Shudder Saturday: Rita (2024)

Okay, we need to get one thing clear from the very beginning here. Rita isn't a traditional horror form. In fact, I would agree with people who wouldn't consider it a horror film at all, despite the fact that the real event it is based on, and what is shown here in the finale, is quite horrific. This is the kind of film that I actually appreciate seeing hosted by Shudder, despite the fact that the comments from viewers inevitably include a whole lot of dismissals from those who wanted a straightforward horror movie. 

I admit, however, that I was worried when this started. It focuses on young Rita (Giuliana Santa Cruz), of course, and begins by showing her being placed in a facility alongside many other children. The children all seem to pretend they are in different factions, imagining themselves as fairies or other fantastical creatures, and the early scenes of magical realism had me very worried that I would end up watching something far too pre-occupied with showcasing the theatricality of child performers being encouraged to dress up and improvise amongst themselves. There was no need to worry though. Writer-director Jayro Bustamante (who impressed me with his previous feature, La Llorona) makes use of the childish playfulness and innocence to simply soften the edges of subject matter that might otherwise have been too bleak for many to watch.

I encourage everyone to watch Rita, first and foremost, but I then encourage everyone to type "rita guatemalan tragedy" into any decent search engine. Finding out what the film was based on, and why it needed to be made, adds another layer of appreciation, and it underlines just how well Bustamante has balanced everything. This works as a movie, as long as (once more for those at the back) you're NOT expecting any straightforward horror genre moments, but it works equally as a testament and condemnation of a major stain on the recent history of Guatemala.

While the entire cast do very good work, Santa Cruz is the focus, and she does a fantastic job. She is both vulnerable, as any child is, and yet ever-ready to fight for the safety of others. Ángela Quevedo and Alejandra Vásquez are two other children in the facility, both already trying to plan ways to fight back against a system that has put them in a very dangerous situation, and they easily hold their own alongside the young lead. The few adults throughout the movie aren't shown in a good light, but they're also portrayed by very capable actors who grit their teeth and commit to showing the horrible truth at the heart of the whole movie.

I can't say that I noticed every individual element here, which means I won't be praising the score or the editing or anything else that may deserve some extra praise. I was drawn in, almost as if taken by the hand, by the characters and the feeling of innocent playtime providing a way to process some great pain and unpleasantness. The end result is a gently-crafted piece of filmic heartbreak.

8/10

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Noirvember: Dead Reckoning (1947)

If you're a younger film fan, or maybe just a casual film fan, and you can't quite understand why Humphrey Bogart was such a big star for a while then, forgive me, I would have to insist that you just haven't watched a Humphrey Bogart movie. The man is riveting, and often also feels like the personification of cool, and he had the added benefit of being placed in some great features. While not at the very top of any ranked list, Dead Reckoning is a very enjoyable noir that pairs our leading man alongside the lovely Lizabeth Scott. 

Bogart is Rip Murdock, a military man who ends up on a personal quest when he finds out about the death of a fellow serviceman. Not only that, he discovers that the man may not be who he thought he was, and he was suspected of murder. His quest leads him to meet Coral Chandler (Scott) and Martinelli (Morris Carnovsky), a criminal masquerading as a legitimate businessman.

Mainly written by Oliver H. P. Garrett and Steve Fisher, with various people responsible for the main story and adaptation, and directed by John Cromwell, there's nothing here behind the cameras to mark out Dead Reckoning as an above-average noir. It looks good enough, the screenplay has some excellent lines of dialogue sprinkled throughout, and the plot is both slippery and fairly easy to predict. That doesn't make it special though.

Bogart, however, Bogart makes it special. As does Scott. The two leads work well, particularly when sizing one another up and trying to maintain a relationship that is mutually beneficial, and Bogart feels completely at ease in a role that plays to his strengths. He's confident, smart and quick enough to recognise when he's being conned, and he's willing to risk letting someone inside his exterior armour if they can prove that they're not working an angle on him. Scott plays the ambiguity of her character all the way to the end, as expected, allowing viewers to constantly wonder about her role in the murder being investigated. Carnovsky doesn't need to be ambiguous. He's very enjoyable as a charming and unflappable antagonist, and Marvin Miller is also good value as his main henchman, Krause. Others worth keeping an eye out for are William Prince (in the small, but vital, role of Johnny Drake), George Chandler, James Bell, and Charles Cane.

More of a comfort viewing than many other noirs, thanks to the charisma quotient and the perfect pacing that helps the 100-minute runtime breeze by easily enough, this may not be considered essential, but it's one I will highly recommend to those who want to spend some time in the company of some star performers shining brightly in material that seems to have been nicely tailored around them.

8/10

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Thanksgiving (2023)

Whether directly or indirectly, the Grindhouse movie is arguably one of the more influential "failures" of the past couple of decades. So many other films have taken a cue from it, and some of the fun fake trailers have now been made into full features. We've had TWO Machete movies by now, one Hobo With A Shotgun, and now Thanksgiving, a film that fans were wanting to see made as soon as they started laughing at the entertaining ridiculousness of Eli Roth's trailer. 

Things start off with some Black Friday carnage, and I do mean carnage. As openers go, Thanksgiving has a corker. It's gory, it presents a varied group of people who could all then have a motivation to kill, and it's memorable. If the rest of the film was then a much more subdued piece, saving major kills for the final act, then it would still be worth your time. It's certainly not subdued though, and the kills are well-spaced throughout, as well as being nicely constructed (from the playful camerawork to the gore gags). The killer is someone wearing a John Carver mask, and, as the tagline says, there will be no leftovers.

Written by Jeff Rendell, who worked on developing the original concept with Roth and making the most of the premise (ensuring enough space for all of the trimmings, shall we say), Thanksgiving is an absolute blast from start to finish. The younger cast members, including Nell Verlaque, Addison Rae, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Milo Manheim, Thomas Sanelli, Gabriel Davenport, and Jenna Warren, all do a decent job of trying to unmask a killer before he or she takes them all out of the picture, and the likes of Patrick Dempsey, Gina Gershon, Tim Dillon, Rick Hoffman, and Karen Cliche do well as the adults who may find themselves in just as much danger as the youngsters. Joe Delfin is right in the middle of those two main groups, which gives me a chance to single him out here as an extra treat in a film full of them.

Roth is a divisive figure, although you could say that about almost any horror movie director to have emerged in the 21st century. I certainly see why some would take such a dislike to him though, with his worryingly easy way of channeling the voice of at least one typical douchebro into most of his movies. He certainly knows what slasher movie fans want to see though, and delivers it in spades. Maintaining just the right tone throughout, no easy feat when it comes to a couple of the more memorable set-pieces, Roth and Rendell present a fine selection of red herrings, some imaginative kills, and the expected reveal and explanation during the grand finale. The humour works well, especially when it's underlining the holiday theme of the murders, and the survivors do just enough to keep you rooting for them at the end, even if they aren't exactly the most immediately likeable individuals.

