After the overloaded year-end release schedule, January is prestige film mop-up time… and this year was a doozy.
I love to be challenged as a viewer but in the rush to watch every (subjective) contender for my annual top ten list, some films outside the comfort zone inevitably get left behind.
Well, am I glad I ate my cinematic vegetables this month.
These were wonderful reminders that ‘proper movies’ are still being made and that they can still surprise and delight even a film know-it-all.
Heavy / Two grieving couples meet for a heart-to-heart years after a school shooting: the parents of the shooter and those of one of his victims. MASS’ simple and uncinematic set-up is also extraordinarily ambitious: you expect nothing less than to be moved, challenged, enlightened. It succeeds with power and layers to spare, without ever touching politics or resorting to emotional shortcuts, as the excellent cast convincingly tangle over and pick apart their own heartbreak.
Rotten Tomatoes 95% | VOD
Period-y / I’m not normally one for period dramas, even if there are swords involved – and THE LAST DUEL starts badly, with ‘old-timey’ dialogue that is worse than the haircuts. But there is an ingenious reason for that, as the story of the rape that leads to the titular battle is told from three different viewpoints. It’s an unexpectedly engrossing affair that deserves the time and attention to detail it requires. And if you’re just here for the swords, the duel at the end is spectacular – this is Ridley Scott after all.
RT 85% | HBO Max
Musically / Unless it’s funny – properly funny – don’t bring me musicals. But, unlike the hyped In The Heights, TICK, TICK… BOOM! charmed, moved and thrilled even this skeptic. Andrew Garfield, a sure Oscar contender, is magnetic as Rent creator Jon Larson in this contagiously-loving depiction of the creative struggle. As he fights passionately, obsessively and self-implodingly to get his first musical off the ground, you feel every triumph and setback; the catchy songs, effectively deployed around a clever structure, underline every emotion.
RT 88% | Netflix
MS