For It Is Man's Number

Tuesday, 9 April 2024

Dune: Part Two (2024)

The film that fans of Dune: Part One were forced to wait an extra five months to see in cinemas, that delay seems to have done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of those eager for more visually gorgeous sci-fi on the big screen. It certainly gave me time to FINALLY watch the first instalment and join those who were eagerly awaiting the concluding part of the tale. Except, and I feel it’s important to say this somewhere in this review, this isn’t really a conclusion to the tale. It’s another lengthy chapter, and I was disappointed as the end credits rolled after an ending that didn’t feel like a proper ending. It might be in line with the source material, and there is certainly more to come from Denis Villeneuve working in this world, but that didn’t help me when I was underwhelmed by the way in which things just started to move towards the next part of the epic tale.

I will give a brief, and very poor, summary of the plot. After the events of the first film, Paul Atreides (Tinothée Chalamet) and his pregnant mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), are living with the desert-dwelling Fremen on the planet of Arrakis. Powerful people still want to destroy the Fremen, all to control the spice and become even more powerful, but Paul may well be the secret weapon that helps to end the ongoing battles. Or he may well cause even more destruction and bloodshed. There are strong bonds forged, and broken, there is a prophecy that many start to doubt, and there is a need to learn how to walk without rhythm in order to stay safe from the giant sandworms.

Although a visual feast from start to finish, as well as an aural feast too (thanks to Hans Zimmer and everyone working in the sound department), Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts have once again done a magnificent job of compressing an epic tome into a digestible and entertaining movie. It has a slightly different tone from part one, mainly due to the fact that we are witnessing Paul exploring his true potential, but it’s often the equal of the first film.

The cast are perfect, as many of them already proved last time around. Both Chalamet and Ferguson get to be a bit stronger and meaner this time, which is an interesting change to their characters, Javier Bardem has a bit more fun in his role, and Zendaya gets to do a lot more than just be some mysterious woman in a vision. Christopher Walken and Florence Pugh are sorely underused, as is the wonderful Léa Seydoux, while the likes of Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, and Josh Brolin are given just time to stay involved in the ongoing plotting and scheming until Austin Butler comes onscreen and threatens to steal the entire movie away from everyone.

I have less to say about this than I had to say about Dune: Part One, but only because it is so perfectly in line with the groundwork set out a few years ago. Villeneuve is arguably one of the best directors around when it comes to creating an entire world in which to immerse viewers (imagine the worlds we could see if he ever worked alongside Guillermo del Toro), and this is incredible stuff. It’s grandiose, it seems to emanate dry heat from every frame, and the prospect of getting to spend more time in this world is the silver lining to the small cloud that is that non-ending.

Much like the spice featured at the heart of the tale, this is pure and powerful stuff. And that’s without even mentioning how depressingly it parallels events in our reality that have been ongoing for decades.

8/10

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Monday, 8 April 2024

Mubi Monday: Results (2015)

It is easy to view gym life as quite a cult. Those who work there tend to be positive and full of motivational mantras, and those who end up responding well to the lifestyle end up acting like someone who has been recently converted to some kind of new religion. I don’t say this with malice. I speak from experience, and that experience is ongoing as I try to remain committed to my own gym and fitness schedule. Results is a movie that has fun with this idea, especially in the way it presents two fitness instructors with two very different ways of viewing life.

Kevin Corrigan plays Danny, a man who wants to get into shape. He wanders into a gym and chats to Trevor (Guy Pearce), who ends up pairing him up with a trainer named Kat (Cobie Smulders). It turns out that Danny is quite rich. It also turns out that he finds Kat attractive. Furthermore, Trevor also has a thing for Kat. What follows is a constant clash of differing attitudes as every one of these three main protagonists is somehow helped by the others to correct their path through life.

Both Pearce and Smulders are great fun here, butting heads in a way that you know is just distracting them from a chance to see their relationship potential. Pearce has to be almost constantly optimistic and positive throughout, while Smulders enjoys being a bit more confrontational and carefree. Corrigan is an actor I have loved seeing in supporting roles for years, and his excellent turn here makes me wish he had many more people willing to give him this amount of screentime. Giovanni Ribisi is good fun in a small role, a partying lawyer, and Anthony Michael Hall feels as if he is channeling Dolph Lundgren whenever he appears onscreen as a kettlebell guru named Grigory.

Written and directed by Andrew Bujalski, who has helmed at least three gems in the last decade or so, Results is a well-constructed comedy drama that stays enjoyable throughout, even in the scenes that hint at darker or more cringe-inducing options. This is as much to do with the performances as it is to do with the script, but Bujalski clearly has a talent for dialogue and characterization that attracts some great actors to his projects. It is also worth noting that this isn’t a film making fun of those who enjoy fitness or gym life. It is saying that there is no one easy “fix” for any of us, whether in the gym or just in life, but nobody is mocked here for trying to better themselves, even while they struggle. As anyone who has been trying to get fit for a decent amount of time can tell you, you can learn just as much from failures as you can learn from success.

There might be some people who would have preferred this to be a sharper film, a meaner one, but I think Bujalski has judged it perfectly. It’s a typical look at some characters trying to sort out their problems and create a decent future for themselves. They just all happen to be connected by their ongoing attempts to develop healthy bodies and healthy minds.

8/10

Sunday, 7 April 2024

Netflix And Chill: Emily The Criminal (2022)

Although I like her onscreen presence, and although she tends to pick a variety of interesting projects, Aubrey Plaza being in a movie isn't ever a guarantee that I will enjoy it. That seems to be changing though, especially in the movies that also have her serving in some kind of producer role, and Emily The Criminal is one of her best roles yet.

A feature debut from writer-director John Patton Ford, this is the tale of a young woman who struggles to get a decent break in life. She is weighed down by mistakes in her past, including a felony charge and a whole lot of student loan debt, but she knows that the current system is making things much harder than they need to be. Eventually offered the chance to make a quick $200 in a credit card scam, Emily sees a way to massively improve her life. The scam is overseen by Youcef (Theo Rossi), who ends up teaching Emily more and more ways to improve her profit-making opportunities. But with greater reward comes greater risks, of course.

While I went into this expecting a decent little character study, from the title and the marketing of the movie, I soon realised that it was interested in offering a bit more than that. Emily The Criminal IS all about Emily, and her new-found talent for some criminal activities, but it's also a reminder of just how badly the system works against people who struggle and sweat through years to make up for the ongoing repercussions of past mistakes. Although it won't happen to everyone, many people will have made one or two mistakes in their youth that lands them in trouble with the police, and even more people will end up in some kind of debt (planned or unplanned) at least once. Emily The Criminal shows how hard it is to move away from those things, especially in a society that has now seemingly stacked the odds in favour of employers who want to make use of unpaid interns, employees trapped by the need to keep working all hours of the day to make the most of their low wage, and the apparently blissful move towards a "gig economy". That last part was meant to be completely sarcastic, by the way.