I tend to like Roth movies, although I have often had to rewatch them to fully make my mind up. He may be abrasive, he may be over-exposed, and he may sometimes let his mouth write cheques that his film-making body can't cash, but he certainly knows the specific horror movies that he likes to reference and be influenced by. Thanksgiving is impressive because it not only manages to deliver the slasher movie goodies, but it does so without making use of the self-aware and meta layering that almost every other big American slasher movie has contained since Wes Craven helped that style become hugely popular. 

That's not cranberry sauce being sprayed around the place, and this is definitely no turkey.

8/10

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Prime Time: State Of Grace (1990)

Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, Ed Harris, Robin Wright, John C. Reilly, and John Turturro have a lot of film experience. In fact, I don't think I could do the maths to tally up their cumulative total amount of screentime. Having them all working together in State Of Grace should be a good thing, but you have to then consider that director Phil Joanou didn't have much experience. And writer Dennis McIntyre made his feature debut here, although his early death from stomach cancer removed any chance of seeing what other movies he may have written. The inexperience behind the camera ends up negating the vast experience in front of the camera, sadly, and then there's the presence of Sean Penn, an actor who . . . well, he's just sometimes not as good as he thinks he is. Let's all just try to agree on that for now.

Penn plays Terry, a man who reunites with an old best friend, Jackie (Oldman), after a number of years apart. Jackie is a violent criminal, working for a mob ruled over by his brother, Frankie (Harris). Loyalties are tested, people end up dying, and things get a hell of a lot worse when it becomes clear that someone isn't who they claim to be. There's a rat, someone working for the police, and betrayal will inevitably lead to much more bloodshed.

Despite the selection of music videos that he's shot, Joanou doesn't show any real eye for style or captivating imagery here. State Of Grace is a drab and ugly film, and I don't mean that in a way that allows the aesthetic to match the content (because the cast make the most of the few moments that allow them to set off some fireworks, metaphorically speaking). Perhaps hampered by McIntyre's script, which proves incredibly disappointing in how slavishly it follows a template we have already seen so many times before this, or maybe even overawed by, or too reliant on, his leads, Joanou does nothing to make this stand out from a crowded field.

Let's take a closer look at that cast now. Oldman at least has some energy in his performance, even if it's not always the right energy, and he's as captivating as ever. Harris is similarly capable of holding your attention when he's front and centre, and he gets to play his part with an ongoing attempt to stay calm and controlled, even as he feels himself being caught between a rock and a hard place. Wright tries her best in a role that gives her too little to work with, but both Reilly and Turturro are able to do just enough to make their mark, with the former particularly enjoyable in a role that feels a step removed from many of his other performances. Then you have Penn, who simply fails to convince throughout. He's play-acting in a way that would be excusable if you were watching a young child, but is embarrassing when watching a grown man. I do like Penn in some of the roles that have helped him to earn his reputation over the years, but there are times when he just isn't the right man for the job. This is one of those times.

I wish I could praise anything else, even the score from Ennio Morricone feels a bit lacklustre, but there aren't many positives to grasp on to. There are a couple of decent songs tucked away on the soundtrack, and you also get supporting turns from Joe Viterelli and Burgess Meredith. That's it. This just isn't a good film, despite the presence of some very good people doing occasionally good work. I would advise most people to avoid it completely.

3/10

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Noirvember: They Made Me A Fugitive (1947)

Considering how well it depicts post-war England, and also how well it makes use of Trevor Howard in the main role, you may be surprised to find out that They Made Me A Fugitive was directed by a Brazilian, Alberto Cavalcanti. Fans of classic British film may be less surprised though, considering the fact that Cavalcanti also helmed a number of films for the mighty Ealing Studios at this time.

Howard plays Clem, a thieving criminal who has a major pang of conscience when the ruthless Narcy (Griffith Jones) starts dealing in the drug trade. Clem doesn't want any part of the drug business, and plans to quit after one last job. That last job doesn't go to plan, which leads to Clem being framed for the murder of a policeman. He ends up sentenced to fifteen years in prison. An escape is inevitable, considering the title of the movie, and Clem is soon seeking revenge against those who framed him for a murder he didn't commit. 

Based on the novel "A Convict Has Escaped" by Jackson Budd, They Made Me A Fugitive was turned into a screenplay by Noel Langley, who does a great job of mixing together a large cast of characters into a frothing pot of dark soup that is destined to be spilled all over by the time the finale comes around. While everything is tame compared to more modern content, there are moments of nastiness and grit that keep you feeling as if nothing is guaranteed. Main characters may or may not survive to the end credits, pain will be the main currency for everyone involved (be it physical or emotional), and as for a happy ending . . . this is a noir, after all, so even that isn't a given.

Howard may not seem like the best fit for the lead role, but he grows into his performance with each minute of screentime, and has that essential spark of charm that keeps viewers onside. Jones is deliciously dastardly and irredeemable as Narcy (short for Narcissus, which basically tells you all you need to know about him). Jack McNaughton does well as another crook, Soapy, and Ballard Berkeley is entertaining as Rockliffe, an officer heading up the manhunt for Clem. It's not all about the men though, and Sally Gray, Rene Ray, Mary Merrall, and Vida Hope all get time to shine as they play their part in the unfolding drama, with Gray cutting a particularly sad and vulnerable figure as things turn even darker in the third act.

It may lack some of the style and edge of similar films being made in the USA at this time, but that is what helps to make They Made Me A Fugitive so memorable. It's very British, but the Britishness is placed around some serious unpleasantness and violence that wasn't usually part of the fabric of UK cinema at this time. It was there, and you can certainly find some other classics from this time that make good use of it, but it was very rare.

8/10

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Mubi Monday: Sword Of Trust (2019)

Life is funny. One little extra bit of knowledge can completely reframe and recontextualise everything around you, from childhood incidents to relationships, from societal problems to art. I decided to watch Sword Of Trust because I am quite the big fan of Marc Maron nowadays, and have been a full-time listener to his podcast for a couple of years now. But checking the credits made me almost slap myself in the face for my ignorance. Maron has spent a lot of time on his podcast discussing the pain and grief he went through after the death of a loved one, Lynn Shelton. Despite being aware of her work over the years, I never did think of the Lynn Shelton that I'd seen in various acting and directing roles as THAT Lynn Shelton. Now I know better, and I also know that I am a fan of her work.

