list.co.uk/fi lm Reviews | FILM
SCI-FI THE MAZE RUNNER (TBC) 113min ●●●●● HORROR HONEYMOON (15) 88min ●●●●●
DOCUMENTARY 20,000 DAYS ON EARTH (15) 97min ●●●●●
Ever since The Hunger Games became a box- office smash, there’s been a trend in Hollywood for adapting teen dystopian fiction. We had Divergent earlier this year and, following those female-fronted movies, it’s the boys’ turn, with newcomer Dylan O’Brien taking the lead in a race against time. Will Poulter joins him in the battle against a behemoth maze, which they believe holds the key to their freedom. Every month a new teenager appears, unable to recall where they're from and why they've been sent to this place, known only as the Glade. The interplay between its cast and the fact that this film rarely speaks down to its audience (save an information dump towards the end) are particular pleasures. Unlike the recent spate of superhero movies, The Maze Runner has the courage of its convictions, allowing key characters to be killed off. Like his protagonist, debut director Wes Ball has been flung in at the deep-end with this adaptation of the first instalment in James Dashner’s trilogy and he rises to the challenge in largely the same manner. The film moves at an enjoyable pace, taking us from CGI-heavy set-piece to set-piece with only the occasional stumble. (Katherine McLaughlin) ■ General release from Fri 10 Oct.
If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise . . . Debut writer-director Leigh Janiak’s horror is plenty unsettling, though it has the usual genre-associated problems of characters not behaving logically once the spooky stuff kicks in. Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway play newlyweds
Bea and Paul, who visit her family’s isolated cabin for their honeymoon. Stopping for food, Bea runs into her ex, Will (Ben Huber), stirring jealousy in Paul, but the pair continue on their way after Will’s wife (Hanna Brown) appears, acting strangely and warning them to leave. When Bea too starts behaving oddly, Paul investigates. But he isn’t prepared for what he finds.
Leslie and Treadaway have convincing chemistry and Janiak goes for the slow-burn approach, saving the biggest, nastiest moments for a chilling finale. Along the way, Janiak and co-writer Phil Graziadei nod to classics of the genre and their script has fun playing around with the theme of how well we really know those we love. That said, some shock value is lost thanks to an early tip of the hand regarding the nature of whatever’s out there, which won’t be missed by genre fans. (Matthew Turner) ■ Limited release from Fri 26 Sep.
20,000 Days on Earth spins the seductive, semi- truthful story of Nick Cave. It’s an existentialist pseudo-documentary, taking in love, death and memories as well as the art of songwriting, storytelling and performance with Cave emerging as appealingly mischievous, as well as unashamedly egotistical, prolifically creative and wholly self-aware.
Directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard with a script penned in collaboration with the man himself, it begins with the arrival of Cave’s 20,000th day on earth as he emerges drowsily from his slumber. In this wonderfully eclectic offering we have guest appearances from Kylie and Ray Winstone, Cave swapping Nina Simone anecdotes with bandmate Warren Ellis, some studio time with the Bad Seeds, and a session with a chin-stroking psychoanalyst.
Forsyth and Pollard create an atmosphere entirely befitting Cave’s unique appeal. With silky cinematography by Erik Wilson, the film is a skilful marriage of wit and wisdom, darkness and light, a fiercely beautiful amalgam which sweeps you up in a thrillingly macabre embrace, before sending you swooning out of the cinema. It’s like waltzing with Count Dracula. (Emma Simmonds) ■ Limited release from Fri 19 Sep.
COMEDY HORROR LIFE AFTER BETH (15) 89min ●●●●●
‘Imagine The Graduate, but with zombies’. That could well have been debut writer-director Jeff Baena’s pitch for Life After Beth, a ‘rom-zom-com’ which couldn’t be further from the Shaun of the Dead vibe that label suggests. Dane DeHaan is expertly cast as Zach Orfman, a gothier version of Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin Braddock who spends his days moping by the family pool, selecting clothes from an all-black wardrobe and resisting his mother’s attempts to set him up with a nice young woman in the wake of his previous girlfriend’s death. Although, as it turns out, Beth might not be quite as deceased as first thought. Baena collaborated with David O Russell on the screenplay for I Heart Huckabees, where he revealed an appetite for the unpredictable and madcap. Life After Beth’s plot unfolds in such a leftfield manner that it would be a shame to spoil the surprises here, so let’s just say things escalate and leave it at that.
Baena has an incredible cast to work with: from DeHaan’s conflicted creep; Cheryl Hines and Paul Reiser as Zach’s overbearing parents; Matthew Gray Gubler as his psychotic brother; Anna Kendrick as the chirpy girl next door; and John C Reilly and Molly Shannon as Beth’s increasingly unhinged parents. Parks and Recreation’s Aubrey Plaza holds back nothing as the titular Beth, locating an incredible emotional range in a role that, on the surface, shouldn’t support it.
Baena’s script expertly litters clues and subtle nods to the less- than-blockbuster budget in order to provide the odd meta-laugh: one particularly incredible-sounding explosion happens entirely off-camera, with only DeHaan’s muted reaction to register it. As such, Life After Beth succeeds in both its low-key premise and extraordinary conclusion. (Niki Boyle) ■ Limited release from Fri 3 Oct. See profile, page 62.
18 Sep–16 Oct 2014 THE LIST 59