Screening Room

August 30, 2025

Words by JANE CROWTHER

Luca Guadagnino’s latest is about cancel culture writ large – its opening titles recall Woody Allen and a bar jukebox plays Morrissey, while a philosophy lecture focuses on Foucault’s theory of a Panopticon state where all are under surveillance from society. Those under watch here are a group of intelligentsia; Alma (Julia Roberts) a Yale Yale philosophy professor hoping for tenure who is married to a snarky therapist, Fred (Michael Stuhlbarg), and friends with a flirty department colleague, Hank (Andrew Garfield). Alma, Fred notes, likes to surround herself with people who worship her on bended knee, so the faculty party at their elegant home is also attended by her starry-eyed PhD student, Maggie (Ayo Edebiri). Academia talk immediately turns gendered and political when Alma’s incoming promotion is questioned for whether she will get it for being worthy, or for being a woman. It’s against this primed beginning that Maggie makes an accusation of sexual assault against Hank, prompting a spiral of secrets, lies and social politics that will destroy careers. Especially as the school’s Dean of humanities admits to being ‘in the business of optics’…

Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Chloë Sevigny, Julia Roberts, Luca Guadagnino, Michael Stuhlbarg — Amazon MGM Studios

Directing a script by Nora Garrett, Guadagnino’s deliberately provocative film which provides no real answers focuses on hands as characters talk, confess and argue; as though their physical communication tells more truths than their verbal. With this much philosophising and privileged chatter there’s certainly plenty to unpack. And there’s numerous layers to the portrayal of each of the flawed players. Stuhlbarg, so good in Call Me By Your Name, continues to scene-steal with monologues from sofas as a surface-patient man who hides a bitterness and petulance from participating in a marriage that isn’t all it seems. Garfield’s turn from Byron-esque hot teacher to snivelling mess, and possibly worse, is a gradual disintegration that feels the most authentic, while Edebiri manages to sell the ethical twists required of her character, a rich girl whose entitlement is indiscriminate. Chloë Sevigny’s supporting role as a faculty therapist is a study in quiet betrayal.

But the picture, unsurprisingly, is Roberts’. Dressed in Princess Di white jeans and blazer, her hair a blanching blonde, Alma, in her hands, is a switch-and-bait, a mystery, an ice queen and a woman dropping balls. Yes, she can eviscerate a student who questions her in class and tell the younger generation that ‘not everything is supposed to make you comfortable’, but she’s nursing a secret and an illness that are both incrementally weakening her. And she’s afraid of the consequences despite her philosophical filibustering. By turns Roberts is seductive, morally dubious, sympathetic and ultimately vibrates with rage. It’s the sort of compelling performance that awards bodies will likely recognise even if the film is difficult to parse. Garrett and Guadagnino are not interested in easy answers and their ambiguity frustrates as much as it intrigues.

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios
After the Hunt premiered at the 82nd Venice Film Festival and is in cinemas 20 October

BUGONIA

August 29, 2025

Words by JANE CROWTHER

Last year Yorgos Lanthimos bowed the divisive Kinds Of Kindness starring Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone, an imprenetrable triptych that dared one to like it. At this year’s Venice Film Festival the trio debuted a linear, grimly funny and ultimately profound cosmic comedy that explores the horrors of humanity and the perception of powerful women.

Aidan Delbis, Alicia Silverstone, Bugonia, Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Yorgos Lanthimos — Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features

‘Bugonia’ – though not explained by the film – is an ancient Mediterranean ritual where the carcass of an ox was believed to be able to recreate bee life. A death of a greater beast was required to give life to the pollinating, essential apinae. Lanthimos’ film begins with the bees, as Plemons’ Georgia warehouse worker and amateur apiarist, Teddy, describes their integral role in the world and the need to stop the poison that is killing them. As we watch Teddy prep himself and his sweet cousin Donny (Aidan Delbis, delightful) for the event they’re planning in their squalid farmhouse it becomes apparent that the duo subscribe to web conspiracy theories, are emotionally damaged by Teddy’s opioid-abusing mother (Alicia Silverstone) now being in a coma after a medical trial, and are intent on kidnapping big pharma CEO Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone). Believing Fuller to be both responsible for the stasis of Teddy’s Mom and an alien from the Andromedea galaxy, the duo hope to save humanity with their plan – comedically doing yoga on filthy towels, shopping for Jennifer Aniston masks at Goodwill and chemically castrating themselves in order to be ‘neurologically free’.

