ALSO SHOWING
MOTHER (12) ★★★★★
HERE’S a film that will make you think, if you can bear to take the journey.
At its heart are two mothers separated from their loved ones. One is Pomm, a care-home worker, who works at a home for European Alzheimer’s sufferers in a small village in Thailand. She has to leave her children with grandparents while she works.
The other is Swiss patient Elisabeth, mother of grown-up children. She lives in a zombie-like state due to her terrible illness, even though she is only in her 50s. She is sent to the Thai centre by her loving husband, where she will be cosseted and cuddled by carers.
In some scenes, a modicum of happiness emerges from Elisabeth’s confusion and Pomm gets some job satisfaction from a job well done. You wonder, however, if either mother should be so far from their children. It’s hard-going, but the themes stayed with me. In the end, you feel a wrong decision has been made for these two mums, albeit for the right reasons.
Available to download/stream now
THE CALL (15) ★★★★★
HERE’S a horror that keeps you on hold for ages before it gets going. But there are plenty of thrills if you go long distance.
Four teenagers blame the owner of a daycare centre for the death of a young girl who “simply vanished” one day. Her sister and three male friends chuck bricks through the elderly woman’s windows and she later hangs herself.
Her widower tells the group that the old lady left cash for them in her will. No! Really? However, they must go upstairs in the dead woman’s house and make a one-minute call on her creepy old phone. And they have to go one at a time. Cue an extravaganza of horror stunts and scares as director Timothy Woodward Jr dials everything up to 11. I was totally confused but moderately entertained.
Available to download/stream now
BLITHE SPIRIT (12) PREVIEW
CHARLES CONDOMINE (Dan Stevens) has had writer’s block since the death of his first wife Elvira (Leslie Mann).
The creative impasse is a consequence of “borrowing” Elvira’s brilliant plot notes, characters and dialogue. Charles hopes to reinvigorate his career by adapting one of his books as a script for the movie mogul father of his second wife, Ruth (Isla Fisher).
In the grip of self-doubt, Charles invites “spiritualist and medium” Madame Arcati (Dame Judi Dench) to conduct a seance, attended by Ruth, good friend Dr Bradman (Julian Rhind-tutt) and his wife Violet (Emilia Fox).
They summon Elvira from the dead and the spirit, which only Charles can see, wreaks havoc. Based on Noel Coward’s celebrated 1941 farce, Blithe Spirit exorcises Arcati’s scenestealing theatrics – Dench plays the role largely straight – and focuses instead on a battle of spooky sexes. It relies heavily on Fisher’s gifts as a physical comedian for laughs but relocating the story to Tinseltown’s first golden age doesn’t add the sparkle it needs.
Sky Cinema Premiere from January 15