list.co.uk/fi lm Reviews | FILM
TEEN DRAMA SKATE KITCHEN (TBC) 100min ●●●●●
DRAMA COLUMBUS (12A) 104min ●●●●● HORROR POSSUM (TBC) 85min ●●●●●
Crystal Moselle follows her acclaimed documentary The Wolfpack with her first narrative feature. It’s a film that sets out to do for this generation what Larry Clark’s abrasive but influential Kids did for those growing up in the 90s, as it follows a posse of female skateboarders roaming the parks of New York’s Lower East Side. The ‘Skate Kitchen’ are a real crew, although Moselle takes fictional liberties. Founding member Rachelle Vinberg plays Camille, an 18-year-old Long Islander whose mother (Elizabeth Rodriguez) wants her to stop skating. Naturally, Camille rebels, hooking up with some fellow skaters over Instagram.
A snapshot of life in the small city of Columbus, Indiana, this sensitive and nuanced feature debut from documentary short filmmaker and video artist Kogonada plays on themes of inertia and unrealised potential to capture the power of real connection. At its heart is the relationship between 19-year-old
local architecture buff Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) and the much older Jin (John Cho), a Korean-born book translator who finds himself stuck in the town when his famed architect father is taken ill on a tour. While a strong bond develops between them, it is not – thankfully – romantic in nature, rather it is about a shared desire for escape.
The narrative is hardly complex, as the girls skate, There are no grand gestures in Columbus, no
smoke and banter. There’s a flirtation between Camille and Devon (Jaden Smith), a wannabe photographer; given Devon’s history with another girl, it means there are consequences, but Moselle isn’t interested in dramatic showdowns.
Realism is her weapon and her integration of the non-professional cast alongside pro actors is seamless. It’s nothing radical – and will doubtless be too slight for some – but, as a story of girls doing their own thing in an otherwise male environment, it carries a powerful feminist message. (James Mottram) ■ General release from Fri 28 Sep.
sweeping soliloquies, instead its strength can be found in its quiet moments. The two performances are stunning, brimming with so much repressed emotion and the damage of everything left unsaid. Through it all, Kogonada’s direction is unassuming, poised and unflinchingly focused, lending the film such intimacy, such permeating melancholy, that it’s like witnessing souls laid bare. Similarities with Lost in Translation are obvious and, like that film, Columbus effortlessly creeps under your skin and stays there. (Nikki Baughan) ■ Selected release from Fri 5 Oct.
From Matthew Holness, the creator and star of cult TV series Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, comes a disturbing debut feature that recalls the exquisite craft and unnerving rhythm of Paperhouse, Spider and Eraserhead. It unfolds, mostly silently, with a fuzzy logic as a disgraced puppeteer returns to his childhood home in Norfolk. Sean Harris stars as Philip who is terrified of
something hidden inside a leather holdall. Whatever is in the bag has started to creep out and haunt him, just like the time spent with his stepfather Maurice (Alun Armstrong) in his youth. Searching for Maurice, he enters a crooked, scorch-marked house, with the grubby, lingering imagery mimicking his stepfather’s threatening demeanour and indelible imprint.
Harris is a dab hand at playing anxious characters and adopts the awkward gait of a man who has lost control, moving his limbs in such a mechanical way it’s as if his body is being operated by the callous hand of a marionettist. Armstrong is an overbearing menace, cackling and coughing like a chain-smoking wicked witch. With Possum, Holness has constructed a dark and twisted contemporary fairytale, designed to confront the impact of neglect and abuse. (Katherine McLaughlin) ■ Limited release from Fri 26 Oct.
HORROR MANDY (TBC) 121min ●●●●●
This fever dream turned all-out nightmare could hardly be more cult – from its subject matter (the pursuit of a group of heinous ‘Jesus freaks’ by a delirious vigilante), to its wicked and wild execution. Merging turbulent synth with hallucinatory visuals, Panos Cosmatos harnesses the full transportive power of cinema in a film that walks its treacherous path at a ponderous pace.
In 1983, mild-mannered lumberjack Red Miller (Nicolas Cage) is living blissfully in a woodland idyll with Andrea Riseborough’s ethereal Mandy. When failed musician turned drug-addled religious leader Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache) rolls through town, the pair are placed in terrible danger, not least as Jeremiah and his gang are flanked by a group of ‘gnarly psychos’.
Mandy is one of the final films to benefit from the genius of Jóhann Jóhannsson (Sicario, Arrival), whose score compels and consumes it – the atmospheric bellowing is enough to make your ears bleed, while the red, raging visuals come courtesy of cinematographer Benjamin Loeb.
Although this intense blast of psychedelia-infused horror wears
a heavy cloak of fear and tragedy it is punctuated by the kind of crazed levity perfectly suited to Cage’s skill-set. The actor is in his element showcasing his gift for outlandish antics, whether screaming in a luridly patterned bathroom, tangling with a butt- naked demon, or fashioning a giant axe. In fact, the casting as a whole is inspired: Riseborough is bewitching, Roache maniacal, while Ned Dennehy and Olwen Fouéré are the epitome of creepy cultists. If it errs unashamedly on the indulgent side – the two- hour runtime can feel a roomy fit for a revenge narrative – it’s predominantly, often hellishly immersive. (Emma Simmonds) ■ General release from Fri 12 Oct.
1 Sep–31 Oct 2018 THE LIST 65