Film

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

New this weekend: Beautifully made and troubling drama Impossible Love and RBG, a portrait of US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Intimate relations: Virginie Efira and Niels Schneider in Impossible Love

Donald Clarke
Tara Brady
Fri Jan 4 2019 - 06:00

IMPOSSIBLE LOVE/UN AMOUR IMPOSSIBLE ★★★★☆
Directed by Catherine Corsini. Starring Virginie Efira, Niels Schneider, Jehnny Beth, Estelle Lescure. 16 cert, lim release, 135 min
Beautifully made, ultimately troubling drama, spanning many decades, concerning an awkward on-off romance. Viewers familiar with the semi-autobiographical novels of Christine Angot will have some idea where the story is going and will grasp ambiguities in the title, but, narrated by the couple's daughter in versions of the author's prose, this difficult saga will still exert a grip. Virginie Efira is terrific as the woman who can't tear herself away from a pompous jerk. DC

THE FAVOURITE ★★★★★
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Starring Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, Nicholas Hoult, Joe Alwyn, James Smith, Mark Gatiss. 15A cert, general release, 119 min

It is 1708 and, as the War of the Spanish Succession takes a breather, cynical Sarah Churchill (Weisz), Duchess of Marlborough, and sly Abigail Hill (Stone), later Baroness Masham, squabble for the attentions of dotty Queen Anne (Colman). Lanthimos transforms what could have been a straight-up period drama into a savage, weird, twisty comedy of appalling manners. The dialogue sparkles. The photography is weirdly brilliant. The performances are flawless. A near masterpiece. Full review/trailer DC

RBG ★★★★☆
Directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen. Featuring Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jane Ginsburg, James Steven Ginsburg, Nina Totenberg, Clara Spera, Gloria Steinem. Club, lim release, 97 min

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The Favourite stars Olivia Colman as a frail queen Anne while her friend Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) governs the country in her stead .

There are a few moments of levity in this fond documentary portrait of the life and career of US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She works out wearing a shirt that reads "Super Diva", enjoys some banter with the late conservative justice Antonin Scalia, and is bemused by her nickname, the Notorious RBG. Mostly, as she herself notes, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a far more solemn, serious person than her place in pop culture might suggest: "I tend to be rather sober," she says. A documentary as sober as its subject might have spent more time on the fascinating archival audio from some the cases Ginsburg argued, but this breezy primer is hard to argue with. TB

BUMBLEBEE ★★★★☆
Directed by Travis Knight. Starring Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr, John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, Pamela Adlon, Stephen Schneider, Angela Bassett. 12A cert, general release, 109 min

Good grief. After a decade of ear-splitting rubbish, Michael Bay's Tranformers sequence has (without Bay at the helm) delivered a glorious entertainment. Travis Knight's shamelessly Spielbergian film casts Steinfeld as a rebellious teen in 1987 who encounters autobot Bumblebee in the form of a VW Beetle. She belatedly allows humanity into the series and – after the horrid objectification of female bodies in earlier episodes – hollows out some welcome feminist space. Fun for all. It's like Knight and Bay! Full review DC

SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE ★★★★☆
Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman. Voices of Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Luna Lauren Velez, Zoë Cravitz, Nicolas Cage, Liev Schreiber, Chris Pine. PG cert, general release, 117 min

One alternative version of Spider-Man encounters many others in a dazzling animation from the team behind The Lego Movie. The candy-charged flash manages to accommodate soul and sincerity. The film's embrace of diversity stretches beyond the social to the sub-atomic and the quantum mechanical (no, really). The structural innovation helps confirm – despite welcome advances in representation – how conservative most Marvel films are. Easily the best superhero movie of 2018. Full review DC

A STAR IS BORN ★★★★★
Directed by Bradley Cooper. Starring Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliott, Andrew Dice Clay, Rafi Gavron, Dave Chappelle, Rebecca Field, Michael Harney, Shangela Laquifa Wadley. 15A cert, gen release, 135 min

A triumphant return to an indestructible Hollywood warhorse. Gaga exceeds all expectations as the talented working-class ingenue propelled to fame by Cooper's soused rocker. Leaning into the male lead like a bird investigating promising movements among the undergrowth, she is exotic when she's ordinary and rooted when she's fantastic. Cooper is equally strong – browned to the colour of yesterday's tea – as a decent man laid low by addiction. The music is great. The nimble camera-work is a pleasure. What's not to like? Full review/trailer DC

Other ★★★★☆ and ★★★★★ movies out and about: Bohemian Rhapsody, The Camino Voyage, Creed II, Free Solo, The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid, The Old Man & the Gun, Shoplifters, Sorry to Bother You, Three Identical Strangers