Fuller is a precise businesswoman who complains about too much use of the word diversity in a diversity training video and mandates a 5.30pm clock-off time for her workers while also reminding them of the need to meet quotas. She wakes at 4.30am, trains ferociously, wears a stiletto-heeled daily uniform and appears to have no private life – an alien MO to the societal expectations of feminity. When she’s kidnapped by the duo (in a laugh-out-loud physical comedy sequence) and tied up in their basement she continually, coolly, asks for ‘dialogue’. And that’s what Lanthimos provides, as Teddy and Michelle verbally negotiate, power shifting forwards and backwards, audience belief in the truth flip-flopping with every turn. Is Teddy a delusional crackpot with abandonment issues? Or has this random man actually got a point?

Based on the 2003 film from South Korea, Save the Green Planet!, this is nonetheless a Lanthimos film, so darkness creeps into every facet of the process like the black mould seeping across Teddy’s kitchen ceiling. Teddy may not get his ‘news from the news’, but he is complex, bright and riddled with heartbreaking trauma (seen in weird monochrome flashbacks and hinted at by the local sheriff). Donny is driven by love and a need to escape his life, his compassion tempering Teddy’s more ruthless instincts as they torture Michelle. There’s an element of Ed Gein and some shocking blood splatter moments. Throughout though, there is humour and humanity; Plemons has never been better as the product of broken America while Stone’s large eyes (enhanced by a shaved head) and machine-gun cadence convince as both heartless CEO and credible ET. And the more dialogue the two engage in the more an audience is drawn in – not only to the ideological duel that demands a viewer take a stance, but to larger ideas of environmentalism, global accountancy and the sins of man. By the time the final reel is playing soundtracked by Peter, Paul and Mary’s plaintive ‘Where have all the flowers gone?’ you have to agree with the refrain and sentiment; ‘when will they ever learn?’

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs courtesy of Focus Features
Bugonia premiered at the 82nd Venice Film Festival and will be in cinemas 31 October

Screening Room

JAY KELLY

August 29, 2025

Words by JANE CROWTHER

Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer’s gentle ribbing of Hollywood begins with deliberate artifice: movie star Jay Kelly (Clooney leaning all the way into his public persona) is filming his martini shot on his latest flick, a death scene set on New York’s waterfront but actually carefully concocted in a Hollywood soundstage. As he utters his last line he asks for his co-star dog to come in later, and for another take. His team – Adam Sandler’s manager, Laura Dern’s publicist, Mortimer’s HMUA – flutter around him. But when he shuts himself in his trailer we see his interior life; one where he admits his existence doesn’t feel real, that he nurses regret, that ‘all my memories are movies’. After a failure to connect with his teen daughter (Grace Edwards) and a stinging meet-up with an old roommate (a scene-stealing Billy Crudup) Jay reassesses his cosseted, infantalised life, deciding to embark on european odyssey as he reflects on relationships with his neglected elder daughter (Riley Keogh, also bringing personal insight to her role), a co-star (Eve Hewson) and his acting class friend (Louis Partridge). Along the way there’s meltdowns, a lot of cheesecake, kookie Italians, central-casting Brits and a tone that veers between absurd and nostalgic, with nods to Fellini and Wild Strawberries. Baumbach deploys physical sets to interplay between present day and memory, and a heightened sense of realism that feels intentionally fake to reflect the inauthenticity that has crept into all aspects of Kelly’s life. Is his train ride through Italy really filled with morose German cyclists and cor blimey tourists or is this how he’s filtering it for a story on a late night talk show?

