I Swear (2025)

What's this? It's me starting off 2026 with one of my absolute favourite films from 2025, and I cannot overstate how highly I recommend this to all.

I Swear is a biographical drama that tells the story of John Davidson, a man diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome at a young age. Getting that diagnosis doesn't help much though, especially when so many people were quite ignorant of Tourette's syndrome back when John was trying to just have a normal life. Helped by a friend's mother who ends up essentially adopting John as another son, and a boss/colleague who sees the good-hearted and hard-working young man behind the tics and swearing, John is eventually motivated to share his story with more and more people, aiming to remove the stigma of his condition and educate the masses.

There are a few other features from writer-director Kirk Jones that I would recommend, he generally tends to offer feelgood fare, but I Swear is the best thing that he's done so far, helped by the material and some superb casting. Most viewers will undoubtedly find themselves going through a wide range of emotions (it will certainly make some people laugh and cry in equal measure), but the other main strength of the film is how it encourages empathy and will have people considering the full repercussions of living with a condition that makes every day a battle against the involuntary actions of your own mind and body.

To ensure that I give him due credit, Scott Ellis Watson deserves a good amount of praise for his heart-breaking and brilliant portrayal of Davidson in his childhood years. It would be the performance to talk about, if not for the fact that Robert Aramayo then takes on lead duties with what I consider a flawless performance. Aramayo shows all of the emotions that run through his head, whether his body and mind are in sync, or whether they are at odds with one another, as is more often the case. Aramayo is also easy to like, and does well with the wry humour that is allowed throughout to keep the whole thing entertaining and enjoyable, in between the more difficult scenes. Maxine Peake is also great, playing the surrogate-mum Dottie Achenbach, and Peter Mullan is a treat as the man who gives John his first proper job, as well as the idea to inform others about his condition. Shirley Henderson takes on a tougher role, playing John's actual mother, Heather, a woman at a loss with what she sees as a problem in her son that he won't try hard enough to fix, and it's another performance in line with pretty much every great turn she's given over the past few decades. Others are onscreen, and nobody puts a foot wrong, but those four performances deliver the full heart of the film.

I went into I Swear hoping to like it, but that's nothing new for me. I was wary, however, because of times when the marketing seemed to be making promises that the film itself wouldn't be able to keep. Everyone who saw it was raving about it, and it was being touted as a new beloved jewel in the crown of British cinema. It turns out that all of the praise was absolutely justified. Navigating some treacherous territory, it hops around tonally with a confidence and purpose that helps any individual moments to feel jarring alongside anything else here. It also helps that viewers are reassured by an opening scene set in the modern day that they know will come along eventually, no matter what hardships Davidson endures on his way to a moment of joy (and maybe just one moment of peace).

10/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share 

Shudder Saturday: The Occupant Of The Room (2025)

An adaptation of an Algernon Blackwood tale by writer-director Kier-La Janisse, presented in the annual short film presentations entitled "The Haunted Season", The Occupant Of The Room is a seasonally-tinged horror that, despite everyone involved, I reluctantly have to admit to really disliking.

Don McKellar plays a man, Minturn, who turns up at a remote hotel to find that his assumed reservation is not in place. And the hotel is fully booked. Well, there IS one room, but the occupant could return at any moment. A woman has gone trekking through the snowy surroundings, and it is assumed that tragedy has struck. If Minturn doesn't mind the circumstances, or the fact that the occupant could return (disturbing him, and requiring him to vacate the room at short notice), then maybe he could be accommodated.

I like what Janisse is aiming to do with "The Haunted Season", but it already looks as if she hasn't quite managed to stay in line with her own mission statement. Each episode/tale is supposed to be the kind of ghost story enjoyed at Christmas, a tradition that goes back many years. The most famous example of these would have to be A Ghost Story For Christmas, the fine BBC series that ran for a number of years, and has currently enjoyed a bit of a resurgence under the stewardship of Mark Gatiss. There are many others I would recommend, mainly in literary form, from classics written by the likes of Dickens and M. R. James to the wonderful, if slight, A Christmas Ghost Story, written by Kim Newman. I would even recommend the tale we had last year in this series, To Fire You Come At Last. Not this one though. It somehow lacks the required spooky atmosphere, focused instead on diving fully into the mindset of a main character who spends most of the time more confused than unnerved.

McKellar isn't bad in the main role, certainly trying hard to carry most of this short on his shoulders (as we spend most of the time with him alone in his room, of course). It's an internal performance though, given absolutely no help from his surroundings. Yes, there's a hotel room, and I understand not having money for outdoor shooting, but a few shots of snow-crusted windows and maybe some stock footage would have helped immensely. Ben Petrie and Delphine Roussel are okay in their small roles, despite both being required to act stilted and awkward in a way that also works against the potential spookiness. Janisse may have thought that this would help the atmosphere, but I would disagree. Although never physically onscreen, a voice performance from Maxine Peake is a welcome highlight. 

