Critical Week: Look over there

While critics have had plenty to watch, the cinemas still feel oddly quiet this summer, with fewer big releases than usual due to last year's strikes. And longer-gestating blockbusters are also still caught in the fallout from the pandemic. But there were two studio films screened this week. Zachary Levi stars in the lively kids' movie Harold and the Purple Crayon, which is colourful, funny and very silly. Also pretty silly, Deadpool & Wolverine teams up Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman for more fast-talking, hyper-violent, highly referential meta-jokiness. It's a lot of fun, but a bit uneven.

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Further afield was the offbeat comedy Between the Temples, starring Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane in a quirky crisis of the Jewish faith. Christianity features heavily in Mysterious Ways, a moving and intimate Kiwi drama about a vicar and his rugby coach boyfriend. The bracingly authentic Swedish drama Paradise Is Burning focusses on three sisters trying to survive on their own. Gorgeously shot and edited, the Mexican doc The Echo is so beautifully assembled that it feels like a narrative drama about agrarian life in a small village. And the powerful, urgently important narrative doc No Other Land follows two journalists, Palestinian and Israeli, as they cover the harrowing destruction of homes and lives in the occupied West Bank.

This coming week I'll be watching animated adventure Oz: Voice of the Forest, psychological thriller Detained, French coming-of-age drama Red Island, Finnish drama Sebastian, Chinese mystery thriller Only the River Flows and the Saint Helena doc A Story of Bones. I also have stage shows Amaze and Frankie Goes to Bollywood this week.

BFI Flare: Take back the streets

The 37th edition of the British Film Institute's Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival kicked off last night at BFI Southbank in defiance of the government-caused strike that shut down the entire Tube network. This is one of the largest and most important film festivals in the UK, and its influence goes global as a celebration of the very best films tackling queer topics. It's also one of my favourite festivals, because the Southbank becomes party central for 10 days. We all love reconnecting our "Flare friends" each year - a particularly great bunch of people. And it's also a rare festival that still has filmmakers mixing in with the audience. Here are some highlights for the first couple of days (with my usual Critical Week down below)...

The Stroll
dir Zackary Drucker, Kristen Lovell; with Kristen Lovell, Ceyenne, Carey 23/US ****
Documenting a specific period in the New York queer scene, this film has a sense of urgency about it that's impossible to escape. These are the stories of real people who transcended their circumstances to make a huge impact on society, and yet they're still battling against hateful bigotry. Filmmaker Kristen Lovell bravely puts her life on the screen, adeptly codirecting with the gifted Zackary Drucker, revealing the humanity of transgender sex workers who are still seeking basic human rights.

Egghead & Twinkie
dir-scr Sarah Kambe Holland; with Louis Tomeo, Sabrina Jie-a-fa 23/US ****
Colourfully augmented with eye-catching animation, this lively teen road trip comedy is bright and funny, and it has a strongly pointed edge as well. Writer-director Holland includes such personal details that this must be an autobiographical story. The characters have remarkably authentic layers to them. And while the film is aimed at a young audience, it says a lot about the complexities of figuring out who you are and finding your way in a world where you feel like a social oddball.

Three Nights a Week [Trois Nuits par Semaine]
dir Florent Gouelou; with Pablo Pauly, Romain Eck 22/Fr ***.
Beautifully shot with lush light and colour, this French drama spins around a warm, offbeat relationship that catches two people, and their friends, by surprise. The drawn-out narrative plays like a gay fantasy, as that cute guy isn't as straight as he thinks he is. So the plot sometimes feels over-deliberate. But honest feelings run through each scene. And director Florent Gouelou isn't afraid to lean into a feel-good moment... FULL REVIEW >

1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture
dir Sharon "Rocky" Roggio; with Kathy Baldock, Ed Oxford 22/US ***.
Aimed at viewers who know their way around the Bible, this documentary features people who take Christianity seriously as they take on a hot potato topic: looking into what the Bible actually says about homosexuality. Using scholarly research, the film finds proof of mistranslations that have led to misunderstandings, extensive abuse and ruptured relationships. And filmmaker Sharon Roggio is grappling with this topic in a way that's remarkably personal... FULL REVIEW >

