Film

Four new films to see in cinemas this week

Passing, Last Night in Soho, Azor, Antlers

Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson in Passing

Donald Clarke
Tara Brady
Sun Oct 31 2021 - 06:00

PASSING ★★★★☆
Directed by Rebecca Hall. Starring Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland, Bill Camp, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Antoinette Crowe-Legacy, Alexander Skarsgård. 12A cert, limited release, 98 min
Moving, beautifully made – monochrome and 4:3 ration – adaptation of Nella Larsen's book concerning the relationship between a middle-class black woman (Thompson) and the old friend (Negga) who, in the years since they met, has taken to "passing" for white. Passing is, in some ways, a slender story. But actress-turned-director Hall's feel for the period and her gift for folding potent discourse into the attractive visuals kicks it up to the level of high art. Thompson is impressively divided. If it is possible to be quietly incandescent, then Negga is just that. Full review DC

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO ★★★☆☆
Directed by Edgar Wright. Starring Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Terence Stamp, Diana Rigg, Rita Tushingham, Pauline McLynn, Synnøve Karlsen. 16 cert, gen release, 117 min

Matt Smith and Anya Taylor-Joy in Last Night in Soho

Wright eschews his more frantic camera moves for a not-quite-comic horror about a contemporary fashion student (McKenzie, great) who gets beamed into the body of an aspiring 1960s torch singer (Taylor-Joy, solid). There is much to enjoy here, but Last Night in Soho ends up in uncertain, muddy territory. There is both too much and too little going on. It passes the time busily, but leaves us lost in copious allusion and unfinished narrative. Maybe that is how it felt at the time. Admirably frank about the darkness of the era. Full review DC

AZOR ★★★★★
Directed by Andreas Fontana. Starring Fabrizio Rongione, Stéphanie Cléau, Elli Medeiros, Alexandre Trocki. 15Acert, limited release, 100 min

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Elli Medeiros and Fabrizio Rongione in Azor

A mystery fashioned in the shape of Heart of Darkness, Azor follows Yvan (Rongione, in a surgically enigmatic performance), a private Swiss banker, and chic wife (Cléau) from Geneva to Argentina, where Yvan's partner has disappeared. Death is everywhere, just not on screen. Its absence, like that of Harry Lime in The Third Man, is pronounced. One terrifying Monsignor, a man of immense power, precisely echoes Colonel Kurtz's final belief that the company should simply "Exterminate all the brutes!" It's a fitting coda for a chilling delve into capitalist machinations. Full review TB

ANTLERS ★★☆☆☆
Directed by Scott Cooper. Starring Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons, Jeremy T Thomas, Graham Greene, Scott Haze, Rory Cochrane, Amy Madigan. 16 cert, gen release, 99 min

Keri Russell in Antlers

Billed as a folk horror inspired by the Native American "wendigo" legend, wherein an evil spirit possesses people and transforms them into insatiable cannibals, Antlers has pedigree. Sadly, Plemons and veteran indigenous Greene are criminally wasted. The screenplay telegraphs, signals, and practically takes out billboard advertisements as it moves through its muddle of familial strife and monsters. There are telling reports on TV. An opening sequence issues a dire warning about disrespecting nature. The ending leaves room for an unnecessary sequel. Not the best film Guillermo del Toro has produced. Full review TB