Film

Six of the best films to see at the cinema this weekend

Colin Farrell reunites with his Lobster director for the Killing of a Sacred Deer, a moving Holocaust documentary and a lesbian puzzler from Norway

Colin Farrell in The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Donald Clarke
Tara Brady
Fri Nov 3 2017 - 06:00

THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER
★★★★
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic, Alicia Silverstone, Bill Camp. 16 cert, general release, 121 min

The latest absurdist stunner from Lanthimos finds Barry Keoghan's odd youth stalking Colin Farrell's closed-off heart surgeon. Farrell, having previously channelled Fr Dougal on Valium for the purposes of The Lobster, finds unexpected new textures in flat to explore: think Buster Keaton doing Beckett. Kidman nails a sign to the wall. But it's Keoghan who steals the show, thanks to a mouth-breathing, awkwardly gaited physicality and a breathless and-then-and-then playground game tone he uses to deliver his malevolent plan. Trailer/Review TB

CONDEMNED TO REMEMBER
★★★★
Directed by Gerry Gregg. Featuring Tomi Reichental. Club, limited release,
90 minutes

Irish-financed film The Killing of a Sacred Deer produced by Dublin-based Element Pictures, has been named the joint winner of the award for Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival.

Moving documentary on an Irish-Slovakian Holocaust survivor as he travels through Europe on his 80th birthday encountering memories of horror and the worrying reappearance of fascism. There are few frills to Gregg's approach. No voiceover. No animation. No surging chords. It will work perfectly well on television. But this remains among the most moving films we will see this year. All involved should be proud. Review DC

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THELMA
★★★★★
Directed by Joachim Trier. Starring Eili Harboe, Kaya Wilkins, Henrik Rafaelsen, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Grethe Eltervag. Club, limited release, 114 min

A young girl and her father wander across a frozen lake and into a snowy forest. Spying a fawn through the woods, he raises his rifle, only to point it at the back of his daughter's head, before losing his nerve. Having made a big splash in the Anglophone world with the Gabriel Byrne vehicle Louder Than Bombs, hot-shot director Joachim Trier returns to his hometown for this chilly, lesbian woke-horror. Odd, original, icky, powerful. Review TB

THOR: RAGNAROK
★★★★
Directed by Taika Waititi. Starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins, Benedict Cumberbatch, Taika Waititi. 12A cert, general release, 130 min

Thor (hilariously offhand Hemsworth) and Hulk (troubled Ruffalo) get stranded on a groovy planet while an angry goddess (utterly fabulous Blanchett) fumes elsewhere. The eccentric Kiwi director Taika Waititi has been set loose on a Marvel property and – praise be! – allowed to do pretty much what he wishes. Working from an unremarkable script by studio regulars, Waititi has layered camp, slapstick madness over every neon-lit, acid-soaked set piece. It's an absolute hoot for anyone uninterested in "fan service". Review DC

BREATHE
★★★
Directed by Andy Serkis. Starring Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Tom Hollander, Stephen Mangan, Hugh Bonneville, Penny Downie, David Wilmot. 12A cert, general release, 117 minutes

Serkis's debut feature tells the stirring story of polio survivor Robin Cavendish (Garfield). Refusing to remain tied to a static ventilator, he eventually developed a portable machine that allowed responauts to move about in wheelchairs. The film is soaked in English good spirits: cricket on the lawn, tea in china cups, cheeky Jack Russell terriers. All that can become exhausting, but the fine cast keeps the film alive. The stiffest-upper-lip film ever made. Review DC

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
★★★★
Directed by Luca Guadagnino.Starring Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg. 15A cert, limited release, 131 min

Luca Guadagnino's extravagantly praised idyll sends Hammer's confident American academic to stay with Stuhlbarg's less flamboyant academic in northern Italy. A romance slowly develops between the guest and his host's clever son (Chalamet). The picture breaks little new ground, but there is an exotic urgency to Guadagino's vision that sets it apart. A great sense of place. Beautifully knitted performance. A heartrendingly truthful ending. DC