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THE AGE OF ADALINE
Cert 12A, 113 mins
IT’S 1937 and the heroine of Lee Toland Krieger’s high-concept romcom is a polymath who, at 29, accidentally acquires the gift of immortality. Sounds good. Yet Adaline (Blake Lively) does bugger all with her powers.
OK, so Adaline is on the run from the FBI and has an ageing daughter who she has to keep an eye on (Ellen Burstyn), but surely a talented freak of nature could overcome such obstacles and publish an anonymous historical tract?
Instead, in the present day, Adaline changes into a lot of pretty outfits, speaks in dulcet tones and pets cute dogs.
She also attracts handsome men. It’s intriguing that the men in question are a father (Harrison Ford) and his son (Michiel Huisman). Naturally, though, the perversity of that scenario goes unexplored.
Burstyn and Ford are good value, but every scene without them is a waste of time.
GIRLHOOD
Cert 15, 113 mins
THOUGH it’s too long, and occasionally schematic, Céline Sciamma’s portrait of a Parisian girl gang offers a blistering cinematic experience. Karidja Touré plays Marieme, a calm, apparently shy schoolgirl, who blossoms into something all the more complicated when she meets a group of stroppy women, led by Lady (Assa Sylla).
Both newcomers deserve to win awards — they’re so in tune with Sciamma’s vision that you cheer them on, whether they’re dancing or having brawls. Sciamma often frames Marieme against geometric patterns (on a stairwell wall, say).
The teenager and her friends are locked into a system that encourages individuals to repeat what’s gone before.
Marieme — and Sciamma — want to try something new.