GLADIATOR II

November 15, 2024

Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Gladiator II, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Sir Ridley Scott

Words by JANE CROWTHER

Back in 2000 Russell Crowe’s Roman general-turned-gladiator dispatched a number of foes and shouted to the baying crowd ‘Are you not entertained?’. They were. We were. A three hour Ridley Scott spectacle that resurrected the ‘swords ‘n’ sandals’ genre and dared to kill off its protagonist, it lived on in eternity in audience imagination; a perfect film in performance, script, production and effects. When Scott announced a revisit to ancient Rome, the bar was set extremely high.

Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Gladiator II, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Sir Ridley Scott

Any fears that Gladiator II might not match its predecessor can be allayed. Like Top Gun: Maverick, this legacy sequel understands how to replicate what made the original so successful, without providing mere fan service or a duplication. Set two decades after Maximus was carried from the Colosseum to be honoured as a soldier of Rome, we pick up in the province of Numidia where Lucius, the son of Connie Neilsen’s Lucilla is now a grown man (Paul Mescal). Husband to a warrior wife, he is disgusted by the colonialisation of Rome – racing to fight at the port as Roman general Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pescal) sails in with a flotilla. Acacius is conflicted by his duty but nonetheless, his actions result in Lucius being taken captive and nursing rageful vengeance. Like Maximus, Lucius’s training combined with lust for revenge is a potent combination, marking him out as interesting to Rome’s twin brother emperors Geta  and Caracalla (Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger), slave trader Macrinus (Denzel Washington) and Lucilla herself. As he battles rhinos, monkeys, sharks and politics, Lucius gets closer to his quarry and to celebrity status. And all the while the spectre of Maximus and his sacrifice hangs over proceedings… 

Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Gladiator II, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Sir Ridley Scott
Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Gladiator II, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Sir Ridley Scott

Though Maximus and Lucius’ arcs and drivers are similar (and Scott takes care to nod to his first hero with sequences such a Mescal jogging up the steps to the colosseum in swirling dust motes that tug on nostalgia), they are different beasts in the hands of two different actors. While Mescal – beefed up and furious in his fight scenes – matches the ferocity of Maximus, he also brings a lovely quietness to Lucius; quoting Virgil at parties, musing on his background and showing emotional vulnerability in his dealings with his mother. He goes toe-to-toe with all of his opponents, easily stealing focus in a big movie filled with huge set pieces, massive crowds, sumptuous design and a soaring score. Though he was a movie star before, this role convinces of his stature in capital letters.

There are also big performances to compete against; Pascal bringing a noble grace to a conflicted man, Quinn and Hechinger tapping into the delicious petulance and preening of Joaquin Phoenix’s former Big Bad and a chorus of well known faces as politicians and nobility. And then there’s Washington, leaving no crumbs as a spiteful, sneaky self-promoter with a revenge plan of his own. Delivering lines as richly decadent as his swishy robes, Washington gives a masterclass in nailing a best supporting actor nod. The way he says ‘politics’ is sublime, a perfectly calibrated line between camp and deranged that lands exactly as he intends.

Scott can do sweeping spectacle in his sleep at this point in his storied career and Gladiator II boasts all the aspects fans want to see from his blockbusters; huge sets, detailed, tactile costumes, armies of extras and those cinematic moments that make you want to stand in your seat and fist pump. The alchemy of Gladiator has been expertly evoked again to create a movie experience that will please critics, audiences and awards voters alike. And likely a box office take that might facilitate a third outing. Entertained, indeed.

Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Gladiator II, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Sir Ridley Scott

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Gladiator II is in cinemas now

SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY

November 1, 2024

super/man, ian bonhôte, peter ettedgui, christopher reeve, johnny carson, bill clinton

Words by JANE CROWTHER

Christopher Reeve’s children (from his relationships with Gae Exton and Dana Morosini) open the family scrapbook and video archives to search through their memories of their father that are so entwined with those of an international consciousness. The youngest, Will (now a US broadcaster) is bittersweetly cognizant to his own memory conformity as he was only two when his actor dad, the world’s Superman, fell from a horse in 1995 and was paralysed from the neck down. It was an event that became a cultural one as rolling news documented whether a seemingly invincible man would survive a fall that had he landed one inch differently might have been merely an embarrassing flub. Matthew and Alexandra, teens at the time, recall the trauma of that moment more acutely, but as Reeve’s initial crisis turned into a paraplegic way of life that lasted nine years after the accident, the blended family admit that a father who was loved but fiercely adventurous and often away for work, came more sharply into focus as he was tethered to his home. 

