★★
In a neat turn of events, Alex Lawther’s latest adolescent reject is free of the gruelling angst the young star has spent the best part of his career perfecting. As school beating stick Amberson, he’s actually quite the charmer in his own eccentric way. Quaint charm is the gentle soul of Old Boys, a so so feature debut from two time BAFTA short nominee Toby MacDonald. Though the film ultimately falls flat of its promise, it does so in a genial and occasionally witty fashion.
★★★★
Don’t expect much by way of exuberance and joy from this year’s BAFTA shorts. Perhaps it’s a sign of the times? Released as a portmanteau feature this week, ahead of Sunday’s ceremony, the prospective live action and animated nominees are a strong grouping but even those that are not desperately sad come with a air of melancholia. There are eight in total and together they stretch to just over an hour and fifty minutes.
★★★★
Truth be told, but expressed with only the very best intention, All is True is terribly old fashioned. As Shakespearean biographical features go, it is twee, sycophantic and hardly more factual than Roland Emmerich’s ludicrously slanderous 2011 offering Anonymous. And yet, projected through the lush glow of Zac Nicholson’s eternally autumnal cinematography, it is a delightfully tender film. From open to close, in spite of dour and devastating plotting, a viewing feels equitable to the warmest of enveloping embraces.
The Film Blog 