Charcoal (15)
Directed by Carolina Markowicz
★★★★

SET in a remote area in Sao Paulo’s countryside, a rural family take on more than they bargained for when they agree to put up a mysterious house guest in this brutal and disturbing debut feature by Carolina Markowicz. 

He turns out to be an Argentinian drug kingpin on the run (Cesar Bordon) who has staged his own death to avoid justice.

In the meantime has to share a room with Irene’s (Maeve Jinkings) young son (Jean Costa) as he hides out in their home.

The mother, husband (Romulo Braga) and child have to learn to live with him which proves increasingly difficult as their finances improve following this deal they have struck with the Devil. 

They start to spend the money…

The film is driven by a powerhouse performance from Jinkings. Neglected by her unemployed husband who turns out to be in love with his best friend (Pedro Wagner), she finds herself becoming attracted to the drug lord who shuns her at every turn. 

Writer-director Markowicz delivers an intense and gripping pot-boiler which ends as it begins with a deadly and shocking twist. 
 

Out in cinemas today and on digital platforms from March 20.

Champions (12A)
Directed by Bobby Farrelly 
★★★

BOBBY FARRELLY’s first solo directorial feature without his brother Peter is a wonderfully funny and heart-warming underdog story about a hotheaded minor league basketball coach who, having been caught drunk behind the wheel, is ordered to manage a Special Olympics team as part of his community service. 

It is based on the Spanish film Campeones which became Spain’s biggest box office hit of 2018. 

Woody Harrelson teams up with Farrelly for the first time since 1996’s Kingpin, starring as Marcus who is forced to coach The Friends, a group of basketball players with intellectual disabilities for ninety days in Des Moines, Iowa. It is his worst nightmare. 

While Harrelson provides the star power and a standout performance in this, his third film about the sport, it is the 10 members of The Friends, played mostly by non-professional actors, who are the beating heart and soul of Champions.

They steal every scene with Harrelson, some of which were, it seems, entirely spontaneous.

Their comic timing and rapport with Harrelson is a joy to behold as his character coaches them to reach the Special Olympics final.

They are joined by Kaitlin Olson, as one of the players’ sisters and Marcus’s own awkward one-night stand, along with Cheech Marin and Ernie Hudson. 

The film is not afraid to be un-PC as it deals head on with discrimination against the disabled.

It also portrays these disabled players in a positive and uplifting light without being patronising or overly sentimental, and ends on a surprising and inspiring note. 
 

Out in cinemas today.

The Middle Man (15)
Directed by Bent Hamer
★★★

SET in the god-forsaken fictional US town of Karmack, the community is in such deep depression that the doctor, priest and sheriff hire a middle man to break bad news to the locals in this quirky and bizarre dark comedy drama from Norwegian writer-director Bent Hamer. 

Based on Lars Saabye Christensen’s novel of the same name it follows Frank Farrelli (Pal Sverre Hagen) as he gets the job nobody wants and is trained up on how to inform people they have lost a loved one. 

It is a very stylised film shot in cool and stark colours reflecting the town’s despair and lack of hope. You do not warm to any of the characters who are all rather strange and have no redeeming qualities.

Even Farrelli’s blossoming romance with work colleague Blenda (Tuva Novotny) seems off key and devoid of any passion. 

It is a very odd and cold drama which starts off about grief and loss and then transforms into a surreal crime thriller as Farrelli turns out to be quite the dark horse. But what it all means is anyone’s guess. 
 

Out in cinemas today.

The Wife and Her House Husband (15)
Directed by Marcus Markou 
★★★

JUST over 10 years after his highly successful debut feature Papadopoulos and Sons writer director Marcus Markou returns with a fascinating drama about a married couple about to divorce, who are forced to face their demons by their younger selves. 

As they are about to sign on the dotted line to end their marriage Cassie (Laura Bayston) and Matthew (Laurence Spellman) come across a letter they had both written in the past in the event they were to separate.

It gives them tasks to do: they must relive happier moments in their lives and analyse their partnership and their feelings. 

Despite having an open marriage, Cassie feels guilty for the way she has treated her husband who stayed at home taking care of their children while she went to work in a high-powered job.

She feels this so deeply that she awards him full custody of the kids along with the house and its contents. 

This is a slow-burning drama, anchored by raw and nuanced performances which unpeels like an onion, slowly revealing layer after layer of a marriage.

You feel that you have genuinely got under the skin of these two people to discover the real reason that led to this point. It gives the film a surprising and heartbreaking twist.
 

Out in cinemas today.