FILM | Reviews
COMEDY DRAMA TANGERINE (15) 86min ●●●●●
Sean Baker’s Tangerine is a truly astonishing piece of filmmaking – and not just because it was shot using three iPhones. Baker uses that ultra-portable device to access the fringes of Los Angeles and shine a light on stories that are rarely told. It follows two trans women, Sin-Dee and Alexandra (played by newcomers Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor), who work as prostitutes and are spending Christmas Eve stalking the streets of downtown LA on the hunt for Sin-Dee’s cheating pimp boyfriend Chester (a brilliant James Ransone); a quest which results in a tragi-comic showdown under the neon lights of an all-night donut shop. Despite its slight premise, the film’s appeal is broad, thanks
entirely to the vivid personalities of, and intense relationship between, Sin-Dee and Alexandra who give the film both its pulse and its heart, and are never portrayed as passive victims. Their compelling energy is underscored by a well-crafted
soundtrack, which combines swelling classical chords, staccato mariachi and grimy hip hop to match the highs and lows of their adrenaline-fuelled existence. Bombastic, organic and utterly original, Tangerine is not just a film, it’s a vital, visceral experience. (Nikki Baughan) ■ Selected release from Fri 13 Nov.
DRAMA YOUTH (TBC) 118min ●●●●●
Youth is a state of mind in the latest extravagant cinematic opera from Italian director Paolo Sorrentino. A baroque reflection on the regrets and indignities of old age, it doesn’t hit the bullseye quite as often as his Oscar-winning The Great Beauty but it is a film distinguished by wondrous visuals, the warm embrace of its soundtrack and strong performances. Michael Caine plays Fred Ballinger, a retired composer and
conductor who’s firmly refusing to step back into the limelight. On holiday at a luxury spa hotel in the foothills of the Alps, he is joined by lifelong friend Mick Boyle (Harvey Keitel), a film director still in the game and trying to get one last project off the ground. Fellow guests include actor Jimmy (Paul Dano) and Fred’s daughter Lena (Rachel Weisz), while Jane Fonda swoops in for a vicious little turn late in the day as a tough- talking diva.
DRAMA ROOM (TBC) 118min ●●●●●
Leonard Cohen once sang, ‘There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in’. For Joy Newsome (Brie Larson), her ray of hope comes through the skylight in the shed where she has been held captive for seven years by a man referred to only as Old Nick (Sean Bridgers). Her five-year-old son Jack (Jacob Tremblay) has never known any different. His world is as big as the small room he occupies with his ma, and he takes real pleasure in exploring his environment. Joy has thus far given Jack the gift of innocence but, as time ticks by, she decides they need to hatch a new escape plan, and to do that Jack must learn about life.
Emma Donoghue adapts her own bestseller for screen, while Lenny Abrahamson (Frank, What Richard Did) directs; the result is a heartbreaking, profound and tremblingly taut experience. The walls of ‘room’ (as Jack refers to it) are covered with an explosion of creativity such as finger paintings and eggshells strung together. When Jack finally emerges from this cocoon it is to exhilarating but scary surroundings, as his eyes are opened to the strangeness of the real world.
With much of the film relying on the relationship between Jack and Joy, the casting of the saucer-eyed, utterly believable Tremblay and the excellent Larson ensures their journey to freedom is as gripping as it is emotionally fraught, and the performers share real chemistry. Abrahamson skilfully weaves together Joy’s suffering and impatience with Jack’s pure wonderment as they both grow and falter in their own ways. And he shows how the pair continue to look to the sky for comfort and answers, even after they swap the terror of room for the reassuring embrace of family. (Katherine McLaughlin) ■ General release from Fri 15 Jan.
BLACK COMEDY KILL YOUR FRIENDS (18) 103min ●●●●● Owen Harris’s less-than-thrilling satire wants to shock you but it has a hard enough time sustaining interest. An adaptation of John Niven’s 2008 bestseller with a screenplay penned by the man himself, it’s set in 1997 toward the end of the Britpop craze. Nicholas Hoult plays the hollow, grasping Steven Stelfox, an A&R man who’ll do whatever it takes to rise to the top in an industry he doesn’t seem to care for. James Corden plays his buddy Waters, while the ever- reliable Craig Roberts is his wide-eyed muso scout Darren. When Steven finds himself in a spot of rather
bloody bother, Edward Hogg’s dishevelled detective tries to suss him out, and shake him down.
Although Niven’s knowledge of record companies is in no doubt, there’s something rather stale It’s a melancholy reflection on what waits in store for all of
about this coked-up black comedy, whose knives are out but blunted by familiarity. Similar films have had the luxury of leaning on a bravura central performance (think Christian Bale in American Psycho) but Hoult simply doesn’t have the presence or conviction to cut it. Moreover, Harris’s debut lacks visual interest, laughs or momentum, spending too much time in drab office environs. It’s less deliciously nasty, more depressingly so. (Emma Simmonds) ■ General release from Fri 6 Nov. us, wrapped up in Sorrentino’s typically flamboyant, often hugely eccentric approach. He still doesn’t seem entirely comfortable working in the English language, but with Youth you ignore the flaws and just savour the three-ring circus. (Allan Hunter) ■ General release from Fri 29 Jan.
94 THE LIST 5 Nov 2015–4 Feb 2016