Ford packs a lot of great little moments into the 97-minute runtime, whether it's showing us Emily attending a job interview being conducted by someone trying to blindside her with information about her past, the tense transactions where Emily wants her fraud to go undetected until she is away from the shop/seller/buyer, or a fantastic exchange between our lead and a powerful employer (Gina Gershon) who thinks she is doing someone a huge favour by offering them, well, something that isn't a huge favour.

Plaza is excellent in her role, adding a tooughness and determination to her usual constant eye-rolling at the awfulness of the world and people around her. It's arguably the best role she's had in a long time, and she sinks her teeth into it with vigour. Rossi is also great in the role of Youcef, a young man who ends up running a successful crime scene without having to be the typically brutal and unfeeling crime boss. The real sense of menace comes from Youcef's partner/cousin, Khalil, and Jonathan Avigdori does very well with that character. Gershon tries hard to steal her one scene, and it's a great back and forth with Plaza there, and there is also excellent support from Megalyn Echikunwoke (a friend, arguably), Bernardo Badillo (a colleague who leads Emily to her new "career opportunity"), as well as Craig Stark, Sarah Allyn Bauer, and everyone else helping to make the onscreen world feel busier and more realistic than it actually is.

I'm not sure if this will win over anyone yet to come around to Plaza, she's an acquired taste and some just won't ever take to the various shades of her standard onscreen persona, but it's certainly a film that I recommend everyone makes time for. Some will view it as a justification of criminals committing crimes. I view it as a condemnation of a society that doesn't do anything more than give lip service to the ideas of rehabilitation, self-care, and self-improvement.

9/10

Saturday, 6 April 2024

Shudder Saturday: Mute Witness (1995)

A film that seems to have been beloved by genre fans over the past few decades, Mute Witness has long been on my viewing list. It wasn't always easy to get hold of though, a situation that has now completely changed, thanks to the fact that it can be found on streaming, as well as on a shiny disc release from Arrow Video. Maybe, just maybe, that easier availability will see people slightly re-appraising the film, and perhaps no longer viewing it as some lost classic.

The plot is quite simple. Marina Zudina (billed here under a slghtly different spelling of her surname, Sudina) plays Billy, a mute makeup artist working on a Moscow film set who ends up witnessing the making of a snuff film one evening. This leads to her being pursued by various members of a far-reaching criminal network, some who may also be in the police force, and the only people that may be able to help her are her sister, Karen (Fay Ripley), and Karen's boyfriend, Andy (Evan Rochards).

Written and directed by Anthony Waller, who followed this up with, ummmmm, An American Werewolf In Paris, this is a decent idea turned into a decidedly okay movie, but it's far from a classic blend of tension and darkness, although one or two moments (including the witness of the main murder) come close to brilliance. Things aren't helped by the fact that the cast has a couple of familiar British faces dropped into the middle of the Russian setting (Ripley being the main one, but there's also a jarring cameo from the wonderful Alec Guinness that feels exactly like the massive favour it clearly was), amplifying the feeling that most of the Russian players came directly from "Rent-A-Russian-Heavy Inc."

Zudina is good in the lead role, expressive and easy to root for, but she's only equalled by Oleg Yankovskiy (also credited with a different spelling of a surname, Jankowski), playing a man named Larsen who is enjoyably difficult to gauge for most of his screentime. Is he actually good, and able to help our lead, or is he yet another member of the crime ring? Ripley and Richards try their best, hampered by a script that wants to put them in peril while also keeping them generally safe enough to get to the third act, and most of the other cast members are suitably menacing, whether that's done deliberately or not.

While I appreciate that this was obviously put together with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, it's a shame that no one aspect of it feels as good as it could be. From the acting to the cinematography, from the music to the production design, you can almost feel the desperation to simply get the film made permeating every frame. While everyone involved can be proud of having actually completed a decent movie, I'm not surprised by the fact that I recognise so few of the names in the cast and crew (although it's worth noting that many have remained working in Russia, a cinematic region I cannot claim to be overly familiar with).

Anyway, to sum it all up, Mute Witness is good, but I don't think it came close to being great. Ironically enough, I'm bemused by how much time people have spent talking this one up since the mid-'90s.

6/10

Friday, 5 April 2024

Mean Girls (2024)

Maybe it is my brain refusing to accept the passage of time, maybe it is the idea that turning Mean Girls into a musical isn’t a very good idea (although this was already a stage show before being turned into this film), but I was not looking forward to seeing this. The cast of the original movie were all so perfect, the script was consistently brilliant, and it hasn’t exactly faded away into irrelevance since it first hit our screens. Despite my major misgivings, and an extra Spidey-sense tingle when they advertised this without letting people know it was a musical, I tried to stay open-minded. I needn’t have bothered. This is pretty dire.

Angourie Rice plays Cady Heron, a teenage girl who ends up experiencing the ups and downs of high school when she finally gets a chance to attend one after time spent being home-schooled by her mother (Jenna Fischer) while they lived in Africa. Cady struggles, but is soon befriended by Janis (Aul’i’ Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey). After Janis and Damian explain the school cliques to Cady, and then see her unexpectedly befriended by “the plastics”, they come up with a plan to destabilize and break down the established heirarchy. It all relies on taking down the top mean girl, Regina George (Reneé Rapp), and her two main confidants (Karen, played by Avantika, and Gretchen, played by Bebe Wood).

With Tina Fey still in charge of the writing, having adapted Rosalind Wiseman’s book for the original movie and then worked on the musical, it’s impossible to call this a completely laugh-free zone. Unfortunately, the funniest lines are the lines that worked so well in the first film, and were arguably all delivered better by that original cast (with no offence intended to the players here).

Married co-directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. feel locked in by the script, and they aren’t helped by the weak selection of songs, all of which lack energy and creative staging. The production design, wardrobe choices, etc. all work very well, but the script and direction stumble in between each one of the unwelcome songs.

The cast try hard, and it is because of them that I kept willing this to improve before the ending rolled along. Rice is a decent lead, although she does better with the wide-eyed innocence than she does in the third act of the film, and Rapp is such a great Regina that a better film around her would show her to be equal to the Regina played by Rachel McAdams. Fey and Tim Meadows reprise their roles, but somehow don’t do quite as well, Fischer is sweet in her few scenes, and Busy Philipps is fun as the wannabe-cool mom this time around. Sadly, the rest of the cast have to settle for being lesser replacements for their original counterparts. Cravalho, Spivey, Avantika, and Wood are all good. They just aren’t as good as those who made the roles their own the first time around. The same can be said of Christopher Briney (playing the young man who catches Cady’s eye) and Mahi Alam (head of the mathletes).

