list.co.uk/fi lm Reviews | FILM
BIOPIC – COMEDY I, TONYA (15) 119min ●●●●●
DRAMA LOVELESS (15) 122min ●●●●● WAR FILM JOURNEY’S END (12A) 108min ●●●●●
American figure skater Tonya Harding, famous for her triple axel jump and infamous for her association with an attack on her rival Nancy Kerrigan, suffered abuse from a young age which continued into her marriage to her first husband. Craig Gillespie’s biopic drums up sympathy for Harding by delving into her personal life and exploring the challenges she faced as an impoverished woman trying to make it in a sport that didn’t welcome her. Told from the contradictory perspectives of Harding (Margot Robbie), her mother (Allison Janney) and ex (Sebastian Stan), the film takes on a blackly funny, meta tone. Robbie plays Harding from her teenage years
through to her 40s; her physical work on the ice is impressive, the combination of nifty camerawork and the actress’s performance evokes Harding’s euphoria, while Gillespie exposes the judges’ distaste at her methods. The blaring music is perfectly utilised in these scenes but the reliance on it throughout undermines the drama. Robbie narrates Harding’s story with candid humour in a film that mimics the bravura approach of Scorsese’s Goodfellas and its ideas about the American Dream, though doesn’t pull it off with the same stylistic grace. (Katherine McLaughlin) ■ General release from Fri 23 Feb.
Andrey Zvyagintsev (Leviathan) has an unforgiving view of modern Russia, dissecting failings and vices with a surgeon’s precision. Partly inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage, Loveless captures the dying gasps of a toxic relationship. Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) has already moved on and traded up for a wealthy, older man. Boris (Aleksey Rozin) has a heavily pregnant girlfriend who cannot wait for him to become a free man. Their 12-year-old son Alyosha (Matvey Novikov)
is a casualty of their war. Boarding school and military academy will keep him well out of their lives. Everything changes when Alyosha goes missing. Filmed in and around St Petersburg in the bleak mid-winter, there is a grey chill that seeps into the very bones of Loveless, while the human characters are equally devoid of warmth. We think Zhenya is heartless until the scene in which we meet her mother. The hunt for Alyosha propels the story but what matters is what it reveals of a country where people are so preoccupied with their own selfish desires that everyone else is surplus to requirements. It is a point that Zvyagintsev hammers home with the intensity of someone trying to knock sense into a doomed world. (Allan Hunter) ■ Selected release from Fri 9 Feb.
Regarded as one of the definitive plays about the hell of trench warfare, RC Sherriff’s World War I-set Journey’s End has inspired numerous theatrical productions. Cinematically, it’s proved less of a draw, perhaps because it takes place almost entirely in a dugout. Director Saul Dibb embraces the confines, injecting energy into Sherriff’s words and expanding the visual landscape where appropriate. Set in Aisne during the 1918 Spring Offensive, the war is at a stalemate. Leading a battle-worn group of British soldiers is Captain Stanhope (Sam Claflin), who is nearing a nervous breakdown.
With the upstanding Osborne (Paul Bettany) and
newcomer Raleigh (Asa Butterfield) also present, the men anxiously await a German attack, but still find time for moments of kindness and stiff upper lip resolve. Working from a script by Simon Reade, Dibb uses
his camera with great dexterity, trailing characters as they traverse the trenches and peppering his film with explosive moments. It’s almost unfair to pick a standout performer in a uniformly superb cast, though Claflin is unforgettable as a man who can’t bear the weight of his responsibility any longer. He, like this film, is mightily impressive. (James Mottram) ■ General release from Fri 2 Feb.
FANTASY ROMANCE THE SHAPE OF WATER (15) 123min ●●●●●
As meticulously manufactured as anything that came off the Golden Age of Hollywood’s legendary production line, The Shape of Water also shares much of its DNA with the era’s B-movies, demonstrating a more modern sensibility when it comes to matters of sex and violence. With a love interest inspired by Creature from the Black Lagoon’s Gill-man, this is romance Guillermo del Toro style.
The director co-writes with Vanessa Taylor, setting their fable
in 1962 Baltimore and weaving in Cold War paranoia and the fight for civil rights. Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is a mute living above a picture palace, who cleans a secretive government facility alongside the chatty Zelda (Octavia Spencer). Their curiosity is piqued when a mysterious monster, referred to as ‘The Asset’ (Doug Jones), moves into one of the labs. Mistreated by the man tasked with his security (Michael Shannon), Elisa introduces the creature to human kindness. ‘He doesn’t know what I lack and how I am incomplete,’ she tells friend Giles (Richard Jenkins) as the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ narrative is established. The film makes a rousing focus of a group of plucky outsiders
and notes the exclusivity of the American Dream. Hawkins ensures the depth of Elisa’s longing speaks louder than any language – a plea to save the creature is unforgettably conveyed. Jones, too, communicates beautifully without words, infusing his miraculous being’s plight with graceful sadness.
Alexandre Desplat’s accordion score imparts a Parisian vibe, Paul D Austerberry’s design is impeccable and DP Dan Laustsen wraps the production in a toasty glow. It all adds up to a tale of underwater love that will leave you awash with wonder as it recaptures the magic of cinema. (Emma Simmonds) ■ General release from Wed 14 Feb.
1 Feb–31 Mar 2018 THE LIST 59 1 Feb–31 Mar 2018 THE LIST 59