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Upgrade (15)
This scuzzy cyberpunk sci-fi horror film from Insidious creator Leigh Whannell is the sort of ultra-efficient genre effort that makes much of its mega-budget competition seem obsolete. Set in a near future where Ai-powered automation is edging ever closer to full implementation, the film’s hero is an analogue hold-out called Gray Trace (Logan Marshallgreen), who is left paralysed from the neck down after a car-jacking (or rather a car-hacking) which leaves his wife dead. Salvation comes in the form of a young tech mogul (Harrison Gilbertson) who offers the now paraplegic Gray the use of his body again if he’ll submit to being a guinea pig for a radical biocomputer chip that can do pretty much everything, including communicating with Gray in a Hal-style voice and turning him into a ruthlessly efficient vigilante with instant kung-fu skills. Whannell is fully aware of the ridiculousness of the concept, but the action is brilliantly executed and there’s a pleasingly logical through-line to the plot that allows him to wrap up the film with the satisfying neatness of a Philip K Dick short story.
Cold War (15)
Pawel Pawlikowski’s first film since his Oscar-winning Ida sees him burrowing further into his Polish roots with a love story loosely inspired by his parents’ relationship. Set against the backdrop of political and cultural changes taking place across post-war Europe, the film tracks the relationship of jazz musician Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and singer Zula (Joanna Kulig) over a 15-year period during which their initial spark keeps reigniting in ways both dreamy and destructive. Shot in black and white, the film has a nostalgic cinematic sheen while maintaining focus on the reality of lives lived under restrictive conditions. ■