BELLE ★★★★☆
Directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Voices of Kaho Nakamura, Ryô Narita, Shôta Sometani, Tina Tamashiro, Lilas Ikuta, Koji Yakusho, Takeru Satoh. PG cert, gen release, 122 min
Lovely Japanese animated science-fiction take on Beauty and the Beast. The eighth feature from Hosada, while not quite as his extravagantly imaginative as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time or Wolf Children, marries dazzling spectacle, high-octane action and social commentary. Belle's best scenes, however, are not the riotous tableaux that play under the heroine's J-pop ballads, but the blush-making adolescent exchanges, quiet family concerns and, in a late plot twist, a powerful dramatisation of childhood abuse. The third-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2021 premiered to a 14-minute standing ovation in Cannes last July. Full review TB
THE SOUVENIR PART II ★★★★★
Directed by Joanna Hogg. Starring Honor Swinton Byrne, Tilda Swinton, Ariane Labed, Richard Ayoade, Harris Dickinson, Joe Alwyn, James Spencer Ashworth, Charlie Heaton. 15A cert, limited release, 107 min
A young filmmaker (Byrne) faces up to the death of her boyfriend as she embarks on an ambitious graduation project. Often taking on the flavour of a ghost story, shot with a stubbornly static camera, the second part of Hogg's autobiographical puzzler works an elusive meditation on grief in with a hard-edged reverie – evocative but never sentimental – on the last days of Thatcher's Britain. Hogg's aesthetic is not for everyone. Working from rough outlines, she allows the scenes to find their own lolloping rhythms. But the integrity of her art is indisputable. Ayoade makes the most of his supporting role as an insufferably pretentious director. Full review DC
THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE ★★★☆☆
Directed by Michael Showalter. Starring Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Vincent D'Onofrio. 15A cert, gen release,127 min
Definitive televangelists Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker get a flashy biopic. The picture ends with a musical sequence in which the heroine belts out The Battle Hymn of the Republic through mascara tears. This choral denouement is something of a swerve for a project that works hard to sit on its jazz hands. Everything about the late Tammy screams "Cameo on a cartoon wool cloud in a John Waters movie", but the film sidesteps kitsch in favour of soulful humanisation. Garfield's screen vulnerability quivers even when the preacherman is at his most reprehensible. Chastain channels Tammy's indomitable chirpiness with great vigour. Full review TB
JOCKEY ★★★★☆
Directed by Clint Bentley. Starring Clifton Collins Jr, Molly Parker, Moisés Arias, Logan Cormier, Colleen Hartnett, Daniel Adams. 15A cert, gen release, 95 min
An aging jockey (Collins) faces up to the inevitable when a young man (Arias) turns up claiming to be his son. The performances are all first rate. The characters are strongly drawn. The summoning up of rural Arizona bears favourable comparison to Chloë Zhao's best work. Jockey does, however, suffer from a plot that could hardly be more predictable if it were derived from Greek tragedy. Still, the inevitability of the destination does little to damage a well-crafted drama dripping with authenticity. Technical jargon falls believably from lips that look as if they've smacked into turf more often than any sane human would desire. Full review DC
