FILM | Reviews
HORROR THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS (15) 111min ●●●●●
The Girl with All the Gifts opens disturbingly. Children kept in a military prison, cruelly shouted at by adult guards, strapped into wheelchairs and pushed with fearful precision into a grim classroom. It seems to be institutional abuse of children. But their teacher, Miss Justineau (Gemma Arterton) is kindly. Far more bewildering, Melanie (12-year-old newcomer Sennia Nanua) seems cheerful and eager to learn. The unsettling mood set by director Colm McCarthy (Peaky Blinders) is only just beginning to unfurl. While much of the sheer brilliance of the film comes in not being able to anticipate where it’s going, it’s no spoiler to say that this is science-fiction horror set in a dystopian near future, ringing bells that resound of everything from 28 Days Later to Day of the Triffids to Lord of the Flies. But Girl . . . , adapted by Mike Carey from his own novel, stakes out its own place in a familiar sub-genre in extraordinarily moving and deeply unnerving ways.
With strikingly fresh imagery and exciting extrapolations of stock SF ideas, it takes you on a journey full of surprises that aren’t about cheap plot twists but crafting a vividly told tale in a fully realised alternate world populated by richly conceived, unforgettable characters. Nanua and Arterton are joined by Paddy Considine, bringing subtle depth to a soldier whose relationship with Melanie evolves, and Glenn Close, powerfully challenging as a doctor studying Melanie and an embodiment of the moral dilemmas at the heart of the tale.
This is a movie to reignite your love of movies, if you’ve despaired of seeing anything
different amid a sea of tired sameness. It is a movie that asks a big question – what does it mean to be human? – and its answers will haunt you. It is a movie that is everything we go to the movies for. Do not miss it. (MaryAnn Johanson) ■ General release from Fri 23 Sep.
DRAMA I, DANIEL BLAKE (TBC) 100min ●●●●● Fifty years on from Cathy Come Home, Britain feels even more divided as the rich get richer and the poor get stigmatised. It is fertile ground for director Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty who, in I, Daniel Blake, tackle an age of austerity that harks back to the values and attitudes of the Victorian era.
It is a film that wears its heart firmly on its sleeve in its depiction of the plight of decent Newcastle joiner Daniel (Dave Johns), whose doctor has told him that he is unfit to work. That is not, however, the view of a ‘healthcare professional’ who sits in judgement on his assessment for employment and support allowance. Much of the film’s bleak humour comes from the catch-22 bureaucracy that ensnares Daniel and seems designed to discourage, demoralise and humiliate him. It’s familiar territory for director and screenwriter, but Loach has grown a little more sentimental
since the days of Cathy Come Home and I, Daniel Blake is unapologetic in the way it tugs at the heartstrings. It’s hard not to be won over by the warmth of its human spirit, as it confronts a subject that sadly remains just as relevant as ever. (Allan Hunter) ■ General release from Fri 21 Oct.
56 THE LIST 1 Sep–3 Nov 2016
DRAMA FREE STATE OF JONES (TBC) 139min ●●●●●
In writer / director Gary Ross’s attempt at an adult, historically based blockbuster, Matthew McConaughey plays Newt Knight, a Mississippi farmer and Confederate soldier who rebelled against corrupt authorities to form his own progressive free state, organising a group of escaped slaves into a militia to oppose their overlords. Coming off the back of his global hit The Hunger Games,
Ross manages the similarly rustic set-pieces with considerable visceral style, helped by McConaughey’s haunted, intense presence. But as with Steven Spielberg’s recent biopic of Abraham Lincoln, this version of history feels far too heavily filtered through 21st-century sensibilities; Knight is presented as such a fiercely progressive white saviour that it’s hard to believe he could ever have been such a saint, his relationship with Rachel (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is somewhat coyly developed, and a series of flash-forwards to a courtroom case involving one of his grandchildren unnecessarily interrupts the action.
Free State of Jones deserves credit for bringing a still-
controversial figure to life, and attempting to put some meat and gristle into the silly blockbuster season. But cramming so many historical events into nearly two and a half hours means that these good intentions rarely spark. (Eddie Harrison) ■ General release from Fri 30 Sep.
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COMEDY SWISS ARMY MAN (TBC) 97min ●●●●●
In Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s debut feature, a flatulent, reanimated corpse named Manny (an extremely game Daniel Radcliffe) utters the profound statement ‘If my best friend hides his farts from me then what else is he hiding from me, and why does that make me feel so alone?’ While it may sound like gross-out comedy, Swiss Army Man effectively explores the human condition through the story of castaway Hank (Paul Dano) who finds friendship with a dead man. Recalling the best and worst aspects of Michel Gondry’s
body of work, the film is at its strongest when dwelling in surreal territory. The soundtrack, by Andy Hull and Robert McDowell from Manchester Orchestra, utilises the natural surroundings of the forest through which Hank and Manny navigate loneliness, love and the meaning of life.
Indeed, the film finds beauty in the revolting and does so in a unique and heartfelt manner that extols the importance of honesty and friendship. It’s a moving and often hilarious romp around the wilderness that eloquently taps into the fundamental things we do in order to survive. (Katherine McLaughlin) ■ General release from Fri 30 Sep.