list.co.uk/fi lm Reviews | FILM
DOCUMENTARY UNDER THE WIRE (15) 95min ●●●●● CRIME THRILLER SUPERFLY (15) 116min ●●●●●
DRAMA PUZZLE (15) 103min ●●●●●
In the era of fake news, there are few more heroic i gures than the investigative journalist. Their status as fearless truth seekers is emphatically underlined by this gripping account of the last assignment undertaken by war correspondent Marie Colvin and photographer Paul Conroy. In 2012, the pair illegally entered Syria to report on the relentless shelling of the rebel stronghold in Homs. The formidable Colvin, with her trademark eye patch, had a reputation for going where other journalists feared to tread. Christopher Martin’s taut, compelling i lm is deftly
constructed around extensive footage of what happened to the duo and hindsight testimony from the grufl y charismatic Conroy. The combination makes for an intense excursion into frontline journalism, where you feel as if you are living every moment. Conroy’s words make you aware of the dangers faced and what was at stake. The footage places you into the heart of a pitch-black night-time crossing of the border, the rumble of shell i re and the loss of life. As tense and thrilling as any i ctional tale, this is an exceptional documentary which offers a powerful tribute to those willing to risk everything to bear witness to history. (Allan Hunter) ■ Limited release from Fri 7 Sep.
‘Ain’t nobody more gangster than the bank,’ runs a caustic line from this timely update of classic 1972 blaxploitation thriller Super Fly. With the location switched from New York to Atlanta, accessories pimped-out to current specifications, and Curtis Mayfield’s original score sitting alongside fresh tunes from Future, 2018’s Superfly is pretty good in its own right. Youngblood Priest (Trevor Jackson) is an affluent coke dealer suffering from nightclub ennui who decides to hustle one last score, swap his cash for crypto and head for Montenegro, with various factions blocking his exit route.
The ensuing war of attrition recycles parts of
its predecessor, while Director X delivers copious B-movie exploitation elements, including a three-car chase. However Alex Tse’s script adds a political spin that ties the film into the modern world, addressing the activism of the Black Lives Matter movement without too much hypocrisy. Ultimately, Priest’s game is ‘chess not checkers’,
and Tse highlights the smart thinking of the protagonist in the same way that made the original so distinctive. The aesthetic may have changed with the passing decades, but this superfly guy remains the man of the hour. (Eddie Harrison) ■ General release from Fri 14 Sep.
A housewife throws her life into an exhilarating muddle when she picks up the pieces of a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. What unfolds is the most unassuming of domestic dramas, born of a truthful, sometimes painfully honest place. Directed by Marc Turtletaub, it’s based on Natalia Smirnoff’s 2009 Argentinean i lm. It follows Kelly Macdonald’s Agnes, a woman whose routine revolves around tending to her mechanic husband Louie (David Denman) and two fully grown sons Gabe and Ziggy (Austin Abrams and Bubba Weiler). Discovering a l air for jigsaw puzzles after cracking open a birthday gift eventually leads Agnes into the world of competitive puzzling. Tentatively, she forms a partnership with Robert (Irrfan Khan), a quirky, bone-idle inventor dining off one, highly lucrative success. This humble addition to the canon of i lms looking
at gender inequality plumps for subtlety at every turn; the possibility of a dalliance with Robert and rising tensions with Louie fail to produce i reworks and it avoids revelling in Agnes’s success. The approach can be refreshing, endearing even, and Macdonald is divine. Ultimately Puzzle is a charming, albeit slight look at learning to love and prioritise yourself. (Emma Simmonds) ■ General release from Fri 7 Sep.
DOCUMENTARY / HEIST MOVIE AMERICAN ANIMALS (15) 117min ●●●●●
Since the world dei nitely doesn’t need another conventional male heist movie, Bart Layton gives us something a bit different. The British director of BAFTA-winning doco The Imposter fuses documentary and drama in a masterfully balanced, insightful and impactful amalgam. ‘This is not based on a true story,’ reads the opening text. ‘This is a true story’. A recreation of events leading up to and including the 2004 Transylvania University library heist in Lexington, Kentucky, is interspersed with interviews with the quartet of participants and their crestfallen parents. Evan Peters plays anarchic ringleader Warren, with Barry Keoghan his more contemplative companion Spencer, a wannabe artist thirsting for a life-altering experience.
The two i lmmaking styles should work against each other:
one presenting a distorted version of reality, the other shattering our suspension of disbelief. Yet Layton blends them so adeptly that they feel complementary rather than contradictory; he adds substance to a barrelling, excitingly shot narrative by delving deep into his subjects’ motivations. Bravado morphs into breathtaking stupidity and, as their i ctional counterparts unravel before our eyes, the shamefaced perpetrators regretfully rel ect on their actions. Directed with urgency but also an overriding sense of loss and
folly, American Animals is an interesting paradox: a cautionary tale that easily disabuses us of the notion that there’s glamour in criminality, while itself being a stylish beast. The men’s differing recollections of events are drawn coherently together in a i lm that ends playfully, challenging at least some of what we’ve seen. It’s as audacious as the robbery it depicts, yet executed with ini nitely more panache. (Emma Simmonds) ■ General release from Fri 7 Sep.
1 Sep–31 Oct 2018 THE LIST 63