Reviews
Film round up
Jeremy Clarke
The surprisingly effective documentary Ballet Boys (cert 12a; 72
mins) follows three Norwegian teens training as dancers; it
highlights the pressures of a demanding career. 20,000 Days On
Earth (cert 15; 97 mins) delivers a fictional day in the life of
musician Nick Cave, whose company – plus that of collaborators from
Ray Winstone to Kylie Minogue, not to mention Cave’s shrink – is
worthwhile. David Cronenberg’s Maps To The Stars (cert 18; 111
mins) is a savage vision of Hollywood stars, as shock- i n g as
anything h e ‘ s made.
Listing its characters In Order Of Disappearance (cert 15; 96
mins) comes a gripping Scandi-thriller as a snow plough operator,
Stellan Skarsgård, seekis revenge for his murdered son and ignites
a gang war. ’71 (cert 15; 99 mins) is an impressive period thriller
depicting a British soldier cut off from his unit in Northern
Ireland. The edge-of-the seat, real-time thriller Grand Piano (cert
15; 90 mins) has pianist Elijah Wood onstage trying to outwit the
sniper threatening to kill him during a concert.
Two couples in crisis drama Luna (cert tbc; 103 mins) relies too
much on the comic book artist Dave McKean’s extraordinary visuals
over its narrative. 1964’s charming A Jester’s Tale (DVD cert U; 81
mins) is a romantic adventure yarn made by pioneering Czech
director Karel Zeman set in the Hundred Years War mixing live
action with animation. The Boxtrolls (cert PG; 97 mins) is an
incredible, brilliantly conceived, complex fable about privilege,
exploitation and ambition brought to life by state of the art
stop-frame animation.
Tony Benn: Will And Testament (cert 12a; 95 mins) offers
fascinating insights into one of recent British political history’s
most important figures and his thinking. The audience-pleasing
drama Pride (cert 15; 120 mins) chronicles gay activists’ real-life
fund-raising for Welsh pits during the 1984/5 strike. Better than
either, Night Will Fall (cert 15; 75 mins), featuring footage from
a proposed but never finished UK government documentary, looks at
the Allied filming of the Nazi death camps as WW2 ended.
Zach Braff’s kickstarter-funded Wish I Was Here (cert 15; 120
mins) is a skilfully scripted, comic narrative about an out-of-work
Jewish actor overwhelmed by the demands of family. British marital
breakup comedy What We Did On Our Holiday (cert 12a; 95 mins)
features children, animals and death to hilarious effect. Woody
Allen’s Magic In The Moonlight (cert 12a; 97 mins) isn’t funny, but
a fascinating character study of a 1920s magician determined to
expose a Spiritualist he believes a fake.
Ida (cert 12a; 80 mins) is an absorbing tale of a nun about to
take her vows in 1960s’ Poland. She stumbles upon dark family
secrets and struggles with The World in the form of a visiting
dance band. Birds, Orphans and Fools (DVD cert 15; 78 mins) is a
joyous, freewheeling 1969 Czech celebration of freedom.