Shelton is the director and co-writer (with Michael Patrick O'Brien) here, as well as appearing onscreen in a small role, and what she delivers is a wonderful and gently amusing look at, well, how profitable it can be to cater to those who have chosen to believe in conspiracy theories, and how some people can be sold on conspiracy theories as they are fooled into thinking themselves smarter and more open-minded than others.

Maron plays Mel, a pawn shop owner who ends up heading down quite the rabbit hole when Cynthia (Jillian Bell) and Mary (Michaela Watkins) walk into his store. Cynthia has inherited a sword, and she's looking to sell it for a good price. In fact, she wants to sell it for a very good price, considering the fact that it seemingly proves a very different interpretation of American history. Mel smells a load of crap, of course, but decides he could work with Cynthia and Mary when it becomes clear that there are some sellers who are ready to believe in what the sword seems to represent. The main buyer (Dan Bakkedahl) starts the ball rolling via his middle-man, Hog Jaws (Toby Huss), but everyone will have to trust one another when it comes time to actually complete the negotiation.

You really should watch Sword Of Trust for the same reasons I watched it. Anyone who is aware of, and likes, Maron will enjoy this, particularly in the many moments when his character feels very close to the persona he has presented to the public for a number of decades now. It isn't just the Maron show though, and there's plenty of enjoyment to be had with the work of Bell, Watkins, Bakkedahl, Huss, Jon Bass (playing a shop assistant, Nathaniel, who seems to have been retained for the few times when he can help his boss with tech), and Al Elliott (as Jimmy, a friendly owner of a neighbouring business). Even the much smaller roles are cast well, guaranteeing that viewers are never more than a moment or two away from a chuckle.

Everyone is assisted by a great script, of course, and both Shelton and O'Brien do a fantastic job of taking their slight, and slightly ridiculous, central idea and turning it into something that allows for some great commentary mixed with great character moments. Shelton may have a simple and straightforward directorial style, through personal choice or budgetary necessity, but it works perfectly with the tone and pacing of the whole thing.

Although it was making a very specific point back when first released in 2019, Sword Of Trust manages to feel even more relevant and critical of the conversations and discourse happening all around us right now. That's a shame, in terms of how society has continued to slide further into decline, but it makes the film feel very close to essential viewing.

8/10

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Netflix And Chill: Reptile (2023)

Not only is Reptile co-written by director Grant Singer, but star Benicio Del Toro apparently had a helping hand in the screenplay, alongside Benjamin Brewer. That makes it even more curious, considering how Del Toro is the best thing in it DESPITE the weak screenplay. A messy mix of neo-noir tropes and moments that seem to be struggling to give the movie more substance, Reptile is enormously unsatisfying. And it's made all the worse by how badly it wastes a great cast.

Del Toro plays a cop named Tom Nichols. He's been entangled in some bad stuff in the past, but he seems to be trying his best to be good at his job. That is essential when he is called to the scene of Summer Elswick's murder. Summer's body was discovered by Will Grady (Justin Timberlake), making him a prime suspect, but others soon start to arouse suspicion. It doesn't help that Grady and his mother (Frances Fisher) have upset people with their business practices. One of those upset people is a young man named Eli (Michael Pitt), who blames the Gradys for the suicide of his father. Maybe there's more to the case than what seems obvious though. Maybe Tom needs to start looking at everyone around him with equal suspicion.

Although he has a wealth of experience helming music videos, this appears to be the feature debut from Singer. That makes complete sense when you consider how much (misplaced) faith he has in the strength of such clumsy and half-baked material. There are some good moments here, some strong individual images, but there are just as many moments that don't work, whether it's the plotting of the central mystery that doesn't feel worth really caring about or the moments that have a discordant piece of music increasing in volume in a way that's supposed to unnerve viewers and lead to some nerve-tingling climax, but then fails to present anything to justify that audio choice. With both Brewer and Del Toro similarly inexperienced in the role of feature writer, Reptile is left as a collection of decent images that can barely cling on to the decomposing skeleton of the script that should have given it a strong centre.

Del Toro is much better in front of the camera though, and he's the best thing about this. His performance is easily on a par with some of his best work, and equally thoughtful and morally discombobulated, at times. Alicia Silverstone is excellent in the role of his wife, although she also suffers from one or two moments that seem to just peter out just as they could get more interesting. Timberlake is fine, working comfortably with a persona that he tends to portray well in movies, Fisher is riveting, despite having disappointingly little screentime, and Pitt adds another quirky turn to his repertoire. The fact that the film also has room for great work from Eric Bogosian, Domenick Lombardozzi, and Ato Essandoh (playing the partner to Del Toro's character) is both a plus and a minus, because everyone here deserves to be delivering that great work in a stronger film.

I'm guessing that this is a story that Del Toro was passionate about, considering he also attached himself as an executive producer, and I can see how the whole thing could have been handled much better, but the end result feels like a wasted opportunity. The cast cannot be faulted though, nor can the cinematography from Mike Gioulakis (with shot choices and framing complemented by some fine editing from Kevin Hickman). Technically, all is well. It's just the writing and direction that work against it, but those are the two areas that need to be locked down for this kind of material.

4/10

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Shudder Saturday: The Creeping (2022)

I want to review The Creeping in a way that somehow explains why I disliked it, but also gives due credit for what it gets right. While the film didn't work for me as a whole, there were enough individual moments to make me appreciate the effort made by director Jamie Hooper.

Riann Steele plays Anna, a young woman who is going to spend some time caring for her grandmother, Lucy (Jane Lowe). There will also be another carer, Karen (Sophie Thompson), on hand to help, but Anna will still struggle to deal with the various turns in her grandmother's behaviour. She will also struggle when she starts to suspect that something is wrong in the house. There's something there that shouldn't be there, or perhaps she's just spooked by seeing such changes in her grandmother.

Co-written by Hooper and Helen Miles, The Creeping is a supernatural horror grounded in the same real-world horrors of films like The Taking Of Deborah Logan and Relic. There are few things more upsetting than watching a loved one turn into someone completely different, and struggle to keep themselves together as they face losing themselves, piece by piece. The Creeping treats that aspect of the story with due care, but it also does well when the scares start to filter in. Unfortunately, Hooper and Miles cannot keep things tightly intertwined on the way to a disappointingly anti-climactic third act. Some reveals are drawn out for too long, which undermines their impact as viewers get a step ahead of the narrative, and tension starts to dissipate when it should be building, and things just don't come together in a way that is anywhere near as satisfying as it should be.

