but is already streaming from the US...

Murder Mystery
dir Kyle Newacheck; scr James Vanderbilt
with Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Luke Evans, Terence Stamp, Dany Boon,Gemma Arterton, Adeel Akhtar, Luis Gerardo Mendez, David Walliams
19/US Netflix 1h37 **.

Let's be honest: you know you're in trouble when they can't even be bothered to give a movie a title. A bit of breezy entertainment, this energetic comedy is relentlessly dopey, but will just about do the trick when you want no mental stimulation whatsoever. It's about New York cop Nick (Sandler), who takes his frustrated wife Audrey (Aniston) on the European honeymoon he promised her 15 years ago, mainly to cover his continuing failure to pass his detective exam. On the plane she meets Viscount Charles (Evans), who invites them to Monaco for a weekend on a palatial yacht owned by his billionaire Uncle Malcolm (Stamp). The passengers are a who's who of characters from one of Audrey's mystery novels, so when Malcolm is stabbed with the bejewelled family dagger just before signing his new will, Nick steps in to help solve the crime. Of course, he immediately becomes the prime suspect.

The script plays with the stereotypes and genre cliches as the body count grows and the amusingly blustery Inspector Delacroix (Boon) takes the case. From here the writer and director lazily indulge in trite jokes, never creating a coherent plot or characters. Action moments are clumsy, and much of the humour falls flat. But there are witty gags here and there leading to the usual closed-room solution, which of course is followed by twists, turns and some random madcap action amid picturesque scenery. For an Adam Sandler comedy, this means that it's far above average. But by any other measure, this is a stumbling mess of a movie. Even so, it fills the time amiably enough. Aniston invests fully into the role with her enjoyably shrill comical energy. Her chemistry with Sandler even makes him seem almost funny.

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Always Be My Maybe
dir Nahnatchka Khan
scr Randall Park, Ali Wong, Michael Golamco
with Ali Wong, Randall Park, James Saito, Michelle Buteau, Vivian Bang, Keanu Reeves, Daniel Dae Kim, Karan Soni, Charlyne Yi, Susan Park
19/US 1h41 ***.

This romantic comedy has a silly tone that makes it likeable, finding realistic edges to the characters that make them deeply engaging. It's thoroughly obvious where the film is heading, but the characters and story are both witty and involving, so it's never easy to predict how any scene is going to unravel. Sasha and Marcus (Wong and Park) are best buddies from childhood, then share a romantic moment in their teens, which leaves their friendship in an awkward place. Now in Los Angeles, Sasha is a celebrity chef with a hot restauranteur fiance (Kim), but he has just taken an extended job in India. So Sasha decides to start over as she goes to San Francisco to open a new branch. She soon runs into Marcus, who's living at home, working with his dad (Saito) and playing in an indie band. He also has a crazy girlfriend, Jenny (Bang). But Sasha and Marcus begin rekindling their friendship, and they know each other too well to let each other get away with any rubbish.

The dialog is snappy, often with an improvisational feel to it. Park and Wong have terrific chemistry, bouncing off each other with jaggedly perfect timing. Marcus' band plays smart-alecky pop-rap novelty songs that you'll want to download immediately. And there are zinger one-liners scattered through the script for each of the side characters ("I'm an LGBTQIA ally, so thank you for your service," says Soni, as Marcus' bandmate, to Buteau, as Sacha's lesbian assistant). Keanu Reeves' sequence, in which he plays himself as Sasha's new boyfriend, is simply hilarious, as he unapologetically pokes fun at the image people have of him. Thankfully, along with some pointed pastiche about new cuisine, the film also dips a little deeper into celebrity culture as the story develops. It's never provocative or surprising, but it's thoroughly enjoyable, keeping the audience laughing and sighing right to the end. And there are moments that make us hungry too.

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The Beach Bum
dir-scr Harmony Korine
with Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg, Stefania LaVie Owen, Jonah Hill, Zac Efron, Martin Lawrence, Jimmy Buffett
19/US 1h35 **.

Matthew McConaughey is typecast as a loose-living stoner in this comedy by anarchic filmmaker Harmony Korine. He plays Moondog, a worry-free guy in Key West whose life is a series of hedonistic antics. Then he's called back to Miami to help his equally free-spirited wife Minnie (Fisher) with their 22-year-old daughter's (Owen) wedding. "I forgot how rich we were," Moondog says when he returns to their bayside mansion. His literary agent (Hill) berates him for throwing away his talent. So after a run-in with the law, Moondog checks into a year of court-ordered rehab, hoping he'll find the clarity to finally write his book. There he meets Flicker (Efron), a vaper who's equally irresponsible, so they escape and go on a crime spree.

