Speak No Evil ★★★★☆
Directed by James Watkins. Starring James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler, Dan Hough, Scoot McNairy. 16 cert, gen release, 110 min
Cracking remake of Danish thriller concerning two couples who meet on holiday and — foolishly as it happens — arrange to meet up again when back in England. McAvoy and Franciosi are the uninhibited British hosts, McNairy and Davis the uptight American guests. It is surely no spoiler to say Speak No Evil ends with more than a jolt of violence, but nothing in that closing section is so upsetting as the social discomfort in the film’s opening hour. McAvoy is particularly good as bully who uses his own gregariousness as a weapon. Have another! Where’s the harm! Full review DC
The Critic ★★★☆☆
Directed by Anand Tucker. Starring Ian McKellen, Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong, Lesley Manville, Romola Garai, Ben Barnes, Alfred Enoch. 15A cert, gen release, 101 min
Fitful comic thriller starring McKellen as a top theatre critic threatened with the sack. Arterton is an unfortunate actor who attracts the wrong end of his quill. The Critic begins as a convincing study of West End discontents during the inter-war years. One feels the chatty atmosphere of the crush bar. Once senses the frustrated ambitions of those to whom the notices do no favour. In its second half, sadly, The Critic spins off into murderous melodrama that might cause even the Jacobeans to test the fainting couch. The actors just about hold it together. Full review DC
My Favourite Cake ★★★★☆
Directed by Maryam Moghaddam, Behtash Sanaeeha. Starring Lily Farhadpour Esmail Mehrabi. Limited release, 97 min
Touching Iranian film about an older lady who unexpectedly embarks on romance. She tries her luck at a hotel where, during her youth, she went to concerts in “plunging necklines and heels, not sneakers and hijabs”. She heads to the park, a bakery and, finally, a pensioners’ eaterie, where she strikes up a conversation with unmarried taxi driver. A late narrative development swerves the meet-cute into less sure-footed terrain. But this remains an encounter to treasure, jollied along by quiet political protest and poignant notes on widowhood. Full review TB
Lee ★★☆☆☆
Directed by Ellen Kuras. Starring Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Andrea Riseborough, Andy Samberg, Noémie Merlant, Josh O’Connor, Alexander Skarsgård. Sky Cinema, 116 min
Biopic of Lee Miller, the American photographer who moved from fashion to the horrors of the second World War. Despite Winslet’s dogged commitment, Lee is a very ordinary film about an extraordinary woman. Four credited writers and years of rewrites fail to locate the subject. The screenplay is clunky and bookended by an unconvincing interrogation by a journalist (O’Connor). Worse, for a film that depicts the discovery of the Holocaust, Lee is curiously flat and uninvolving. Miller and the images she captured deserve better. The best scenes are recreations of her best-known shots. Full review TB
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