Adam Sandler, Billy Crudup, Emily Mortimer, George Clooney, Jay Kelly, Jim Broadbent, Laura Dern, Noah Baumbach — Peter Mountain/Netflix

Based on Baumbach and Mortimer’s own experiences in the film industry (they met when Mortimer’s son, Sam, starred in White Noise), Jay Kelly recalls other insider-baseball studies of Tinseltown (Entourage, The Player, The Studio) without particular bite. This is an affectionate look at coddled talent who say they are always ‘alone’ just as staff hand them a drink, the way that famous, wealthy people expect full commitment and loyalty from their entourage without giving it back, the disconnect of a star complaining how hard they work while living in a palatial mansion and travelling by private jet. When it’s the affable Clooney essaying such narcissism Kelly’s selfishness and black hole effect on his team’s lives reads as somewhat charming and unintentional. Dressed in perfectly pressed suits, that world famous crinkly smile hiding the pain beneath, Clooney walks a performance tightrope of showing everything while simultaneously holding back. A moment where he watches his real back catalogue of film manages to convey the wonder of cinema, the bewilderment of a star whose life is chronicled by projects, and the impressive career of Clooney to date. Aiding him in this endeavour is Sandler, rumpled perfection as manager Ron who facilitates, parents and apologises for his client while trying to juggle his own work/life balance. He has a minor love story with Dern but the real romance here is the one between Ron and Jay, both men having spent decades married to each other as a work family, missing out on personal commitments with their real nearest and dearest. And it’s seeing Jay through Sandler’s teary, loving eyes that helps us an audience connect with him despite his shortcomings. Though somewhat meta in its depiction of the star ecosystem, Jay Kelly is generalist in poking fun; at its best it showcases the finesse of its players. This is particularly true of Crudup who is masterful in a scene where he Method-reads a menu. Across the table, Clooney/Kelly’s eyes light up in delight at the magic trick performed in reciting entrees and it’s one of several moments that celebrate the artistry of cinema, as well as the sense of community and awe fostered in those who love to sit in the dark and watch it.

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs courtesy of Netflix
Jay Kelly premiered at the 82nd Venice Film Festival and is out in cinemas 14 November

Screening Room

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS

July 24, 2025

Words by JANE CROWTHER

Yes, that ‘first steps’ title does refer to an origin story of sorts and we meet the Fantastic Four in their retro-future world four years after being zapped by cosmic radiation in space and gaining superpowers. The quartet, in their spiffy blue suits, are just feeling out their position in the world – as protectors, role models, superstars and leaders. But also, as we discover from the off, as parents.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Julie Garner, Matt Shakman, Natasha Lyonne, Pedro Pascal, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Vanessa Kirby — Walt Disney Studios

Married supers Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) may have super-stretchy limbs (him) and the ability to shield and turn invisible (her) but they haven’t managed to get pregnant. Until the opening scene when they can’t hide the happy news from their family, human torch and Sue’s bro, Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) and rock beast The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). The impending arrival matches another as a shiny, surfing herald (Julia Garner) turns up to declare that planet-munching colossus Galactus (Ralph Inerson) is heading to earth for lunch. Can the four stop him? Will parenthood change things? Is the baby going to have powers?

No spoilers but the answer is yes to all – as Marvel fans know, Franklin Richards will grow to have an impact on everything, not just his Mom and Dad, so this is as much about his first steps as theirs. And while the Jetsons-style world-building is a treat, the real draw here is the emphasis on more relatable aspects of the group’s dynamics. First Steps is essentially a movie about the panic of first-time parents (how can we know what our child will be like? How do we do this right? How do we protect but also nurture?), the primal power of motherhood and the shared experience that connects humanity: family. Anyone who’s ever tried to put a flat-pack cot together or install a car seat will recognise the anxiety of Reed. While the sheer force and yes, superpower, it takes to birth a human is celebrated in Sue’s zero gravity labour. Where it comes slightly undone is in the shifting scale of Galactus (is he planet-sized or Godzilla dimensioned?) and the suspension of disbelief that earth threatened with extinction would happily allow the key to salvation not to be tossed into space in appeasement. But Marvel has a superweapon in Kirby, who sells the emotional pull with her large blue eyes and a demeanour that is the screen definition of an iron fist in a velvet glove. Quite the feat to steal focus from the always excellent Pascal, leaning into his Zaddy charisma and that Grogu daddy softness. A shame that Natasha Lyonne and Julia Garner do not have more to do, but based on this assured debut, the Fantastic Four have many more footsteps ahead of them.