I really like the work that Janisse has done when it comes to her writing, her curating, and her documentary work. And I am sure that she is happy with how this has turned out. It just didn't work for me. I like my Christmas ghost stories to feel much spookier and chillier than this, although part of my problem with it may be down to the source material from Blackwood (who is far from my favourite of the celebrated writers in this genre).

3/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share 

Netflix And Chill: Wendell & Wild (2022)

Another stop-motion animated movie from director Henry Selick (who also helmed such greats as The Nightmare Before Christmas, James And The Giant Peach, and Coraline, as well as Monkeybone . . . but we don't mention Monkeybone), Wendell & Wild feels a step removed from his previous features thanks to a more diverse cast and an excuse to reunite Key and Peele onscreen (even if it's only in voice form, of course). Unfortunately, it's also not as good as most of the titles I just mentioned (except Monkeybone . . . but we don't mention Monkeybone).

Kat is a troubled teen, having blamed herself for years for the death of her parents. Moving from one place to the next, with trouble often not far away, Kat finally ends up at a school very close to the small town where she used to live in happier times. Wanting nothing more than her parents brought back to life, Kat ends up being tricked by two demons, Wendell (Keegan-Michael Key) and Wild (Jordan Peele), who want to enter the world of the living and try out their plan to raise the dead with some very powerful hair restorer. There's also a pair of schemers trying to keep their part in a deadly chapter in history hidden, which could become tougher when the dead start to rise, and Kat may find herself equally in danger from the undead and the living.

I'm not sure why this doesn't work as well as other Selick features, but it seems to lack something truly magical and impressive. The detailing is often as lovely as you'd expect, but there also seems to be no connective tissue between the land of the living and the land of the dead, with each one feeling like it stays in whatever snowglobe-like environment is required for each main scene. The tone is also disappointingly wobbly, neither macabre nor amusing enough, and it feels weird that Key and Peele are used here (Peele having also helped to write the screenplay) without making the most of their talents. Perhaps the problems come from the source material, it's based on a book by Selick and Clay McLeod Chapman, or maybe it needs more than one watch to pick up on more of the lovely production design and character developments. Maybe it needed a better score from Bruno Coulais to lend stronger support to the visuals. I would rewatch this, but it won't ever be too high on my list of priorities.

Ross is a very good lead, Key and Peele are a bit muted, but fun, and it's great to hear Angela Bassett, James Hong, Ving Rhames, David Harewood, and Maxine Peake in main roles, every one a great actor also able to deliver a great vocal performance. Sam Zelaya and Tamara Smart are also very good, playing two other teenagers important to the plot, alongside Seema Virdi and Ramona Young in supporting roles.

I cannot dismiss this as a bad film, and it's more entertaining and inventive than dozens of other movies aimed at younger viewers, but it's near the bottom of the pile when compared to similar stop-motion features presenting macabre elements in a child-friendly way.

6/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share

Mubi Monday: The Falling (2014)

Take a little bit of Picnic At Hanging Rock, add a smattering of The Crucible, and then underpin with the turbulent emotions of a young girl struggling to maintain any kind of relationship with her single mother and you have The Falling, an intriguing drama that benefits from a superb cast, all giving great performances, and a script that keeps diving deeper into darkness as things build towards the end of a particular journey for the lead character.

Maisie Williams is Lydia Lamont, a young girl who is best friends with Abbie Mortimer (Florence Pugh). It comes to light that Abbie is pregnant, which creates a strain between the two of them. A tragedy soon occurs, which then leads to an outbreak of fainting spells throughout their school. Is there something real behind these incidents, or is Lydia somehow influencing all of the other girls around her?

Written and directed by Carol Morley, this is very much a film that keeps digging further and further into a pit of grime, culminating in a third-act that isn't afraid to truly shock viewers, but not in a way that feels like it is being gratuitous or exploitative. Along with the fainting spells, Lydia is falling further further into a spiral of poor mental health, spurred on by her thoughts about her own life and her mother, all to the fore while she has less to distract her from her home situation.

Initially showing a typical clear divide between the girls and their teachers, lines start to blur while the latter characters start to struggle to maintain their composure, either due to the thoughts they start to have about their own lives or the growing show of strength required to try bringing the girls back in line.

Williams is very good in her role, giving a performance full of twitches and meanness that isn't reduced to JUST the twitches and meanness. Pugh has a lot less screentime, but brings her usual charisma to help her character cast a large shadow over all of the proceedings (all the more impressive, considering this is her first film role). Maxine Peake is Eileen Lamont, Lydia's mother, and gives an excellent and nervy turn, and Joe Cole plays Kenneth, Lydia's brother, a young man who makes some absolutely horrible decisions. Greta Scacchi and Monica Dolan are the two main teachers, and both excellent in their roles, and you get decent roles for Anna Burnett, Hannah Rose Caton, Morfydd Clark, and others.

