Film

Four new films to see this week

Red Rocket and Foscadh in cinemas, Turning Red and The Adam Project streaming

Simon Rex and Suzanna Son in Red Rocket

Donald Clarke
Tara Brady
Sun Mar 13 2022 - 06:00

RED ROCKET ★★★★★
Directed by Sean Baker. Starring Simon Rex, Suzanna Son, Bree Elrod, Brenda Deiss, Ethan Darbone. 18 cert, gen release, 131 min
The latest film from the director of Tangerine and The Florida Project follows a charming, profoundly amoral loser (Rex, transcendent) as he returns to Texas City after a spell as a porn actor in LA. Before long he is cheating on his harried wife (Elrod) with an 18-year-old (Son) who works in the local doughnut shop. The performances are all terrific, but it is Rex's turn as a dangerous solipsist that holds the attention throughout. His puppy-dog vigour makes the character tolerable in spite of his repeated appalling decisions. Once again, Baker demonstrates his gift for capturing America's underreported nether regions. Full review DC

TURNING RED ★★★★☆
Directed by Domee Shi. Voices of Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, Hyein Park, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Orion Lee, Wai Ching Ho, Tristan Allerick Chen, Lori Tan Chinn. Disney+, 100 min

Turning Red

A Chinese-Canadian girl turns into a giant red panda sometime after her 13thbirthday. The transformation is, of course, a generalised allegory for puberty and a more specific one for menstruation (have a look again at that title). But, lest the filmmakers be accused of obfuscation, the script contains more explicit references to the girl's first period. What follows is an immensely agreeable and well-thought-through fantasia on the adolescent experience worked in with fun variations on the Teen Wolf scenario. The animation is, by Pixar's high, high standards, unremarkable, but this remains a brave, charming film. Full review DC

FOSCADH/SHELTER ★★★★☆
Directed by Sean Breathnach. Starring Dónall O Héalai, Fionnuala Flaherty, Cillian Ó Gairbhí, Macdara Ó Fátharta. 16 cert , gen release, 93 min

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Dónall O Héalai in Foscadh

Set in Connemara, Foscadh tells the story of John Cunliffe (O Héalai), a reclusive, cosseted, and entirely innocent twentysomething farmer who is suddenly thrust into the wider world when he is orphaned and left with a homestead to run. Creeping corporate interests – and a burgeoning wind technology empire – add to his burdens. Based on Donal Ryan's novel The Thing About December, writer-director Breathnach takes a story that might have played like a Gaelic Marty and invests it with ambiguity. O Héalai is remarkable in a performance that couldn't be further from his fierce, determined turn in last year's Arracht. Full review TB

THE ADAM PROJECT ★★★☆☆
Directed by Shawn Levy. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Walker Scobell, Catherine Keener, Zoe Saldana. Netflix, 106 min

Walker Scobell and Ryan Reynolds in The Adam Project

Say hello to Ryan Reynolds playing Adam, a wise-cracking Ryan Reynolds type, who, early in the film, flies out of troubled 2050 and into 2022, where the younger Adam (Scobell, doing an excellent approximation of the older actor), a wise-cracking Ryan Reynolds type, mourns the loss of his father and makes life tricky for his long-suffering mother (Garner). This is the kind of post-Goonies family-oriented schmaltz that plays very well on Netflix (see Stranger Things) and not so well in cinemas. The boys have fun punching each other and exchanging quips. Full review TB