The Outcasts ★★★★★
Directed by Robert Wynne-Simmons. Starring Mary Ryan, Mick Lally, Don Foley, Cyril Cusack, Tom Jordan, Brenda Scallon, Bairbre Ní Chaoimh, Mairtín Ó'Flathearta. IFI, Dublin, 95 min
Welcome revival of an 1982 Irish folk horror that was an influence on Paul Duane’s recent All You Need Is Death. Mummers serenade a forced marriage between Breda (Scallon) and a conniving yokel (Ó'Flathearta) until a distant fiddle gives the wedding party pause. The faraway musician is the shaman and dark fairy, Scarf Michael (Lally): “a wild and ungodly man”. He finds a kindred spirit and lover in Breda’s bullied younger sister Maura (Ryan), a near-wordless girl. Once billed as the first Irish feature film in 50 years, The Outcasts has been beautifully refurbished in 2K by the IFI’s Digital Restoration Project. Full review TB
Sting ★★★☆☆
Directed by Kiah Roache-Turner Starring Ryan Corr, Alyla Browne, Penelope Mitchell, Noni Hazlehurst, Robyn Nevin, Jermaine Fowler, Danny Kim, Silvia Colloca. 16 cert, gen release, 92 min
Following luminous visitations from the beyond, a young girl happens upon a tiny spider that, after adoption as a pet, proceeds to grow at an alarming rate. Soon residents of the apartment block and their poor parrots are becoming arachnid lunchmeat. This lively Australian horror is very much in the spirit of Joe Dante and his recently late mentor Roger Corman. Like Dante films such as Gremlins and Small Soldiers, it plays to the beats of family entertainment. The mayhem is all good clean fun. The strained domestic relations are at least as important as the chewed limbs. Full review DC
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The Beast/La Bête ★★★☆☆
Directed by Bertrand Bonello. Starring Léa Seydoux, George MacKay, Guslagie Malanda, Dasha Nekrasova, Martin Scali, Élina Löwensohn, Marta Hoskins.15A cert, limited release, 146 min
Philosophical sci-fi drama starring Seydoux as a woman flitting between her past and future lives in pursuit of purity. She is a pianist in 2010 Paris. She is an actor in 2014 LA. She is (maybe) herself in a green-screen facility. The film attempts to herd a clatter of ideas that aren’t always happy to be so disciplined. Some sections have a completeness. Others are too broadly drawn for a film that is not shy in displaying its intellectual ambitions. What holds it all together is the director’s consistently coy visual aesthetic and a characteristically captivating turn from Seydoux. Full review DC
Gasoline Rainbow ★★★☆☆
Directed by Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross. Starring Tony Abuerto, Micah Bunch, Nichole Dukes, Nathaly Garcia, Makai Garza. Mubi, 110 min
The Ross Brothers have stated they are sick of having the documentary-hybrid conversation. It’s impossible, however, to watch this freewheeling Gen-Z road movie without guessing about its non-fictional underpinnings. Gasoline Rainbow, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year, features a group of graduating high-schoolers who improvise scenes and use their own names – Micah, Nathaly, Nichole, Tony and Makai – as they embark on a carefree 500-mile odyssey across Oregon. Straddling the current revival of the picaresque in US indie cinema (see The Sweet East), this is a pleasing meander, skilfully directed, shot, and edited. Full review TB
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