Memoria (12A)
Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
★★

YOU can almost guarantee that any film starring Tilda Swinton will be a surreal and mind-bending ride, and Memoria is no exception — if somewhat more of a head scratcher.

Swinton plays a woman who, while visiting her sister in Bogota, is awakened by a mysterious loud bang, only audible to her, which she then begins to hear periodically, along with other unusual sounds around the city. Intrigued, she embarks on a fact-finding mission to discover its origin.

If you love slow-burning, mystical cinema with minimal dialogue and even less action, then Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria is definitely for you.

Personally, this would have rivalled the excitement of watching paint dry if it wasn’t for Swinton, who always reels me in and lifts any work she stars in.

The ending, however, was as pretentiously bizarre as the cinematic journey itself.

Maria Duarte
In cinemas January 14

Ascension (15)
Directed by Jessica Kingdon
★★★

FILMMAKER Jessica Kingdon’s fascinating observational documentary pulls back the curtain on China’s growing class divide as it explores the pursuit of the Chinese dream — an elusive fantasy for most.

The film paints an eye-opening portrait as it provides an extraordinary look at labour, consumerism and wealth in the country.

Divided into three parts, it ascends through the levels of capitalist structures: from factory workers assembling small parts and female staff custom-making sex dolls, to middle-class people training to sell to aspirational consumers, to the elite enjoying their hedonistic lifestyles.

It is an insightful examination of life in the emerging superpower, without a running commentary or expert interviews (though those would have been helpful).

Nevertheless, Kingdon delivers a detailed and visually compelling film with some eye-opening moments.

Maria Duarte
In cinemas January 14

The Devil to Pay
Directed by Ruckus Skye
★★★

STEPPING behind the camera for his first feature effort, Becky writer Ruckus Skye brings the same kind of viscerally violent sensibilities to the table for The Devil to Pay (titled elsewhere simply as Reckoning) but, without the novelty of his quirky concept to bank on this time, the film’s fate is left hanging squarely on the shoulders of its lead.

Set in an isolated Appalachian community, relatively unknown Danielle Deadwyler is the struggling farmer’s wife forced to take matters into her own hands when the mountain’s de facto matriarch-cum-crime boss demands payment of an unreasonable debt, taking Deadwyler’s son captive as collateral.

It’s a million miles removed from Taylor Sheridan territory and never quite develops anything beyond Deadwyler’s lead Lemon to the point of investment, though luckily Deadwyler’s performance stands its ground rather nicely.

A great example of a performer being better than the material they’re working with, Deadwyler brings both the cathartic endurance and emotional volatility needed to keep The Devil to Pay tipped just effectively enough to work.

Outside of its lead however, it’s Rote Revenge Thriller 101, with all of the dialled-in Premiere Pro templates to match, and a beat-for-beat seen-it-all-before repertoire for which you’ll want to stiff the Devil on the bill.

Van Connor
In cinemas

Cow (12A)
Directed by Andrea Arnold
★

THERE’S a classic moment in the Simpsons episode Lisa’s Sax in which loveable goof Homer, when seeing David Lynch’s Twin Peaks for the first time, privately declares it to be “brilliant,” before adding: “I have absolutely no idea what’s going on.”

It’s a memory that comes flooding back as almost aspirational upon seeing Fish Tank director Andrea Arnold spend 94 wordless minutes chronicling the life of a cow in the (imaginatively titled) Cow, a time void of a documentary that can only be healed over with the knowledge that at least there are 22 more worthwhile minutes of entertainment to be found with Homer over on Disney+.

Firmly in the trench of “art with a capital F,” this boring bovine baffler is literally and conceptually as described — the director of American Honey has seemingly discovered the purpose of webcams.

More so, she’s chosen to milk this three-decade-old technology to conjure up what amounts to a Tractor Ted episode sans Ted or even Farmer Tom (who is, admittedly, as any parent will tell you, just a liability).

This isn’t procrastinating. Oh no. This is a concise and clear analysis of Andrea Arnold’s Cow.

And, like the film itself, it’s an “udderly” preposterous waste of time. Fetch the bolt gun.

VC
In selected cinemas and available to stream on Mubi