FROM THE ARCHIVES
Strip Jack Naked: Nighthawks II
dir Ron Peck; with Ron Peck, Nick Bolton 91/UK ****.
Not actually a sequel, this is an experimental making-of doc that also serves as a detailed autobiography of the filmmaker. It's telling, provocative and extremely personal, and has its own important place in film history. Peck assembles the material in a kaleidoscopic way, framed with images of men in an editing suite looking at clips from 1978's Nighthawks, including scenes from the fundraising pilot and extensive footage that was cut out of the film... FULL REVIEW >

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C R I T I C A L  W E E K

Movies to watch this week included the star-packed 80 for Brady, which is sustained by the powerful wattage of Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno and Sally Field, despite an odd, unfunny script. The superhero sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods abandons the brightly funny original's tone for more dour grey-hued effects-based mayhem, which seems like a silly mistake (see also the recent Ant-Man sequel). Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game is an engaging biopic that distracts the audience with far too much geek-out detail about the origins and importance (!) of pinball. Rye Lane is one of the best British romantic comedies in recent memory, original and very funny, with charming leads and terrific South London locations. And I of course had to check out Andrea Riseborough's Oscar nominated performance in To Leslie. She's great, the film's ok.

This coming week I'll mainly be watching films that are part of BFI Flare, plus Keanu Reeves back for John Wick Chapter 4, Florence Pugh in A Good Person, the Italian drama The Eight Mountains, the true-life Spanish thriller The Beasts and the doc Kubrick by Kubrick. And I also have a couple of theatre press nights (reviews here soon).

Critical Week: Pesky kids

After missing them during the festival, I caught up with this week's two big releases at press screenings on Tuesday. Pet Sematary is a remake of the horror thriller adapted from Stephen King's novel. It's better than the first stab at it, as it were (I dredged up my archive review of the 1989 version and posted it together with the new one HERE.) And then there was Shazam!, easily the most enjoyable movie in recent memory from DC. It's lively and funny and has a solid plot and characters.

Seth Rogen has made unlikely romantic-comedies before, but perhaps Charlize Theron seems like a stretch too far. Well, their pointed political comedy Long Shot is a nice surprise, hilariously well written and sharply played. Judi Dench is of course great in Red Joan, as a woman accused of working with the communists back during her Cambridge University days. The film is a bit plodding and choppy, but the true story is fascinating. And from Wales, Gwen is a grim, atmospheric 19th century drama with strong horror overtones. Superb performances and skilful photography make it worth a look.

Coming up this week we have Isabelle Huppert in Neil Jordan's Greta, bonkers horror Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich, medieval German thriller Hagazussa and Sergei Loznitsa's Donbass.

Flare: Party all night

Just as the final weekend kicks off, I'm already feeling pretty partied out by the 33rd edition of BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival. But I've had a couple of early evenings, so hopefully I'll make it through the weekend's rather intense schedule of screenings, meetings and, yes, parties. It all wraps up tomorrow night with JT Leroy (my final blog post will be on Monday). Meanwhile, here are more highlights, including longer reviews of two documentaries below, including a stunner from the archive...

Knife + Heart [Un Couteau Dans le Coeur]
dir Yann Gonzalez; with Vanessa Paradis, Nicolas Maury
18/Fr ***
Lurid colours and bold stylistic flourishes add interest to this offbeat French thriller. Director-cowriter Yann Gonzalez floods the screen with primary colours, bleached blonde hair, fantasy sex and grisly murder, merrily blurring lines in the films within the film. It's rather too melodramatic to take seriously as a slasher horror, but the lively, camp approach keeps the audience entertained, especially in its more playful moments. And there are some elements that provoke deeper thought as well.

Sunburn [Golpe de Sol]
dir-scr Vicente Alves do O; with Ricardo Pereira, Oceana Basilio 18/Por ***.
There's an intriguing fluidity to this sunny Portuguese drama in which four friends go on holiday at an isolated villa. Filmmaker Vincente Alves do O cleverly drops little touches into each scene, often using experimental styles and bold imagery as he reveals details of attitudes and connections. The story may be somewhat elusive and melodramatic, but the film is a fiercely observant look at the complex nature of human connections.