Steele is decent, if unremarkable, in the main role, and Lowe does well with her portrayal of an old woman who is no longer as compos mentis as she once was. Thompson is also good, as she has been in pretty much every role she's played throughout the decades of her career (even when being horribly abusive to a child during her stint in Eastenders), but it's a shame that Jonathan Nyati and Peter MacQueen aren't given enough time and space to do anything with their paper-thin characters.

Hooper has achieved something impressive here, especially when considering that it's his directorial feature debut. It's just a shame that there's no consistency, which affects the pacing, which ultimately unbalances the whole thing. Individual moments are great, but often all too brief, and I hope to see Hooper do even better with whatever he lines up next. Maybe he can take an extra run at the script to iron out any wrinkles and ensure a more rewarding viewing experience. Or maybe he can just strip things down to a more basic core idea that allows him to focus more on the atmosphere and scares.

I do recommend this one to horror fans, but you have to be patient and willing to see the potential in it while Hooper keeps stumbling and weaving around the intermittent high points.

5/10

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Noirvember: My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)

I've been to some dubious job interviews in my time (and I'll take a moment to remind everyone that group interviews are a very special form of torture for some people), but I am thankful that I've never headed along for a job to then wake up some time later being called a different name by someone claiming I am married to them. I mean, hey, before I embraced the sober life it was always a remote possibility. That is the fate of our main character, Julia Ross (Nina Foch), in this enjoyable mystery noir.

While things move very quickly in this film, the runtime is only 65 minutes and it doesn't take long to set up the main premise, viewers get a quick sketch of the life of Julia Ross in the first few minutes. She is looking for work, most importantly, but she also has a male friend/potential love interest in the form of Dennis Bruce (Roland Varno). This will prove to be an essential wrinkle, of course. Once woken up in the household of Mrs. Hughes (Dame May Whitty) and her son, Ralph Hughes (George Macready), Julia is repeatedly told that she is actually Marion, the wife of Ralph. Attempting to escape, Julia inadvertently helps her captors as they continue to inform those in the local area about the sad ill-health of "Marion".

Based on a book, "The Woman In Red", by Anthony Gilbert, My Name Is Julia Ross is written by Muriel Roy Bolton, who helped to co-write the enjoyable The Amazing Mr. X only a few years later. It manages to stay just about plausibility, despite how brazen and overt the villains are, and weaves the plot around a couple of very enjoyable set-pieces. The ending is a bit abrupt, but anyone knowing the runtime before starting to watch the film should be ready for that.

Director Joseph H. Lewis was fairly prolific with his film output between the mid-1930s and mid-1950s, and this is almost right in the middle of this fertile period. He knows what he's doing, and he makes great use of a talented cast making the most of their colourful characters, whether in main roles or amusing supporting turns.

Foch is a decent lead, and she does well with a role that requires her to stay vulnerable and helpless for most of the runtime. Macready is enjoyably dastardly, and it's easy to loathe him whether he's being charming or showing his true nature, and Whitty is an absolute delight throughout. Varno is appropriately pleasant and harmless in the role of Dennis, and both Doris Lloyd and Joy Harington provide some lighter moments without overdoing the comedy of their scenes. I could happily mention almost everyone else involved, but then it might take longer to read this review than it would take to watch the actual film.

As simple and slim as the short runtime would suggest, this is a great little noir that everyone should be able to make time for. Balancing a sense of fun and menace in equal measure, it may not feel essential, but it's one I can see myself revisiting every so often.

8/10

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Noirvember: Another Dawn (1943)

AKA Distinto Amanecer

Based on a play by Max Aub, although it doesn't feel too stagey throughout, Another Dawn is a noir-tinged melodrama that feels, coincidentally or not, like a gender-flipped riff on the classic Casablanca. An estranged man and woman end up reunited during a time that has one of them trying to deal with a rather sensitive political situation that could land them in major trouble. There's a bit more to it, of course, but that is the one-line summary.

Andrea Palma plays Julieta, a woman who is delighted to meet Octavio (Pedro Armendáriz) while he is hiding away from people who want him dead. Octavio has some important documents on him, documents that others want to recover, and he ends up being assisted by Julieta and her husband, Ignacio (Alberto Galán). Things are helped by the fact that Julieta, Ignacio, and Octavio are old friends, but complicated by the closer relationship that Julieta and Octavio once had. As the net closes in around Octavio, it also becomes clear that Julieta and Ignacio don't exactly have a happy and idyllic marriage.

Co-written and directed by Julio Bracho (who also wrote and directed the wonderful Twilight), with input from Xavier Villaurrutia, this is a brisk and engrossing melodrama that is paced perfectly to help the 108-minute runtime absolutely fly by. While the plot is based around political intrigue and a dangerous "mission", it dedicates even more time to the turbulent emotional journeys of the three lead characters, raising the stakes for all involved as they all realise just how feelings are changing between one another.

Palma is the heart of the whole thing, and she plays her part with grace, strength, and thoughtfulness. Both Armendáriz and Galán try to essentially have their cake and eat it, but the former gets to act suave and more caring than the latter, who is portraying a man who doesn't realise how good he has things until there's a threat to the status quo. Narciso Busquets also does well, playing Juanito, the son of Julieta and Ignacio, and there are a number of wonderful performances from the supporting cast members.

There may not be anything here that stands out as spectacular, but it's all put together in a way that works in service to the characters and the material. The melodrama is interspersed with moments of real menace, and everything leads to a finale that perfectly blends the physical danger with the emotional noose bringing everyone together. It becomes more than the sum of its parts, and I definitely recommend it to all, but particularly anyone who has already dipped their toes into the rich and rewarding history of Mexican cinema.

7/10

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Prime Time: Hickey & Boggs (1972)

If I remember right, some technicality means that you cannot label Bill Cosby as a rapist nowadays. That didn't stop me from feeling no small amount of reservation, however, when I realised that Hickey & Boggs starred Robert Culp alongside the definitely-not-rapey Bill Cosby. I debated how to get the review done, and then I remembered that movies are chock full of people that I wouldn't necessarily want to say good things about, personally, and so I'd have to go on with business as usual. There may even be other movies I watch one day that feature the definitely-not-rapey Cosby, and I would just do the same thing. I won't use any images of him, and I won't feel great about it, but he is one of many threads woven throughout the fabric of cinema.

Culp is Frank Boggs and Cosby is Al Hickey. Both of them work together as private investigators who end up tasked with tracking down a missing woman. What begins as a simple case soon turns into something a bit more complicated, and much more dangerous. Everyone involved in the central investigation starts to die, and both of our leads eventually figure out that the missing woman is at the heart of a very sticky web.

