ALSO SHOWING

ORDINARY LOVE (12A)

★★★★★

INTIMATE drama about middleaged married couple Joan (Lesley Manville, right, and Tom (Liam

Neeson), who have slowly come to terms with the death of their daughter and settled back into a routine under their cloud of grief.

They make regular pilgrimages to the grave and keep fit by walking side by side along a busy road.

In the shower after one stroll, Joan feels a lump in her left breast and the couple make an urgent appointment at the local hospital, where she is diagnosed with cancer.

Joan begins treatment, relying on Tom to drive her to and from appointments as clumps of hair fall out and her body weathers crashing waves of nausea and exhaustion. Their marriage feels the strain and Tom struggles to articulate his feelings of impotency. Meanwhile, Joan finds a cheerleader in fellow cancer patient Peter (David Wilmot).

MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN (15)

★★★★★ SLOW-BURNING crime thriller starring Edward Norton (right), who also writes, directs and produces.

Norton plays Lionel Essrog, an orphaned kid growing up on the mean streets of Brooklyn who is taken under the wing of private detective Frank Minna (Bruce Willis).

Lionel is a lonely figure who has Tourette’s syndrome, but he doesn’t let his condition stand in the way of his job. When Minna dies on a job, Lionel takes it upon himself to find out what happened – resulting in a deep dive into troubling political issues across the city.

Along the way, he meets alluring community activist Laura (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). However, when Lionel unravels closely guarded secrets about Randolph – the most powerful man in the city – Laura is left in serious danger.

■ Review by Georgia Humphreys.

LUCY IN THE SKY (15)

★★★★★ DIRECTOR Noah Hawley’s drama – loosely based on the true story of Nasa astronaut Lisa Nowak – opens with Lucy Cola (Oscar winner Natalie Portman, pictured), staring into the star at the centre of our solar system from space.

“You go up there, see the universe, then come back home and it all looks so small,” she rues, experiencing a crushing sense of disappointment back on terra firma with her mild-mannered husband Drew (Dan Stevens) and teenage daughter Blue Iris (Pearl Amanda Dickson).

Determined to earn her spot on the next space mission, Lucy throws herself into training and risks lasting damage to outperform younger rival Erin Eccles (Zazie Beetz). Alas, Lucy’s mental state fractures and, impulsively, she seeks comfort in the arms of fellow astronaut Mark Goodwin (Jon Hamm). Lucy falls for Mark, jeopardising her marriage and her place on the next Nasa rocket.

When Lucy learns that Mark has also taken a fancy to Erin, jealousy takes hold, propelling the enraged wife down a dangerous and violent path.