The End of Oak Street ★★★★☆
Directed by David Robert Mitchell. Starring Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery. 15A cert, gen release, 110 min
Thrilling sub-Spielbergian romp in which a hunk of 1980s suburbia finds itself transported back to the time of the dinosaurs. McGregor is the mousy husband. Hathaway is the plucky wife. Mitchell learns the signature lesson of Spielberg’s Jaws and initially reveals his monsters with finesse and caution. Where did that dung come from? We see a scaled tail retreating into a hedge. The first hell-for-leather pursuit places the dinosaur on the other side of a fence that gets clattered to bits as the beast rubs against it. The cast are all strong, but woman-of-the-year Hathaway excels. DC Full review
Lady ★★★⯪☆
Directed by Samuel Abrahams. Starring Sian Clifford, Laurie Kynaston, Juliet Cowan, Olisa Odele. 15A cert, limited release, 95 min
Interesting British mockumentary that begins as a conventionally comic study of an upper-class snoot (Clifford from Fleabag) before taking a surprising turn towards Buñuel. Abrahams (who shares a forename and a Bafta nomination with his fictional director) has, for all the film’s flaws, fashioned a definitive hunk of oddball that bears comparison with earlier assaults on the eccentric gentry such as Viv Stanshall’s Sir Henry at Rawlinson End. Clifford’s performance is at times a little too large, but it is always in touch with the character’s humanity. Sure to pick up some sort of cult following. DC Full review
The Mahabharata ★★★★⯪
Directed by Peter Brook. Starring Vittorio Mezzogiorno, Andrzej Seweryn, Georges Corraface, Jeffrey Kissoon, Sotigui Kouyaté, Ciarán Hinds
Restored 8K outing for the film of Peter Brook’s legendary 1985 theatrical take on the Sanskrit epic. His Mahabharata is less concerned with black hats versus white hats than with human beings discovering how ideas can become weaponised. Its weighty themes – tribal loyalty, environmental catastrophe and political myopia – are hardly out of style. Philosophically, this is a far deeper treatise than the most recent cinematic reckoning with The Odyssey. The production, featuring actors from Poland, India, Trinidad and France, and including a youngish Ciarán Hinds, was a global casting triumph. TB Full review
Tony ★★★★☆
Directed by Matt Johnson. Starring Dominic Sessa, Emilia Jones, Antonio Banderas, Leo Woodall, Dagmara Domińczyk. 15A cert, gen release, 106 min
Nicely made study of the early career of Anthony Bourdain as he washes dishes in Cape Cod restaurant. Johnson lightly pokes fun at the chasm between the main-character energy versus actual accomplishments, without leaning too hard into cringe comedy. The cowriter and director equally resists peppering the two chapters he freely adapted from Kitchen Confidential with origin story gotchas. This is a fond, modest story about a future icon, enlivened by a muscular ensemble cast, Michael Bauman’s cinematography and Jay McCarroll’s music. The film is all the better for it. TB Full review