If you love the original Mean Girls then I don’t imagine you will love this. If you have yet to see it then I don’t imaging you will love this. It is hard to think of who will get the most from it, especially when the original film is just so much better, and isn’t punctuated by unmemorable and unnecessary songs.

3/10

Thursday, 4 April 2024

Gamera, The Giant Monster (1965)

When it comes to giant monsters that have caused havoc throughout various Japanese movies, Godzilla will always be at the very top of the charts. There are a number of strong contenders for the number two spot though. I love Mothra, for example, and one or two others have sizeable fanbases, but Gamera is surely the one that comes closest to dethroning Big G as the monster king. It is another great creation, a giant turtle, and has, in my limited experience, been served well by a number of consistently great movies through the years.

This first film featuring the giant flying turtle (because that is what Gamera is, and I like to think of it as a distant cousin of The Great A’Tuin) sees the giant beast being rudely awakened by a burst of atomic energy and subsequently watched with awe and trepidation as scientists hatch a plan to get rid of them. That’s about it, in the simplest terms, although it is worth noting that the plan will make use of more energy resources, and there’s also a young boy who just loves turtles.

Directed by Noriaki Yuasa, and it is worth noting that this is not a Toho Studio production (Gamera came to us courtesy of Daiei Film), this is absolutely on par with any other kaiju film you can think of. The practical work is very enjoyable, the small handful of human characters are pretty insignificant in comparison to the titular creature, and the finale is a wonderful use of movie science that stretches plausibility while feeling absolutely viable in this onscreen world. Writer Niisan Takahashi has the kind of extensive filmography that many Japanese writers have, but Gamera is the creation that provides him with a proper legacy, and this is an excellent first outing for the monster.

As for the cast, Eiji Funakoshi is perfectly fine as the main scientist of the film, but it’s young Yoshiro Uchida who almost steals the film, his character feeling a connection to Gamera that allows him to remain unafraid while everyone else panics and evacuates any potential target areas. That’s all I need to say, especially when we all know who the real star is.

I have already seen a couple of the later Gamera movies, films from a different era with even more impressive tricks and effects onscreen, so maybe that has given me a slight bias, but this is a very enjoyable debut for what I would say is the second-best kaiju in Japanese cinema.

8/10

Wednesday, 3 April 2024

Prime Time: Reality (2023)

With a script crafted from FBI transcript of the featured incident, Reality is an impressive directorial debut from Tina Satter that features a performance from Sydney Sweeney that is so good that I finally see why she is having such a hot moment right now.

Sweeney plays Reality Winner, a young woman who works for the NSA. There's something not quite right on the fateful day that we viewers get to "meet" her though, as soon becomes obvious when she's approached by FBI agents (Garrick and Taylor, played respectively by Josh Hamilton and Marchánt Davis) outside her home. They seem to think that Reality may have something to do with a major story, confirmed by a classified document, that has been leaked to the press.

I suspect that many people are more familiar with this story than I was, especially if you live in the USA and keep abreast of major political debates and news coverage. I didn't know what this was all about, and I didn't have any idea about the outcome, so a lot of the film felt to me like some kind of potential Kafka-esque nightmare scenario. The FBI agents were just as unnerving in their pleasantness as they would have been with a more aggressive and forceful approach, and I wasn't even sure if people were presenting themselves honestly to the perplexed and nervous Reality.

Although it may seem strange to say it, considering how the dialogue is lifted directly from another source, the script, co-written by Satter and James Paul Dallas, maintains an air of authenticity throughout, punctuating the ongoing conversation with subtle changes in the focus of the characters and a deliberate highlighting of any words and phrases that have been redacted. What could have been a dry and dull conversation piece is turned into a very tense and thought-provoking examination of patriotism, freedom, different ideas of what constitutes duty, and the rigidity of certain practices and protocols.

Sweeney is fantastic in the main role, portraying a character used to remaining calm in difficult circumstances, due to her military background and, perhaps, her role in the NSA. She's never less than completely believable in the role, and manages to have viewers on her side without any overdone manipulation or overt appeals for sympathy. Both Hamilton and Davis are equally good, although it's the former who spends more time in direct conversation with Sweeney's character, and Benny Elledge adds some extra menace as another agent identified as Unknown Male.

Not a film I will rush to rewatch, and not one I think anyone else will rush to rewatch either, but Reality is something that everyone should see once. It's a story that everyone should know. Especially people like me, who actually missed it all when it was a leading conversation piece in various news outlets.

8/10

Tuesday, 2 April 2024

Imaginary (2024)

Considering how weak many of his movies are, I have seen quite a few of the movies directed by Jeff Wadlow. I would recommend some of them, others I would encourage you to avoid, but he certainly seems to be doing a good enough job to be allowed to keep helming some slick, and often fairly bloodless, mainstream horror movies. He also co-wrote this screenplay with Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, which allows me to feel no guilt as I put most of the blame on him for just how weak and dull this is.

DeWanda Wise is Jessica, stepmother to a moody teen (Taylor, played by Taegen Burns) and a younger little girl (Alice, played by Pyper Braun). Her partner, the father of the girls, is a man named Max (Tom Payne), but the movie gets him out of the way very quickly, ensuring that he has no actual character development while the focus stays on Jessica and the girls. Alice starts to spend more and more time in the company of an imaginary friend, Chauncey, and her behaviour becomes more troubling. It also quickly becomes obvious, to Jessica anyway, that Chauncey may not be as imaginary as most imaginary friends.

While they have been in the industry for some time, nothing in the filmographies of Wadlow, Erb, or Oremland made me optimistic about Imaginary, and I was right to approach it with caution. I am not saying this to be pithy or clever, but the biggest thing working against it is a lack of real imagination. The first half of the movie feels like every other horror movie we have seen featuring a woman trying to develop some kind of bond with step-children who are starting to pull further away from her. There is a sinister undercurrent to the childish playtime of young Alice, and a number of conversations start to hint at the fact that Jessica may be forgetting a time in her life when she was acting very much like Alice. All very predictable and obvious stuff, and the big finale delivers nothing to make the slog worthwhile, hampered by a lack of scale and an inability to dive fully into the darkness.