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is out in cinemas now

Screening Room

SUPERMAN

July 10, 2025

Words by JANE CROWTHER

If you liked Guardians of The Galaxy and the latter Suicide Squad, then James Gunn’s signature goofy take on Superman is going to hit all the right notes. As the new head honcho at DC (alongside Peter Safran) the filmmaker’s fingerprints are all over this reboot from the irreverent tone to the colour pop visuals, the needle-drop soundtrack to the easter eggs.

Anthony Carrigan, David Corenswet, Edi Gathegi, James Gunn, Nicholas Hoult, Rachel Brosnahan, Superman — Warner Bros. Pictures

Instead of starting from scratch with an origin story, Gunn’s Superman plops us down right in the middle of the Man of Steel’s (David Corenswet) busy schedule. Having just stopped a war between two fictional countries (though real headline nations could easily be inferred from the geo-politics), he’s taken a beating from a mecha ‘Ultraman’, the design of tech wiz, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) and is lying in the arctic in need of help. Enter Krypto, an incorrigible super mutt who lives at Supe’s robot-staffed Fortress of Solitude and is MVP of the film whenever he pops up, one ear cocked. Superman is trying to negotiate his life as journalist Clark Kent, secret boyfriend to ace reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) and emblem for good. It’s not going so well. Lois may have the hots for Clark and the cape but she’s uncertain about the relationship, Superman’s media profile is iffy and his purpose is unclear despite his ‘aw shucks’ sweet optimism in the face of social media trolls, spin doctors and world politics. Luthor, it turns out, has an queer coded obsession with Superman that is driving his need to create pocket universes, establish conflict and rip a black hole in Metropolis. If that were not enough to contend with, Superman also has other superheroes to navigate: shapeshifting Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan), Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion plus comedy wig), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi, being truly terrific).

As Superman grapples with his identity and buildings cave, Gunn explores themes of imperialism, colonialism, immigration, social media and whether it’s enough to be merely ‘good’. In a zingy interview between Lois and Clark (and the most interesting part of the film) the duo flirt and fight over whether Superman needs to contextualise his actions; if, in today’s complicated and nuanced world, anyone can ever truly be non-partisan. It’s one of a number of moments that pulls Superman very definitely into the 21st century – there’s a cute explanation for why people don’t recognise Supes in Clark Kent’s glasses, monkeys on keyboards are literally represented, Luthor has a relatable vulnerability and Christopher Reeve’s son Will makes a cameo. But there’s also regression; Luthor’s airhead girlfriend seems out of another decade and there’s no getting away from CGI ‘destruction porn’. However, if you’re looking for laughs, a defiantly comic book world and a delightfully relatable Kal-El in Corenswet (who seems physically built for this with his expressive cornflower peepers and a jawline that might have been drawn), Gunn flies high.

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs courtesy of Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Superman is out in cinemas now

Screening Room

JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH

July 4, 2025

Words by JANE CROWTHER

In Gareth Edwards’ reboot of the JP franchise, set after Dominion but without any of the same characters, dinosaurs are old news. Dying in their zoos and no longer pulling the crowds, the only place they flourish is an equatorial island that is off-limits to visitors. Of course, big pharma, personified by Rupert Friend’s gimlet-eyed rep, won’t let a ban stop them from sending a team there to harvest dino DNA to find a cure for heart disease. Enter Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) a special-ops hardass who’s struggling with morality after the death of a colleague and looking for a payday. Along for the ride, the obligatory palaeontologist Dr Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), swallowing his misgivings for a chance to see his obsession in the wild, and a salty seadog (Mahershala Ali) who’s going to boat them all to an ex-DNA experimentation lab long-abandoned on the island. Obviously, things don’t go to plan.

