Film

Four new films to see this week

Oscar winner Another Round, Irish horror Son, docs Last Man Standing, Lady Boss

Mads Mikkelsen in Another Round

Donald Clarke
Tara Brady
Sun Jul 4 2021 - 06:00

ANOTHER ROUND/DRUK ★★★★☆
Directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, Lars Ranthe, Maria Bonnevie, Susse Wold. 15A cert, cinema release, 117 min
A group of Danish teachers, dissatisfied with middle age, undertake an experiment: following the advice of a Norwegian psychiatrist, they will keep their blood alcohol levels at a mildly juiced 0.5 per cent. The experiment first improves life. Then the wheels come off.Vinterberg, as we might expect from an alumnus of the Dogme 95 movement, dares to see all sides in this funny, deliberately ambiguous consideration of what alcohol does to the modern man. Mikkelsen is reliably excellent in this year's winner of the best international picture Oscar. DC

LAST MAN STANDING: SUGE KNIGHT AND THE MURDERS OF BIGGIE AND TUPAC ★★★★☆
Directed by Nick Broomfield. Featuring Nick Broomfield, Russell Poole, Suge Knight. Cinema/digital release, 105 min

Poster art for Last Man Standing

Broomfield, on a recent role with such fine docs as Can I Be Me and My Father and Me, returns to the story he first addressed nearly 20 years ago in Biggie &Tupac. Back at the centre of the debate is Suge Knight, former chief executive of legendary label Death Row Records now serving 28 years imprisonment for manslaughter. It's a fascinating addition to the burgeoning subgenre of Tupac-related documentaries, even if one can't help but feel this still isn't the entire story. Smoking guns abound. TB

LADY BOSS: THE JACKIE COLLINS STORY ★★★★☆
Directed by Laura Fairrie. Featuring Hazel Collins, Joan Collins, Jennifer Daugherty, Barbara Davis. Cinema/digital release, 96 min

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Jackie Collins in Lady Boss: The Jackie Collins Story

Hugely enjoyable documentary on the queen of the bonkbuster novel. Piecing together hidden treasures from Collins's personal archives with candid interviews and excerpts from her work, Lady Boss reveals the determined, guarded person Collins was to her family and friends – including her sister, actress Joan. The biggest coup is the access to Jackie's diaries, written in the same punchy style that propelled each of her 32 novels onto the New York Times bestseller list. Fun for all. TB

SON ★★★☆☆
Directed by Ivan Kavanagh. Starring Andi Matichak, Emile Hirsch, Luke David Blumm, Cranston Johnson, Blaine Maye, J Robert Spencer, Rocco Sisto, Kristine Nielsen. Streaming on Shudder, 98 min

Andi Matichak in Son

One of the nation's most versatile directors returns to psychologically complex horror for the tale of a woman whose son may or may not be possessed. There are hints of the fantastic here. But Son is rooted in our discomfort with illness and the neuroses that accompany parenthood. Matichak is a first-class lead in the determined but vulnerable school that has fuelled horror for decades. Hirsch, strong in Kavanagh Never Grow Old, offers backup as a supportive police officer. The plotting is, alas, a little slack in the later stages, but the ending still packs a punch. DC