Unsurprisingly, the film looks gorgeous, thanks to Benoit Debie's deep-hued cinematography, and it's accompanied by a superb collection of 1970s songs. Even so, the film feels like it was made in a marijuana-fuelled haze, full of wacky slapstick and broadly overplayed nuttiness, punctuated by McConaughey's piercing cackle. The film is mainly assembled from disconnected scenes of Moondog's aimless carousing and partying. Stinking rich, he hasn't a care in the world, so he never makes much sense. The open relationship between Moondog and Minnie is rather sweet, so a moment when the perpetually inebriated Moondog seems to feel a pang of jealousy feels downright false. Everyone talks about how his genius outweighs his bad behaviour, but there's little evidence of that. His best friends are his wife's lover (a mellow Snoop Dogg) and a disastrous dolphin tour guide (Lawrence). But aside from his general joie de vivre, there's nothing likeable about Moondog. So it's very difficult to celebrate him as a poetic hero rather than just a rich jerk who has had far more luck than he deserves. But then perhaps that's the vaguely political point Korine is making with this unexpectedly toothless romp.

Critical Week: Charm the camera

It's been another week with a random collection of London press screenings. Thankfully, the winter weather has suddenly turned summery, just in time for the four-day Easter weekend. The biggest movie for me this week was the Sundance hit Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, in which Zac Efron delivers an unusually layered performance as notorious killer Ted Bundy. Thankfully the film isn't chronicling his murders or the police investigation; instead it's a clever take from a more easily identifiable perspective. Claire Denis' foray into science-fiction High Life stars Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche as crew members on a deep space mission. It's of course beautiful, evocative and rather challenging. And Julianne Moore plays an opera singer in the offbeat Bel Canto, based on a true story about a hostage situation in South America. It's a mix of drama and thriller, impeccably played by the cast. But it's an odd concoction.

Further afield, we had Sergei Loznitsa's pitch-black political comedy Donbass, about the Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine. It's brilliantly shot and edited, and the doc-style acting makes it both funny and harrowing. The Skin of the Teeth is a quirky drama set in New York that explores identity through a very unusual drug trip. Set in rural Argentina, the strikingly well made and darkly involving Marilyn is about a young man harshly harassed for questioning the idea of masculinity. Hagazussa is a freak-out horror from Germany, full of 15th century superstitious nastiness. And Doozy is a part-animated experimental documentary about comic icon Paul Lynde, a little too arty to offer much in the way of information, but still fascinating. And then there was this music-based movie, dropped online last weekend...

Guava Island!
dir Hiro Murai; scr Stephen Glover
with Donald Glover, Rihanna, Letitia Wright, Nonso Anozie, Betiza Bistmark Calderon, Yansel Alberto Monagas Perez, Ayensi Amilgar Jardines Delgado, Karla Talia Pino Piloto
19/US ***.

This short feature is set out as a mythological story of love and war, set around an island called Guava at the centre of the world. The opening, beautifully animated in the style of a children's book with intricate colours and textures, recounts how the Red family seized control of the silkworms, industrialising production and destroying paradise. Generations later in a poverty-stricken suburb, Kofi (Rihanna) grows up hearing this story, dreaming about a life far away. Her childhood boyfriend is musician Deni (Glover), who dreams of writing a song that will unite the island's people and remind them of what this place could be. From here the film shifts into beautifully shot live-action, with Rihanna and Glover in the roles. They bristle with wit and personality in the vibrant, sundrenched-island setting (it was filmed in Havana). While Kofi works in a garment factory with her friend Yara (Wright), Deni is planning a secret concert to feature his new songs, which have begun being played on local radio. Deni sings about how Guava is essentially America, since the only way to get rich is to make someone else richer. As a result, he's grabbed by officials and taken to the boss Red Cargo (Anozie). "How do you know what's best for everyone?" Deni asks him, as he declares the concert cancelled. As the story continues, there's a terrific mixture of music and song, including variations on Childish Gambino hits This Is America and Summertime Magic. And the drama shifts seamlessly from personal and warm to edgy and intense. The story takes several turns, sometimes a bit obvious (Kofi has just found out that she's pregnant) and sometimes darkly surprising (Red Cargo's reaction is vicious when Deni defiantly decides to go on with his performance). Where the story goes is sobering and sometimes shocking. What it says about human resilience in the face of oppression is powerful, while the pulsing fusion of music and culture adds a visceral kick. So while it feels a bit slight, it's a badly needed cry of hope in an unjust world.

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After Easter weekend, we have screenings of the year's biggest blockbuster Avengers: Endgame, Lin Shaye in Room for Rent, the Scottish indie drama Beats, the Dutch drama Just Friends, and a collection of short films screening at the forthcoming Tribeca Film Festival.