Deceptive, in terms of how far away the feeling of the ending is from the feeling of the start, The Falling is an excellent British drama that manages to feel both traditionally grounded and psychologically complex, probing some very unexpected areas. Recommended.

8/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Mubi Monday: Peterloo (2018)

Yes, I got to enjoy another movie at the cinema thanks to Mubi Go, and here is the review of it.

Peterloo starts in a battlefield, pretty much ends in a battlefield, and never really leaves a battlefield for most of the runtime. It's just often a battlefield that people walked through every day, throughout a war that continues right now. A class war, a war that endeavours to make the poor even poorer while the rich get richer, and to keep the working masses in their place.

Based on the true story of a peaceful rally in 1819 Manchester  that became the scene of a massacre, writer-director Mike Leigh uses that horrific event to show the clashing mindsets of those involved, emphasising the chasm between the viewpoints. Those who work hard and can barely make enough to live wanting something to change in the system that gives them no voice and those who look down from above and view any such intentions as ingratitude and insurrection.

Although there are some key figures here (speaker Henry Hunt, played by Rory Kinnear, being the powerful orator who charges up every crowd he speaks to), Leigh takes his time to show how various individuals are motivated and drawn further to the extremes of their respective causes. This care, and the many telling character moments, add to the lengthy runtime, just over two and a half hours, but I doubt many viewers would begrudge the runtime devoted to such a dark chapter in British history.

Kinnear does an amazing job, in what is arguably the best role of his career so far, Maxine Peake is typically great as a concerned family matriarch, and there are too many great moments for the assorted players to highlight here, but I will namecheck Karl Johnson (a close second to Kinnear with the greatness of his performance), Philip Jackson, Tom Gill, Neil Bell, Ian Mercer, and Victor McGuire, not to mention the many actors being loathsome and downright Dickensian for all of their time onscreen.

There are small flaws. Some characters come and go too abruptly, some scenes feel a little bit clunky in the way they are shoehorned in between more extended sequences, and (the smallest niggle) the passage of time isn't always as clearly signified as it could be in the lead up to the dreadful day.

If you saw the documentary The 13th and were appalled while being reminded that the abolishment of the slavery of African Americans in the USA led to many more ways in which society decided to punish and enslave those it viewed as lower-case citizens, within a new selection of rules and regulations, then Peterloo will leave you with similar feelings. Because, no doubt about it, there may not have been another massacre like this in modern British history but the working class and the poor are still being killed off whole the rich get richer. The pen is mightier than the sword, which is why the weaponry used nowadays tends to take the shape of paperwork and legislation, such as zero hour employment contracts and Universal Credit.

8/10

There's a book all about the horrific incident available here.

The Theory Of Everything (2014)

It's a biopic. It's British. It features someone striving to battle a debilitating disease. And the lead performance is one that could be called transformative. Yes, The Theory Of Everything is one big chunk of tasty Oscar-bait. That doesn't mean that it's great.

Eddie Redmayne stars as Stephen Hawking, arguably the most famous scientist of the 21st century. When diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease, at the age of 21, he was only given about two years to live. That was in 1963. This film shows his life, from horsing around with his university chums to meeting Jane (Felicity Jones), the woman who would become his wife, and developing his theories on black holes, time and our entire universe. It is a potted history of someone who has changed the way we view both outer and inner space.

Adapting the book written by Jane Hawking, Anthony McCarten takes all of the moments that you'd expect to find here and places them exactly where they should be. There's a distinct lack of imagination and flair on display here, with the exception of one or two pleasant surprises. Overall, the film has the air of a TV movie, albeit one with a sizable budget.

Director James Marsh seems content to let his cast take on the heavy lifting, as it were, and translates the screenplay by McCarten into equally lacklustre visuals. You get snapshots of the English countryside, there's a fitting score that's always ready to swell whenever an emotional moment needs highlighted, and any bad feelings are hastily covered over or thrown into the back of a pantry, where they are left to grow and fester until they can no longer be ignored.

There's no denying, however, that the cast DO elevate the material, with Redmayne giving quite a superb physical performance as Hawking. He's cheeky, charming, stubborn, pained, and much more besides, often all at once. Jones also does very well in her role, although she suffers from the fact that her character is landed with most of the heavy-handed, emotional fare. Sorry, that should say "most of the heavy-handed, EMOTIONAL fare". David Thewlis is a delight in his supporting role, playing a teacher who also becomes a friend to Hawking, Charlie Cox is nice enough, and Maxine Peake livens things up slightly in the last third of the film, playing the nurse who would make Hawking lovestruck again.

The Theory Of Everything is a pretty poor film. It's predictable, it's bland, and it doesn't even feel as if it goes deep enough into the minds of the main characters. Those central performances help to lift it just above the realm of average, with Redmayne doing such a great job that I wish he'd had a better movie to star in.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Everything-Blu-ray-DIGITAL-UltraViolet/dp/B00QFSIIFK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419928566&sr=8-1&keywords=the+theory+of+everything