ALSO SHOWING

Peterloo Cert: 12A; Now showing

Mike Leigh’s latest film feels in some ways rather unMike Leigh like. The scale for a start is different, it’s a sprawling historical drama as opposed to his usual more intimate, domestic studies, and this in turn brings other changes, not all of them effective.

It is well-made, wellacted and often interesting, it maintains the political sensibilities we have come to expect from Leigh and certainly has relevance today. But it might have made a better three-part series than film because it ends up feeling too long; worthy but a bit turgid.

The film is set in 1819 in Leigh’s native Manchester and opens with a young, traumatised soldier returning there after Waterloo. The family he returns to is poor and getting poorer and divided about how to see this through — his mother Nellie (Maxine Peake) believes no good comes of complaining, his father (Pearce Quigley) believes there might be something to the peaceful protest planned for St Peter’s Field. The people want the right to vote (for men), the ruling classes are horrified.

Each layer of the story, from worker to royalty, is portrayed but the sheer size of the cast of characters means that each one is a symbol as opposed to the rich individual Leigh is so good at creating and delivering. The only character who comes close is orator Henry Hunt (Rory Kinnear.)

A lot of the detail is interesting, but there is too much for a film and it takes too long to get to the main action. HHH AINE O'CONNOR

Juliet, Naked Cert: 15A; Now showing

There are things we’ve come to expect from functioning romcom dramas in the Richard Curtis mould. These include zany friends, decisive nudges from cute children, grand public gestures of love, and quaint British backdrops.

Based on the novel by Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About A Boy) and directed by ex-Lemonheads bassist Jesse Peretz, Juliet, Naked delivers on all these counts. And while it is never in danger of making a sharp left-hand turn away from its cuddly remit, it does feel a little more sophisticated than your average first-date flick.

A delightful three-way cast gel seamlessly. Rose Byrne (Bridesmaids) is Annie, a museum manager in the cosy seaside town of Sandcliff. Her partner is Duncan (fellow Bridesmaids alumnus Chris O’Dowd), a culture bore obsessed with lost singersongwriter Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke). After years of rolling her eyes as Duncan bangs on about Crowe, an encounter out of the blue finds her corresponding online with growing intimacy with the obscure musician. Just as her relationship with Duncan is faltering, it turns out that Crowe is coming to London and would she like to meet?

With O’Dowd providing the goon factor, Byrne and Hawke make for a charming on-screen partnership. A compelling dynamic opens up as their characters converge at the lastchance saloon from opposite angles. Expect a sweet but beguiling aftertaste. HHHH HILARY A WHITE

Black Mother Club Cert; Now showing, IFI

Khalik Allah’s second documentary is an impressionistic portrait of Jamaica, where his parents were born.

Like his first film it takes a little mind tweak to adjust to the mix of styles and images, everything overlaid with out-of synch recordings of all kinds of people talking about all kinds of things. Yet, although there is no real formal structure, it all coalesces to give a remarkable sense of complex culture.

The sort of structure that Allah puts on his film is that of a pregnancy. The first trimester is about getting used to the images and voices, from old to young talking about everything from religion to negotiating location and price with prostitutes.

At times it is a little hard to understand but as people discuss Maroons, the original runaway slaves who settled the island, religion and spirituality — Jamaica has more churches per square mile than any other country in the world — what the film gives birth to is a dreamy and fascinating picture of Jamaica, how it began and what it has become to and through the people who live there. HHHH AINE O'CONNOR