Wise is decent enough as the central adult, doing everything that is asked of her as things get slightly more ridiculous with every minute of the runtime, Burns is a very standard moody teen, and Braun is almost a typical little girl, although she suffers at the hands of writers that make her a bit too unpleasant every now and again. Betty Buckley is a neighbour who helps to reveal details from the past, Samuel Salary is the hospitalized father of our lead, and one or two others appear to either receive a fright or look bemused by the developing situation.

I am sure that this will still do enough to satisfy mainstream cinema patrons who want some chills and thrills during their visit, but I don’t see it having any appeal for anyone who has already started to take a deeper dive into the delights and terrors offered up by the horror genre. Visually lacklustre, written with barely enough energy to transition effectively from one scene to the next, and lacking the ability to even make the most of the jump scares, this is a complete waste of time, especially when there have been one or two horror movies from the past decade that feature more terrifying imaginary friends causing terror and havoc.

Not the worst horror film I have seen this year, but it certainly puts itself forward as a strong contender.

3/10

Monday, 1 April 2024

Mubi Monday: Affliction (1997)

If you're struggling to think of any film to watch on a very Catholic holiday, let's say you're not in the mood for something highly religious but you want something in line with the calendar, then I recommend one of the many films from Paul Schrader. They're all practically dripping with Catholic guilt, and you could argue that Affliction is up there with his very best/most intense.

Nick Nolte plays Wade Whitehouse, a small-town cop who is struggling to maintain control of his temper, his life, and how his turbulent childhood and family life keeps crashing in to his present frame of mind, an unwanted guest smashing up the insides of his heart and mind. He is trying to keep shared custody of his young daughter, Jill (Brigid Tierney), ends up becoming suspicious of a hunting accident that involves a young man named Jack (Jim True), and only finds some solace in the company of Margie (Sissy Spacek). Things are about to get worse, however, when things happen that lead to him having to spend more time with his abusive father (James Coburn).

Based on a novel by Russell Banks, Affliction is a film that feels very much like a murky neo-noir for almost half of the runtime, albeit one that has Nolte being as typically gruff and dangerous as he has been in so many other movies . . . or maybe specifically because of that. It's easy to see why Schrader was drawn to the material - the tension throughout it, the exploration of the sins of the father reverberating through the lives of the sons (the brother of Nolte's character is played by Willem Dafoe, who also narrates parts of the film) - and he is helped by a cast who are all easily up to playing the ramped-up emotions of the piece.

Nolte is excellent, and this was at a time when he was on a hell of a run (the films themselves may not all be memorable, Nolte was brilliant in all of them). He veers between helplessness and misdirected rage with great ease, and his character carries both of those extremes around with him at all times, played like a physical weight on his shoulders. Dafoe is an excellent counter-balance, showing the image of a son who has tried to distance himself from a past that he knows could still endanger and harm him. Spacek gets to be a real sunbeam, someone and something that we know Nolte should be treating well enough to keep in his life. She knows who she is getting attached to, but she thinks that she can help him move forward while he spends too much of his time looking backward. Both True and Tierney are decent in their roles, as is Holmes Osborne (playing the town selectman, Gordon LaRivere), but all of them pale into insignificance under the looming shadow of Coburn's monstrosity. While Coburn doesn't have to be nuanced or subtle (and what "villain" in any Schrader movie is nuanced or subtle), he throws himself fully into being so loathsome, and as cruel as possible, that viewers will want to see him punished, no matter his advanced age and possible diminishing physical strength.

While it seems to explore anger issues, alcoholism, small-town business dealings, domestic violence, and much more, the main strand running all the way through this, to the surprise of nobody who has experienced any other Schrader movie, is guilt. Guilt for things not done in the past, guilt for things happening in the present, and guilt for any possible future created by the reverberations of those things. Not a film to pick when you want something disposable and distracting, Affliction remains worth your time when you're in the mood to observe the unravelling of a hurt person hurting people.

8/10

Sunday, 31 March 2024

Netflix And Chill: Damsel (2024)

With a cast that includes Millie Bobby Brown, Ray Winstone, Angela Bassett, Robin Wright, and Shohreh Aghdashloo, and with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo in the director's chair, I went into Damsel with as much optimism as I could muster. That was tough though. The trailer didn't really win me over, and all of the reviews seemed to be fairly harsh. Sadly, most people who saw this before me were correct to warn others away from it. It's not good.

Brown plays Elodie, a young woman who is handed over by her father and stepmother (Lord and Lady Bayford, played by Winstone and Bassett) to be married to Prince Henry (Nick Robinson). This will end the money problems for the area ruled over by the Bayfords, but the marriage is not intended to last. It's not long until Elodie discovers that she is to be used as a sacrifice to appease a giant dragon (voiced by Aghdashloo). She's determined to fight back and survive though.

Despite already hearing a lot of negative talk about this, I hoped for something that might subvert some fantasy adventure movie tropes and allow Brown to be a badass able to draw on her courage and intelligence to face off against a terrifying enemy. That's not what writer Dan Mazeau is interested in though, and I should have known the screenplay would be a major weak spot, considering the previous two movies that he worked on. The problem with Damsel is summed up in a scene when the dragon compliments Elodie on being smart enough to stay quiet while it is trying to locate her, immediately followed by a sequence in which it seems as if our lead character makes as much noise as possible while trying to stay alive. Seriously, I wondered if it was going to tip over into parody at this point.

Director Fresnadillo isn't working at anywhere close to his best, hampered by a script that doesn't have enough substance to it and poor cinematography from Larry Fong (who may, in turn, blame others for leaving him stuck with little more than dark caves and tunnels to try and make interesting onscreen). The lighting is too low for most of the runtime, although I will say that things are much better in the scenes that AREN'T set in the dragon's lair, and this has a smothering effect on almost every other department.

Things could have been saved if the cast worked though. I think me saying that already indicates further disappointment though. Brown isn't engaging enough in the lead role, unhelped by a script that only seems interested in building up to different moments and lines of dialogue that are ultimately underwhelming, and Winstone, Bassett, and Wright are all sorely underused. The highlight is Aghdashloo, her unmistakable voice used brilliantly to realise a sly and fierce creature that is equally well-realised visually by the computer programmers working on the VFX.

Not helped by the fact that the few decent moments will remind most viewers of a very popular animated franchise, Damsel is a disappointing and unexciting trudge through familiar territory made by people who seem to think they are delivering something clever and subversive.

3/10

Saturday, 30 March 2024

Shudder Saturday: The Strange World Of Coffin Joe (1968)

If I hadn't known that The Strange World Of Coffin Joe was an anthology horror movie before watching it then I might have been a bit disappointed, especially if craving more of the twisted madness of the previous two movies in this series. But I did know about the format of the film, and I am mentioning it here to ensure that other people are equally prepared.