Super/Man Ian Bonhôte Peter Ettedgui Christopher Reeve Johnny Carson Bill Clinton

In a time-hopping biopic loaded with home videos, photos and personal accounts (from Glenn Close and Whoopi Goldberg to Jeff Daniels and John Kerry), directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui unpick the facets of Reeve that made him the perfect Man Of Steel, but also gave him a steely determination when faced with unimaginable odds. It charts the boy who could never impress his father, the Juilliard student who formed a lifelong friendship with his college roommate, Robin Williams, the actor who aced his Superman audition despite a sweaty leotard, strove for artistic relevance outside of DC adaps and became a shining advocate for research and rights for spinal injury sufferers. Unlike Kal-El himself though, Reeve is also presented as entirely human – sometimes too competitive a Dad on the ski slopes, a goofball, a man who walked out on his partner, a self-confessed player for a time and capable of self pity. 

Super/Man Ian Bonhôte Peter Ettedgui Christopher Reeve Johnny Carson Bill Clinton
Super/Man Ian Bonhôte Peter Ettedgui Christopher Reeve Johnny Carson Bill Clinton

Though Reeve was undoubtedly impressive in how he dealt with his difficulties, the heroics of this account are reserved for Reeve’s wife, Dana, whose insistence that he remained the man she loved despite his injury, and care in ensuring he continued to live as full a life as possible seemed to give him the power to outlive his prognosis, instigate change and even begin to regain tiny movement in his fingers. The secret poem found by her children is one of the most moving moments of the film as we realise the sorrow, rage and grief she carried underneath the indomitable spirit. And her story is one that seems particularly cruel in a telling that takes in other deaths, not just Reeve’s. 
Interweaving homespun footage with a bombastic score and superhero imagery (Reeve as a titanic statue, cracked and suspended in space, kryptonite weeping from the fissures), directors Bonhôte and Ettedgui also make clever use of Reeve’s film appearances in Rear Window and archive footage to illustrate his voiceover taken from recordings he made in preparation for writing an autobiography. The result is a film about strength in adversity that provokes tears as well as a life-affirming sense of gratitude. Parents and children will be squeezed all the more tightly after watching.

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is in cinemas now

ANORA

November 1, 2024

anora, lindsey normington, mikey madison, paul weissman, sean baker

Words by MATT MAYTUM

You know the film in which the charming, rich man pays a sex worker to spend the week with him and they fall in love? Well, Anora isn’t Pretty Woman. If you’ve seen any of writer/director Sean Baker’s previous movies – the best known being Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017) and Red Rocket (2021) – you’ll know not to expect anything quite so conventional. Like those earlier works, Anora is another rounded, grounded look at a marginalised community in the US, but its scale and sweep marks it out as Baker’s boldest gambit yet, and amplifies its crossover appeal. Buoyed by winning the Palme d’Or (the highest accolade at the Cannes Film Festival) this summer, it looks set to be Baker’s first film to garner mainstream awards appreciation.

anora, lindsey normington, mikey madison, paul weissman, sean baker

That’s not to say that Anora falls into the category of Oscar bait. It’s as provocative as any of Baker’s previous features, with its stall set out from a tone-setting opening shot that slowly pans across a line-up of performances at the Manhattan strip club where Anora – call her Ani – makes her living. In a 180-twist on the Cinderella story, we follow Ani (Mikey Madison) as she meets a young, ultra-wealthy Russian Ivan or ‘Vanya’ (Mark Eydelshteyn), at her club. Private dances lead to paid-for sex which leads to a week’s company for $15,000 fee.