Mapplethorpe
dir-scr Ondi Timoner; with Matt Smith, Marianne Rendon 18/US ****
Writer-director Ondi Timoner spent more than a decade getting this biopic made, and her attention to detail shows. This is a boldly told story, skilfully capturing the style of the period as it recounts the life of iconic photographic artist Robert Mapplethorpe. And Matt Smith gives a strikingly loose, authentic performance as a man who, instead of adapting for the mainstream, brought the fringe right out into the spotlight, finding beauty in every corner of his life... FULL REVIEW >

United We Fan
dir-scr Michael Sparaga
with Nichelle Nichols, Scott Bakula, Zachary Levi, Amy Acker, Skeet Ulrich, Bjo Trimble, John Trimble, Dorothy Swanson, Rod Roddenberry, Donald P Bellisario, Harry Thomason, Barney Rosenzweig
18/US 1h37 ****
Focussing on fans who fight back when their favourite shows are cancelled, this is a documentary about hope. With a snappy pace and a cheeky sense of humour, it's also a treasure trove of stories, memorabilia and superb interviews with fans, stars and producers. Primarily aimed at geeks, the film has a lot to say about the state of the entertainment industry. The central figures are Bjo and John Trimble, who created the first fan action to save Star Trek in the 1960s (they also ran the campaign to get the first space shuttle named Enterprise). From here it traces projects aimed at shows like St Elsewhere, Quantum Leap, Cagney & Lacey, Designing Women, Person of Interest, Jericho (sending 25 tons of nuts) and Chuck (with star Zachary Levi making 600 sandwiches in London to encourage Subway as a sponsor). For Veronica Mars the fans used crowd-funding to get a movie made. Along the way, Dorothy Swanson founded Viewers for Quality Television in the early 1980s to mobilise the grass roots and demand that good shows aren't cancelled. Now the internet has taken this on, as fans are more visible than ever with hugely vocal online communities. This has led to some very creative campaigns over the years, not all of them successful (there's no mention of the one I got involved with, Operation Pine Weasel, which gave Twin Peaks another season). The film gets a bit sidetracked talking about the activists' personal lives, including marriage and sexuality issues, although this cleverly makes it impossible to dismiss them as nerds. It also highlights the passions of people who see themselves represented on television and don't want their show to go away. This leads to a fascinating exploration of "baiting", when producers put ethnic or gay characters into their shows to appeal to a specific audience. But the point is that the highest rated shows just don't have such passionate fans, because they appeal to everyone. And because of these trailblazers, TV is a little smarter today.

Tongues Untied
dir Marlon Riggs 
with Essex Hemphill, Marlon Riggs, Larry Duckette, Gideon Ferebee, Christopher Prince, Steve Langley, Michael Bell, Bernard Branner, Ben Callet, Gerald Davis, Kenneth R Dixon, Darnell Stephens-Durio
89/US 55m *****
Opening with the chant "brother to brother", this bold, rightly angry documentary confronts the persistent perception that all black men are thieves. Hinging on the fiercely evocative beat poetry of Essex Hemphill, the film features powerful images of black men as artists, dancers, friends and lovers. Made in 1989 and now restored, this is a kaleidoscopic stunner that packs a lot into its brief running time, including a range of amusing anecdotes with punchlines. It's edited with a pulsing rhythmic thump that catches the attitudes, music, humour and energy. Along the way, filmmaker Marlon Riggs recounts his own experiences growing up as a gay black man with torrents of abuse from every community he was in, and those he was outside as well. This remarkably textured, painful chronicle of the depths of prejudice in society, includes racial, religious, political and social elements. It's seriously chilling as it remarks how casual comments and jokes actually cut us down, making us feel less than worthless. But there's also the joy in discovering others like us, including love from unexpected places. Lighter moments include a trip to the Institute of Snap!thology, coaching the audience in the difference between the mini-snap and diva-snap. And there's a moving undercurrent of Aids awareness, which is especially strong since the film was made in the midst of the epidemic. The juxtaposition of images from civil rights marches with gay pride is particularly strong. In other words, the film's visual and verbal dexterity should make us angry too, as the men who are speaking here are simply expressing their deep feelings at the injustice and bigotry around them. "Anger unvented becomes pain ... rage ... violence." But ultimately, this doc is a heartfelt search for self. Provocative and moving, it deserves a prominent place in film history.