There are three tales presented here, all within a runtime of 80 minutes, which ensures decent pacing throughout, and they are enjoyably simple. Each tale serves as a framing device for some dark and disturbing event, but the film suffers slightly from the fact that the first segment remains the strongest of the three.

First of all, a local dollmaker is celebrated for his beautiful and realistic dolls, but he ends up targeted by criminals who realise that he doesn't keep his money in a bank. With four beautiful daughters also at risk, the dollmaker seems destined to experience great loss and pain, but might find a way to turn the situation to his advantage. Second, a balloon seller becomes obsessed with a beautiful woman he sees every day, but her wedding day is looming. Unfortunately, the wedding day is marred by tragedy, although the obsessive man is not deterred from trying to get close to the woman. Third, and finally, a professor discusses the theory that instinct will always overcome reason and love. To help prove this, he invites a rival professor, accompanied by his wife, to his home, where an extended episode of sadistic unpleasantness will be played out.

Director José Mojica Marins, who also stars as the evil professor in the third tale, is once again interested in showing the darkest parts of human nature alongside a small amount of philosophising to help provide an excuse for everything onscreen. The screenplay may be credited to Rubens Francisco Luchetti, who would work with Marins on quite a few more movies after this one, but there's no doubt that this is another showcase for the character namechecked in the title, even if he doesn't really get involved in any of the horrific tales (he basically serves as a host, although the evil professor feels like a character that could easily have been turned into Coffin Joe with only the slightest of adjustments).

While other cast members all do well enough in their roles, I'm not going to risk confusing and mis-spelling their names here, especially when I don't have exact cast details to hand (my fault, I have yet to really deep dive into the wonderful bluray boxset). And, with respect, it doesn't really matter. As the film title implies, this is all about the horror icon that is Coffin Joe, a figure casting his shadow over the proceedings even while not onscreen. Marins delivers another delightfully sinister turn when in front of the camera, but his direction maintains a voyeuristic and gleeful wallow in debauchery that retains the spirit of Coffin Joe for every minute of the runtime.

A step down from the two previous films I have seen from Marins, this is still enjoyable stuff, and it contains a number of startling images that help it to retain the sense of danger and madness that go wherever Coffin Joe goes.

6/10

Friday, 29 March 2024

Doctor Jekyll (2023)

Okay, I am going to start this review with a note. I will always strive to refer to people by their preferred names and pronouns. It's not being "woke", contrary to vocal idiots who keep crying about it. It's offering the basic level of politeness that we automatically tend to offer to anyone while not obsessing about what toilet facilities they want to use. With that in mind, Eddie Izzard is credited here as Eddie Izzard, and I'll be referring to them as such here.

A reworking of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson tale, Doctor Jekyll played well to horror film festival audiences last year, with many singling out the performance from Izzard as being well worth your time. I was eager for this to hit the VOD market, and made time for it this week when I was able to purchase a digital copy of it. I'm happy to have given it my support, but I am a bit surprised by those who heaped so much praise on it, suspecting this may be another case of the festival bump that can often occur when watching a new film with a like-minded group of genre fans (something I am sure I have been guilty of myself). Or maybe it was also helped by the love for the Hammer Studios name, who are behind the distribution of it here in the UK.

Scott Chambers plays Rob, a young man trying to get his life back together after serving some time in prison. He ends up being given a job caring for the enigmatic Doctor Nina Jekyll (Izzard). Doctor Jekyll seems to like Rob, keen to give him a chance even while her assistant, Sandra (Lindsay Duncan), just seems to want rid of him. As we all know, but our lead character here crucially doesn't, you tend to have a Hyde wherever you have a Jekyll. This particular Hyde (Rachel Hyde) has a plan, and Rob is an unwittingly vital part of it.

Written by Dan Kelly-Mulhern, his first and only credit so far, this is a decent reworking of the text that feels majorly boosted by the canny use of Izzard in the titular role. The thematic strands being explored, and tied together into a strong narrative rope, feel both timely and well worth including to modernise and rework the timeless tale of terror. Director Joe Stephenson isn't a complete newcomer, having previously worked on a number of TV shows and a previous film, Chicken, where he also worked with both Chambers and Morgan Watkins (who plays Rob's brother, Ewan), and he handles things here very well, keeping the focus on the performances without making it all feel hampered by the fairly limited locations and small cast.

I cannot overstate how great Izzard is in the lead role here, a casting coup so inspired that it makes it impossible to imagine the film without their presence. They weave between light and darkness in ways that anyone familiar with the tale should expect, and their eloquence and verbosity perfectly matches the way that the bifurcated character is written. It's a shame that Chambers, so good in the aforementioned Chicken, cannot come close to matching Izzard. His character seems a bit too resigned to failure in the first half of the movie, but then becomes far too easygoing and unguarded in time for the third act to play out. Watkins is fine in his role, Duncan is enjoyable for her limited amount of screentime, and Robyn Cara plays a figure from Rob's past who may end up jeopardising the job that he needs to keep hold of. Oh, there's also a cameo from Simon Callow, who is used well for his fleeting appearance.

This is very good stuff, although it's never as intriguing or transgressive as it could have been. It's messy, especially when it falls apart during the final scenes, but it's full of elements to admire, from the characterisations to the commentary on "big pharma", and recommended to those after something that nicely blends the familiar with a sprinkling of modern freshness.

7/10

Thursday, 28 March 2024

Dogora (1964)

Another week, another Japanese sci-fi creature feature directed by the very capable Ishirô Honda. Dogora is a film about a giant space jellyfish creature, basically, but it’s a canny mix of monster movie and crime flick, managing to deliver a more interesting cast of characters than many of the other films it falls in line with.

You do get the space jellyfish creature, and it causes some confusion throughout the film, so at least this isn’t like some of the other Toho Studios films that simply add a monster into the final act. While some people are trying to figure out just what is going on, other people are more interested in diamond robberies. There’s an Inspector (Yôsuke Natsuki) after the criminals, a mysterious figure named Mark Jackson (Robert Dunham, billed as Dan Yuma) also taking a keen interest, and, of course, the robbers themselves. Surprisingly, the titular creature is also interested in diamonds, due to the carbon content it needs to devour.

Based on a story by Jôjirô Okami, with Shin'ichi Sekizawa back on screenplay duties, this is a very enjoyable genre blend that manages to let things unfold without doing a disservice to either of the main story strands. It may not have any major crash bang wallop moments, but the monstrous threat still looms large above our worried humans, and there’s enough damage caused to show what could happen if things get out of control. At the risk of repeating myself, Honda could direct these films in his sleep by now, and I don’t think I need to spend too much time here heaping more praise upon him.