Critical Week: Queens of the jungle

A few big Hollywood movies screened for the London press over the past week, including Snatched, the mother-daughter kidnapping romp starring Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer. It's silly enough to be a guilty pleasure, but could have been a lot more. Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron lead the charge in the goofy action-comedy movie version of the iconic TV series Baywatch. And Charlie Hunnam takes the lead in Guy Ritchie's entertaining and somewhat rushed approach to King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

Meanwhile, Dominic Cooper struggles to elevate the terrorism thriller Stratton above B-movie status. Much better were a couple of foreign movies: from China, I Am Not Madame Bovary is a fiendishly clever exploration of social connection and darker motivations, while Machines is a riveting, relevant, gorgeously shot documentary about workers in an Indian fabric factory.

Coming up this next week, while many London-based critics have decamped to the South of France for the Cannes Film Festival, we will catch up with Johnny Depp's fifth turn as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge (aka Dead Men Tell No Tales), Chris Evans' drama Gifted, the Scottish biopic Tommy's Honour, the animated adventure Monster Island, the Mexican rom-com Wild Awakening and the shorts compilation Boys on Film 16: Possession.

Critical Week: The art of fashion

A couple of great documentaries were screened to London press this week, starting with The First Monday in May, which explores the build-up to the Met Gala in 2015, at which Rihanna (above) reigned supreme. It's a riveting look backstage! Just as skilful and inventive, but in a completely different style, Author: The JT LeRoy Story reveals the fascinating layers of truth behind Laura Albert's elaborate fiction, posing for 10 years as a young gay male writer.

Also this week, we had a couple of sequels: Seth Rogen and Zac Efron reunite in the witty but not quite as funny sequel Bad Neighbours 2 (aka Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising), while Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska reteam for the much better eye-popping sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass (Depp and Wasikowska were joined by Sacha Baron Cohen, Tim Burton and director James Bobin for an especially lively press conference on Sunday). And there was also Ewan McGregor in the skilful thriller Our Kind of Traitor, Tina Fey in the excellent wartime comedy-drama Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Ethan Hawke in the moody Chet Baker biopic Born to Be Blue, Penelope Cruz in the artfully moving Spanish drama Ma Ma, and the colourful and very nutty animation of The Angry Birds Movie.

The big press screening this week is for X-Men: Apocalypse, which has had mixed reviews from its fan screening earlier this week. We also have Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in The Nice Guys, Rossif Sutherland in River, Iggy Pop in Blood Orange and smaller independent films called Steel and Godless, whatever they are. I'm also attending a bit of theatre this week, and will write about that here too.

Critical Week: My head hurts!

I caught up this week with Will Smith's new film Concussion, a true drama that's very well shot and acted, and also relentlessly "Important!" Hopefully it'll finally give traction to the dangers of brain injury in America's favourite sport, which has suppressed medical findings for decades. Long delayed here in the UK, Ramin Bahrani's 2012 film At Any Price will be released in the wake of the filmmaker's 2014 drama 99 Homes. This is a similar story of the American dream gone sour, and it gives Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron (astutely cast as father and son) unusually meaty roles.

Vincent Cassel is terrific as the patriarch in Partisan, an elusive drama about a commune in an isolated country (it was shot in the Georgian Republic) where one of his children begins to doubt the nature of this created reality. It's clever and startlingly involving. And from Denmark, A War cross-cuts between life at home and on the battlefield in Afghanistan. Shot like a documentary, the film feels rather derivative (see Restrepo for the real thing) but carries a strong kick in the moral dilemma of the final act. I also caught up with two previously released awards contenders:

Hard to Be a God
dir Aleksey German; with Leonid Yarmolnik, Aleksandr Chutko 13/Rus ****
With a virtually plotless structure and nearly three-hour running time, this Russian epic will test the patience of even the most ambitious moviegoer. But there's so much going on in every extraordinary frame that it's never boring. Violent, silly and utterly bonkers, the premise is that a group of scientists has travelled to help a distant planet that's stuck in its middle ages, unwilling to move into a renaissance. Shot in vivid black and white, the film follows one of these men, Don Rumata (Yarmolnik), through an odyssey of mud and blood. Details are observed in long takes by the bravura camerawork and jaw-dropping production design. It may ultimately be a meandering and bleak look at the tenacity of human ignorance, but it's utterly dazzling. (Nominated for Foreign-Language Film of the Year by the London Critics' Circle.)

