ALSO SHOWING
COME AWAY (PG) HHHHH
MINIATURE model ship craftsman Jack Littleton (David Oyelowo) and his wife Rose (Angelina Jolie) live in the countryside on the outskirts of London with their three children, David (Reece Yates), Peter ( Jordan A Nash) and Alice (Keira Chansa).
It’s a bucolic idyll replete with a bustling housemaid ( Jenny Galloway), where the siblings’ imaginations are fuelled by stories of fairies and high seas adventure recounted by the wide-eyed parents.
A soothing air of childhood innocence blows icy cold when David drowns by accident in a lake.
Rose seeks refuge in alcohol, denying her remaining offspring the attention and bedtime stories they crave, while Jack struggles with a gambling addiction that racked up crippling debts to his brother James (David Gyasi).
Peter ( Jordan A Nash) blames himself for the tragedy and vows to improve his academic grades.
Meanwhile, wealthy aunt Eleanor (Anna Chancellor) offers to cure the family’s financial woes by raising Alice under her own roof.
Recounted in flashback by adult Alice (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), Come Away struggles to find a pleasing balance between reality and fantasy.
SONGBIRD (15) HHHHH
SONGBIRD is a breathless tour of 2024 Los Angeles under martial law, which is in the grip of an airborne strain of coronavirus that can kill in under 48 hours. The few with immunity wear yellow medical bracelets which allow safe passage through manned checkpoints.
Citizens are ordered to stay indoors permanently to avoid infection. A morning temperature check identifies anyone with a fever, who is dragged from their home by Hazmat-suited agents and deposited in quarantine camps.
Former paralegal Nico (KJ Apa) has immunity and is allowed outside during daylight hours to work as a bicycle courier. Nico dreams of running away to the Big Sur coastline with girlfriend Sara (Sofia Carson), who he’s never been able to touch.
When a daily temperature check puts Sara in jeopardy, Nico races against the clock to engineer their escape, ensnaring him in the tangled webs of sadistic Department of Sanitation boss Harland (Peter Stormare) and wealthy couple William and Piper Griffin (Bradley Whitford, Demi Moore).
Shot largely at street level, Songbird cranks up dramatic tension once gun-toting marshals arrive outside Sara’s apartment.
Apa is a likeable and sympathetic hero, showcasing an impressively ripped physique to give him a fighting chance against competing dark forces in a fallen metropolis where “disobedience is spreading like a tornado”.
Showing in selected cinemas.