It’s a film of two halves, though your pulse will pound in both. Upfront, it’s the high-energy sex scenes and euphoric abandon that provide the momentum. Baker’s always been a superb, detail-focused world-builder, and here he neatly contrasts the superficial chintzy surfaces of Ani’s club and her working-class homelife in Brighton Beach with the jaw-dropping extravagance of Vanya’s NY abode and his hedonistic profligacy: there’s no illicit thrill he won’t throw money at, for the amusement of himself, Ani and his entourage of hanger-on pals. Sex, drugs and trips to Vegas are all on the cards, and it’s in Sin City where a chapel for Ani and Vanya awaits… For him, it’s ostensibly an easy way to extend his stay in the US, while you get the sense she’s happy to keep the party going. Despite the inherent frivolity of the union, it’s impossible to disregard their genuine chemistry.

But, in the second half of the reverse fairytale, the glass slipper smashes and Ani must walk through the shards. When Vanya’s oligarch parents get wind of his nuptials, they send right-hand man Toros (Karren Karagulian) and a couple of heavies (Yura Borisov and Vache Tovmasyan) to enforce an annulment. When Vanya splits, Ani and her three captors have a long night ahead of them trying to find the runaway groom. For all the escalating tension – there’s a ticking-clock element sparked by the impending arrival of Vanya’s parents – it’s impressive how funny Baker keeps it throughout. Every character, no matter their circumstances, has curiously relatable problems or glimmers of unexpected humanity, to a Tolstoyesque degree.

anora, lindsey normington, mikey madison, paul weissman, sean baker
anora, lindsey normington, mikey madison, paul weissman, sean baker

It’s fitting that the two main characters go by dual names, as a literal representation of the contradictory facets that everyone embodies. Madison is very likely to find herself in the awards conversation after this breakout turn. Until now she’s been best known to film audiences for eye-catching supporting roles in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019) and Scream (2022), but Anora is the definition of a star-making performance. Not only does she nail the physicality the character requires to be fully believable, and the specificity of her Brooklyn accent, but also gets Ani’s confidence and fluency in power dynamics, and fully embodies the joy, fear, despair and frustration that occur across the film’s roller-coaster trajectory, and she retains the capacity to knock the wind out of you when you least expect it.

Despite weighty themes of extreme socioeconomic disparity, transactional relationships, sex work and more, Baker’s film is never a slog, and remains propulsive and unexpectedly funny over it’s 139-min runtime. If Anora does end up being Baker’s ticket to awards glory, he’s won a seat at that table on his own terms.

Words by MATT MAYTUM
Anora is in cinemas now

SALEM’S LOT

October 10, 2024

gary dauberman, jordan preston carter, lewis pullman, makenzie leigh, salem’s lot

Words by MATT MAYTUM

You’re never too far away from a Stephen King adaptation. The prolific horror maestro is the most-adapted living author, and even Salem’s Lot has been made for the screen twice before (as TV miniseries in 1979 and 2004). It’s a relief then, that writer-director Gary Dauberman makes slick work of King’s doorstopper tome in this latest take on the vampire story.

gary dauberman, jordan preston carter, lewis pullman, makenzie leigh, salem’s lot

For anyone unfamiliar with previous incarnations, Salem’s Lot concerns author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman), who returns to his childhood hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine. Only, just before his return, an altogether more sinister resident has moved into the creepy house that overlooks this otherwise charming small town where magic hour seems to last all afternoon and the cops are rarely busy. But before Ben can rediscover his writing mojo and develop a romance with local realtor Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh), kids start going missing, patients with punctures to the neck are being treated at the hospital, and no one is quite ready to say the v-word out loud. Soon, several unlikely heroes are going to have to sharpen wooden stakes and assemble makeshift crucifixes as the unforgiving body count stacks up.

gary dauberman, jordan preston carter, lewis pullman, makenzie leigh, salem’s lot