Radiator
dir Tom Browne; with Richard Johnson, Gemma Jones, Daniel Cerqueira 14/UK ****
A beautifully played three-hander, this astutely written, shot and acted film centres on Daniel (Cerqueira) who finds that he needs to travel more often out of London to visit his parents as their eccentricities increase. Leonard (Johnson) has confined himself to the sofa, while Maria (Jones) keeps herself unnecessarily busy. In very different ways, both are extremely demanding, and Daniel struggles to adapt to this new paradigm in which he is their primary caregiver. Each scene is packed with astute observations, played to perfection by the sharp cast with an offhanded sense of humour. And the emotional kicks, when they come along, are potent. (Nominated for Breakthrough British Filmmaker by the London Critics' Circle.)

I still have a few more screeners to watch before I cast my final votes in the London Critics' Circle Film Awards and make my nominations in Galeca's Dorian Awards. And I also need to finalise my own year-end lists, which I'm planning to post on Thursday.

Critical Week: A winter's tale

Quentin Tarantino's latest epic The Hateful Eight has finally bowed to critics, and it's an oddly uneven film - an intriguing idea with moments of skilful inventiveness and a solid cast, but the nagging sense that it's all rather pointless and indulgent.

Also screening this week: Robert DeNiro and Zac Efron in the rude road comedy Dirty Grandpa, Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie in the enjoyably edgy rom-com Sleeping With Other People, Matthias Schoenaerts in the fiendishly clever and unsettling Belgian PTSD drama Disorder, and the irritatingly fragmented Romanian sculptor biopic Brancusi From Eternity.

Meanwhile, I still have a bunch of films to watch before the next round of voting in critics awards. Since I have no more press screenings until January 4th, I should have time to catch up with screeners of awards-worthy movies, plus binge-watching TV series I've been saving up. I'll also be finalising my year-end lists over the next week. So it should be a nice Christmas! Hope yours is good too...

Critical Week: Looking for the right mix

It's been another eclectic week of press screenings for London-based critics. We Are Your Friends is an engaging L.A.-set drama starring Zac Efton as a DJ looking for his voice. Straight Outta Compton has already stormed the American box office, and comes to Britain next week - it's the gripping, gritty story of NWA's rise to fame in the 1990s. And even though it stars Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams, and is written and directed by Cameron Crowe, Aloha was so wobbly in America that it's going straight to video in the UK. It doesn't really work, but it isn't that awful either.


We also had two films costarring the wonderful Kathryn Hahn: M Night Shyamalan's new film The Visit (comments are embargoed until closer to the release), and Jack Black and James Marsden in the surprisingly bold and thoughtful comedy The D Train. And there was also: Owen Wilson and Lake Bell in the seriously suspenseful chase thriller No Escape; Elisabeth Moss and Katherine Waterston in the amazing, arty friendship drama Queen of Earth; and the amusing B-movie vampire-mayhem workplace comedy Bloodsucking Bastards.

This coming week we've got Maggie Smith in The Lady in the Van, Kevin Bacon in Cop Car, Nicholas Hoult in Kill Your Friends, Cary Elwes in A Haunting in Cawdor, the Sundance winner Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the South African comedy-drama Leading Lady, and the activism doc How to Change the World. And it's a long weekend, so I should be able to catch up on some screeners at home.

Critical Week: Side of beef

London critics caught up with the new Zac Efron/Seth Rogen comedy Neighbors (international title Bad Neighbours) this week, but aren't allowed to talk about the film quite yet. Suffice it to say that Zac doesn't like to wear a shirt, for obvious reasons. Also embargoed (until tomorrow) is the Cameron Diaz/Leslie Mann comedy The Other Women, costarring Kate Upton, Nicolai Coster-Waldau and Nicki Minaj. And I need to wait until next week to review Plastic, a British heist movie starring rising-star young Brits Ed Speleers, Will Poulter and Alfie Allen.

But I can talk about: Transcendence, the achingly slow sci-fi thriller starring Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany and Rebecca Hall; Pompeii, the wonderfully preposterous Ancient Roman disaster romp starring Kit Harington and a villainous Kiefer Sutherland; Authors Anonymous, a funny but uneven improv-style comedy starring Chris Klein and Kaley Cuoco; Benny & Jolene, an uneven and awkward improv-style British comedy starring Charlotte Ritchie and Craig Roberts; and Who Is Dayani Cristal?, a clever, powerful dramatic documentary about immigration from Central to North America.

This coming week we've got Paul Walker's thriller remake Brick Mansions, Roman Polanski's theatrical drama Venus in Furs, Ozu's classic An Autumn Afternoon and fashionable pensioner doc Advanced Style. I also have a line-up of screenings this week as part of the Sundance London Festival, which runs next weekend. In my diary are, alphabetically: The Case Against 8, Drunktown's Finest, Finding Fela, Hits, Kumiko, Little Accidents, Memphis, The One I Love, They Came Together and The Voices. I'll be blogging and tweeting about Sundance from Friday.