FILM | Reviews
COMEDY DRAMA A MAN CALLED OVE (15) 116min ●●●●●
A massive hit in its native Sweden as well as a double Oscar nominee, writer-director Hannes Holm’s adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s 2012 novel is a familiar story of a curmudgeon who learns to love life after suffering a bereavement. Yet while the themes are nothing new, A Man Called Ove is consistently delightful in the way it uses the cynicism of a suicidal anti-hero to stave off any potential for over-sentimentality.
Ageing grump Ove Lindahl (Rolf Lassgård) is the self-appointed prefect of a small community whose regular attempts to end his own life are constantly interrupted by his neighbours, notably mouthy Iranian immigrant Parvaneh (Bahar Pars) and her noisy family. Sensing his turmoil, Parvaneh takes the time to get to know Ove, and discovers how he came to meet, treasure and then lose his lovely wife Sonja (Ida Engvoll). Ove has no real desire for anything other than being reunited with Sonja in death, but his increasing awareness of the problems that Parvaneh faces leads him to re-engage with the authority figures antagonising them both.
It’s a shamelessly feelgood story, but Holm adopts a wry tone; the abruptly amusing yet horrifying death of Ove’s father in a freak locomotive accident is one of many such incidents. This welcome streak of black, anarchic comedy lifts the film towards its heartwarming if predictable conclusion.
Like its central character, A Man Called Ove has a humble,
unassuming quality, epitomised by its performances, with Lassgård and Engvoll particularly good. Morals about moving on from the past and embracing new friends might have seemed pat if Holm’s film were not so deft in the pithy observations it makes about life’s random, too-often cruel nature. (Eddie Harrison) ■ Selected release from Fri 30 Jun.
DOCUMENTARY WHITNEY: CAN I BE ME (15) 105min ●●●●● BIOPIC TOMMY’S HONOUR (TBC) 112min ●●●●●
SATIRE THE SQUARE (TBC) 142min ●●●●●
Nick Broomfield’s latest documentary, about the life and death of singing sensation Whitney Houston, starts at the end. Accompanying aerial shots of the Beverly Hilton hotel is the 911 call made in February 2012 when Houston was discovered unconscious in her bathtub. But if this suggests Broomfield and his co-director Rudi Dolezal are going down a lurid rabbit hole, think again. The format is fairly traditional – talking heads, archive footage – as the film paints a sensitive and assured portrait of the woman who won seven Grammys and sold 200 million records. When footage plays of an emotional Houston singing her torch song, ‘I Will Always Love You’, on what would prove to be her last live tour, it’s a real lump-in-the-throat moment, even if the film as a whole lacks the overwhelming power and personal feel of Asif Kapadia’s Amy Winehouse doc. Still, there are intriguing interviews here, not least with Houston’s real-life bodyguard David Roberts. Tellingly, Broomfield and Dolezal don’t speak to Houston’s bad boy ex, musician Bobby Brown, or her best friend / personal assistant Robyn Crawford. Puzzle pieces are missing then, but it’s a soulful study of one of music’s great fallen angels. (James Mottram) ■ Selected release from Fri 16 Jun.
78 THE LIST 1 Jun–31 Aug 2017
Based on the book by Kevin Cook, Tommy’s Honour tells the story of two golfing greats. Tom Morris (played here by Peter Mullan) and his son Tommy (Jack Lowden) are regarded as founding figures of the modern game. Jason Connery, son of Sean, takes the directorial reins of a well-meant but dramatically deficient biopic hampered by its low budget and unimaginative treatment of events. It sees Old Tom look back on his stormy relationship with his son, as it illustrates the stifling pressures that surround them. Tom teaches young Tommy to love the game, but his progeny’s passion for local lass Meg (Ophelia Lovibond) divides the family. Meanwhile, crusty and officious members (like Sam Neill’s Alexander Boothby) threaten to strangle the life out of the sport, with professional betting interests providing a further source of strife.
Whatever difficulties the two men had in their careers are never portrayed in any deep or emotional way, leaving a talented cast grimacing behind straggly beards, and the film’s depiction of several generations of Scots as whisky-guzzling, bunnet-wearing fogeys is crude. Tommy’s Honour offers misty-eyed melodrama rather than any real insight into sporting history. (Eddie Harrison) ■ Selected release from Fri 7 Jul.
Ruben Östlund follows the almost surgical precision of breakthrough hit Force Majeure with The Square, an altogether more unwieldy, star-sprinkled proposition (Dominic West and Elisabeth Moss appear). His new film is the cinematic equivalent of an attempt at the great European novel, as he chews over a modern world crippled by selfishness and timidity.
The alpha male in this film is Christian (Claes Bang), the successful curator of a modern art museum. There are some easy laughs at the pretentiousness of the art scene but the main focus is on the wavering moral compassion of a man doing his best to live a decent life. Finding himself the victim of a scam that costs him his wallet, mobile phone and cufflinks, he responds uncharacteristically by tracking the phone and leaving threatening letters to all the inhabitants of a block of flats where the stolen items might be.
Personal responsibility, the sensationalist modern
mindset and the need for everyone to be more connected to their fellow human beings are just some of the themes explored. The Square does beguile with its elegant compositions, talking-point set-pieces and constant sense of provocation but ultimately it leaves you feeling that Östlund has bitten off more than he can chew. (Allan Hunter) ■ General release from Fri 25 Aug.