Salem’s Lot is classic King in several key ways, from the Maine setting to the writer protagonist and the snowballing sense of dread. The ’70s era is nicely realised via the production design, which has enough restraint to avoid parody. More than anything, the period setting spares the film from smartphones and the internet, creating an insular claustrophobia in the outwardly picturesque town of the title. While there’s the occasional sense of a bigger story being abridged for a cinema-friendly running time, credit goes to the cast for building a believable sense of community, and efficiently fleshing out past histories. Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick) is a likeable everyman with a troubled past, and there’s some genuine chemistry and sweet-natured banter between Ben and Leigh’s yearning-to-escape Susan. Plus, character actors like Alfre Woodard (as a no-nonsense doctor) and Bill Camp (as the teacher slotting the puzzle pieces together) add heft to archetypal roles. The child performances were always going to be key here, too, and Dauberman elicits good work from the younger cast members, putting an updated spin on the tap-at-the-window scene that was so chillingly memorable in the 1979 version.

gary dauberman, jordan preston carter, lewis pullman, makenzie leigh, salem’s lot

Given that its influences stretch as far back as Dracula and Nosferatu – a mysteriously sheltered bloodsucker relocates to spread his malign influence, with the help of a converted servant – Salem’s Lot doesn’t have anything particularly new to add to the vampire canon. But Dauberman, who has previous King form as the writer of It (2017) and It: Chapter Two, brings a surprising sense of humour to proceedings. Not only is there plenty of knowingly witty dialogue, but the slick camerawork amplifies the fun of the set pieces. Whether it’s clever pans to induce jolts (or hide the goriest moments from view), inventive use of shadow as marauding vamps attempt to stay out of the sunlight, or just wickedly choreographed kills, it all adds to the sense that Dauberman knows what his audience wants, and is having a blast delivering it. By not taking itself too seriously, Salem’s Lot gives viewers permission to lean back and indulge in a bit of old-fashioned Halloween fun best enjoyed with a crowd.

gary dauberman, jordan preston carter, lewis pullman, makenzie leigh, salem’s lot

Words by MATT MAYTUM
Salem’s Lot is in UK cinemas now and on Max in the US

THE OUTRUN

September 27, 2024

nora fingscheidt, saoirse ronan, saskia reeves, stephen dillane, the outrun

Words by JANE CROWTHER

‘Britain is an island off Europe, Orkney is an island off Britain, Westray is an island off Orkney, Papay is an island off Westray…’ says Rona of the remote place she returns to in pursuit of rehabilitation in Nora Fingscheidt’s gorgeous, wild and meditative adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s 2016 addiction memoir. The Orkney-bred daughter of English parents (Stephen Dillane and Saskia Reeves), Rona has escaped the far-flung rock of her birth to Hackney for a biology degree and bacchanalian partying – which has tipped from hedonism to fiending. Booze has loosened her and allowed for city adventures and a romance with a doe-eyed boyfriend Paapa Essiedu, but it has also tightened its grip around her, making her a mean drunk as well as the victim of blackouts and violence at the hands of strangers. In Fingscheidt’s time-hopping poem to the forces of nature, the determination of survivors and the beauty of myth, Saoirse Ronan delivers a career-best performance that is unvarnished, brutal and, ultimately, beautiful and life-affirming.

nora fingscheidt, saoirse ronan, saskia reeves, paapa essiedu, stephen dillane, the outrun
nora fingscheidt, nora fingscheidt, saoirse ronan, saskia reeves, stephen dillane, the outrunsaoirse ronan, saskia reeves, stephen dillane, the outrun

Orkney and tiny island, Papay, are showcased to their full craggy, unforgiving majesty as Rona returns home from London, hoping that escape from the trigger will help her recovery. In flashbacks we unpick the moments that have led to this reckoning on the windswept ‘outrun’ of her father’s sheep farm. The slurred self-harm, the endangerment, the abuse of friends’ goodwill, the shame of nipping at hidden bottles of vodka in the bathroom with the tap on. Rona also narrates key memories and Orkney myths of monsters that have formed her. As she helps birth lambs, struggles to befriend other young people and spits vitriol at her religious mum, she also recalls the mental health episodes of her father and the estrangement from the boy she loved. Like the endangered Corncrake birds she attempts to track for the RSPB, her sobriety is an elusive, fragile thing and her path to the discovery of both turns out to be surprising.

