CHRIS HUNNEYSETT
CLEMENCY
Digital today
Two lonely lives run parallel yet apart in this tough and uncompromising death-row drama, which examines the physical and spiritual effects capital punishment has on those involved.
Veteran African-American actress Alfre Woodard delivers a superb and complex performance as warden Bernadine Williams.
She exudes authority and humanity as she fulfils her duties with a steely determination. Her professional pride in maintaining rules and order has become an emotional shield, which has caused long-standing faultlines in her marriage.
Aldis Hodge is equally impressive as her prisoner, Anthony Woods, who faces the death sentence for killing a police officer 15 years earlier.
Though the case which condemned him is
THE FANATIC
Digital today, disc Monday weak, he has exhausted his appeals and his only hope of reprieve lies with the state governor who has the power to grant clemency and cancel the execution at the last moment.
It’s a tremendous physical performance by
Hodge, an essay in trauma, mute articulacy and selfpunishment, and at times it’s very hard to watch.
I’m sure it’s no coincidence this movie is being released nearly 65 years to the day Ruth Ellis became the last woman in the UK to be hanged, and where you stand on the hugely divisive issue of capital punishment may determine how you react to the story. However, what’s not up for debate is the quality and strength of the filmmaking involved. There are terrific performances across the board, the economical camerawork is full of purpose, and the lighting team adds immeasurably to the sombre mood.
For her efforts NigerianAmerican writer and director Chinonye Chukwu became the first black woman to win the US Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Robert Redford’s prestigious Sundance Film Festival.
Her success springs from her willingness to show the barbaric nature of the process and leaves us in no doubt of her opinion of state-sanctioned killing.
As for Woodard’s lead performance, it’s worthy of adding to the Oscar nomination she received in 1984 for the romantic drama Cross Creek.
FATHER SOLDIER SON
Netflix, today
Alfre Woodard plays a prison warden who keeps order on death row
UCinemas, today
Dreams come to life in this enjoyable and imaginative animated fable, and it spells trouble for a pair of squabbling siblings who must learn to understand each other and work together to escape a land of nightmares.
When the studious Minna accidentally discovers the world of our dreams is constructed like a movie set, full of blueskinned humanoid actors and friendly robot stagehands, she can’t resist the chance to teach her spoilt, vain, rude, social media-obsessed step-sister Jenny a lesson in manners.
Despite being warned that disturbing other people’s dreams can have catastrophic consequences, Minna tries to manipulate Jenny’s slumber, which sends them on a zippy and fun adventure of self-discovery.
With an emphasis on kindness being more important than appearances or popularity, the script slips in messages about engaging with the real world and warnings about online cruelty.
Aimed at your little ones, it’s reminiscent of classics Monsters, Inc. and Inside Out, and delivers a surprising amount of emotional weight with colourful charm and a style of its own. Giant disco-dancing hamsters mix with menacing spiders, but there’s nothing to give your kids nightmares.
GHOSTS OF WAR
Digital today
ADVENTURE Jenny and Minna
Scares and shoot-outs are well-balanced in this Second World War haunted house horror, influenced by the work of lauded sci-fi writer Robert A Heinlein and his speculative ideas of future military technology.
Brenton Thwaites plays the fresh-faced leader of a five-strong squad who’s pleased to be ordered to defend a deserted French chateau.
It’s only after a fierce battle with a passing German platoon that events become weird, beginning with their field radio seemingly picking up signals from beyond the grave.
Sadly old-school special effects slowly give way to glossy CGI, and fans of Hollywood’s forgotten man Billy Zane will be disappointed at his lack of screen time.
The script speaks to humanity’s ageless appetite for warfare, and though it flags up the idea that the Second World War represents a moral high ground and in comparison all subsequent wars are found wanting, it fails to give itself adequate time to explore the matter.
But for the most part, this offers pretty effective entertainment, with the main actors putting in a shift among the bloody and sometimes brutal action which is choreographed in a shoot ’em up video-game style.
WEIRD Soldiers in a strange war
‘‘ Woodard exudes authority and humanity as she fulfils her duties