White Bird in a Blizzard
Atmospheric 1980s set tale about the affects of a mother’s disappearance on her teenage daughter. Weird but mostly engrossing, featuring a mature performance by Shailene Woodley and a great score by Harold Budd.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Hinterland
Ultra low budget British drama from promising directorial newcomer Harry MacQueen. Two friends take the first tentative steps towards a possible romance during a weekend stay at a sea side cottage. Even at 78 minutes, this slight story is stretched and the last 15 minutes are a little bit of a let down.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Still Life
The pick of this bunch. The peerless Eddie Marsan stars as John, a council worker who tries to locate relatives of people who have died alone. A quiet, desperately sad film from director Uberto Pasolini, this bafflingly stayed on the shelf for a couple of years before getting a very small release. As well as the brilliant Marsan, Joanne Froggatt is excellent as the woman that the lonely John makes a connection with.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Duke of Burgundy
I don’t know whether it was coincidence that this film was released at the same time as 50 Shades of Grey but comparisons are inevitable. A lesbian sado masochistic relationship is put under strain when one of the participants begins to lose interest. Ambitious, frequently intriguing, but ultimately sunk by its own pretentiousness.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Lost River
Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut received a hostile reception at Cannes and was panned by the critics. Although burdened by a sense of self importance, Gosling delivers a visually stunning film. The story of a woman becoming involved in a strange underground club scene whilst her son discovers an underwater town is not structured that well but is held together by good performances by Ben Mendelsohn and Saoirse Ronan.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
Enemy
Despite the presence of Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role and the Prisoners director, Denis Villeneuve, behind the camera, this story of a man searching for his lookalike after seeing him in a movie is a big disappointment. Contrived and quite dull, it suffers in comparison to the similarly plotted The Double from last year.
Rating: 4 out of 10
Snow in Paradise
British crime/gangster films are a much maligned, with good reason. The plot for this one – a young petty criminal (Dave) gets in over his head with tragic consequences may sound formulaic but the film is a cut above the norm. That is largely because the story takes an unexpected turn as Dave turns to Islam, and because of outstanding performances by Frederick Schmidt and Martin Askew as Uncle Jimmy.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Altman
A documentary charting the career of the great Robert Altman could not be anything other than interesting. It provides a good overview for newcomers but little insight for fans. Scenes of actors trying to define “Altmanesque” add little.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Force Majeure
When a family on a skiing holiday are faced with a potential avalanche, the father runs away leaving his fear stricken wife and two children to fend for themselves. This great scenario is well, and stylishly realised by director Ruben Östlund. A little overpraised by critics but interesting stuff nevertheless.
Rating: 7 out of 10
And finally one that I caught at the cinema but is now out of general release.
X+y
A touching and warm film about Nathan, a teenage maths prodigy, competing in the maths Olympics. Buoyed by an outstanding cast and an insightful, funny script, this is a real crowd pleaser. Eddie Marsan is again on top form, in a cast featuring the ever reliable Sally Hawkins and the extremely promising Alexa Davies (from Channel 4’s Raised by Wolves). The movie is stolen, though, by Rafe Spall at Nathan’s teacher. The one minor criticism I have is that the film spends a long time setting up the competition element in the story and then loses interest in it as it reaches a climax.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10