Oddity ★★★★☆
Directed by Damian McCarthy. Starring Carolyn Bracken, Gwilym Lee, Caroline Menton, Steve Wall, Tadhg Murphy. 15A cert, gen release, 99 min
A widowed doctor finds uneasy solace a year after his wife’s mysterious death. You can learn a lot about the mechanics of fear from Bantry filmmaker McCarthy’s nifty second feature. Eschewing the weighty “grief is the real horror” vogue in favour of old-school enchanted objects, Oddity is pleasingly pitched between a 1970s Amicus picture and Goosebumps for grown-ups. The precision is complemented by wit and an imaginative backstory that deserves an expanded universe. Darcy’s emporium of haunted artefacts - a welcome Irish variant of the shop wherein Mr Wing housed Gizmo in Gremlins - could easily spawn a spin-off series. Full review TB
Sing Sing ★★★★☆
Directed by Greg Kwedar. Starring Colman Domingo, Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, Sean San José, Paul Raci. 15A cert, gen release, 106 min
Domingo appears as John “Divine G” Whitfield, an inmate, apparently convicted unjustly in Sing Sing correctional facility, who runs a theatre programme based on the Rehabilitation Through the Arts scheme. The real Divine G, who has a cameo, was a vital force on that programme, edging inmates towards the theatre and writing imaginative plays for them to perform. Domingo dominates the piece with a moving and inspiring performance. There is, perhaps, too much contrast in style between him and the non-professionals around him. But the exploration of vulnerability is powerful. Full review DC
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Close to You ★★★☆☆
Directed by Dominic Savage. Starring Elliot Page, Hillary Baack, Peter Outerbridge, Wendy Crewson, Alex Paxton-Beesley, Daniel Maslany, Sook-Yin Lee. Limited release, 100 min.
Page’s first feature film since transitioning finds him playing Sam, a young trans man returning home to Canada to see his family for the first time in four years. It’s complicated: “It’s like I owe them so much,” he says. The dazzling young star of Juno and Whip It has matured into a fine actor. There’s a palpable vulnerability from the earliest scenes, when Sam encounters his former high school girlfriend (movingly played by Baack, Page’s costar from The East) on the train to Lake Ontario. Sadly the rest of the film is short on dramatic heft. Full review TB
Paradise Is Burning ★★★☆☆
Directed by Mika Gustafson. Starring Bianca Delbravo, Dilvin Asaad, Safira Mossberg, Ida Engvoll. Light House, Dublin, 108 min
Gustafson’s Swedish feature debut reads, on paper, like dozens of other social realist dramas. A bit Mike Leigh. A bit Andrea Arnold. Three sisters cope with a parentless life while social services circle. What sets Paradise Is Burning apart is the unique quasi-rural ambience and a set of performances that speak of great investment by filmmakers and cast. Bianca Delbravo (what a name for an actor) is a revelation as the eldest. There is a whiff throughout of someone teetering on the brink of an undecided adulthood — juggling responsible domestics with the still-nagging desires of the teenager. Full review DC
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