Bleak tale of death that’s punishing
CLEMENCY
★★★✩✩
(15, 113mins)
Director: Chinonye Chukwu
Stars: Alfre Woodard, Richard Schiff, Aldis Hodge, Wendell Pierce (Streaming now on Curzon Home Cinema)
COME AS YOU ARE
★★★★★
(NR, 106mins)
Director: Richard Wong
Stars: Grant Rosenmeyer, Hayden Szeto, Ravi Patel, Gabourey Sidibe (On major platforms now)
GHOSTS OF WAR
★★✩✩✩
(18, 95 mins)
Director: Eric Bress
Stars: Brenton Thwaites, Skylar Astin, Theo Rossi, Alan Ritchson, Kyle Gallner, (On major platforms now)
ALFRE WOODARD is the main reason for watching Clemency, a tough exploration of capital punishment in the US. She plays prison chief Bernadinewilliams, overseeing her 12th execution and slowly unravelling under the strain.
Woodard is a very fine actor and her performance here is impeccable. She is a compelling big screen presence, drawing meaning from the slightest gesture or change in facial expression.
You lose some of this detail, I am sure, through streaming at home, but the cinemas are saving their screens for the summer blockbusters.
The film begins with her 11th execution, and it is excruciating.the doctor cannot find a vein for the lethal injection and the screens to the viewing gallery are drawn as the condemned man refuses to succumb. He dies in the end, but it is agony for all involved, not just him.
Bernadine is outwardly tough and professional, cold even, but she struggles internally as the next appointment in the death chamber approaches. She drinks, she suffers from nightmares, she argues with her husband (Wendell Pierce, from The Wire).
Gradually, her emotions start to show, and Woodard’s mastery of this process is the best thing about Clemency.
This all unfolds at a lethargic pace, however. There is little action after that terrifying opening, and not a trace of humour to leaven the mood. Some of the dialogue is so slow that you notice the hum of the air-conditioning in the background.
Perhaps director Chinonye Chukwu’s intention was to create a sense of impending doom. Instead, it is simply ponderous. Every scene with Woodard has merit, but there are diminishing returns as the viewer craves something more to hold their attention. I found my mind wondering more than once.
Richard Schiff (Thewestwing) pops up as the killer’s defeated lawyer and Aldis Hodge has some decent scenes as convict Anthony Woods, dreading his date with the potassium chloride. He is, though, remarkably well groomed for a man on Death Row, which was a little off-putting.
You wonder afterwards what the point was.this is not a film which will change anyone’s mind on capital punishment, only confirm your belief either way.and it fails as a study of a woman falling apart because of the glacial pace. In the end, I just wanted Clemency to give us all a break.
Much more fun is Come As You Are, though you may well be put off by the plot: three men with disabilities go on a road trip across America to lose their virginity at a brothel. If you just thought, that’s not for me, I don’t blame you. But you have to overcome your prejudices to enjoy this raucous comedy with a feelgood message.
It is a brilliant ensemble cast, deftly controlled by director Richard Wong, who knows when to give his actors free rein and when to keep them on a tight leash.
Based on a true story, it involves Scotty (Grant Rosenmeyer, from The Royal Tenenbaums), who is paralysed from the neck down. His arms and legs don’t work, but his private parts do, which is a major frustration for him.
He hears of a brothel in Canada that caters for men with predicaments like his and recruits moody wheelchair-bound former athlete Matt (Hayden Szeto) and near-blind Mo (Ravi Patel) to hire a minibus to take them to Canada. It is also a break for freedom from their overbearing mums and dads.
Gabourey Sidibe, best known for Precious, is their no-nonsense driver, Sam. Some terrific set-pieces follow as they get into scrapes along the way before the satisfying finish.
Naturally, the humour is broad but it is not mucky.and the film is sensitive to the subject matter, never voyeuristic.you’ll laugh a lot and maybe shed the odd tear.
There is a message, but Come As You Are does not preach. In the end, we see past the trio’s disabilities. They’re normal, but differently abled. Strangely, this sex comedy set me thinking far more than the chin-stroking Clemency managed.
Ghosts Of War is a strange one. For an hour or so, it is a standard horror movie and does its job of making you leap out of your skin efficiently enough.
Five US soldiers arrive to guard a French chateau towards the end of the Secondworldwar.the Nazis were here and did what Nazis do to the previous owners.the dead want revenge and bring terror to the GIS in the process. So far, so formula. But then there is a dramatic twist that sends the show off the rails.
No spoilers, but it is a bizarre change of direction. Laughably so.what was a solid piece of work, true to the genre, now staggers to its unbelievable conclusion, letting down a good cast and production team. Shocking.
● Andy Lea is away