Written by Walter Hill, this is a strange film, but I can see why it has retained a cult following throughout the decades since it was released. Things start off fairly light, and the chemistry between Culp and Cosby is as you would expect, but they soon spiral into much darker waters. The third act is about as bleak and nihilistic as can be, with the typical fight back from our heroes given no fanfare or cool edge. Yes, you get men holding their ground while also holding huge hand cannons, but it's ultimately dissatisfying when so many lives have already been ruined.

Culp does well in his role, Cosby less so. I'm not sure I can blame the leads for that though. The script doesn't quite know how to keep things consistent, and clearly lures viewers in before dragging them towards an abyss. Culp's direction is solid, if a bit flat, and there are a couple of set-pieces that struggle to impress while weighed down by that darker tone.

Elsewhere, both Rosalind Cash and Isabel Sandford get a couple of good moments, and Robert Mandan, Michael Moriarty, Vincent Gardenia, and Ed Lauter help to populate the cast with interesting and watchable characters.

While it's certainly not a bad film, Hickey & Boggs feels worse in comparison to most of the other films that have gone for a similar vibe. The mystery element never feels as intriguing as it should, the occasional moments of shocking violence are toned down by the shot choice and editing, the interplay between the two leads starts to fade away as the bodies pile up, and it all plays out like a neo-noir presented by people who aren't really all that keen on making a neo-noir. Everything is there, but none of it fully works.

6/10

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Noirvember: The Kid Detective (2020)

Being a kid detective is a very good thing. Or so it seems. Getting to help the local community, being underestimated by many people dealing with you, and acting wise beyond your years in a way that many view as endearing. It all becomes a bit more difficult to deal with when you're no longer a kid though, particularly when you stay in the same job, carrying around the weight of your childhood success.

Adam Brody stars here as Abe Applebaum, the kid detective who is now an adult in an apparent state of arrested development. He hasn't let go of his past, and hasn't moved beyond what many expected to just be a phase. He doesn't see why he should change though, considering his gift for detection. But his latest case, a young woman named Caroline (Sophie Nélisse) asking him to find out who murdered her boyfriend, turns into an opportunity to completely re-evaluate his past, and perhaps even allow himself to move on to the next chapter in his life.

A great mix of comedy and drama, and with a proper and well-constructed mystery at the heart of it, The Kid Detective is an excellent character study that benefits from Brody being such a great fit in the lead role. Writer-director Evan Morgan nails the tone throughout, jumping deftly between effective little gags and scenes that show the pain of someone feeling more adrift in the turbulent sea of life, and his script is full of an obvious affection for the tropes being used/subverted.

Brody carries the film on his shoulders, but does so in a way that emphasises how slim those shoulders are. He's been playing variations on this kind of role for much of his career, someone a bit emotionally-stunted and selfish, but this gives him a number of layers to work through as the plot unfolds. Nélisse is very good as the young woman who doesn't realise that the mystery she needs solving may lead to something even darker and more dangerous, and Sarah Sutherland is a lot of fun as the sullen Lucy, a woman who has somehow found herself as trapped in her role as secretary to the kid detective as he is trapped by his own history. Wendy Crewson and Jonathan Whittaker are bemused parents who expected their son to have moved on from this "phase" long before now, Peter MacNeill is the local school Principal, and Dallas Edwards plays a boy named Calvin who may be the key to unlocking the case.

Much darker than expected, but all presented in a way that stops that darkness from weighing it down too much and making it unbearable to watch, The Kid Detective is a surprisingly brilliant mix of the old and the new, making use of a fun core idea to springboard into muddy waters familiar to anyone who has watched their fare share of neo-noirs. Every individual aspect is handled with care, especially the set-ups and payoffs to gags that are used throughout to maintain the well-balanced tone throughout, and the end result is a gem of a film that should develop a strong cult following as more people discover it and recommend it to like-minded film fans.

8/10

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Mubi Monday: Young Adam (2003)

One of a number of movies that fans of Ewan McGregor can add to their super-secret special files (aka Ewan gets nekkid), Young Adam is a character study wrapped in an erotic thriller that is then wrapped in a grimy exploration of work life drudgery. It's also an impressive sophomore feature from writer-director David Mackenzie (adapting the source novel by Alexander Trocchi into screenplay form).

Everything starts with a body in the water. It's the body of a dead woman found by Joe (McGregor) and Les (Peter Mullan). Joe works on a barge for Les and his wife, Ella (Tilda Swinton). He also spends some time getting lusty with Ella whenever Les is out of the picture. As the film jumps back and forth in time, we get to see a previous relationship that Joe had with a young woman named Cathie (Emily Mortimer). It's obvious that Joe has long been a selfish and fairly carefree young man, but unfolding events may force him to reckon with the consequences of his actions. 

Although set in the past, and it's a time when the death sentence was still doled out here in the UK, many moments in Young Adam feel as if they could be just as easily transposed to the here and now. Working on a barge, and living with the boss/family, is just the same as the many jobs here in the UK that offer different kinds of accommodation, from a bedroom to a caravan, from a truck cab to a hotel room. And people confined to a certain type of fairly bleak existence, one without any obvious rays of sunshine in the skies ahead, tend to lean on one another more for support and move quicker to grab chances at fleeting moments of happy distraction. Mackenzie knows exactly what he is doing, balancing things nicely between the mix of characters, the morality being explored, and the twists that take place without seeming placed there as attempts to wrong-foot viewers. He also knows just how easy it is to keep this riveting with so many talented cast members involved.

McGregor is pretty much perfect in the lead role, adding just enough charm and obvious appeal to take the edge off the sharp flaws of his character. Swinton does as well as expected with her Scottish accent, considering her lineage and love of the country, and she emanates an earthy sexuality that makes it believable whenever McGregor wants to get down and dirty with her, Mullan is on top form, and Mortimer conveys a heart-breaking mix of love, sadness, hope, and hopelessness. Therese Bradley and Pauline Turner are two more potential conquests for our lead, and Ewan Stewart and Stuart McQuarrie do excellent work with their small roles.

I first saw this close to when it was first released, over two decades ago now, and I was quite underwhelmed by it. Others seemed to heap a fair bit of praise upon it, but it just felt to me like too much time spent wallowing in misery. I'm glad I revisited it though. While it will never be a favourite of mine, the cast and quality of the film-making assure that you won't regret giving it 98 minutes of your time. The music by David Byrne is also a plus for people familiar with that particular artist, the dirt and darkness is all shown clearly enough by cinematographer Giles Nuttgens, and there's no obvious weakness in the talent pool of artists and technicians all working to get Mackenzie's vision onscreen.

