The Herald - The Herald Magazine
ALSO SHOWING
is having something authentic to say, and doing it in a way that connects with people. Ally’s father (Andrew Dice Clay, providing more than a few laughs with his driver buddies) also reckons talent alone is not enough. Wasn’t he as good as Sinatra once?
Ally shifts between being clear-eyed about Jackson (“He’s a drunk”) and dazzled by the attention and trappings of his success, private jet included. She loves the chance he gives her, bringing her on stage one night to sing her song, and making her a YouTube sensation, and she loves him, too. As he retreats further into pills and drink her star begins to climb.
JOHNNY ENGLISH STRIKES AGAIN (PG) **
Dir: David Kerr
With: Rowan Atkinson, Emma Thompson Runtime: 89 minutes
IN the third of his spy capers, Rowan Atkinson once again puts the “Oh” for “Oh, please God, no” in 007 spoofs. A mystery hacker is bringing Blighty to its knees, and with no one else to ask (all the other agents having been exposed), English is called upon to serve his country once more. Atkinson duly serves up a cold dish of Mr Bean-style slapstick and the odd borderline amusing line. The best thing in the picture is Emma Thompson playing an exasperated Prime Minister who finds Mr English about as funny as food poisoning. Join the queue, love.
COLUMBUS (12A) ****
Dir: Kogonada
With: John Cho, Haley Lu Richardson Runtime: 104 minutes
BEST known for his documentaries about directors, South Korea’s Kogonada takes the plunge in his own right with this drama set in the titular Indiana town. It’s the story of Jin and Casey (John Cho, Haley Lu Richardson). He’s visiting his sick father, a famous architect, she works in the library and, unlike Jin, loves architecture. The two meet when Jin bums a cigarette, they get talking about this, that and eventually what ails them. Gentle, quietly knowing and with lovely performances from the two leads, plus Parker Posey as a friend of Jin’s father, Kogonada has found a new filmmaking home.
GFT until October 11, Filmhouse Edinburgh, October 26-29
A 2018 version of A Star is Born might have tried to be more ambitious by reversing the roles and having an older woman and a younger man. Hollywood is not quite ready to go that far, however, so the story remains familiar bordering on cheesy.
Yet such is the warmth and heart in Cooper’s film one is ready to forgive it pretty much anything. As a director he is astonishingly confident, handling the big setpiece scenes at concerts as effectively as he does more intimate moments. Crucially, he takes what Jackson is going through seriously. This may be a romance played out to music, but Cooper sees nothing
HEREDITARY (CERT 15) £19.99
Miniaturist artist Annie Graham (Toni Collette) is deeply affected by the death of her estranged mother, who cast a long shadow over the family and took Annie’s daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro) under her wing. Following the secretive matriarch’s funeral, Annie senses a presence in the family home and her erratic behaviour causes grave concern for husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) and teenage son Peter (Alex Wolff). In desperation, Annie turns to a grief support group where she meets a local woman, Joan, who has suffered a recent loss. Joan sweetly encourages Annie to conduct a seance and connect to her mother’s lingering spirit. As the disturbances in the Graham house increase in frequency, Annie makes a bold decision that has terrifying repercussions. Hereditary slowly tightens a knot of discomfort, heightened by a bravura lead performance from Collette, who turns silent screams into an art form. Writer-director Ari Aster’s twisted family portrait performs a cinematic striptease, holding our gaze by peeling away the layers of darkness and deceit that condemn one grief-stricken family to a grim fate. It’s a masterclass in terror titillation, choreographed to a discomfiting orchestral score by composer Colin Stetson and unsettling sound effects.
UPSTART CROW – SERIES 3 (CERT 15) £19.99
Ben Elton’s comedy, which was written to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, arrives on DVD following its broadcast on BBC2. In these six episodes, master of revels Robert Greene (Mark Heap) is immersed in shadowy plots to murder playwright Kit Marlowe (Tim Downie) and discredit Shakespeare (David Mitchell). Meanwhile, the Bard despairs when everyone assumes his new play Hamlet will be a comedy and landlord’s daughter Kate (Gemma Whelan) entertains unwelcome romantic overtures from pompous Lord Egeus (Nigel Planer).
THE GUARDIANS (CERT 15) £15.99
Director Xavier Beauvois draws inspiration from the novel by Ernest Perochon to document the experiences of a group of women left behind by their husbands and sons during the First World War. Hortense Sandrail (Nathalie Baye) presides over her family’s farm with an iron fist now her husband is too old and frail to perform gruelling physical labour. The ageing matriarch is aided by her daughter Solange, whose husband Clovis is serving his country. Hortense’s two sons are also away at war, leaving the women to plough the land, harvest crops and tend to livestock. The daily toil proves too much, so Hortense hires a 20-year-old orphan called Francine to lighten the backbreaking load. Francine is an excellent worker and proves invaluable to the Sandrail family while the men repel the advances of the German army.