Gareth Edwards, Jonathan Bailey, Jurassic World: Rebirth, Mahershala Ali, Scarlett Johansson — Jasin Boland/Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment

The first fly in the ointment is a family, inadvisably bobbing across the beast-infested ocean from Barbados to Cape Town in a modest sailing boat as a vacation (no, noone on-screen can understand why either). When their boat is capsized by a Mosasaurus, they become part of the group heading to the island – and prospective dinner for the previously extinct. As the team are shipwrecked, chased down a river by a swimming, gnashing T-Rex (an exemplary sequence that rivals the original’s first Tyrannosaur tete a tete), attacked by Quetzalcoatlus and observe a Titanosaurus romance, their perspectives and alliances shift as they hold onto the rescue hope of a helicopter arriving in 48 hours. Plus there’s a cute, portable Aquilops called Delores, who likes licorice.

Essentially a theme park ride – boat rollercoaster, log flume, escape room, gift shop – Rebirth gets the recipe right with its casting. Johansson brings unexpected compassion to a rote role and is clearly having great fun alongside Bailey, serving as an audience avatar as he noisily eats mints, questions ethics and gazes in awe at CGI critters, rather like Sam Neill before him. Both are incredibly charming and sell a story as old as a mosquito in amber. Ali and Friend also seem to get the memo about nostalgic tropes; Ali is a charismatic cynic who becomes a hero, Friend, the all-out bad suit. It’s surprising he doesn’t get chomped on a toilet given the callbacks nodded to here. Less magnetic are the family and a pot-head boyfriend, though his jungle pee does provide humour.

Daft but decent, Rebirth doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it does manage to harness some of that original Spielberg magic and entertain for the time it’s on screen. And it will make you want to buy a Delores as soon as the lights come up – as well as a Snickers bar, such is the product placement.

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment
Jurassic World: Rebirth is in cinemas now

Screening Room

F1: THE MOVIE

June 27, 2025

Words by JANE CROWTHER

Made by the same dream team behind Top Gun: Maverick, this high-performance star vehicle is pure popcorn entertainment that slipstreams Tom Cruise’s mega hit with dynamic racing scenes and a storyline that requires paddock-precision suspension (of disbelief). Yes, it’s highly improbable that a sixty-something renegade Indy car racer would be plopped in the number one seat of a F1 team and proceed to smash their cars and methodology to smithereens – but presented this slickly with as much star power to rival the horsepower, you’ll allow it.

Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, F1: The Movie, Javier Bardem, Joseph Kosinski, Kerry Condon — Warner Bros. Pictures/Apple Original Films

Brad Pitt is our rebel, Sonny Hayes, an instinctively brilliant but unpredictable driver with a back scar from an accident when he was the hottest young driver in Formula one. Emotionally scarred (stunted?) by the incident, Sonny now lives out of his van while travelling from driving job to driving job, but never sticking around. While he can push his team to pole position with crafty moves, he’s not interested in glory – until Javiar Bardem’s F1 team owner, Reuben, comes calling with an eyewatering cheque and an offer to know that Hayes could be ‘the best in the world’. His team, Apex, has a hotrod technical director, Kate (Kerry Condon) and a young gun driver, Joshua (Damson Idris) but is lagging behind on the grid. During the next travelogue two hours, Sonny will race the global Grand Prix circuit throwing the rules out the window, romancing the brains of the operation and clashing with his hothead teammate. There’s some corporate shenanigans, F1 cameos (Lewis Hamilton produces) plus a soundtrack filled with stadium bangers and a propulsive Hans Zimmerman score.

The races are joltingly visceral (especially the opening Daytona 24 introduction), giving audiences a glimpse into the claustrophobic, G-force, missile-on-wheels perspective on the track while the characters are elevated by polesitter performers. Condon in particular shines, her charming scepticism and beguiling way of delivering a sentence how you’d least expect it making Kate far more than a simple ‘love interest’, while Bardem barely flexes to steal focus – and that’s not even taking into account his spectacular suits. Idris holds his own against the charisma of Pitt, detonating that Thelma & Louise smile, the zero-Fs of Tyler Durden and the sartorial insouciance of Cliff Booth. If you’re going to believe a driver approaching his pension can outstrip Verstappen, Pitt is the man to do it.