7/10

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Netflix And Chill: Cold Comes The Night (2013)

Alice Eve stars in this film. I like Alice Eve. Bryan Cranston also stars in this film. I like Bryan Cranston. Logan Marshall-Green makes it three for three, even if I don't like him as much as I like the other two. So I figured that I might enjoy Cold Comes The Night, despite hearing bad things about it. I became even more optimistic when I saw Osgood Perkins as one of the co-writers. That optimism quickly disappeared as the film started to play out.

Alice Eve is Chloe, a woman having a hard time of things. She's trying to keep custody of her daughter (Sophia, played by Ursula Parker), trying to run a far-from-idyllic motel, and not on best terms with her ex (a cop named Billy, played by Marshall-Green, she has had an affair with). Things go from bad to worse when someone is killed on the motel premises, and that someone was supposed to be working with a dangerous criminal named Topo (Cranston). Chloe ends up enlisted by Topo to help finish a job that has been started, but she also sees a way that she might be able to turn the situation to her advantage, especially when she realises how visually-impaired Topo is.

I've not seen anything else from director Tze Chun, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Perkins and Nick Simon, and I'm unlikely to now rush to anything else with his name on it. Cold Comes The Night is pretty awful, and it feels even worse because of how the main cast members have their talents squandered. Every character and moment feels like an inferior copy from numerous other movies. It's a VHS that has been used to record the Christmas Day TV schedule on long play for two decades, with any real detail or entertainment value now completely obscured by shadows and lots of static. 

Eve tries to make things work, despite the fact that she has once again picked a dud to star in, and Marshall-Green has one or two moments that at least punctuate the tiresome awfulness of the whole thing, but Cranston overshadows both of them, and not at all for the right reasons. His accent, his physical performance, his energy in every moment just feels completely wrong, which is at odds with how well he does with better material.

I want to be angry at this, if only on behalf of the main cast members who surely thought they were signing on for something a bit better, but I can't even do that. There's nothing here to fuel my rage because, well, there's nothing here. The cinematography is unexceptional, the score is unexceptional, the editing is . . . etc, I'm sure you see what I'm getting at. I'm not even really angry at Chun. He doesn't put any stamp on the film, and I can go through my life fairly safe in the knowledge that I'll have probably forgotten his name by the time I ever, IF I ever, see another film from him.

I didn't like this very much, which I think I have made very obvious, and I'll hopefully never have to think of it again after today.

3/10

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Shudder Saturday: Black Cab (2024)

I don't think I have seen anything previously directed by Bruce Goodison. Nor am I familiar with writer Virginia Gilbert. Due to my reaction to Black Cab, however, I know that I won't be rushing to seek out anything else in their respective filmographies. This is a bad film, messy and disappointingly easy to predict when it tries to add a twist or two in the third act, and I would say that it's only the enjoyably unhinged performance from Nick Frost that saves it from being completely unwatchable.

Anne (Synnøve Karlsen) and Patrick (Luke Norris) are a fairly unhappy couple who unwittingly end a night out by getting into the wrong black cab (driven by Nick Frost). The cab driver soon reveals that he knows quite a bit about Anne, and he isn't shy about putting forward his own opinion of Patrick. So begins what I am sure would be described by the marketing team as "a nightmare journey through a dark night of the soul".  But everyone knows that the scariest thing about a late-night black cab journey is watching how quickly the fare starts to mount up.

I'm sorry to be struggling so much to find something, anything, positive to say about this, but Black Cab is one of the worst modern horror movies I have seen. Goodison uses his budget and resources well, I'll give him that, which gives everything a professional polish, but the script, from plotting and dialogue to character development, is a stinking mess.

Karlsen tries her best in a role that really doesn't allow her to do much (although she's one of two people I hope to watch in other movie roles), but her and Frost doing good work highlights how one-note and weak Norris is. Yes, he's admittedly also suffering at the hands of the writer, but his poor performance ensures that there's only one cab passenger to really start worrying about as things take a turn for the worse. Frost manages to overshadow everyone though, transforming his usual harmless and cuddly demeanour into something much more menacing. The earlier moments make good use of his ability to chatter away in a way that seems innocent enough until he throws in some surprises that people listening to him need to take a minute to process.

90 minutes that feels much longer, things are further spoiled by an attempt to throw too many ingredients into the mix. It's a dark comedy at times, but then becomes a tame thriller, but then tries to add a supernatural twist to everything in the second half. None of it works, either separately or mixed together, and, much like the typical cab driver conversation, I can only hope that it's seen in the rear-view mirror as quickly as possible. Frost and Karlsen deserve much better. As do the film fans who may be tempted to check this out. 

2/10

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Noirvember: Stage Fright (1950)

Although I am far from an expert of Alfred Hitchcock, I always like to think that I have seen much of his filmography. I haven't. I think every film fan spends some time exploring his numerous classics, but it's easy to remember just how many films he made. Okay, the silents are easier to overlook, and perhaps less essential (although I have a nice boxset coming my way that will allow me to make up my own mind shortly), but there always seems to be one or two relatively big title that sits in a blind spot for some people. Stage Fright was one of those movies for me. I wonder if it was one I kept forgetting about because of the title being re-used a couple of times in the horror genre. 

Richard Todd plays Jonathan Cooper, a man who ends up on the run when some major evidence points to him having murdered the husband of stage performer Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich). Relying on the goodwill of a friend, Eve (Jane Wyman), Jonathan tries to stay hidden while police investigate the case and try to locate him. Eve also enlists the help of her father (played by Alastair Sim), ends up in an undercover role working for Charlotte, and starts to develop a bond with Detective Inspector Wilfred O. Smith (Michael Wilding) which could complicate things further.

Adapted from Selwyn Jepson's novel (Man Running AKA Outrun The Constable AKA Killer By Proxy) by the talented Alma Reville and Whitfield Cook, this is a typically dark and delightful feature from Hitchcock, one that has an abundance of dark comedy running in between the moments of tension. In fact, almost any scene with Sim front and centre is on par with anything from an outright comedy of this time (particularly his scene with Joyce Grenfell, who spends a lot of time shouting out "lovely ducks" to encourage people to try their hand at the fairground shooting gallery).

As good as the material is, in terms of the characters and the ongoing attempt to prove the innocence of a man who keeps looking increasingly guilty, Stage Fright is as wonderfully entertaining as it is thanks to the cast. Sim is undoubtedly a highlight, but scenes that show Dietrich performing the routines that make her character such a beloved success are so mesmerising that nobody should really mind the fact that the plot comes to a standstill while we get to enjoy a couple of good songs from the blonde bombshell. Wyman is an appealing lead, but she is overshadowed by the likes of Kay Walsh (playing a housekeeper who hopes to profit from the situation) and the aforementioned Grenfell. As for the other men onscreen, Todd and Wilding are disappointingly bland, but they're essentially pawns being moved around the board until things come to a crucial point when some kind of victory can be celebrated.

