FILM | Reviews
DRAMA QUEEN AND COUNTRY (15) 115min ●●●●● Hope and Glory remains one of the great achievements of director John Boorman’s 50-year career. A loving evocation of his wartime childhood, it saw social conventions being eagerly abandoned and a young boy having the time of his life. Queen and Country is a belated sequel set in 1952, as the now teenage Bill (Callum Turner) is called up for national service. It is a tale of army high-jinks and valuable life lessons, infused with a fond nostalgia for a lost corner of national life. Lacking the focus of its predecessor, Queen and Country is nonetheless still welcome and engaging. Boorman’s sense of the past never succumbs to easy sentimentality and it’s both clear-eyed and surefooted in the friendship Bill develops with reckless rebel Percy (Caleb Landry Jones) and the follies of army rules and regulations. Boorman brings out the best in his cast, with David Thewlis going beyond the stereotypical sergeant-major martinet. The ageless David Hayman returns as Bill’s dad, but John Standing as his grandfather only confirms how much we still miss the late Ian Bannen. It’s a modest pleasure of a film that leaves you hoping it is not the last word from the octogenarian Boorman. (Allan Hunter) ■ Selected release from Fri 5 Jun.
COMEDY DRAMA LES COMBATTANTS (15) 98min ●●●●●
Les Combattants is the knockout first feature from French writer-director Thomas Cailley. Buoyed by charismatic leads and renegade spirit, it’s the story of two small-town outsiders and their wild adventure which takes a lead from Britain’s own survivalist loon Bear Grylls (briefly seen stuffing himself into the carcass of a camel). Madeleine (Adèle Haenel) is a cross between Grylls and The Bridge’s socially inept Saga; apocalypse-obsessed and determined to make life as difficult as possible, she meets the affable Arnaud (Kévin Azaïs) when she wrestles him humiliatingly to the ground during a self- defence demo. He’s instantly smitten: a loyal puppy to her sulky, hissing cat. Arnaud lets his responsibility to the family business slide when he follows Madeleine to an army training camp. Flanked by a fun electro score from Hit ‘n’ Run that whizzes and races, Cailley’s debut is an ace of a calling card. It might feature romance and comedy but categorically rejects the rom-com template. The askew humour is deftly judged, never overwhelming the story. Although rather slight, this is a film with a fighter’s spunk and a lover’s heart that refuses to surrender to sentimentality. (Emma Simmonds) ■ Selected release from Fri 19 Jun.
MYSTERY DRAMA MR HOLMES (PG) 104min ●●●●●
Seventeen years after they made the Oscar-winning James Whale biopic Gods and Monsters, director Bill Condon and star Ian McKellen reunite for this unique spin on Sherlock Holmes. Certainly, the two films bear comparison, with the esteemed thespian again playing a figure looking back on his life with regret. This, though, takes a more slippery tack.
Based on Mitch Cullin’s novel A Slight Trick of the Mind – adapted by playwright Jeffrey Hatcher – and set in 1947, Mr Holmes finds Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation aged 93, living in a Sussex retreat with his stern housekeeper Mrs Munro (Laura Linney) and her 14-year-old son Roger (Milo Parker).
Holmes spends his days tending to his beloved bees, desperately clinging to fading
memories. One in particular keeps troubling him – that of his final case, some 30 years earlier, a sinister affair involving a husband and wife, Thomas and Ann Kelmot (Patrick Kennedy and Hattie Morahan) that caused Holmes to make a career-ending mistake. Hatcher’s script drifts back and forth through time quite elegantly, creating a mosaic-
like structure that also fits in Holmes’ recent trip to Japan and his burgeoning friendship with Roger, who takes an interest in the bees. McKellen is superb, giving a nuanced performance, while Linney is also on form and young Parker is a find. It’s a huge advancement on Condon’s recent efforts like The Fifth Estate. Granted, the unhurried pace will frustrate some, while those looking for a really brain-teasing mystery will also be disappointed. But if you want a meditative, melancholic Holmes, this is for you. (James Mottram) ■ General release from Fri 19 Jun.
ANIMATION SONG OF THE SEA (TBC) 93min ●●●●●
A beloved wife and mother disappears into the sea the night her baby girl is born. The bereft father and his son cannot heal their grief. But when old powers awaken and little Saoirse’s selkie kindred call to her, big brother Ben steps in. The children fight magic with magic to save the spirit world and their fractured family. Besides looking charming and sporting a
delightful score, the English-language version of this enchanting, hand-drawn animation boasts the voices of Brendan Gleeson and Fionnula Flanagan. Kilkenny-based Cartoon Saloon are giving Hollywood’s animation big boys a run for their money. Like director Tomm Moore’s debut The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea was up for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars and is similarly shaped from a love of Irish folklore, nature and culture. Selkies (seal at sea, human on land), deities and fairies mingle with the modern world, alongside accessible themes of family, love and jealousy. Artistically, too, classical Irish design motifs, the influence of Studio Ghibli, and contributions of European collaborators make for a beguiling blend of the unfamiliar and culturally specific with the universally appealing. (Angie Errigo) ■ General release from Fri 10 Jul. 72 THE LIST 4 Jun–3 Sep 2015