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/Apple Original Films
F1: The Movie is in cinemas now

Screening Room

28 YEARS LATER

June 20, 2025

Words by JANE CROWTHER

Danny Boyle’s return to his ‘infected’ fable delivers the same nail-chomping tension, social commentary and energetic cinematography/soundtrack mash-up as his 23 year-old original – but now with added nightmare fuel, humour, hope and yes, profundity. As a meditation on mortality and Britain it’s unsubtle, but it’s also thrilling, moving and weirdly life affirming. It could be the best 115min you never spent in therapy.

28 Years Later, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Alfie Williams, Danny Boyle, Jack O‘Connell, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes — Miya Mizuno/Sony

In 28 Days Later we had Cillian Murphy’s bewildered patient waking up in an abandoned London, in 28 Weeks Later (not written by Alex Garland or directed by Boyle) we had survivors holed up in a clean sector of the UK’s capital. Now we’re a couple of decades after the original outbreak of the rage virus and Britain is a quarantined island of naked body slurpers, the rest of Europe leaving normal lives while sending their fleets to patrol the coastline and ensure the madness stays within this scepter’d isle. Very Brexit.

While the mainland is over-run with grubby infected (fast-sprinting, slow and low, souped up ‘Alphas’), a group of survivors are self sufficient on Lindisfarne island having lapsed back into traditional roles and religious worship where the women raise children, teach and cook and the men protect, hunt and gather. When they want a party they drink home brew and sing ‘Delilah’ by Tom Jones while dancing by candlelight. Very Wicker Man.

Jamie (Aaron Taylor Johnson) is an enthusiastic killer of the infected, who wants to take his 13 year-old son Spike (Alfie Williams) on his first hunt on the mainland, leaving his disorientated, ill wife Isla (Jodie Comer) to rant in her sweat soaked bed. The duo set off for a horrifying trip where blood splatters, the rules of the world are established and the glimmer of other life is seen through the trees. A fire burning far away could be evidence of the Kurz-like Doctor Kelson (Ralph Fiennes). By the time you’ve bitten every nail off, Spike and Isla are wandering through the wilderness of the North of England (and in a nod to recent British lunacy, past the Sycamore Gap) and meeting various zombies, a stranded Scandinavian sailor and the good doctor who has developed an ashes-to-ashes methodology to find solace in the dead…

While still trading in jump scares and the mouth-drying fear of being hunted, Boyle and Garland are now more interested in finding the beauty in the horror. There’s moments when a thousand strong herd of deer undulate across a hillside, when Kelson explains his form of worshipful remembrance, when zombies splashing in a bucolic river look almost like forest sprites. And moments of human tenderness – the understanding between women that crosses insanity, the strength of a mother, the bittersweet taste of losing someone adored. How to love and lose is better than to never love at all. Tears will be shed on account of Comer’s stealth performance which sneaks up and gut-punches straight after an enjoyably silly bit concerning plastic surgery and a Shell petrol station missing its ‘S’. Fiennes is predictably perfect – iodine orange and making the most sense in a post-Covid world. The left turn comes at the end with a Jack O’Connell teaser for the sequel that nods to Jimmy Saville and a ride even more wild than this one. An infectious promise.

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.
28 Years Later is in cinemas now

Screening Room

TORNADO

June 11, 2025

Words by JANE CROWTHER

Writer-director John Maclean follows off-beat Western Slow West with more genre-spliced fare – this time a Scottish oater/samurai actioner. In the blustery 1790 glens we meet a young Japanese woman (Kôki) running for her life across moors and through forests. In pursuit, a motley team: leader Sugarman (Tim Roth), his son Little (Jack Lowden) and a crew of desperate thieves and murderers who’ll slice the throat of a random circus performer as easily as a colleague who failed a mission. The Sugarman gang are looking for gold that they believe the girl knows the location of – and in a midsection flashback, we’ll discover if she is merely another pawn in their path of destruction or if she has skin in the game.