In hindsight, it's actually quite easy to see why I kept forgetting to check this out. It wasn't just to do with the title. There aren't any big set-pieces here, the real star turns are mostly tucked away in the supporting roles, and it just lacks that refined Hitchcock brilliance. It still deserves to be seen though, especially if you're a fan of Dietrich, Sim, Walsh, or Grenfell. I had a lot of fun with it, but I suspect I may struggle to remember much of it in a month or two. It has certainly reminded me that I want to watch even more Hitchcock films though, as well as more films featuring the brilliant Dietrich.

7/10

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Noirvember: Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead (1995)

Director Gary Fleder has a strange, but not uninteresting, filmography. He's done a lot of TV work in recent years, and started his directorial career with a TV movie (which also paired him up for the first time with writer Scott Rosenberg), but he's also delivered a few real gems throughout the last few decades. Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead is one of them, and maybe that's as much to do with the fact that it was Fleder's first theatrical release as it is to do with the script and execution of the material. Or maybe he just does well with star-studded ensemble casts (considering that Runaway Jury is also up there with his best work).

Andy Garcia plays Jimmy "The Saint" here, and he's a man who ends up between a rock and a hard place when a big boss (The Man With The Plan, played by Christopher Walken) tells him to put a team together in order to give some young guy a fright. Jimmy ends up working with Pieces (Christopher Lloyd), Franchise (William Forsythe), Easy Wind (Bill Nunn), and Critical Bill (Treat Williams). If all goes well then the team will end up in the good graces of a very powerful individual, but the title may have already clued you in on the fact that all doesn't necessarily go well.

Read through that list of names again, but let me add to it by mentioning Gabrielle Anwar, Fairuza Balk, Steve Buscemi, Jack Warden, Bill Cobbs, Marshall Bell, Don Stark, Jenny McCarthy, Don Cheadle, Tiny Lister Jr., and Josh Charles. You may not recognise all of those names, but anyone who appreciates '90s cinema will recognise their faces as soon as they appear onscreen. Not only is that a truly stacked cast, everyone feels perfect in the role given to them. Garcia stays cool and calm for most of the runtime, Walken enjoys getting to wax lyrical in a couple of scenes, and Williams almost steals the entire film with his portrayal of someone who seems to be a real liability. While both Anwar and Balk are slightly sidelined, both get to do a bit more than may be expected, and their inclusion certainly lifts the film above the complete sausage-fest it otherwise would have been.

Fleder may not indulge himself too much, this is a straightforward tale told in a straightforward manner, he knows how to make the best of Rosenberg's screenplay, which could easily have been ruined and made more forgettable by an attempt to match the many other Tarantino-esque crime thrillers (of which this is certainly one) from this time. The dialogue feels natural to the characters, as opposed to trying too hard to be super-cool in every exchange, and the cast are allowed to give enough substance to their performances to make them feel like more than just stereotypes/archetypes.

It's easy to see why some who didn't see this back when it was first released would continue to ignore it. It's a specific type of film from a specific time that makes it a risky proposition. I would say that it exceeds any expectations, however, and the traditional approach to the material, including the score from Michael Convertino, as well as every other element, allows it to feel more timeless and enduring than many other titles that just had the idea of putting criminals at the heart of the plot and trying to give them all memorable soundbites.

9/10

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Prime Time: The Prowler (1951)

Credited to writer Hugo Butler, but actually written by Dalton Trumbo, The Prowler may be easier to overlook than many other films from director Joseph Losey, but that doesn't necessarily make it not worth your time. In fact, it's a deliciously dark and twisted little noir that develops a growing sense of real danger and dread all the way to a fantastic finale.

Evelyn Keyes is Susan Gilvray, a woman who phones the police one evening when she suspects a prowler in her area (hence the title, but there may be more than one prowler as the movie plays out). Susan is married to a radio personality who spends most of his evenings entertaining the masses before signing off with a namecheck for his wife. That makes it easier to plan some evening-time shenanigans when Susan is given some attention from Webb Garwood (Van Heflin), one of the cops who was called about the prowler situation. Both of our main characters seem to want the same thing, but feelings can change, and that's when The Prowler starts to twist and turn as Webb plots to have Susan all for himself, as well as a bit of money that could help them to lead a comfortable life together.

Like many other wonderful film noirs from this time, The Prowler starts off with a spark between two people who should really know better than to help turn it into a crackling fire. The fact that one of the main characters is a policeman adds an interesting layer to the proceedings, as does the fact that it's the male who may well prove to be the more dangerous and manipulative character. A potential homme fatale.

Trumbo's script is more interested in the plotting than any sharp dialogue, and it's wonderful to watch everything fall into place as he builds towards a powerful third act. Nothing is left ambiguous, and it's amusing to see every step toward temptation highlighted like some tasty apple hanging from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Losey directs with the sure hand that he had on almost every film he helmed, knowing the noir elements being brought to the fore while also happily exploring the relationship and dynamic between the two main characters in ways that feel ever so slightly removed from the more entrenched ways of presenting this kind of morality play.

Both Keyes and Heflin are enjoyable in the main roles, neither one afraid to fully lean into the moments that shade their character with even more darkness. Although the supporting cast isn't expansive, it includes John Maxwell, Katherine Warren, Wheaton Chambers, and one or two others circling the core of the premise while trying not to get themselves dragged down into the developing whirlpool. Those just mentioned are highlights, but everyone onscreen does a fine job with the roles given to them.

Despite the 92-minute runtime, which I would say is a bit lengthy for this premise, the film never drags. It may be slight, but it's a viewing experience akin to being placed on the beach and allowing loved ones to cover your legs and body with lots and lots of sand until, despite the warmth and the fun of it all, you suddenly notice that you can't actually move enough to extricate yourself from what has been a happy and sun-kissed burial.

7/10

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Noirvember: Snake Eyes (1998)

Brian De Palma is a director not really known for his subtlety, which makes it all the more surprising that he has only made the one film starring the also-notably-unsubtle Nicolas Cage. Let's not mourn the films we haven't been given though. Instead, let's celebrate what we got. Snake Eyes is quite ridiculous, but I'll argue strenuously against anybody who tries to deny that it is also a hell of a lot of fun.