nora fingscheidt, saoirse ronan, saskia reeves, stephen dillane, the outrun
nora fingscheidt, saoirse ronan, saskia reeves, stephen dillane, the outrun

Adapted by Fingscheidt and Liptrot, The Outrun is a bewitching celebration of healing with different timelines deftly denoted by Ronan’s dyed hair and bolstered by moments of stop-motion, still photography and nature footage (curious seals, boiling seas, raging storms). When lensing Rona’s drunken walks home, Fingscheidt employs woozy, disorientating focus to put us right inside the bottle with her, while at other times the camera is a serene watcher as Rona takes a wild swim in a briny bay. Equally multi-discipline is Ronan, toggling from utterly convincing messy drunk to shattered alcoholic, lost recoverer to flame-haired ‘selkie’ at one with the landscape. Her interior life is so easily read, whether it’s the way she lies to her professor, the apology she weepingly offers her mum or the way a tear of wonder slides from her eye as she watches the twinkle of the international space station pass across the Scottish heavens. The experience of watching her within this maelstrom of a movie is a visceral one, and should power her into the awards ring. A kind and essential movie for anyone trying to find the contours of their true self in a time of difficulty.

Words by JANE CROWTHER
The Outrun is in cinemas now

SPEAK NO EVIL

September 13, 2024

james mcavoy, james watkins, mackenzie davis, scoot mcnairy, speak no evil

Words by JANE CROWTHER

Those who experienced 2022’s Danish horror of the same name may not wish to revisit the particular trauma of that movie, taking in mutilation, social discomfort and a bleakness that snatched breath. A disquieting hit at Sundance, Speak No Evil pitched a Danish couple against a Dutch couple – leveraging middle-class politeness to devastating effect. Now writer/director James Watkins recasts and re-sets the tale in Britain under the Blumhouse shingle, with a reserved American couple, Louise and Ben (Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy), meeting a brash Brit duo, Paddy and Ciara (James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi), on holiday in Tuscany. Both pairs have kids of a similar age and though they probably wouldn’t usually gel as friends, an alliance is formed and invites to weekends in the country are extended post-vacation. Despite Louise’s misgivings, the American family travels to a rustic farmhouse where Paddy flips from gregarious host to seething bully and back, and the kids discover something terrible in the basement…

james mcavoy, james watkins, mackenzie davis, scoot mcnairy, speak no evil

To discuss specifics of the horror is to spoil the experience of an incremental discomfort for audiences as social niceties are tested to the limit. At what point, Watkins asks throughout, would YOU say something? What inappropriate action, unpleasant comment, disregard of personal values would be the tipping point to cast judgement? As Paddy and Ciara display boorish, cruel and ultimately sinister behaviour, Louise and Ben are forced to confront the unspoken trauma hidden in their own marriage, as well as question their liberal credentials.

That tonal tightrope rests on the performance of Paddy, here essayed by McAvoy, bringing all his charming and venal charisma to the role – delightfully chummy one minute, a savage the next. It’s a monstrously entertaining turn in his hands and one that makes a revised ending work despite softening the nihilism and inhumanity of the original. It also allows more agency for Davies, playing a spikier version of the first film’s fussy wife, a woman who can, and will, bring her own barbarity to the fore when required. As a brisk, assured social horror (with plenty of vengeful tool use) Speak No Evil is a satisfying scare. But those that can bear the terrible sadness and appalling use of secateurs, should also seek out Christian Tafdrup’s urtext version. And hug your children twice as hard after watching either…

james mcavoy, james watkins, mackenzie davis, scoot mcnairy, speak no evil

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Speak No Evil is in cinemas now

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE

September 13, 2024

bettlejuice bettlejuice, catherine o’hara, jenna ortega, michael keaton, tim burton, winona ryder

Words by JANE CROWTHER

The juice is, once again, loose. Tim Burton returns to his 1988 horror-comedy for the opening of this year’s Venice Film Festival for unapologetic fan service and warm-fuzzies. Having admitted to becoming disillusioned with the film industry before deciding to revisit the ‘ghost with the most’, Burton throws all of his trademark quirks into a movie that features cameos, wacky needledrops, stop-motion and tactile practical effects to nostalgic effect.

