Emilia Pérez ★★★★☆
Directed by Jacques Audiard. Starring Zoë Saldaña, Karla Sofia Gascón, Adriana Paz, Selina Gomez, Edgar Ramirez, Mark Ivanir. 15A cert, gen release, 154 min
Singular musical concerning a Mexican drug lord (Gascón) who employs a conflicted lawyer (Saldaña) to assist in transition from male to female. One can understand why not every reasonable person will get on board. Some will worry gender-transition is being used as little more than gimmicky narrative scaffolding. But, for most, the sincere commitment of the actresses will surely brush aside any such reservations. This is a bold, brassy, entertainment that breaks new ground as it hugs venerable genres to its chest. Gascón has the charisma and assurance of a Joan Crawford. Full review DC
The Room Next Door ★★★☆☆
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Starring Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Alessandro Nivola. 15A cert, gen release, 107 min
Swinton plays a terminally ill journalist who inveigles a friend (Moore) into helping her accelerate her death. From Wim Wenders’s Hammett to Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth, the English-language debut has been a rock upon which many international directors run aground. So it proves with Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, which is stuffed with good performances, pretty things, and weighty dialogue that, nonetheless, fails to coalesce into the shape of an Almodóvar film. One suspects that the director’s long overdue Golden Lion win at Venice was more of a lifetime achievement gong. Full review TB
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Dahomey ★★★★☆
Directed by Mati Diop. Featuring Makenzy Orcel. G cert, limited release, 68 min
Diop, the Franco-Senegalese director of the acclaimed Atlantics, uses a hybrid technique to examine the gestural return of 26 historically significant objects — out of many thousands — to the nation of Benin from the French authorities. The film follows the items on their way back and listens to students in Benin as they discuss the morality of it all. Diop also puts spooky words in the mouth of one statue. You could call it experimental, but this remains a lucid piece of work that lays out its arguments in sharp fashion. Winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin. Full review DC
A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things ★★★☆☆
Directed by Mark Cousins. Starring Tilda Swinton. Limited release, 88 min
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912–2004) — or Willie to her friends — was a Scottish avant-garde painter who emerged from the St Ives School, an experimental group of artists who converged on Cornwall in the mid-20th century. Cousins’s 24th feature, relayed in the Belfast filmmaker’s inimitable style, is lovingly curated from the artist’s journals and photos. Working from Lynne Green’s biography, Cousins alternately probes and marvels. One suspects the late artist, who painted into her 90s, would have appreciated his outside view. A worthy winner of the Karlovy Vary festival’s best film award. Full review TB
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