Alice
Written and directed by Josephine Mackerras, Alice is a thoughtful if a little frustrating drama. Emilie Piponnier plays the title role. She seems to have the perfect life with her loving husband, Francois (Martin Swabey) and young son, Jules. That is, until she discovers that Francois has disappeared after spending all their money on expensive escorts and she is on the verge of becoming homeless.

The first act is excellent as Alice frantically tries to work out what has happened and stumbles across a solution to her money issues…joining the company that Francois hired the women from.

After that set up though, the film tends to meander. We see Alice meeting clients, some are nice, some not so but there is no thrust to the plot.

Francois’ re-appearance late in the film brings things more into focus, but despite Piponnier’s impressive performance and some pointed observations about how Francois’ behaviour is more socially acceptable than Alice’s, the baggyness of the middle section is what stays in the mind.

Available as a premium rental.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Exclusively available on Curzon Home Cinema is the powerful Clemency.

Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard) is a warden of a prison that includes offenders on death row. Despite her efforts to treat prisoners and their families with respect and her innate integrity, the years of doing her job is taking their toll. Her marriage is suffering and as the execution date for the next execution, of Anthony Woods, starts to loom, she doubts her ability to carry on.

Woodard is exceptional and is ably supported by Wendell Pierce as her husband, Aldis Hodge, as Woods and especially the marvellous Richard Schiff as his lawyer, Marty Lumetta, who specialises in appeals by condemned prisoners.

This is undoubtedly a tough watch but mostly a rewarding one. The film is, by far, at its strongest when focusing on Bernadine as the perspective of someone in her position is not usually examined. It is similarly interesting that both Maty and the prison chaplain both yearn for retirement, seemingly exhausted by the job they do.

When the story switches to Anthony, it feels much more run of the mill. With little known of his back story, the film suffers in comparison with something like Just Mercy from earlier this year. Film of the week, however.
Rating: 8 out of 10

The rest of this week’s films deserve only the briefest of mentions. Now available to Sky subscribers is The Fanatic. The reliably bad John Travolta stars as a mentally challenged man fixated with a movie star. His depiction is crass and dated, and the movie completely lacks any element of suspense.
Rating: 4 out of 10

You have to admire Terry Gilliam’s persistence in getting The Man Who Killed Don Quixote to the screen, something he has been trying to do since the late 80’s. But you have to question whether it was worth it. It starts well enough as Toby (Adam Driver) an erratic film director tries to film the tale of the fabled knight. However when the story moves forward in time, it gets increasingly messy and less interesting. Also available on Sky.
Rating: 3.5 out of 10

Netflix continues its mission to bring us basically the same films time and time again. Work It is yet another variation on the story of a bunch of underdog kids entering a competition, this time in dance, and triumphing. It at least has heart, unlike An Easy Girl. A bunch of spoilt kids indulge themselves on holiday. I hated everyone in it. Project Power is more original. A pill can give you superpowers but also have unfortunate side effects. A good cast including Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jamie Foxx is wasted in a rambling story with way too many characters.
Work It, rating: 5 out of 10
An Easy Girl, rating 2.5 out of 10
Project Power, rating: 3.5 out of 10