ALSO SHOWING
PERFECT 10 (15)
Preview
ASPIRING teenage gymnast Leigh (Frankie Box, pictured) has shed her self-confidence and her love for the sport following the death of her mother.
The girl’s father Rob (William Ash) is consumed by grief and neglects his daughter, whose only positive adult role model is her caring coach Gemma (Sharlene Whyte).
As Leigh trains fitfully for a competition, her life is upended by the sudden arrival of an older halfbrother she never knew existed. Cheeky chap Joe (Alfie Deegan) makes ends meet on the wrong side of the law and isn’t afraid to involve Leigh in his light-fingered enterprises. He connects with Leigh and coaxes her out of her shell.
SUMMERLAND (12A)
★★★★★ THIS is an elegantly constructed drama set on the Kent coast under threat from the Luftwaffe.
Alice Lamb (Gemma Arterton, pictured) lives alone in a remote cottage in a close-knit community not far from the white cliffs of Dover, where anyone who dares to set themselves apart from the gossip-mongering crowd risks being labelled a Nazi spy.
She devotes her waking hours to investigating folklore, using rigorous science to dispel the existence of magic. She is rudely dragged away from her thesis by the unexpected arrival of rosy-cheeked London Blitz evacuee Frank (Lucas Bond) as part of Operation Pied Piper.
Frank’s sense of wonder, untainted by cynicism or grief, slowly penetrates Alice’s prickly exterior and reawakens her sense of adventure.
She dares to unlock bittersweet memories of studying history in Oxford alongside the last person to stake a claim to her wounded heart: Vera Wilbond (Gugu Mbatha-Raw).
THE VIGIL (15)
★★★★★ MODEST supernatural horror The Vigil is set in Borough Park in Brooklyn, New York, which is home to vibrant Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish communities.
The religious practice of the shomer – typically a family member or friend who stands guard over the body of the deceased and recites the Psalms to ward off unseen evil – provides a neat dramatic conceit to mine for scares.
Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis, pictured) has tentatively stepped away from his Jewish roots following the death of his younger brother Burech (Ethan Stone). He meets former rabbi Reb Shulem (Menashe Lustig), who has a job proposition. He is willing to pay Yakov $400 to act as a shomer for Holocaust survivor Rubin Litvak (Ronald Cohen).
“A good man, a little weird,” the rabbi cryptically observes about the deceased, whose wife (Lynn Cohen) is in the grip of dementia and is unfit to stand guard. As Yakov begins his five-hour shift, he discovers alarming evidence of a demonic presence called a Mazzik (Rob Tunstall).