★★★★
A character as complex, perhaps even contrived, as Joan Castleman must inspire discussion and disagreement. One thing all should agree is that, in Björn Runge’s big screen adaptation of The Wife, she has been brought to breathtaking life by a career-best Glenn Close. Of course, it helps that the tale is compelling and the director assured but there’s no denying that this is an acting masterclass.
★★★
An oddly untapped epoch in film, Ireland’s Great Famine is gifted the western treatment in Lance Daly’s Black ‘47. The title refers to 1847, the worst year of the tragedy, in which a million died and a million more emigrated, whilst the film unveils its horrors through the eyes of a renegade ranger. Perhaps at the expense of a more nuanced sociopolitical drama, this is an entertainingly brazen Revenant meets The Road tale of revenge.
★★★★
Peyton Reed’s jovial sequel to 2015’s Ant-Man comes via a much less complicated production background than its predecessor. Fewer re-writes and disagreements behind the scenes and a director present from conception to release. In the wake of the behemothically over-stuffed Infinity War, it’s a much needed breather.
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