Natsuki and Dunham are both very enjoyable in their roles, and they are featured enough to actually stay clear in my memory after the film has ended, but you also get Nobuo Nakamura as the standard scientist, Hiroshi Koizumi as a bonus secondary scientist, and Yôko Fujiyama as an assistant who obviously keeps herself in the middle of the conversations that deliver the required exposition. The gangsters are also good value, although I won’t name any of those performers here (they feel like one criminal unit, despite one or two having a specialist skillset).

Perhaps not as memorable as so many others, Dogora is a really fun film that I ended up enjoying a lot. I am not sure if that puts me in the minority, but I am sure that I could happily sit and rewatch this again already.

8/10

Wednesday, 27 March 2024

Prime Time: Road House (2024)

I was looking forward to Road House since I saw the first trailer for it, a trailer that showcased just how much time star Jake Gyllenhaal had been putting in at the gym. Yes, the original film is a beloved bit of cheese, but it’s no untouchable classic. Let’s not forget that it already has a sequel that very few people care for.

Gyllenhaal plays Dalton, a legendary figure who is hired by Frankie (Jessica Williams) to help sort out the trouble she has been having in her Florida bar. Dalton rolls in to Glass Key (the name of the area, and one of many fun little nods to other films) and starts cleaning house, but it isn’t long until he realised that there’s something more going on. Frankie’s bar is being targeted by thugs who work for a rich douchebag (Ben Brandt, played by Billy Magnussen). And if his thugs keep failing to achieve the desired result then it will soon be time for the much more dangerous Knox (Conor McGregor) to swagger in and start smashing everything up. A storm is brewing, but that doesn’t stop Dalton from making time to enjoy the company of a local doctor, Ellie (Daniela Melchior).

There are things to pick at here, and plenty of things that viewers may dislike, particularly when it comes to the way of staging and shooting some of the fight scenes, but I cannot think of any way this could have been a better remake/reworking of the original film. The tone is similarly fun, punctuated with brutal violence (of course), the lead character is always looking to defuse any situation before things get physical, and the plotting manages to replicate what we’ve seen before without feeling like a carbon copy.

Well done to relatively new writers Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry for crafting a script that changes enough to modernize the idea while also remaining respectful and admiring of the original film. The central concept may be nonsense, and our lead spends a lot of time smirking at people who don’t realise what is about to happen to them, but at no point are viewers made to think they are watching something outright laughable. Everyone is kept safe alongside a confident main character, but the danger keeps piling up around them, and his own darkness is something he doesn’t want to tap into.

Director Doug Liman handles the whole thing quite well. Aside from some computer trickery that doesn’t always work in the fight scenes, and a frustrating handful of night-time moments that don’t seem to be lit as well as they should, it’s generally slick entertainment, helped massively by Gyllenhaal being so committed to his role.

That commitment can be shown in every defined muscle, with the actor displaying a physique normally shown in anatomy textbooks that display the musculature of the human body. It is a hell of a look, and Gyllenhaal backs it up with a physicality and personality that I am sure Swayze would have liked to see. It’s a winning performance, and the best thing in the film. Magnussen is a lot of fun as the villain who doesn’t like to get his own hands dirty, the kind of person you know is failing as his hair becomes more messed up in the middle of some unfolding carnage, and McGregor . . . hmmmmm, I think he is good at doing what he is asked to do. It’s definitely a difficult performance to recommend though, as he is asked to be the kind of cocky and careless menace who is unleashed in the second half of the movie like an angry Rottweiler that has been flicked in the testicles and then let off the chain. Melchior is fine in the least interesting role, and the role that feels most like the writers tried a bit too hard to keep a template from the original film, Williams is good, if a bit underused, and there are decent supporting turns from Lukas Gage, Joaquim de Almeida, Hannah Love Lanier, Darren Barnet, JD Pardo, Arturo Castro (scene-stealing and hilarious), and even a cameoing Post Malone at the very start of the film.

I never thought this was going to surpass, or even equal, the first film, but it’s not as if everyone here got together to remake Citizen Kane. A little perspective is a good thing. I love Road House, but that is just as much to do with nostalgia and the unbeatable power of Sam Elliott’s beard as it is to do with the film itself. This remake lacks both of those ingredients, and also lacks a decent selection of soundtrack choices, but I still had a lot of fun with it. I think people should give it a chance, and I think it will be judged less harshly by viewers who can separate the concept from their sentimental attachment to the original film.

7/10

Tuesday, 26 March 2024

Argylle (2024)

The publicity and marketing for Argylle seemed to signify that it was going to be a fun spy romp for film fans. It would though, of course, because publicity and marketing is designed to get us all eager to buy whatever is being sold. Then the film was released, seemed to stumble at the box office (which may be putting it mildly), and one negative review after another started to make it clear that this wasn’t going to be a shining star in the 2024 movie calendar.

I am not sure why others seemed to hate this quite so much. I enjoyed it. I am not going to say that I loved it, and there are certainly moments that go a bit too far (in terms of the ridiculousness, the CGI, or both), but I had a fun time while it was on, and I would easily watch it again. It will never be top of my rewatch pile though.

Bryce Dallas Howard plays a writer, Elly, responsible for a successful series of spy novels about a special agent named Argylle. It is a world far removed from her own, where she simply likes to stay comfortable and spend time with her cat (Alfie), but worlds collide when she is approached by a real spy (Aidann, played by Sam Rockwell). People are after Elly, believing that she knows far too much about the world she is writing about, and there are twists and turns on the way to a final act that will ultimately reveal the true identity of “Argylle”.

It doesn’t matter if you are unfamiliar with writer Jason Fuchs, someone who has a limited number of full screenplay credits. The writing here is one of the least interesting components, and the plot is full of too many big holes throughout. This isn’t a well-constructed piece of work. It is a slice of silliness that seems designed to let director Matthew Vaughn have fun with some ridiculous set-pieces. That is how I saw it anyway, and that is how I managed to enjoy it. Not every action sequence works, but at least four of them kept me hugely entertained for the duration.

It helps that the cast is so good. Maybe I am missing a lot of the conversation happening around this, but I don’t think it can be underestimated how atypical Howard is for this kind of lead role. Does it make sense? No, but the way she is used here more than makes up for the lack of logic. She has to spend most of the first half of the movie looking dazed and vulnerable, but the second half gives her a lot more to do, and she acquits herself well. Rockwell gets one of his most fun roles in recent years, being the light-hearted and cocky pro that he does so well, and always ready to dance at any opportunity. Cavill is fun as the fictional avatar, even if he doesn’t suit the bad hairstyle he is given, and there is room for fun performances from Catherine O’Hara, Bryan Cranston, and, to a much lesser extent, and I do mean MUCH lesser, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cena, Dua Lipa, and Ariana DeBose.

