list.co.uk/fi lm Reviews | FILM
BIOPIC DARKEST HOUR (PG) 125min ●●●●● SCI-FI COMEDY DOWNSIZING (15) 135min ●●●●●
COMEDY LAST FLAG FLYING (TBC) 124min ●●●●●
Is there an appropriate noun for a collection of Winston Churchill performances? A growl of Churchills, perhaps? Gary Oldman’s stirring tour de force comes at the end of a long line of recent contenders, from Brian Cox to John Lithgow and Michael Gambon. Virtually unrecognisable, Oldman outshines them all, attacking the part like a man faced with a three-course banquet after a diet of bread and water. He is the finest aspect of a film set in May 1940, as Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) loses the confidence of the nation amid the growing possibility that Britain may be forced to seek a peace settlement with Hitler. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, when Churchill is appointed PM.
Covering political backstabbing, the reservations of the King (Ben Mendelsohn), the rock-solid support of Churchill’s beloved Clemmie (an excellent Kristin Scott Thomas) and the evacuation of British troops from France, Darkest Hour is a lively jig through the pages of history, not immune to overdoing its hero worship of the central character. A morale-boosting jaunt on the London Underground to meet the common folk is a step too far in a confidently handled crowdpleaser from director Joe Wright. (Allan Hunter) ■ General release from Fri 12 Jan.
Big is no longer beautiful in Downsizing, a disjointed mixture of science-fiction whimsy, mild-mannered comedy and gentle romance that finds Sideways director Alexander Payne venturing into territory that seems a more comfortable fit for Wes Anderson or Charlie Kaufman. Initially, the film is a commentary on the sorry state of the planet. One solution comes via a pioneering Norwegian institute that develops a successful method of human miniaturisation. Years later, occupational therapist Paul Safranek (Matt Damon) and his wife Audrey (Kristen Wiig) make the decision to join America’s number one micro community. After a laboured change of gears, Paul becomes a more traditional Payne figure – cast adrift from his moorings, searching for an elusive happiness and finding the possibility of romance with a Vietnamese activist (Hong Chau).
A longstanding passion project for Payne, there is an overabundance of ideas and notions crammed into the script. It looks beautiful, Damon is, as ever, a solid, reassuring presence and Chau delights. Nevertheless, it remains a sentimental, meandering tale in which all the little fleeting pleasures don’t quite constitute a satisfying whole. (Allan Hunter) ■ General release from Fri 19 Jan.
Richard Linklater turns a road trip and reunion between three ex-marines into an enjoyably silly and poignant Christmas-set comedy, exploring loss of faith and trust in government. Set in December 2003, it captures a particular moment in post 9/11 American history, and is told from the point-of-view of men who have faced conflict head-on and survived. Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and Laurence
Fishburne make a charismatic central trio. Larry (Carell, in a performance imbued with real pathos) gets the gang back together for the funeral of his son, who is killed in the Iraq war. Cranston’s Sal has lots of fun delivering rebellious wise-cracks as a semi- functioning alcoholic dive-bar owner, while Fishburne gets the straight man role, playing reformed gambler turned pastor Mueller.
Co-written by Linklater and Darryl Ponicsan (who wrote the original novel), the film occasionally falters with plot points that feel contrived, though the sense of brotherhood remains convincing. Ultimately Larry, Sal and Mueller aren’t always the wisest of men, but Last Flag Flying is a touching look at family and responsibility, and a sincere reflection on the futility of war. (Katherine McLaughlin) ■ General release from Fri 26 Jan.
COMEDY DRAMA THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (TBC) 115min ●●●●●
Frances McDormand is one mean-ass mother in the third feature from British-Irish director Martin McDonagh (Seven Psychopaths, In Bruges). She plays Mildred Hayes whose daughter was raped and murdered seven months previous, a crime for which no one has been arrested. Exasperated at the lack of progress, and not the sort to keep quiet about it, Mildred sets about making a nuisance of herself, buying up advertising space on the titular billboards to confront the chief of police (Woody Harrelson) about his inadequacies in big, black letters. The local priest tells her sternly, ‘Nobody is with you on this,’
before she tears him a new one. McDormand is magnificent (inscribe that Oscar immediately), a fount of barely, sometimes not remotely, contained fury, while the pain emblazoned on her face is as bold as the bandana and boilersuit combo that gives her gangster swagger. Unpredictability abounds in a story that ultimately sees
shambolic cop Jason (a superb Sam Rockwell) move further into the picture. The laughs are hearty and always in bad taste, however the crime chills the blood and Three Billboards never for a second stops being sad about it. Combining such elements is a delicate, difficult balance but it’s one that McDonagh achieves just as surely as his brother John Michael did in Calvary. With female mistreatment and male failings defining the narrative, Three Billboards acts as a fine platform for the associated anger. The kind of ‘nasty’ woman Trump and his cronies fear and an abuse victim herself, there are genuinely no limits to what the mad-as-hell Mildred will do to make people sit up and listen. The film, too, just keeps tipping fuel onto the fire. What fun it is to watch it rage. (Emma Simmonds) ■ General release from Fri 12 Jan.
1 Nov 2017–31 Jan 2018 THE LIST 89