Film

Six of the best films to see at the cinema this weekend

New to the screen this week: Cold War, Searching, I Dolours, C’est la Vie, Upgrade

Love in a cold war climate: Tomasz Kot in acclaimed Polish drama Cold War

Donald Clarke
Tara Brady
Fri Aug 31 2018 - 06:00

COLD WAR/ZIMNA WOJNA ★★★★★
Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski. Starring Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc. 15A cert, limited release, 85 min
Nobody does doomed romance better than Pawlikowski (My Summer of Love), and Cold War is his doomiest romance yet. Love is not enough in this sorrowful, swooning Soviet-era drama concerning composer and pianist Wiktor (Kot) and the blonde, cherubic singer-dancer Zula (the mesmerising Kulig) who heads his folk ensemble. When the troupe reaches East Berlin, the pair have a clear chance to defect but it soon becomes clear that only one of them has any desire to cross the Iron Curtain. Thus begins a decade of border-crossing, partings and reunions. Almost indecently moving and easily one of the films of the year. TB

SEARCHING ★★★★
Directed by Aneesh Chaganty. Starring John Cho, Debra Messing, Michelle La, Sara Sohn. 12A cert, general release, 102 min

Following on the unlovely Unfriended: Dark Web, this is the second (and superior) recent film to be "set entirely on a computer screen", with super-producer Timur Bekmambetov attached. Is John Cho the first Asian actor leading a Hollywood thriller? Throughout this nifty picture, Cho is easily the equal of Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson in the "What have you done with my wife/daughter?" stakes, as he moves through fraught, agitated, heartbroken, demented, and desperate states of mind. The Alfred P Sloan Prize-winning screenplay crafts a modern Rear Window from video chats, social media accounts, Gmail and even online pop-ups. TB

I, DOLOURS ★★★★
Directed by Maurice Sweeney. Featuring Dolours Price, Lorna Larkin, Enda Oates, Gail Brady, Lauren Beale. 15A cert, limited release, 83 min

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Constructed around a lengthy interview between veteran journalist Ed Moloney and the late IRA volunteer Dolours Price, Sweeney's picture confirms the subject as a fiercely articulate woman with a chilling certainty of purpose. I, Dolours does more. In charting Price's journey from civil rights activist to convicted bomber to peace process sceptic, it offers an efficient history of the entire conflict. The reconstructions are unnecessary, but this remains an essential watch for anyone with even a faint interest in the Troubles. Full review DC

C'EST LA VIE/LE SENS DE LA FÊTE ★★★★
Directed by Olivier Nakache & Éric Toledano. Starring Jean-Pierre Bacri, Gilles Lellouche, Jean-Paul Rouve, Vincent Macaigne, Alban Ivanov, Suzanne Clément, Judith Chemla, Eye Haidara, Benjamin Lavernhe. Club, IFI, Dublin, 100 min

Everything is going wrong for beleaguered wedding planner Max (Bacri). Forget Bridezilla – C'est la Vie boasts Groomzilla Pierre (Lavernhe), whose micromanaging of his lavish 17th-century chateau wedding to Héléna (Chemla) prove trying for Max and his battalion of catering staff, musicians and serving staff. It looks fabulous, but behind the scenes, they've lost the DJ, the photographer keeps eating the canapes, the lamb spoils, and finally, the electricity blows, allowing DOP David Chizallet (Mustang) and the lighting department to conjure a spectacular set-piece. A wildly appealing new comedy from the makers of The Intouchables. TB

UPGRADE ★★★
Directed by Leigh Whannell. Starring Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson. 16 cert, general release, 100 min

To paraphrase Alan Partridge, I've got genre pie all over my face. Stand back as the spine of Death Wish is grafted to the mind of Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey and performs the busting-bullet-time moves of The Matrix. Say hi to most unabashedly limitless joint since, well, Limitless. Marshall-Green's Grey Trace – even the names scream genre – makes for an excellent mark as a quadriplegic who accepts an offer from a tech bro overlord (Gilbertson) to reattach Grey's spine using a state-of-the-art chip, a device that soon manifests as a voice in his head. Together, Grey and doodah set about tracking down the men who killed his wife. But the chip, of course, has ideas of its own. Good clean gory fun. TB

BLACKKKLANSMAN ★★★★
Directed by Spike Lee. Starring John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, Jasper Pääkkönen, Corey Hawkins, Ryan Eggold, Michael Joseph Buscemi. 16 cert, general release, 135 min

Coming off as a spicy mix of 1970s cop show, blaxsploitation thriller, civil rights jeremiad and didactic documentary, Lee's latest circles around the true story of a black cop who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. With one swift movement, the sharp John David Washington (son of Denzel) shakes off his family history and carves out a place just for himself. The collision of styles is exhilarating. Terence Blanchard's soundtrack is a blast. What's not to like? Spike's best in decades. Full review DC