FILM | REVIEWS
DRAMA FARMING (18) 102min ●●●●●
Based on the experiences of actor-turned-director Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Farming tells the unusual and horrifying story of a British Nigerian boy assimilating into an Essex skinhead gang. In the 60s and 70s, ‘farming’ was the phenomenon of working or studying immigrants fostering out their children to white, often working-class families. The film opens with one such arrangement: a Nigerian couple (Akinnuoye-Agbaje himself and Genevieve Nnaji) hand their newborn son, Enitan, over to the Carpenters (Lee Ross and Kate Beckinsale), alongside a wad of cash. Growing up in a white neighbourhood, Enitan internalises the prejudice he experiences. When his birth parents bring him back to Nigeria, he is as out of place there as he is in Tilbury. Zephan Amissah’s initial portrayal of a shy boy turning against himself is as remarkable as the process is sickening. Frustratingly, the remainder – which sees a 16-year-old Enitan (played by Damson Idris) join the skinhead gang – lacks the same conviction, with nuance losing out to punishing, showy abuse, while the film concludes with haste. Despite storytelling issues, excellent performances from Amissah and Idris give Farming its power and its heart. (Katie Goh) ■ General release from Fri 11 Oct.
COMEDY NON-FICTION (15) 107min ●●●●●
French auteur Olivier Assayas (Personal Shopper) is at his best with edgier fare. But this bourgeois comedy is pretty conventional. Reunited with previous collaborator Juliette Binoche, Assayas constructs a tale of middle-class woes that can feel a little self-satisfied.
Alain Danielson (Guillaume Canet) is a slick editor, while author Léonard Spiegel (Vincent Macaigne) is older and behind-the- times. Alain isn’t going to publish Léonard’s latest tome, which riles Alain’s wife Selena (Binoche). Why? Perhaps because she’s having an affair with Léonard, who is also married.
Carved out in the most familiar traditions of French cinema, Assayas may be leaning back on the sort of introspection that is the mainstay of Gallic filmmaking, but his characters are concerned about the impact of modern technology on their lives. Canet shows us the vulnerability beneath Alain’s calm exterior, Binoche has a riot as an actress stuck on a TV cop show, and cinematographer Yorick Le Saux ensures the heavily talky scenes stay alive visually. But, while Assayas tackles issues of French identity with gusto, it’s a world that many will find impenetrable, and a film that seems destined to be a minor work. (James Mottram) ■ Selected release from Fri 18 Oct.
BIOPIC JUDY (12A) 118min ●●●●●
Judy Garland died in 1969 at the age of 47. Also that year, she married her fifth husband and performed a five-week run in a London nightclub. This biopic takes a look at that time, with Renée Zellweger playing the pill-popping singer, indelibly marked by her experiences as a child actress in the likes of The Wizard of Oz. It’s a sad indictment of early Hollywood, but director Rupert Goold (True Story) still finds joy, glamour and heart in this adaptation of hit play End of the Rainbow. We meet Judy when she is divorcing husband number four, and encounters handsome
young Mickey Deans (Finn Wittrock) at a party. He follows her to London, but this is less focused on their romance and more on Judy’s struggles to complete her work commitments while drifting drunkenly from hotels to bars, adored but unhappy and wracked with guilt about being separated from her children. This is a portrait of a deeply lonely woman, and its best scenes are both poignant
and gently amusing. One adorable moment sees the star inviting a pair of startled gay autograph hunters out to dinner, only to end up at their small flat when all restaurants are shut. A tender conversation ensues, recalling My Week with Marilyn in its depiction of an ill-fated actress having an encounter with a British fan. This also recalls the recent Stan & Ollie, but it’s better, not least due to Zellweger’s
tremendous performance. Whether delivering fake smiles or – more rarely – real ones, Zellweger is captivating as the tragic star, her face etched with sadness, her eyes wistful, her shoulders slightly hunched, her stagger barely under control. This seems like the role the actress has been waiting for – and the film many Garland fans have too. (Anna Smith) ■ General release from Wed 2 Oct.
WAR WEREWOLF (15) 88min ●●●●●
The horror of war doesn’t end with liberation in Werewolf, an intense, imaginative mixture of thriller, fairy tale and allegory from Polish writer-director Adrian Panek. There are echoes of Lord of the Flies in a story that follows a group of young concentration camp survivors in the dying weeks of WWII as they find sanctuary in a woodland mansion. There is little food, no water or electricity but there is a fragile sense of security. Hanka (Sonia Mietielica) becomes the reluctant leader – a Snow White creating a home for her own version of the seven dwarfs. The threat to their safety stretches from Russian soldiers to fugitive Nazis and German shepherd attack dogs. The dogs surround the house, leaving the children with little chance of escape. Panek makes the most of his locations, contrasting the gloom and claustrophobia of the house with the seemingly boundless freedom of the woods. Restrained in its violence, Werewolf provides a thoughtful exploration of how humanity endures in the face of evil. The dogs have been trained to kill. Many of the children have only known a society in which the strong survive and the weak perish. How can compassion hope to flourish in a world gone mad? (Allan Hunter) ■ Selected release from Fri 4 Oct. 64 THE LIST 1 Sep–31 Oct 2019