Cage is Rick Santoro, a dodgy cop who ends up with a chance to become a celebrity when he's attending a boxing match that is interrupted by the assassination of a major political figure. Working alongside a friend, Commander Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise), Santoro needs to figure out what boxer Lincoln Tyler (Stan Shaw) has to do with the plot as he also tries to track down a mystery woman (Carla Gugino). And he does all this while being watched by some typically smooth and lively De Palma shot choices.

You know what you're in for almost as soon as Snake Eyes starts, quickly moving to a sequence that allows Cage to be as over the top and exuberant as usual while the camera seems to track through the onscreen environment with hidden edits that make it all seem like one huge tracking shot. De Palma wants viewers to have fun, but he also knows how to expertly ratchet up the tension in one or two key sequences. The screenplay by David Koepp (who developed the story with De Palma) is playful and energetic, despite the action mainly taking place in the one location, and there's a nice mix of subversion and tradition running through all of the key elements.

While he is always a divisive figure, Cage does his part to help make this as propulsive and energised as it is, delivering a typically robust turn that allows him to show a number of different facets of his character. Sinise isn't as well-rounded, but he does well with what he's given, particularly in the second half of the movie when things start to twist and turn more. Shaw convinces as a championship boxer, he certainly has the physique for it, and Gugino convinces as the kind of character who could be either a "damsel in distress" or a femme fatale. There are also moments for Kevin Dunn (a sports reporter who ends up in the middle of a big news story), Luis Guzman (the kind of guy who is forced to pay some money over to Santoro for a bit of peace), Mike Starr (working the security cameras), and John Heard (in a role that just feels like it was marked "get John Heard").

The score by Ryûichi Sakamoto, the work from D.P. Stephen H. Burum, the editing by Bill Pankow, everything comes together here to elevate a wonderfully pulpy bit of neo-noir into something eminently watchable and satisfying, from the audacious opening to a darkly comedic footnote. It might never deliver a knockout blow, and it's not quite top-tier De Palma, but Snake Eyes is a loud and dazzling spectacle for most of the 98-minute runtime.

7/10

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Mubi Monday: Brother (2000)

Another Japanese gangster directed by, written by, and starring Takeshi Kitano, Brother is a decent little character study that soars when the focus stays on the two leads at the heart of it, but stumbles when it has to work through the criminal acts and violence affecting their lives.

Kitano plays Yamamoto, a Japanese gangster who escapes to Los Angeles after his boss is killed. He has some connections there, mainly Kato (Susumu Terajima), who accompanied him on his journey from Japan, and his half-brother, Ken (played by Claude Maki). Putting a new "clan" together, largely made up of friends of Ken, Yamamoto eventually proves himself to be a strong and ruthless leader, able to deal easily with most enemies trying to stop him from growing his territory and influence. He also becomes firm friends with Denny (Omar Epps), despite the fact that their first meeting didn't go well. Unfortunately, anyone looking to profit from crime in America eventually comes up against one of the biggest gangs of them all - the Mafia.

Although Kitano is a consistently interesting and enjoyable film-maker, and I wouldn't dismiss Brother as a bad film, this seems much weaker when compared to his directorial efforts before and after. The third act, in particular, feels similar to other, better, features helmed by Kitano, despite the culture clash element putting a slightly different spin on things.

There are some nice individual moments throughout, and some sharp dialogue here and there, but nothing feels fully-formed when it comes to the central narrative strand showing the growth of the gang and the effectiveness of their tactics. The editing doesn't help, nor does the strange tone, often juxtaposing threats and murder with a flippancy or humour that lessens the impact of those acts.

For all his faults in the big chair, Kitano does better in front of the camera. He's as watchable and wonderfully laconic as he has been in many other roles, and any scene involving him and Epps together proves to be a highlight, with his co-star proving to be a perfect counter-balance, and a small window through which to glimpse what could be another road through life. The supporting cast also do well, but they essentially feel like they're surplus to requirements whenever Kitano and Epps deliver the best moments.

Whatever Kitano does is worth your time, but some of his work is more worthy of your time than others. I would still recommend this to people, especially fans of either star. It's just not one I think will be remembered a few weeks down the line. And I certainly wouldn't be rushing to revisit it.

6/10

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Netflix And Chill: Femme (2023)

Expanding on a short film made a couple of years previously (that starred Harris Dickinson and Paapa Essiedu in the main roles), Femme is a fascinating and complex character study that looks at sexuality, damaging machismo, revenge, consent, and homophobia. Co-written and co-directed by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, it's a brilliantly tense and breathtaking work that marks them out as two exciting talents to keep a close eye on.

Nathan Stewart-Jarrett plays Jules, a young man we first see in his drag queen persona. He looks so good that he catches the eye of Preston (George MacKay). Later on, however, Preston is with a group of friends in a small shop that Jules is using, leading to a confrontation that ends with Jules being violently attacked. Retreating further and further inside himself, Jules eventually starts to regain his confidence, and a sense of purpose, when he befriends Preston, who doesn't recognise him in his non-stage persona, and figures out that he can use sex to entrap and embarrass him.

I really wasn't sure about Femme when it started. Nothing to do with the subject matter, I just don't always respond well to MacKay in lead roles. He's a good actor, but not always the right fit for the roles he gets, and I was worried that his character here would feel like the character he played in I Came By. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. He's still not the ideal choice, especially when you think of how good Dickinson was in the first incarnation of the character, but you can't feel him struggling to maintain the accent and act this time around. It helps that he's often alongside Stewart-Jarrett, who is phenomenally good in his role (whether leaning into his drag queen persona or being forced to "pass" in the company of Preston's friends). There are a handful of others populating the screen, all doing well, but this is all about the two leads, and both have enough faith in the material to fully commit to roles that require them to be unhesitant and nakedly intimate with one another (metaphorically and, sometimes, almost literally).

Freeman and Ping know what they're doing here, and they guide viewers through these muddy waters with a very steady set of hands. There's the kind of standard narrative arc that you would expect from that plot description, but there's also much more going on around that. Both Preston and Jules fail to keep themselves within any one particular box, and both act around other people in ways that often cost themselves a chance for moments of happiness. This isn't dissimilar to how so many people act every day, although there may be very different factors involved, and everyone watching this should be able to empathise with some of the interactions depicted (particularly the peer pressure that, to a certain degree, holds both of our leads back at various times).

I can't even begin to properly pick apart all of the threads that I mentioned in the first paragraph, but just know that everything mentioned here is treated with intelligence and care as the film builds to a powerful and moving finale. The audio and visuals match the energy of each main sequence, as well as the growing intensity, and the whole thing is a perfect blend of the gripping and the thought-provoking. Highly recommended, and bonus points if you sit down to watch it in the company of any homophobes you want to start a dialogue with, or just make feel very uncomfortable.

9/10

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