Project Hail Mary ★★★★☆
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Starring Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub, Liz Kingsman. 12A cert, gen release, 156 min
An astronaut (Gosling), while attempting to save the universe, makes friends with an alien in an adaptation of Andy Weir’s hit book. There are unmistakable reminders of Ridley’s Scott’s take on The Martian, Weir’s first novel: plucky hero in space, fretful boffins on Earth. But this an altogether more inventive affair. Greig Fraser, Oscar-winning cinematographer of Dune, finds abstract magic in the aura around distant planets. If it were not for an unfortunate outbreak of too-many-endings syndrome – a hangover from the book – we might have had a classic. It is still pretty darn strong. Full review DC
Dead Man’s Wire ★★★★☆
Directed by Gus Van Sant. Starring Bill Skarsgard, Dacre Montgomery, Cary Elwes, Myha’la, Colman Domingo, Al Pacino. 15A cert, gen release, 102 min
Van Sant’s best film in years relates the true story of a frustrated businessman (Skarsgard) who very publicly took his mortgage lender (Montgomery) hostage in 1970s Indianapolis. Working from a blackly comic script by Austin Kolodney, Van Sant fashions a shouty standoff in the tradition of Dog Day Afternoon. Al Pacino, playing the hostage’s callous father, has some fun channelling Foghorn Leghorn. His presence and the use of vintage TV camera by the film’s cinematographer, Arnaud Potier, add to the sense that we’re watching a lost 1970s thriller. Skarsgard, a reliable screen weirdo, plays Kiritsis with ambiguous gusto. Full review TB
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Midwinter Break ★★★☆☆
Directed by Polly Findlay. Starring Lesley Manville, Ciarán Hinds, Niamh Cusack, Leila Laaraj. 12A cert, gen release, 90 min
An older Irish couple (Hinds and Cusack) seek to heal differences while holidaying in Amsterdam. The performances cannot be faulted. Hinds and Manville skilfully convey a relationship founded on the most fragile of intertwining insecurities. We get a sense that both understand the evasions they are making and accept them for fear of bringing the whole structure down on their heads. For all the subtlety of the acting and the attractiveness of the backgrounds, it is not clear that Findlay and her team have made a film of Bernard MacLaverty’s novel. Too contained. Too internal. Full review DC
La Grazia ★★★★☆
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino. Starring Toni Servillo, Anna Ferzetti, Massimo Venturiello, Rufin Doh Zeyenouin. 12A cert, limited release, 133 min
Sorrentino gets his groove back with this compelling political drama. At first glance La Grazia looks almost defiantly modest: a quiet portrait of a man approaching the end of power. The great Toni Servillo, having previously headlined Sorrentino’s playful biopics of Giulio Andreotti and Silvio Berlusconi, once more assumes the duties of head of state. Sorrentino supplies the occasional surreal house-style flourish – a drifting tear observed in zero gravity – but mostly the director leans into the quiet complexities of Servillo’s turn. A complex but riveting dissection of power dynamics. Full review TB