bettlejuice bettlejuice, catherine o’hara, jenna ortega, michael keaton, tim burton, winona ryder

Catching up with Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder, complete with goth chopped fringe) decades after she first met so-called bio-exorcist, Beetlejuice, as a teen, this legacy sequel from the producer behind Top Gun Maverick, mines audience affection for the weird and wonderful original by lovingly repeating the journey. So TV psycho Lydia is called back to the New England haven of Winter River when her father dies (in an animated, comedic fashion) along with her step-mom (Catherine O’Hara), cynical teen daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) and odious boyfriend/manager, Rory (Justin Theroux). Lydia and Astrid have a strained relationship, not least because Mom’s slimy romantic interest is always trying to be a ‘dope dad’ figure, but their familial bonds are put to the test when Astrid meets a local boy and when Beetlejuice’s past comes back to haunt him – forcing him to plague the Deetz family again. Along for the helter-skelter ride are Willem Dafoe’s Neitherworld detective, Monica Bellucci’s corpse bride and an army of shrunken headed minions led by tremulous ‘Bob’… 

bettlejuice bettlejuice, catherine o’hara, jenna ortega, michael keaton, tim burton, winona ryder

Keaton and Ryder seem to have hardly aged since the original and fall back easily into step with him growling fourth-wall-breaking Beetlejuice one-liners and her looking delightfully bewildered. While the script may not seem quite as subversive as its predecessor, the film really takes flight when logic is abandoned and frivolity is honoured. Keaton literally spilling his sloppy guts, sucking influencers into their phones and making the entire cast sing and dance to Richard Harris’ bonkers 1968 single Macarthur Park (and yes, an oozing, green-iced cake is present) is a hoot, a couple of segments featuring stop-motion Saturn sand worms tickle and a daft character death genuinely upsets (the film is dedicated to their demise). Fans wanting more of the waiting room get it – plus a built-out ever-after universe featuring dry cleaners, immigration halls, subway stations and call centres inhabited by people who have died ridiculously. There’s disco dancing, a Richard Marx nod, a disquieting offspring and a goofy ending that leaves room for more. Might we want another visitation? If it’s brisk, disposable, self-aware silliness like this, then we’ll likely take a ticket and get in line.

bettlejuice bettlejuice, catherine o’hara, jenna ortega, michael keaton, tim burton, winona ryder

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is in cinemas now

HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA – CHAPTER 2

September 7, 2024

horizon: an american saga – chapter 2, kevin costner

Words by JANE CROWTHER

Kevin Costner’s sweeping saga charting the disparate lives intertwined through the often brutal expansion of the 19th century American west continues to focus on the experience of women on the frontier. Picking up events and storylines immediately after the first film (viewing that is required to understand the interwoven narrative threads), the tale of desert town Horizon is told via the wagon trains, cowboys, first nation tribes, pioneers, chinese tradespeople, sex workers and the moneymen in Chicago selling plots of land – and dreams – in an unknown region. Graves are prominent in every story…

ella hunt, horizon: an american saga – chapter 2, kevin costner, sam worthington, sienna miller

Having been widowed in the first chapter, Frances (Sienna Miller) navigates a new life for her and her daughter, understanding that though she is resilient and resourceful, it is the protection of men that will inform their future. Meanwhile, on the dusty wagon train plodding across dangerous territory, snobby Brit Mrs Proctor (Ella Hunt) discovers both the venality and usefulness of male companions as she makes her way solo, her priggish ways broken into a new kind of defiance. Three put-upon sisters working for their Pa test the limits of their independence, while the on-the-run sex worker (Abbey Lee) helped by Costner’s stoic Hayes Ellison continues to evade the Sykes brothers. And the matriarch and granddaughter of a Chinese lumber company and teahouse are instrumental in building a settlement from canvas dwellings to a homestead community.

horizon: an american saga – chapter 2, sienna miller
horizon: an american saga – chapter 2, sam worthington

