TEASER TRAILER FOR SOFIA COPPOLA'S THE BEGUILED

Yes, Sofia Coppola keeps going off the deep end, but so what? I've never before been known to turn down an invitation to a Nicky K party and I'm not about to start now! Out in the UK and the US both on the 23rd of June, so it's pretty probable that this is headed for Cannes.

LFF 2016 REVIEW - LION (GARTH DAVIS)

As a distant memory conjures up only a fleeting image in one's mind, so too do the opening credits of Lion scurry past before fading away, as the film itself seems destined to. Early and often, emphasis is placed upon emphasis alone, an attempt at hammering home the potent dramatic tenor of this incredible true story, with little attention toward developing that which might make the viewer share in its characters' emotional turmoil. Empty stylistic gestures gently adorn Lion, cooking up the occasional memorable image, but otherwise of little actual impact. Trauma is co-opted under the strictures of convention for a commercialized fantasy, and one can only wonder what effect the film might have had under the guidance of more sensitive hands. Luke Davies' screenplay prioritizes reverence to factual truth over emotional truth, and Garth Davis conspires in sacrificing the potential for genuine affective heft in favour of excessive adherence to narrative credibility, yet with deviations in the direction of cliche throughout. Should I just stop kicking this film while I've already got it down? I think so, because there remains a lot to like about Lion. Even under questionable creative direction, the power of such an astonishing true story told with kindness gives the film undeniable purpose, and gives the cast a wealth of strong material with which to work. Nicole Kidman and Sunny Pawar are excellent, and Dev Patel delves deep into his role in order to rise above his film, handling a highly difficult task with apparent ease. Hollow actors' showcases have never been my thing, but Lion gets by on at least not being the worst.

LFF 2016 PREVIEW: LION

A dignified, authentic yet highly-moving crowd-pleaser

Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily

A sober and yet profoundly stirring contemplation of family, roots, identity and home

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

I've been singing the praises of Australian director Garth Davis ever since he collaborated with the great Jane Campion on her fabulous TV series Top of the Lake. So there was little doubting that his new film Lion would make my LFF 2016 watchlist. The film has just claimed the first runner-up spot in the People's Choice awards at TIFF and, with The Weinstein Company behind it, this true-story drama looks headed for potential awards glory later this year and into 2017. Dev Patel, Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman star. Released in North America on the 25th of November.

TRAILER: GARTH DAVIS' LION WITH DEV PATEL

You did not know how much you wanted to see Lion, unless you've seen Top of the Lake on TV. Garth Davis directed the shit out of his episodes of Jane Campion's marvellous first season of the mini-series, and no doubt he's brought that same strong dramatic sensibility to this film, which The Weinstein Company is priming as their top pick for awards season. It shows at the Toronto International Film Festival next month, before opening in the US on the 25th of November. Check out the first trailer, with Dev Patel, Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman, above.

REVIEW - THE FAMILY FANG (JASON BATEMAN)

A dark, inquisitive mind, or the suggestion of one, resides behind the facade of Jason Bateman's The Family Fang, itself a dark, inquisitive film that never fully follows through on its promise. The film inquires as to the nature of art, in what actually defines it and in how it defines its participants; Bateman appears yet again too well versed in the language and style of flat, shallow American comedy, a type of film that thrives upon actually shunning the semblance of artistry, to properly engage with his film's principal concerns, and squanders a ripe opportunity. The Family Fang is simply plotted, straightforwardly presented, an ideal vessel for discussion of the complex notions explored, or at least proposed, by David Lindsay-Abaire's script. Meanwhile, Bateman is plotting something altogether different: an offbeat comedy, the like of which might have fused most flatteringly with Lindsay-Abaire's more philosophical take. But the film is about as deft as a warthog dancing the waltz, and this muddled dramedy never develops into a work worthy of the effort that's evidently been put into it. Making matters worse: the shadowy brown cinematography by Ken Seng, recalling Woody Allen in his Sven Nykvist period, only without either Woody Allen or Sven Nykvist. Making matters better: the acting, with fine performances from the entire ensemble, but particularly magnetic turns from Nicole Kidman and Maryann Plunkett.

FIRST LOOK AT THE FAMILY FANG

Although precisely the kind of middlebrow, middle-class, middle American, middle-of-the-road 'dramedy' you'd expect from Jason Bateman, there were some fairly positive responses to his new film, The Family Fang, when it premiered last year at the Toronto International Film Festival. It'll hope to transfer some of that into a strong box office performance when it opens in the US on the 29th of April. Also starring Nicole Kidman, Maryann Plunkett and Christopher Walken.

REVIEW - SECRET IN THEIR EYES (BILLY RAY)

Billy Ray's Secret in Their Eyes isn't a bad idea, much as the concept of Hollywood remakes of foreign films is often defined as such. The 2009 original is a good film, you see, though much of what made it so good has been jettisoned in transit; the result isn't a bad idea, it's a bad film. A star vehicle in essence, the purpose of this twisty plot, set over two time periods, has gotten buried under a preoccupation with serving those stars; would that as much effort had been put into the script as the hairstyles. That plot is pure pulp, but it's pulp that insists upon being taken seriously, and a combination of buddy cop movie quips and soap opera histrionics undermine this requirement. It's inherently interesting, though equally implausible when presented this way, and the essential link between event and outcome, action and reaction, the mechanics of the plot and its effect upon the characters is lost. Ray lifts a number of sequences directly from Juan Jose Campanella's film, but to consistently diminished returns; he alters some major plot details in a minor fashion, diluting a particularly potent one that gives the ending distinctly less sting. The political context feels arbitrarily added, despite drawing directly from a similar one in Campanella's film. But remember: this is a star vehicle, and lead performers Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts are faultless. They carry you through, even as you know it's not their responsibility to.

REVIEW - QUEEN OF THE DESERT (WERNER HERZOG)

A giant leap for Werner Herzog, disguised as a small step. Exotic historical epics are the kind of project his career was built upon, yet they always possessed a fierce, angular, unhinged contrariness, as if born out of the fires of blazing creation, new and unformed. Queen of the Desert is calm and smooth, born out of a simmering smoulder, contrary only to one's expectations of what Herzog might concoct out of such a promising premise. It's an exercise in cultural excavation, though whereas our protagonist Gertrude Bell sought to understand the cultures of the Middle East's native tribes, Herzog seeks to understand that of a landscape equally foreign to him - Hollywood. This is a straight-up recreation of a classic Hollywood epic, albeit shot through with an occasional jolt of Herzogian weirdness, weirdly sporadic. In this, one senses our director's inquisitiveness, inspired and informed by Bell's inquisitiveness; it's buried beneath layers of glossy period design, and it's intellectually shallow, but it exists all the same, and does so to give Queen of the Desert an identifiable purpose. Alas, otherwise this film is in rather desperate need of depth, struck down by too many technical distractions. Herzog is still seeking to understand by the end, I feel, never truly settling on his subject to display any real insight. The dialogue leaves much to be desired - ditto performances from James Franco and Robert Pattinson - though excerpts from Bell's diaries read in voiceover by Nicole Kidman provide poetic relief, and contribute notably toward the timbre of this undeniably artful period piece. Between the expansive visuals and the immersive sound, one appreciates the detail which has been put into this recreation, in its partially successful attempt at meaningful, memorable cultural excavation.