Challengers ★★★★☆
Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, Mike Faist. 15A cert, gen release, 131 min
Electrifying, sexy tennis romp featuring three of the era’s zippiest stars at the top of their games. O’Connor and Faist play rival professionals — the former now in a slump, the latter at the top — who, years earlier, fell out over common affection for Zendaya, also a pro. She is now Faist’s trainer, but wonders if O’Connor might have more hunger. That’s to say, she is Lady Macbeth, and they are warring angels in the Thane’s psyche. The tennis sequences are thrilling (if absurd). The sublimated sexuality layers constant tension. In short, an absolute blast of a good time. Full review DC
That They May Face the Rising Sun ★★★★★
Directed by Pat Collins. Starring Barry Ward, Anna Bederke, Lalor Roddy, Ruth McCabe, Phillip Dolan, Sean McGinley, Phillip Dolan. 12A cert, gen release, 111 min
Collins, hitherto best known as a documentarian, triumphs with this lovely, humane adaptation of John McGahern’s final novel. Ward and Bederke play a couple weathering the changes in a remote corner of Ireland over an only mildly eventful year. Despite the quietude and Richard Kendrick’s Zen-like cinematography, there are sharp edges. The poignantly damaged Bill (Conroy) lives as a serf because he was “illegitimate”; the great Lalor Roddy suffers fools badly as the prickly local handyman. The provincial life, told in delicate movements in a script by Collins and Eamon Little, asks big questions about the nature of happiness. Full review TB
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In the Land of Saints and Sinners ★★★☆☆
Directed by Robert Lorenz. Starring Liam Neeson, Kerry Condon, Jack Gleeson, Sara Greene, Desmond Eastwood, Niamh Cusack, Conor MacNeill, Seamus O’Hara, Colm Meaney, Ciarán Hinds. Netflix, 106 min
There’s a decent transported western trying to shoot its way out of this handsome Donegal-draped thriller. Who wouldn’t want to listen to older gunslingers Neeson and Hinds chat about Fyodor Dostoevsky in a one-horse town? Who wouldn’t want to see a classic saloon shootout in a rural pub? Sadly, real-world intrusions squeamishly clash with the film’s mythical aspirations. Condon has fun as the avenging IRA harpy, even if the script’s convoluted account of her misplaced southern accent doesn’t ring true. Elegant drone shots add indelible images to an otherwise forgettable actioner. TB
ISS ★★★☆☆
Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. Starring Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, Pilou Asbæk, John Gallagher Jr, Masha Mashkova, Costa Ronin. 15A cert, gen release, 100 min
Tense, economic sci-fi that could, maybe, do with a bit more fleshing out of character. DeBose plays one of six scientists — three Americans, three Russians — working on the International Space Station at a time of global tension. Confirmation of the worst comes with a secret message to the US team saying nuclear war has broken out and that the Americans are required to secure the vessel “by any means necessary”. DeBose’s charisma and physical presence is put to good use. Worth a glance. Full review DC
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