Jack Lowden, Joanne Whalley, John Maclean, Kôki, Tim Roth, Tornado — Norman Wilcox-Geissen/IFC Films

As the marauders trash a stately home, the wagon of the girl’s father (Takehiro Hira) and the camp of an acting troupe (led by Joanne Whalley), the woman at the centre of the story turns from quivering quarry to an avenging force, and Sugarman’s infantry start to drop. ‘Remember my name, Tornado…’ she intones darkly while wielding a blade. There will be blood – spurting out of slick throats and lopped-off limbs…

Roth can play this sort of casual menace in his sleep and his relaxed brutality towards his lads, his son and anyone in his path is chillingly effective. Lowden, playing off Roth’s energy, becomes a nasty piece of work, while Kôki manages to sell her arc from girl to goddess in a screenplay that asks for little sympathy for anyone. The characters all circumnavigate a boggy lake and damp woods as their morality play unwinds – like souls in purgatory, tethered to a place. Audiences will need to accept this conceit to get the most out of people constantly bumping into each other when there’s plenty of directions to run. But, welcome the dreamlike quality of proceedings (helped by beautiful lensing by Robbie Ryan of brackish waters, auburn grasslands and fairytale forests whipped by gale-force winds) and Maclean’s rain-lashed, dark fable will cast a spell. And make you yearn for a cosy blanket.

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs courtesy of IFC Films
Tornado is out in cinemas now

Screening Room

FROM THE WORLD OF JOHN WICK: BALLERINA

June 6, 2025

Words by JANE CROWTHER

That title is somewhat cumbersome but Ana de Armas’ off-shoot of the Keanu Reeves action franchise is thankfully more cut and thrust. No such exposition in this brisk 90-minute knock-em-down set during the third John Wick instalment which opens with flashback as a wide-eyed child watches her father killed by ‘The Chancellor’ (Gabriel Byrne) and is taken in by Angelica Huston’s ‘The Director’ of the Ruska Roma to be trained as both a ballet dancer and an assassin. Growing into de Armas’ Eve Macarro, the ballerina begins to question the ethos of the shadowy world in which she lives when she discovers a lead to The Chancellor during a protection gig. Like Wick before her, Eve may trade in death but the demise of a beloved sets her on a scorched earth path to revenge – tracking The Chancellor and his cult to New York, Prague and a delightful alpine village full of contract killers in cosy knitwear.

Ana de Armas, Ballerina, Gabriel Byrne, Ian McShane, John Wick, Keanu Reeves, Norman Reedus — Lionsgate

Throughout her odyssey Eve does what she was taught at Ruska Roma – to ‘fight like a girl’. That means inventive deployment of household objects (pans, skates, ice picks, plates), using her smaller stature to outsmart hulking goons (grenade headache being a highlight) and fighting yin with yang (a fire hose vs flamethrower set piece sizzles). Like Wick, she seemingly has rubber bones and doesn’t spill a great deal of blood apart from the most attractive of grazes, but Ballerina isn’t much interested in logic or reality. Those who’ve already spent time at the Continental Hotel will understand the drill and de Armas displays as much charisma as Reeves in making relentless stunts entertaining (the Director might as well be saying ‘again’ repeatedly as she does during dance rehearsal). De Armas more than matches Reeves when they meet for a brief, bruising encounter and ensures he’s not missed when he departs.
Consolidating the action promise she showed as a scene-stealing Paloma in Bond’s No Time To Die, and sharpened in Ghosted and The Gray Man, de Armas is setting up Ballerina for a franchise and has zero figs to give about pausing for breath, let alone an exploration of who Eve is away from a fight. That will surely come in future films – which, based on the star’s assured performance, are as much of a given as the fact that this pirouetting killer will definitely make use of everything in an armoury (including a covetable flame retardant coat) when she breaks into it. ‘Cool,’ she nods in approval on opening a box of lethal weaponry. Well, indeed.

Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs courtesy of LIONSGATE
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is in cinemas now

Screening Room

AFTER THE HUNT

August 30, 2025

Screening Room

BUGONIA

August 29, 2025

Screening Room

JAY KELLY

August 29, 2025

Screening Room

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS

July 24, 2025

Screening Room

SUPERMAN

July 10, 2025

Screening Room

JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH

July 4, 2025

Screening Room

F1: THE MOVIE

June 27, 2025

Screening Room

28 YEARS LATER

June 20, 2025

Screening Room

TORNADO

June 11, 2025

Screening Room

FROM THE WORLD OF JOHN WICK: BALLERINA

June 6, 2025

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