Costner and other male stars are integral to events but designed as it is (a planned four-part saga), their stories will have room to develop in later instalments. While Hayes Ellison was key in part one, he takes a back seat here, keeping his counsel at a horse breaking camp until his temper frays to thrilling effect with a bar room shootout. As a rich tapestry of tales destined for the long haul, Chapter Two could feel unresolved to some, but if viewed as a halfway point in a robust series, it hits emotional highs. The story of Mrs Proctor is particularly affecting as she is terrorised by Douglas Smith’s Sig, her despair galvanising in the cool waters of a river – a baptism for a new life and attitude. Miller also makes an impression with two key speeches; one explaining the options open to her to Sam Worthington’s cavalryman, another parsing the need for sisterhood in a cruel climate.

Costner’s shootout aside, it’s a quieter, more contemplative instalment, setting up high plains wagon chases, skirmishes with first nations and dead shots from the backs of horses (seen in the end reel preview of Chapter Three). And the scenery… lensed with a sweeping score, Costner understands the lexicon of Westerns and provides numerous moments that will make aficionados’ hearts soar. 

ella hunt, horizon: an american saga – chapter 2, kevin costner, sam worthington, sienna miller

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 will be released later this year

JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX

September 4, 2024

joaquin phoenix, joker: folie à deux, lady gaga, todd phillips

Words by JAMES MOTTRAM

Four primary-coloured umbrellas: the first sign that Joker: Folie à Deux is going to be different. Very different. The sequel to Todd Phillips’ Joker, the film that radically reinvented Batman’s nemesis from the DC Comics universe, this continues the story of Arthur Fleck, the wannabe stand-up who winds up on a murder spree in Gotham City. Now in Arkham Asylum, he’s being transported across a rain-drenched courtyard when up pop the umbrellas, held by the guards. Singin’ In The Rain? Well, they soon will be.

Reinventing the film as a musical, Joker: Folie à Deux takes old standards like ‘That’s Entertainment’ and The Carpenters’  ‘Close To You’, slipping them into the narrative, as Arthur shifts, in his mind at least, from comedian to all-round entertainer. Joining him centre stage is Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), better known to fans as Dr. Harley Quinn (traditionally, the Joker’s love interest in DC lore). Here, she’s been committed to Arkham by her mother for arson; she even sets a communal prison room on fire, allowing her and Arthur to get some brief alone time to spark their obsessive romance.

joaquin phoenix, joker: folie à deux, lady gaga, todd phillips
joaquin phoenix, joker: folie à deux, lady gaga, todd phillips

Lee is obsessed by Arthur, his murderous actions inspiring her just as they do the thousands of deranged followers that line the streets with ‘Free Joker’ posters – ‘he’s not sick, he’s perfect’ she insists. With the title a French-language reference to a shared mental insanity, the film is something of a twisted love story, as an affection-starved Arthur goes looking for love. Complementing this, the narrative also follows Arthur as he stands trial, his lawyer (Catherine Keener) using the defence that he has a “fragmentation” in his personality, that Joker is entirely separate from Arthur. To dodge the death penalty, Fleck needs to convince that Joker does not lie just below the surface, but with a baying mob outside and Lee feeding his alter-ego, which aspect of him will triumph?

Back in the role that won him an Oscar in 2020, Phoenix once again fully inhabits the part, physically and emotionally. Just the sight of his protruding shoulder blades, gaunt face and cadaver-like chest will make you shiver; but more than that, it’s another masterclass in conveying trauma and mania. The flourish of Joker is incrementally hinted at with the twirl of a jacket or a barking laugh, later unleashed to full tap-dancing, snarling bravado in colour-pop dream sequences and desaturated courtrooms. Alongside him, Gaga further cements her status as a performer of note; not only does she handle the songs adeptly, as you’d expect, but she gives a resonant turn as a woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

