A satisfyingly sordid royal story
Nocturnal Animals (2016) Available now
In retrospect, the fact fashion designer and purveyor of preposterously expensive men’s fragrances Tom Ford could put together a quietly stylish and affecting art house indie like A Single Man perhaps wasn’t so flabbergasting.
What was more amazing is that with this follow-up the director created one of the most brutal and intelligent nerve-fraying thrillers of the last few years.
Based on Austin Wright’s 1993 novel Tony and Susan, it is effectively two films in one as bored art gallery owner Susan (Amy Adams) takes delivery of the debut novel — also called Nocturnal Animals — by her ex, Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal). As Susan reads, Ford takes us into her mind, imagining Edward as the story’s hero: a mild-mannered, bookish husband who is forced into the role of avenging vigilante after his wife and daughter are kidnapped.
Unusually for a film with two timelines, both are equally suspenseful, but in very different ways. When the fictional story plays out to its shocking end, Ford has us on tenterhooks to discover its real-world implications and, in particular, what’s in store for Susan.
Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia Available now
It’s hard to decide about Trevor Noah. On the one hand he’s young, handsome (especially for a comedian) and mostly clever. On the other, he sometimes misses the point in the way his Daily Show predecessor Jon Stewart never would have — witness his silly, borderline xenophobic take off of the French minister who chided him for saying “Africa won the World Cup” (a quip based on the racial heritage of many of the French players).
This special doesn’t do much to swing the balance too hard in either direction. Observations about popular rap music sounding “like a toddler complaining about life” or how white people’s ideas of vacationing sound like what black people did to escape slavery (undergoing unbearably long journeys similar to the slave ships) are amusing enough, if not exactly bold or original. His best use of humour in historical perspective comes when he suggests that those who’d oppose further immigrants to America try not eating the food of immigrants, only to remind us all how Europeans only “discovered” the Americas in the first place by searching for spices. Perhaps with Brexit looming on this side of the pond, we need ever more quips like these.
The Windsors Two seasons, available now
Between A Christmas Prince and The Princess Switch there are reams of sweetly escapist royalty-themed filler on Netflix at the moment. But for those who prefer a dash of vinegar in their comedy, this is definitely a better bet.
It’s a couple of years old now — it originally aired on Channel 4 — but it has aged well. Theresa May, played by Gillian Bevan, is strong perhaps, but very unstable. She has to suck up to Charles because, post-Brexit, no one wants to trade with Britain; she needs to woo the Chinese and may need royal help.
Camilla imposes a sex embargo on her husband until he changes his mind. “Our whole relationship has been a relentlessly sordid sexual adventure, breaking every taboo,” Charles tells his elder son down the phone. There are loads of other funny moments — Charles mistaking Meghan for a servant, Harry suspecting an abdication may be in the offing based on his viewing of The Crown. You just wonder if these new hip young royals might be more engrossed by this however.
20th Century Women (2016) Available now
Writer-director Mike Mills pays tribute to his mother and the women who raised him in this, a coming-of-age drama that both lionises the past and revels in the heady surge of adolescence. In 1979, Jamie is 15 and the world is changing – new forms of music, fashion and culture beckon, and time seems infinite. Annette Bening is Jamie’s mother Dorothea, laid-back and non-traditional but struggling to move with the times. She enlists lodger Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and Jamie’s friend Julie (Elle Fanning) to help educate him in the ways of the world from a female perspective, hoping to give her son a balanced and well-rounded outlook. It is beautifully shot, with a touching and totally human perspective — and an addictively beautiful soundtrack to boot.