I can see why this wasn’t a resounding success, mainly because of the plotting and the overuse of CGI, as well as a fairly lengthy runtime, and there are a few too many edits between Rockwell and Cavill as we are shown the action from the befuddled POV of our main character, but I just don’t see why it has been so lambasted. The big moments that work, in my view, work really well, including an action sequence on a train that is as energetic and inventive as I hoped it would be. Okay, the film doesn’t maintain that standard throughout, but it keeps trying, and Vaughn once again tries hard to complement his visuals with just the right soundtrack (although maybe it is obvious this time around that he is trying a bit too hard).

Admittedly a bit complicated and needlessly confusing at times, which stems from the lack of proper plausibility in the plot, this is a good film that tries to be great fun, but only succeeds occasionally in that regard. It’s a mess, sure, but a messy film isn’t automatically a bad film, and I remain in the minority of people who will insist that this isn’t actually a bad film.

6/10

Monday, 25 March 2024

Mubi Monday: King Boxer (1972)

How do you properly review any Shaw Brothers movie? It can be difficult, it takes more work to just get the names right and explain some of the plotting, but you approach them like all other movies. It’s all about discussing the good, the bad, and everything in between, and avoiding any particular movies because they might be a bit tricky to write about just does a disservice to some potentially great movies. And discussing movies is often about more than just what ends up on the screen anyway.

When it comes to the Shaw Brothers movies, and a lot of non-American action films from the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, we are in a bit of a golden time for fans. Much like the slasher movies from decades ago, it seems as if there isn’t a month that goes by without some previously-rare gem receiving excellent treatment on shiny disc from some boutique blu-ray label. Whether that treatment is deserved or not, well, that is a matter of personal preference. But if you haven’t yet picked up both of the Shawscope collections from Arrow Video then you should really rectify that oversight.

King Boxer is a typical tale of a young man (Chih-Hao, played by Lo Lieh) who is sent by his master to another school, a place where he will learn the deadly Iron Palm technique. That is all well and good, but there is a nearby rival school, of course, with an evil master at the helm. People get caught up amidst the feuding and fighting, and Chih-Hao becomes a target. He may even be rendered powerless if his hands are beaten to a pulp. Which would make it easier for the baddies to win the upcoming martial arts tournament.

This is really enjoyable stuff, and some may consider it a bit of a genre classic (an opinion I wouldn’t waste too much energy debating). Director Chung Chang-Wha, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Chiang Yang, paces everything perfectly, shoots the action well, and takes viewers on a fun journey that observes numerous expected treats and tropes.

Lo Lieh is a decent lead, believably strong, stoic, and capable, and his performance is boosted by a musical sting leading in to his special super-powered Iron Palm technique (one that will be familiar to fans of the Kill Bill movies, even if they have yet to see this). Tien Feng and Tung Lam are two of the villains, and both are a lot of fun, but they head up an enjoyably busy supporting cast of disposable scoundrels. The fact that there’s also a decent bit of screentime for Wang Ping is also a big plus, despite the fact that she doesn’t ever get to be in the heart of any action sequences.

There are other films in this style that I prefer, either due to the showcasing of the “Venoms” or some extra fantastical elements that allow them to be even more fun, but this is definitely up there with the cream of the crop. Part of me already wants to rewatch it, but I know there are so many other Shaw Brothers movies I have yet to get to.

8/10

Sunday, 24 March 2024

Netflix And Chill: The Outfit (2022)

There are some films that suffer from the fact that they feel like stage plays, a showcase for actors without any real cinematic scale or flourishes. That isn't to say that those films are necessarily bad films. They just don't quite feel like full films. The Outfit often feels like a stage play, but it's not a bad film. In fact, it very much plays up to the idea of putting the quality of the screenplay and cast ahead of any unnecessary bells and whistles.

Mark Rylance plays Leonard, a tailor (actually no . . . he's a cutter, and there's a subtle difference between the two, as explained in the film) who has the misfortune of his shop being used by a group of mobsters. Trying to go about his business with the least amount of trouble, and giving due respect to those who view him as being beneath them, Leonard finds himself in real bother when Francis (Johnny Flynn) and Richie (Dylan O'Brien) make use of his store during a particularly eventful evening. Richie has been shot, and Richie is the son of the big boss, Roy (Simon Russell Beale). Everything will be fixed soon, however, as the two young men are about to uncover the identity of someone who has been informing on them. There's a rat, and everyone is a suspect, even Leonard's young shop helper, Mable (Zoey Deutch).

The feature debut from director Graham Moore, who also co-wrote the film with Johnathan McClain, this is a smart and sharp movie that impresses with the care taken at every turn, from the cast to the look of the whole thing, from the dialogue to the nicely-crafted plotting. There aren't any surprises here for people who have seen any of the many other films that wander through similar territory, but at no point to Moore and McClain feel as if they are trying to pull any kind of "gotcha" on viewers. They have faith in their tale, and faith in the people they have chosen to help tell it.

O'Brien and Flynn are a bit over the top in their roles, but it works well. They are the hot-headed youths who are used to having everything go their way, any problems being solved with threats or gunfire. I think both do a great job here, and they are nicely balanced out by the calm of Rylance, who is giving one his best turns in the lead role (and that is really saying something, considering how many great performances he has given us throughout his acting career). Beale is also much calmer, perfectly embodying the kind of person who knows that he doesn't have to shout or show off to get things done. He has held on to power for a long time, and everyone interacting with him knows the score. Deutch, the lone female for a large portion of the film, is enjoyably spirited and defiant, putting on a front while she (incorrectly?) assumes that she's not significant enough for any of the dangerous men to be bother about.

Yes, things need to keep running like precise clockwork to get to the ending that we get, but it never feels implausible. The characters stay true to how they are presented throughout, the backstories teased out through a number of conversations are intriguing snapshots of lives that have happened to converge at this exact time and place, and the whole film is just as unassumingly impressive as the lead character trying to stay safe at the heart of it.

A real treat, especially if you're one of the many sensible people who appreciate the talents of Rylance (and, to a lesser degree, the excellent O'Brien). You might call it . . . a cut above the rest.