Once again, Phillips conjures a grim, grimy and grey Gotham, a world so dirty you feel like scrubbing your hands afterwards. And while the film may boast less fiery intensity than the first, the bold choice to twist a prison movie and courtroom drama into a Hollywood Golden Age musical has to be admired. In the words of Al Jolson, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

joaquin phoenix, joker: folie à deux, lady gaga, todd phillips

Words by JAMES MOTTRAM
Joker: Folie à Deux releases in cinemas 2 October

QUEER

September 3, 2024

daniel craig, drew starkey, jason schwartzman, luca guadagnino, queer

Words by JANE CROWTHER

Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino returns to another beloved book with an intense gay romance at its centre with Venice Film Festival buzz-generator Queer; adapting’ Beat icon Wiliam S Burroughs’ unfinished autobiographical novel tracking his time in Mexico City and South America during the fifties. Starring Daniel Craig as ‘gentleman of independent means’ and heroin addict, Lee, as he wrestles with love for a young man (Drew Starkey) who ‘obliges’ him with sex, Guadagnino puts his particular swoony stamp on Burroughs’ raw, explicit prose. 

Divided into chapters and crafted from Queer and other Burroughs’ works as well as aspects of his real life, Queer begins with Chapter 1: How Do You Like Mexico? – a portrait of crumpled, mezcal-swilling ex-pat Lee as he looks for love in gay scene bars alongside his unlucky friend Joe (Jason Schwartzman, a rumpled delight) and the so-called ‘green lantern boys’. While outwardly he seems to be having fun as he lurches from bar to bar and picks up men, Lee searches for something more profound. As he listens to the hapless Joe’s misadventures with hook-ups, Guadagnino has him flicker transparently like a ghost, becoming insubstantial, incomplete. He wanders the streets in slow-mo soundtracked by Nirvana’s ‘Come As You Are’ (linking Lee’s sensitivity to Cobain’s as well as their shared drug of choice) and takes one night stands back to a seedy motel that looks like a Hopper painting.

daniel craig, drew starkey, jason schwartzman, luca guadagnino, queer

It’s during these boozy wanderings that his eyes meet over a cock fight (of course) with handsome ex-US serviceman Allerton. An experienced cruiser, Lee is tilted off-balance by Allerton – a man whose sexuality he struggles to read and who makes him a blushing, awkward, giggling suitor. The duo hang out, watching Jean Costeau’s Orpheus and drinking until Lee can bear the tension no more. In a speech lifted directly from the text, Lee confesses his ‘proclivities’. Allerton, as slinky as a big cat, agrees to accompany him home and a complex love affair begins that starts with an erotic sex scene and travels to Ecuador and the Amazon jungle for hallucinogenic drug trips and dark nights of the soul.

That Daniel Craig can do more than Bond is well established but his performance here might startle those most comfortable with him in impeccable suits seducing women – and Guadagnino gives him a couple of cheeky vodka martinis to sip on in a nice nod to his famous role. But this is Craig flexing all his career muscles; sozzled and soulful, vulnerable and nuanced, he paints a universal portrayal of the lovelorn, the disconnected. There’s a delightful pathos and humour he brings to scenes where he begs Allerton to meet him halfway in running headlong into love and lust. And in sexual moments he radiates a tenderness and yearning that gives greater depth to scenes tabloid newspapers will no doubt have a field day with.

daniel craig, drew starkey, jason schwartzman, luca guadagnino, queer

Building out on Naked Lunch’s centipede as a motif, the drugs trips of The Yage Letters and the author’s thoughts from his Last Words, as well as incidents from his real life (his wife’s accidental shooting is represented in party tricks and dream sequences), screenwriter Justin Kuritzes and Guadagnino create a lurid study of one man’s interior life. Filmed entirely at Cinecittà Studios, the locations are rendered in a vintage postcard feel that’s like a memory and the anachronistic soundtrack takes in Prince and New Order to give further elasticity to the idea of reality. This is a just a version of a fifties moment in time, intended to be like the magic mirror in Cocteau’s Orpheus or the high promised by Lesley Manville’s feral botanist who provides Lee and Allerton with the yage cocktail deep in the jungle; a reflection. ‘It’s not a portal’ she tells them. The same is true of Queer – it’s a comedy, a love letter, a travelogue, a heroin withdrawal account, a trip, a study of an artist… depending on your own proclivities.

daniel craig, drew starkey, jason schwartzman, luca guadagnino, queer

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Queer will be released later this year

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