Film

Four new films to see in cinemas this week

The Outfit, Fantastic Beasts 3, Compartment No 6, All I Can Say

Mark Rylance in The Outfit

Donald Clarke
Tara Brady
Sun Apr 10 2022 - 06:00

THE OUTFIT ★★★★☆
Directed by Graham Moore. Starring Mark Rylance, Zoey Deutch, Johnny Flynn, Dylan O'Brien, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Simon Russell Beale. 15A cert, gen release, 105 min
Rylance stars as a high-end tailor – or "cutter" as he would prefer – who gets involved with the mob after moving to 1950s Chicago. Set entirely with the confines of his shop, The Outfit has the focused intensity of a theatre piece. It also occasionally leans towards declaratory language that sits uncomfortably in a cinematic setting. But the performances keep it alive. It is something to see Beale and Rylance, two of the great Shakespeareans, exchanging tense barbs in a gangster flick (albeit a stylised one). Just try not to think about the awful pun in the title. Full review DC

FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE ★★☆☆☆
Directed by David Yates. Starring Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Mads Mikkelsen, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Callum Turner, Katherine Waterston. 12A cert, gen release, 142 min

Jessica Williams and Callum Turner in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

Good heavens, is this thing still around? After the endless fights about JK Rowling, the defenestration of Johnny Depp, the general awfulness of the last episode and – once more with a wheeze – certain global health emergencies, the third film in the Fantastic Beasts sequence seems beamed in from another, less problematic millennium. It's another dull muddle of lore and scene setting. Redmayne's zoologist overdoes the quirk. Mikkelsen takes over bad-guy duties from Depp. Fogler has fun with his muggle maker. Only the gorgeous costumes and elaborate sets stay in the mind. Full review DC

COMPARTMENT No 6/HYTTI nro 6 ★★★★☆
Directed by Juho Kuosmanen. Starring Seidi Haarla, Yuri Borisov. 15A cert, limited release, 108 min

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Seidi Haarla and Yuri Borisov in Compartment No 6

Having boarded a train from Moscow to Murmansk, a Finnish archaeology student (Haarla) is dismayed to discover that she is sharing a second-class bunk carriage with a rough looking Russian miner (Borisov). Slowly, the two bond. It's impossible not to think of Lost in Translation and Before Sunrise while watching director Kuosmanen's charming Grand Prix winner from last year's heavy-hitting Cannes competition. The actors demonstrate impeccable timing and expertly tiny movements as they warm up. It's something like love but without either sex or romance. And it's a joy to behold. Full review TB

ALL I CAN SAY ★★★★☆
Directed by Danny Clinch, Taryn Gould, Colleen Hennessy, Shannon Hoon. Featuring Blind Melon, Shannon Hoon. Limited release/VoD, 102 min

Blind Melon frontman Shannon Hoon in All I Can Say

The late Shannon Hoon rightly receives a directing credit for this eerily candid account of his brief life and the fleeting sensation that was Blind Melon. The Indiana-born singer with the unmistakable falsetto began filming himself in 1990 as a hobby, an eccentric pursuit given that there were no contemporaneous platforms for such pre-TikTok material. As viewed on TVs in hotel rooms and at home, Hoon's remarkable footage includes such era-defining moments as Bill Clinton's swearing in as president, the LA riots and the Chechen-Russian conflict. Singular. Worth digging out. Full review TB