Animation in safe hands
CRITIC’S CHOICE The Tale of the Princess Kaguya U cert, 137 mins Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation house that gave us Spirited Away, has one more film to release before it goes into indefinite hibernation (the ghostly coming-of-age story When Marnie Was There), but as you watch The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, you sense the studio’s life’s work is being completed before your eyes, like the sails are being raised on the most magical ship-ina-bottle ever built. The story comes from a 10th-century Japanese legend about a reluctant princess trying to get back to the forests and hillsides of her childhood, but in the hands of the great director Isao Takahata, it becomes a meditation on life’s heartbreaking quickness. Every gesture, every line is set down with supreme artistry, but an artistry that never insists on itself. As 79-year-old Takahata finally retires, this is a reminder that his genius will endure. Robbie Collin ALSO IN CINEMAS The Gunman 15 cert, 115 mins The latest brawn-flexing multiplex fodder from Taken director Pierre Morel, The Gunman stars Liam Neeson as a stoical mercenary hunted down by… hold on a second. Sean Penn? Not Neeson? Penn may have two Oscars to his name, but he’s never starred in anything as profitable as Neeson’s 2008 vigilante thriller and its sequels. The Gunman, which could easily have been released under the title “Sean Penn Rebranding Exercise For Liam’s Core Fanbase”, is a naked bid to take on Taken. Unfortunately the film is a garbled melange of arbitrary action and token remorse. As threats to Neeson’s supremacy go, you could swat it away with a feather duster. Tim Robey Insurgent 12A cert, 119 mins Based on the second in a series of young-adult novels by Veronica Roth, Insurgent is set in a future where humanity has been divided into five factions. In the first film, the heroine, Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley), was earmarked as a “divergent” who didn’t fit the scheme. Now she’s a fugitive, hiding out in a geodesic yurt with a troupe of allies. Woodley is a star in the making, but the film plays like a listless mashup of every young-adult franchise movie you’ve ever seen. RC Mommy 15 cert, 135 mins Québecois hipster Xavier Dolan is a film-maker for whom the word wunderkind might have been invented. The director now has five films under his belt at a revolting 25 years old. Mommy, Dolan’s latest, is his funniest. It revolves around three characters on the verge of entirely different nervous breakdowns – a mother, Diane, who knocks back flaming sambucas at breakfast, her 15-year-old son, Steve, who has ADHD, and their neighbour, an anxious teacher who agrees to give Steve free tutoring. The film is full-throttle melodrama, with one truly fresh ingredient. Antoine-Olivier Pilon, who plays Steve, rampages through his scenes as if every day were his last, and you can’t take your eyes off him. TR