Murder most horrid in a dark period thriller
(Cert 15; 109mins)
THERE is a strong whiff of Hammer horror about The Limehouse Golem, a lurid murder mystery set in the murkiest corners of Victorian London. The music thunders like an oncoming train, the spilling of ruby red blood will turn your stomach and you almost expect a dapper Peter Cushing to stride out from the shadows and take command.
Bill Nighy proves an acceptable Cushing substitute as John Kildare, a Scotland Yard inspector determined to catch a serial killer and save an innocent woman from the gallows.
Based on the novel by Peter Ackroyd, The Limehouse Golem seems designed to confuse, pointing the finger of suspicion in multiple directions and suggesting that anyone from a motley collection of suspects could be the guilty party. The little grey cells must work overtime just to keep up.
At first the focus is on Elizabeth Cree (Olivia Cooke), a former darling of the music hall crowds who now stands accused of poisoning her husband John (Sam Reid).
Her case attracts considerable attention but not as much as that of a vicious Jack The Ripper-style killer called The Limehouse Golem who is striking fear into the hearts of respectable Londoners. Cor blimey!
Kildare is assigned to the case in the knowledge that he is expected to fail. Rumours that he is “not the marrying kind”, nudge nudge, have dogged his career and he is considered expendable. He selects sergeant George Flood (Daniel Mays) as his trusty deputy and the investigation begins.
Almost like Holmes and Watson, Kildare and Flood start to hunt for clues, sift through evidence and explore all the roads that seem to lead to music hall star Dan Leno (Douglas Booth).
Other prime suspects include no less a luminary than Karl Marx (Henry Goodman), novelist George Gissing (Morgan Watkins) and even John Cree. Could that be the reason why Elizabeth killed him? All is
eventually revealed in a vivid Gothic chiller that keeps us guessing with sequences in which Kildare’s hunches and speculations are made real.
We witness each of the suspects commit bloody murder and, like Kildare, must decide on their innocence or guilt. It’s a bit like an episode of Ripper Street conceived by Agatha Christie. Like most Christie adaptations of late, it also features an impressive cast that includes Eddie Marsan as seedy theatrical impresario “Uncle”.
Director Juan Carlos Medina favours theatrical excess and graphic scenes of blood-sodden butchery. In his vision of the 1880s, London is a dirty, dangerous city in which daylight barely pierces through the doom and gloom of soot-encrusted walls and muddy, mucky streets.
It is also a place where women are very much second-class citizens and suffer at the hands of men who think themselves lords and masters and above the law. That small undercurrent of social commentary adds some extra spice to a juicy whodunit. (Cert 15; 113mins) A PRODIGAL son’s return sparks a bittersweet family reunion in Back To Burgundy, a sentimental drama in which the beautiful French countryside is a major attraction.
Ten years after he left to travel the world, Jean (Pio Marmaï) returns to the family winery. His father lies gravely ill, his sister Juliette (Ana Girardot) is trying to run the business and his younger brother Jeremie (François Civil) is struggling with the demands of a bossy father-in-law.
Jean’s return brings years of resentments and regrets bubbling to the surface and every way he turns summons a memory of the past.
There are enough personal issues here to sustain a soap opera but the performances are engaging and the film is very likeable, especially as we witness the landscapes through the changing seasons of sun-dappled summer and snow-clad winter. (Cert 15; 109mins) PATRICIA (Danielle Macdonald) may be in the gutter but she is looking at the stars in Patti Cake$, a low-budget American drama that is rough and ready at the start but blossoms into a life-affirming charmer.
In her wildest dreams Patricia is Killer P, the new darling of the rap world. In reality she works in a dive of a bar in New Jersey, cares for her ailing Nana (Cathy Moriarty) and lives in the shadow of her blowsy, alcoholic mother Barb (Bridget Everett).
Life is full of humiliations and setbacks for Patricia. Nobody is willing to take her seriously and everything from her size to her skin colour is a problem. Who has time for a white rapper nicknamed Dumbo?
Persistence brings its own rewards and some lucky breaks as she joins forces with best friend Jheri (Siddharth Dhananjay) and African-American mentor Bob (Mamoudou Athie) to form her own band, proving that fairy tales can come true. (Cert 15; 91mins) TELEVISION director Philip John makes a promising film debut with Moon Dogs, a quirky, nicely acted comedy that follows two stepbrothers on a road trip from Shetland to Glasgow.
Thor (Christy O’Donnell) is heading south to find the mother who abandoned him when he was a baby while Michael (Jack Parry-Jones) wants to check up on his girlfriend Suzy (Kate Bracken). Along the way they are joined by Irish waitress Caitlin (Tara Lee). Random encounters, narrow escapes and some tough home truths drive a scrappy story that is delivered with considerable charm. (Cert 15; 94mins) EVEN as a bargain-basement Spooks, Stratton fails to cut the mustard. This globetrotting spy yarn is desperately old hat and lacking in budget and energy.
Dominic Cooper stars as British Special Boat Service commando John Stratton. Back in London after a botched Middle East mission, he becomes the one man who can thwart a chemical attack on the capital.
Filled with car chases and shootouts, Stratton cannot overcome a weak script and some odd casting, including Danish star Connie Nielsen with a cut-glass English accent as Stratton’s MI5 commander. (Cert 15; 92mins) THE screen version of David Harrower’s award-winning play Blackbird is not easy viewing as it explores the legacy of abuse.
Una (Rooney Mara) is in her 20s and shackled to a past that involved a sexual relationship with a much older family friend who should have known better. He subsequently served a four-year prison sentence.
Ray (Ben Mendelsohn, above, with Mara) is now married and living under a different name. Una tracks him down, determined to confront him and discover what she really meant to him.
Rooney gives a forceful performance while Mendelsohn is creepily plausible as a man who seems both predatory and sincere in his feelings for the younger Una.