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Four new films to see in cinemas this week

Two raving Nic’s in gory horror comedy Renfield, plus masterly Japanese animation Suzume, Egyptian-set machinations in Cairo Conspiracy, and Léa Seydoux in affecting French drama One Fine Morning

Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult in Renfield. Photograph: PA Photo/Universal Studios
Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult in Renfield. Photograph: PA Photo/Universal Studios

Renfield ★★★☆☆

Directed by Chris McKay. Starring Nicolas Cage, Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Adrian Martinez, Shohreh Aghdashloo. 16 cert, gen release, 93 min

Hoult is the eponymous insect-scoffing factotum to Cage’s Dracula in a spirited, if unsophisticated, comedy romp that leaves no corner of New Orleans free of blood. There are good comic-punch ups. There is amusing blunt satire of therapy culture. Cage literally guzzle the guts of passersby. All of which is perfectly good fun. But one can’t shake the sense that this 93-minute film has lost a deal of its secondary plotting along the way to release. Schwartz and Aghdashloo are wasted as the villains in a crime sub-strand that barely gets to clear its throat. Full review DC

Suzume ★★★★☆

Suzume. Photograph: PA Photo/Sony Pictures Entertainment/Crunchyroll
Suzume. Photograph: PA Photo/Sony Pictures Entertainment/Crunchyroll

Directed by Makoto Shinkai. Voices of Nanoka Hara, Hokuto Matsumura, Eri Fukatsu, Shota Sometani. 12A cert, limited release, 122 min

Shinkai, director of the much-loved Your Name, is fast taking on near-legendary status in his native Japan and with animation enthusiasts throughout the world. His latest follows a young girl as, in tandem with a handsome wanderer transformed into a three-legged chair (really), she sets out to save the country from apocalypse. The score from Radwimps and Kazuma Jinnouchi takes in pop, orchestral sweep and playful jazz as the images drag us up and down the endangered archipelago. The jokes are funny and weird. At its heart is a story worth caring about. Another essential work from a modern master. Full review DC

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Cairo Conspiracy ★★★★☆

Tawfeek Barhom in Cairo Conspiracy
Tawfeek Barhom in Cairo Conspiracy

Directed by Tarik Saleh. Starring Tawfeek Barhom, Fares Fares, Mohammad Bakri, Makram J Khoury, Mehdi Dehbi. 12A cert, gen release, 121 min

Set inside Cairo’s Al-Azhar University (Istanbul’s Süleymanye Mosque makes a suitably grand stand-in), Cairo Conspiracy chronicles the skulduggery behind the election of a grand imam. Strip away the Sunni setting and it could be a John le Carré thriller. Visibly, strikingly, this is man’s-man’s world and all the worse for it. A deserving winner of the best screenplay at Cannes last year, this nail-biting drama is offset by Barhom’s terrific wide-eyed performance. The gorgon’s knot of political and religious machinations add distinctive hues to a genre piece with shades of All the President’s Men. Full review TB

One Fine Morning/Un Beau Matin ★★★☆☆

Léa Seydoux and Camille Leban Martins in One Fine Morning. Photograph: Les Films Pélleas
Léa Seydoux and Camille Leban Martins in One Fine Morning. Photograph: Les Films Pélleas

Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve. Starring Léa Seydoux, Pascal Greggory, Melvil Poupaud, Nicole Garcia. 15A cert, Mubi/limited release, 112 min

Seydoux’s Sandra is a widowed mother with a preteen daughter. She is juggling motherhood, work as a translator, and healthcare decisions for her father (Greggory), as he succumbs to Benson’s disorder, a neurodegenerative disorder that causes loss of sight and memory. Seydoux’s sadness is palpable even when the whirl of random scenes around her fail to connect with each other or, indeed, the viewer. The film also excels as a chronicle of a lived-in Paris, a place where such tourist spots as Sacré-Cœur Basilica’s butte make for meaningful family strolls. Full review TB

Donald Clarke

Donald Clarke

Donald Clarke, a contributor to The Irish Times, is Chief Film Correspondent and a regular columnist

Tara Brady

Tara Brady

Tara Brady, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a writer and film critic