Of living dolls
feels like a dutiful plod towards a fi nal fi lm next year that should offer the illumination and resolution that fans badly want.
( Cert 15; 86mins) PLAYWRIGHT, screenwriter and theatre director David Farr makes an impressive move behind the camera with this elegantly handled British thriller.
Carrying echoes of Roman Polanski classics such as Rosemary’s Baby, it preys on all the basic fears of big city living where nobody really knows their neighbours or how to keep their children safe.
London couple Kate ( Clémence Poésy) and Justin ( Stephen Campbell Moore) are happily awaiting the birth of their fi rst child when Jon ( David Morrissey) and Theresa ( Laura Birn) move into the fl at below them. Theresa is also expecting a baby and there is an instant rapport between the women.
Then a tragic accident sets the couples apart and provides the momentum for a fi lm that subtly shifts the balance of sympathies between the quartet and confi dently leads you up the garden path before revealing what was really happening. A taut, expertly executed chiller.
( Cert 15 ; 93mins) “PLACE thy faith in God,” declares glum patriarch William ( Ralph Ineson) in The Witch. However it is unyielding piety that seems to be the root of all the evil in this supernatural tale.
In 17th- century New England, William, his wife Katherine ( Kate Dickie) and their fi ve children have been exiled to an unforgiving land where they struggle to survive.
The disappearance of their baby boy sets the family against each other as the parents are infected by a fear and loathing that is initially directed against their teenage daughter Thomasin ( Anya Taylor- Joy).
Despite echoes of The Crucible, this is painfully slow.
( Cert 15; 89mins) INSPIRED by real- life experiences, Israeli drama Next To Her offers a sensitive account of the unhealthy bond between two sisters who live together.
Security guard Chelli ( Liron Ben- Shlush) has taken responsibility for her younger sister Gabby ( Dana Ivgy) who has serious learning diffi culties. But Chelli is more like an overly protective mother than a caring sister and feels threatened when Gabby starts to enjoy her time at a day care centre.
Chelli’s whirlwind romance with the likeable Zohar ( Yaakov Zada Daniel) feels like an act of revenge but brings a breath of normality into the highly charged world of the sisters.
An uncomfortable, unfl inching tale of jealousy and resentment.
( Cert 15; 102mins) IN brooding, slow- burning Swedish fi lm The Here After, teenager John ( Ulrik Munther) is released from prison into the care of his father Martin ( Mats Blomgren).
We don’t know what crime John committed but a woman attacks him in a supermarket, school pupils petition to have him banned and his father fears he made a terrible mistake in welcoming him back home.
The question of whether we can forgive or forget becomes central to a compelling story.