Uniquely sexy and strange
CRITIC’S CHOICE The Duke of Burgundy 18 cert, 104 mins Two women live in a mansion in central Europe. They’re lovers, immersed in an allconsuming sadomasochistic relationship – a heightened, highly choreographed fantasy of control and submission. Peter Strickland’s new film comes from a tradition of erotic cinema that’s been around for significantly longer than Fifty Shades of Grey. There are fragments here of Jess Franco, Luis Buñuel and Rainer Werner Fassbinder: a patchwork of über-hip film references. But in quilting them together, Strickland has made something uniquely sexy and strange, built on tremendous central performances from Sidse Babett Knudsen and Chiara D’Anna, and a bone-deep understanding of cinema’s magic and mechanisms. The film twists and sways like a rattlesnake, drawing you in before drawing blood. It is another essential work from this increasingly vital British filmmaker. Robbie Collin ALSO IN CINEMAS Blackhat 15 cert, 133 mins þþþþ It’s six years since a new Michael Mann film played in cinemas, but Blackhat justifies the wait. A convicted hacker (Chris Hemsworth) is sprung from prison to join an international task force hunting a supernaturally nimble cyber-crook. The chase takes him from Los Angeles to Hong Kong and farther, with all the classic Mann tricks and tropes present (machinegun battles; glistening speedboats; you know the stuff). But there’s something new here, too – an eerie reckoning of how our on and offline lives are converging. Perhaps Blackhat is a little too refrigerated to be a film you could ever adore – but it is raw, visceral and urgent. And only Mann could have made it. RC
SPredestination 15 cert, 97 mins þþþþ Adapted from Starship Troopers author Robert Heinlein’s short story All You Zombies, this lithe, twisty, time-travel-themed B-movie from Australia’s Spierig brothers ( Daybreakers) wreaks an almighty confusion of ome of the finer pleasures of country living are wasted on the children. Views are just background noise. Silence bores them stiff, and they can never see the point of going for a walk. But we all love an orchard. We’ve been staying in Andalusia this week, where the grapefruit, mandarin, kumquat and avocado trees that decorate every garden are in their glory. genres and genders out of a nocturnal encounter between bartender Ethan Hawke and an androgynous stranger (Sarah Snook) in Seventies New York. Characters are bounced around like pinballs, and it’s amazing they gain the emotional traction they do. Mike McCahill My mum and I weren’t convinced it was a good idea when my sister and her family moved here last year, but it’s worked out well, for all of us. My parents left the day before we arrived, having eaten most of the grapefruit in the garden, but it’s the lemon tree that I’ve been coveting. Lemons and limes are natural flavour enhancers, and the large bowl on the table brightens up breakfast, lunch and dinner. Cake 15 cert, 91 mins þþ Jennifer Aniston picked up a deserved Golden Globe nomination – but nothing from the Oscars – for her turn as a depressive LA divorcee in Daniel Barnz’s overly schematic dramedy, which ushers on its supporting actors (Sam Worthington, William H Macy) like steps in a recovery program. Aniston is committed, but the earnestness around her stifles any real life. The film’s success depends on one’s ability to connect with a woman who has a maid to prise her from her bed and a collection of Rothko knockoffs behind which to conceal her Xanax. Viewed as the privileged LA story this is, it’s amazing the Academy didn’t vote Team Aniston by a landslide. MM If I could have one thing in my garden, it would be a Meyer lemon, just like my sister’s, but it’s the oranges that the kids all go crackers for. Endless groves cover hillsides for miles into the distance, like patterned tablecloths. We stopped off at a couple of groves and asked if the children could pick some, but the “pick your own” thing hasn’t really caught on here. It wasn’t until the third place that we were given a shrug, a smile and nod, and all seven children poured out of the van, squealing with delight. It was too much for them. The boys immediately fell on windfalls and started hurling them at each other. The girls, meanwhile, shot straight up the nearest tree like a pair of squirrels, and started bouncing up and down on its Pick your own: Sable helps herself ancient-looking boughs. We had no option but to haul them all straight back into the van and buy two whole sacks of the things to placate the farmer. Fortunately, they were all much better behaved at the zoo, where the new monkey hospital wing was open. They were allowed to hold baby baboons that wore nappies and sucked on dummies. The tiger they had petted before Christmas was now a hulking brute that charged the safety glass as we were watching him. The ocelot, a wildcat also known as a dwarf leopard, was still friendly, and another child was putting her finger in its mouth. “Don’t do that,” said her father. “But he’s sucking it, Daddy.” I was feeling pretty good about everything at home when we left. The kitchen garden is ready to go and we’re about to take delivery of some piglets. Ocelots, oranges and baboons, though: I’ve got to admit, that would be nice.