8/10

Saturday, 23 March 2024

Shudder Saturday: You'll Never Find Me (2023)

While I don't mean this as a major criticism, You'll Never Find Me is a feature debut that feels like a feature debut. Smart decisions have been made, such as keeping the action based in one location, and the emphasis is always kept on the actors and the screenplay, but most people will watch it and know, almost immediately, that they're being shown the debut film from someone.

Brendan Rock plays Patrick, a man who stays on his own in a trailer park home. We see him sitting up late at night, clearly troubled, when he receives a mysterious visitor (Jordan Cowan, credited simply as The Visitor). As the weather worsens and the two are forced to spend some more time together, things soon start to become mysterious and dark. What was Patrick really doing up at such a late hour, and why did this woman find her way to his door? Do both of these people have secrets they are hiding from one another?

Written by Indianna Bell, who also co-directed with Josiah Allen, this is a tricky film to rate and review. Everything onscreen is done well. The performances from the two main leads (and there are only one or two other people appearing very briefly) are excellent, the setting is deliberately turned into something claustrophobic and stifling, and the dialogue is very carefully chosen and delivered, especially for a film that has so many quiet moments.

There's one big problem though, the fact that it is leading you to a destination you can see from the very earliest scenes. While not the worst cinematic crime that can be committed, You'll Never Find Me doesn't have any big surprises, although the pacing and construction of the film seem to be building up to something revelatory and impactful. Because there are no real surprises, that impact is greatly reduced. There may even be many people, like myself, who came up with a number of potentially better ways in which the story could have gone. That's a shame, but I am not sure how it could have been avoided, although I think shaving 10 minutes or so off the runtime might have helped. But maybe that is why I haven’t made a movie and these people have, because everything here has been carefully considered and tweaked accordingly, including the slow pacing for the slow burn towards the pay off.

Perhaps it just didn’t find me in the right mood, or perhaps it was never going to be able to push too far beyond the obvious limitations imposed upon it. Rock and Cowan are both excellent, and attack their roles with the required subtlety or heightened emotions, depending on the scene, and it is hard to really think of other ways I would have wanted this put together. It just falters enough to stop it from being a great little horror movie though, but it stands up as a great calling card for everyone involved.

6/10

Friday, 22 March 2024

Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

Here we are again, wandering around in the land of kaiju, and if I already know what I am letting myself in for then there are millions of people in the world who can write about these movies much better than I do. But this is my review, documenting my journey through this wild and weird cinematic “zoo”, and I will continue to do the best I can.

This time around we have another giant egg, something turned into a money-making attraction by another opportunistic businessman, but people are once again warned off by two small fairies (the Shonijin, played here again by Emi Itô and Yumi Itô). As the title would suggest, Mothra appears, but it becomes a potential ally to the human race when an angry Godzilla re-awakens.

With Ishirô Honda back in the director’s chair, and writer Shin’ichi Sekizawa once again on the screenplay duties, this is familiar and hugely entertaining fare from people who could surely do this in their sleep. The plot and characters are perfectly fine, with everything put together well, and every viewer knows that it’s all building up to the titular confrontation. Mothra remains a wonderful creation, Godzilla is (for most people) the most lovable giant lizard to ever stomp on buildings, vehicles, and fleeing people, and the action is fun and inventive when it becomes the focus of the third act.

The human cast members all do fine, but I will always remember the two Itô sisters ahead of anyone else. You do get perfectly fine turns from Akira Takarada, Yuriko Hoshi, Hiroshi Koizumi, and others though, especially as our leads butt heads with the businessmen who want to value their own wealth over the interests of the people around them.

It’s also worth noting here that Mothra vs. Godzilla takes some time to specifically comment on the consequences of nuclear testing. The danger of nuclear power is obviously inherent in every Godzilla movie, considering the legacy of Big G, but the issues raised here somehow feel a bit more fresh and relevant, a reminder that it is not a problem consigned to a now-closed chapter of history.

I have omitted a few details here, hoping to keep a pleasant surprise or two in store for anyone else who may decide to finally watch this for the first time, but I highly recommend this as a superficially silly creature feature that, like so many other films of this ilk, manages to deliver fun action moments, as well as some thought-provoking musings on wielding power and working together for the greater good of the human race.

8/10

Thursday, 21 March 2024

Monster (2023)

Director Hirokazu Koreeda is someone I have been a big fan of for some time. That doesn’t mean that I have made time for everything he does though, sadly. As time keeps running away from me, I still have a number of his films to explore, but I have loved almost everything that I have seen from him so far. If you haven’t heard of him before, I implore you to start working through his filmography (and I will happily make a few recommendations). Having already heard some praise for Monster, I was delighted to make time for it recently when it was showing at a cinema near me, and I am very happy I did.

Showing one main story from three different perspectives, Monster is initially about a single mother (played by Sakura Andō) who is concerned about her son (Minato, played by Sōya Kurokawa). He has had an encounter with a teacher that seems to have crossed a line and left him fearful. We then see things from the perspective of the teacher (Michtoshi Hori, played by Eita Nagayama), who believes that Minato has started to seriously bully another child in his class (Yori, played by Hinata Hiragi). Last, but by no means least, we see the full situation from the perspective of Minato.

While not necessarily the most radical way to create more drama, tension, and misdirection, the structure of Monster works brilliantly by teasing out one little detail at a time, leading to the reveal of a picture that appears like one of those Magic Eye things I could never see (seriously, I was basically the guy in Mallrats every time I looked at one of those bloody pictures). The delicate screenplay is written by Yûji Sakamoto, someone I am not at all familiar with (but will be keeping an eye out for in the future), and it requires a certain amount of patience from viewers until the various questions raised start to be answered. There is also an ambiguous ending that manages to be both uplifting and heart-breaking, no matter what way you interpret it, so be prepared to keep mulling this over for some time after the end credits have rolled.

Koreeda directs with his usual skill, working once again with the kind of material he seems drawn to, stories that heap some grit and danger around a core of love and warmth. It would be wrong to consider most of his movies infused with magical realism, but he usually allows for at least a portion of any film runtime to be viewed through a filter of wide-eyed innocence that helps viewers to see the potential best in any relationship.

The adult cast members do very good work, although both Andō and Nagayama have to play out their parts while they lack essential information about the situation they find themselves in, but it is young Kurokawa and Hiragi who are the real stars, playing their parts in a way that feels both completely natural, as absolutely uncomplicated as children often seem to be, and yet also in line with how everything plays out in the third act.

This may not be up there with the very best of Koreeda, mainly because a fair bit of the third act simply underlines what viewers find out by the end of the second “story”, but it’s still a great film nonetheless. I can’t imagine anyone being unmoved by the finale, and every minute of the runtime feels authentic and well-earned.

8/10