Astronaut (PG)
Directed by Shelagh McCleod
★★★

72-YEAR-OLD Richard Dreyfuss, best remembered for Jaws, American Graffiti and Close Encounters of the Third Kind — a film title with a certain contemporary resonance — joins the burgeoning space-travel-themed Hollywood ranks with Astronaut.

Directed by actor Shelagh McCleod, it's a sweet-natured if somewhat relentlessly sentimental feature-film debut.

Well-cast as lonely widower and former civil engineer Angus, Dreyfuss lives with his married daughter. He's bonded with her young son Barnie (the convincing Richie Lawrence) and their odd- couple relationship grows as they scan the stars through Angus’s beloved telescope.

The narrative seeks to fly when Angus, believing he can achieve his long-suppressed dream of becoming an astronaut and so be able to see the Earth from space, enters a competition for a place on the first-ever privately funded passenger space flight — eat your heart out, Elon Musk.  

And, despite lying about his age and ending up sentenced to life in an old people’s home, as the competition's most mature contestant, he wins the prize out of 300,000 entries.

But Angus, drawing on his years working on the construction of roads and bridges, uncovers an unexpected problem with the launch and it looks as though his verdict may have transformed his interstellar dreams into an earthbound nightmare.

Dreyfuss’s endearing performance adds vital charm and narrative credibility to the ensuing resolution of McCleod’s somewhat undernourished screenplay in this scaled-down space story.

ALAN FRANK

The Truth (PG)
Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda
★★★★

FRENCH cinema greats Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche appear for the first time together in this complex and powerful drama about family conflict, mother-daughter relationships and the trials of ageing film stars.

The pair deliver a stunning masterclass in acting in director Hirokazu Koreeda's first feature outside Japan, his follow-up to his Palme d'Or-winner Shoplifters.

In it, sparks fly when legendary French actress Fabienne (Deneuve) is reunited with her scriptwriter daughter Lumir (Binoche), who travels from the US to celebrate the launch of her mother's autobiography with TV-actor husband (Ethan Hawke) and young daughter (Clementine Grenier) in tow.

Unfortunately, Lumir sees her mother's book as a revisionist rose-tinted version — more fiction than fact — of her mother's life.

The latter is starring in a second-rate sci-fi film about a mother who never ages, in which the lead role is played by up-and-coming starlet Manon Lenoir (Manon Clavel), with Fabienne portraying her daughter at 73 years of age.

This ignites Fabienne's insecurities and professional jealousy and it causes untold friction with Lumir, who feels that she has always come second to her mother's career.

What ensues is a captivating drama about complicated family dynamics, driven home by two ageless legends at the top of their game.

The Truth is being released on Curzon Home Cinema.

MARIA DUARTE

The Great Buster Buster: A Celebration (PG)
Directed by Peter Bogdanovich
★★★★★

A CENTURY ago, the two-reel silent comedy One Week launched the unique career of Buster Keaton, perhaps the funniest and most talented American screen comedian ever.

As well as performing, the comic genius was a writer and director and for my money — and I’d still pay to see his films — he was funnier, cleverer and more endearing than his fellow Hollywood comic Charlie Chaplin.

In this unmissable tribute, film-maker and movie historian Peter Bogdanovich celebrates Keaton’s unique cinematic landmarks with a collection of aptly-chosen excerpts from his many classics and fascinating colour footage from his later films.

Beginning with his show-business beginnings in vaudeville, it moves through his career highs as director, producer and star of classic comedies and the unique performances that established him as “The Great Stone Face.”

There are memorable contributions from the likes of Dick Van Dyke, Werner Herzog, Quentin Tarantino — his best work ever? —Mel Brooks and Cybill Shepherd in what adds up to a hugely entertaining and unmissable film biography.

AF

Fire Will Come (12A)
Directed by Oliver Laxe
★★★

THIS slow-burning drama about a notorious convicted arsonist who returns home to his elderly mother in a Galician village in Spain is, surprisingly, a visually haunting tale.

It made an overnight sensation of newcomer Benedicta Sanchez after winning the Goya — Spain's equivalent of the Oscars —  for best new actor at the age of 84.

With few words, she gives a mesmerising performance opposite first-time actor Amador Arias as her son Amador, who is accused of causing a new fire in the area.

With its minimalist dialogue, long scenes capturing the grind of daily country life and its sweeping and lush panoramic landscapes, co-writer and director Oliver Laxe delivers a compelling drama that lingers with you as it analyses the devastation of fires on local communities.

And watching Amador painstakingly washing his hands under the kitchen tap in a never-ending scene is a timely reminder of how it should be done in these coronavirus-hit times!

MD