FILM | Reviews
DOCUMENTARY MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. (18) 96min ●●●●●
Stephen Loveridge’s debut feature is a fascinating and intimate portrait of his close friend Maya Arulpragasam, otherwise known as rapper M.I.A. He takes the viewer through her evolution from a kid on a London council estate dancing to Madonna, to an outspoken, wildly successful artist residing in LA. This affectionate and vibrant documentary is protective in the way it defends Maya from her detractors and places you in her shoes. Loveridge sorts through hours of home movies, concerts and television appearances, the production of hits such as ‘Paper Planes’ and footage Maya i lmed during her college years on a seminal trip home to Sri Lanka, with his choices making a focus of her vulnerability.
You see Maya as she gets to grips with not only her immigrant
status but also the guilt she feels for escaping the violence of Sri Lanka, while other family members suffered. After her eye- opening trip Maya decides she can’t look the other way, and so her musician alter ego is birthed as a fusion of provocative politics and the pop music and hip hop she loved growing up. Loveridge gives the viewer a real sense of the passion that lies behind the artist and why fury often fuels her lyrics. (Katherine McLaughlin) ■ Selected release from Fri 21 Sep.
WESTERN THE RIDER (TBC) 104min ●●●●●
What does it do to someone when their core way of being is removed? Beijing-born, US-based director Chloé Zhao’s take on the existential traumas of an injured bronco-rider broods with an unforced inner tension, amplii ed by a strain of lyrical naturalism. Using non-professional actors, her cast re-enact recently lived stories. Brady Jandreau becomes Brady Blackburn, a rider with his head stapled together after a nasty rodeo accident. Advised that another fall could kill him, Brady is in quiet crisis. As we meet his tough-talking father Wayne, autistic sister Lilly and close friend Lane – now disabled after his own accident – our empathy with Brady deepens through a tender but non-sentimental understanding of his emotional ties. Working with God’s Own Country DP Joshua James
Richards, sophomore helmer Zhao drinks in the gorgeously craggy South Dakota scenery, drawing out Brady and his friends’ afi nity with the landscape. Into this languid framework, pointed notes of heart-in-mouth anxiety emerge: as Brady gets back in the saddle, we never forget he is actually doing this. Even if Zhao overstates one or two metaphors, she captures Brady’s soulful inner struggle with mesmerising authenticity. (Kevin Harley) ■ Selected release from Fri 14 Sep.
DOCUMENTARY FACES PLACES (12A) 94min ●●●●●
There’s so much to love in this Oscar-nominated road trip documentary whose joyfulness spills from its seams. Directed by French New Wave legend Agnès Varda and photographer JR, two Gallic artists with a deep respect for one another’s work, it is an enriching experience showcasing a beautiful cross-generational friendship and working relationship between a nonagenarian woman and her thirtysomething companion. Together they take us on a poignant and playful adventure through France, where the intention is to send home a collection of postcards that gather together the personal history of the places they visit. JR drives a van that is in fact a camera, which prints out giant photographs to be pasted on buildings or walls as they travel through the countryside, to factory plants and Le Havre. The pair stop at a street in an old mining district that is about to be demolished to meet its last remaining resident, Jeannine Carpentier. Through their collaging, they create a tribute to the miners who once lived there, stirring up all kinds of memories and melancholy locally. They also pay homage to Jeannine by placing her face on the home she must leave. The i lm is packed full of moments like this and Varda’s typically mischievous spirit and empathy radiates throughout. JR also investigates the i lmmaker’s life by delving into her body of work, the people she has met along the way and how her deteriorating vision is affecting her. They visit Henri Cartier-Bresson’s grave, honour Guy Bourdin by the seaside, and make an awkward social call on Jean-Luc Godard. Varda and JR truly are irresistible creative explorers, with infectious curiosity and a chemistry that i zzes with charm and warmth. (Katherine McLaughlin) ■ Selected release from Fri 21 Sep.
PERIOD DRAMA THE SEAGULL (12A) 99min ●●●●●
Celebrated, ageing actress Irina (Annette Bening) and her younger lover, famous writer Boris (Corey Stoll) descend on the country estate of Irina’s ailing brother Sorin (Brian Dennehy). The seemingly idyllic lakeside scene is a hotbed of love triangles, including one involving Irina’s angst-ridden son Konstantin (Billy Howle), Elisabeth Moss’s vodka-swilling Masha and Saoirse Ronan’s innocent Nina. At the helm of this adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s
i rst play is Michael Mayer, an acclaimed stage director with a less accomplished track record when it comes
to i lm. He has a cast he can do a lot with: Ronan is luminously longing and Bening is a wow as the self-absorbed star anxiously clinging to her allure and illusions. But the directorial overview connecting these dots is a little wanting, as is the screenplay by Tony-winning playwright Stephen Karam. Perhaps less attention to pretty pictures would have been better, because the subtleties and subtexts in the piece are only superi cially touched on. Thus we arrive at the umpteenth retelling of a masterwork that is open to endless interpretation. Like so many, it is interesting and in parts fruitful, just not entirely satisfying or affecting. (Angie Errigo) ■ Selected release from Fri 7 Sep. 64 THE LIST 1 Sep–31 Oct 2018