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Film round-up: June 13, 2019

MARIA DUARTE and ALAN FRANK review Diego Maradona, Prophecy, We Are Animals, The Hummingbird Project, Sometimes Always Never, Men in Black International and Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf

Diego Maradona (15)
Directed by Asif Kapadia
★★★★★
 

ALL praise is due to director Asif Kapadia, whose biopic of Amy Winehouse won an Oscar, for this riveting documentary charting the rise and fall of Argentinian soccer superstar-turned-tabloid villain Diego Maradona.

It gripped me from start to finish, even though I’m no football fan.

Kapadia’s vividly dramatic sequences, culled from many hours of documentary footage, deliver a fascinating picture of Maradona’s astonishing journey from Argentinean slum to international soccer superstardom, notably during his seven years in Naples.

His infamous “hand of God” goal at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico still hits England fans hard — though he confesses that he’s “more interested in money than in glory” at one point — and his troubled relationship with his illegitimate son make for vivid and emotionally stirring sequences.

Initial hagiography segues into Hollywood-style gangsterism, with the cocaine-addicted Maradona involved with a local mafia-style crime syndicate in this unmissable documentary that packs a mighty punch.

Alan Frank

Prophecy
Directed by Charlie Paul
★★★★

Prophecy / Trailer from Itch Film on Vimeo.

 

PROPHECY paints a fascinating picture of an artist at work and how an oil painting is conceived and executed from beginning to end.

Charlie Paul’s insightful documentary provides an intimate, warts-and-all examination of acclaimed Scottish artist Peter Howson as he creates his monumental and apocalyptic Prophecy, which he estimated would take between three to four months to complete.

Howson, the former official Bosnian war artist, gives a compelling brushstroke-by-brushstroke running commentary as he shares his techniques and thought processes and explains where he draws his inspiration from.

The camera captures every intricate detail and there are moments of fast-forward time lapse to show how the painting was created — awe-inspiring, as you feel you are right there with Howson.

A must-see for art lovers and anyone curious as to how it is done.

Maria Duarte

We Are Animals (15)
Directed by Jeremiah Zagar
★★★

THREE young and inseparable mixed-race brothers come of age as they battle to survive in a continually dysfunctional emotional environment created by their neglectful Puerto Rican father Paps (Raul Castillo) and emotionally stressed Italian-American mother Ma (Sheila Vand).

Their plight is compounded when their father vanishes after beating up their mother.

The youngsters, all non-actors, do well to bring the sometimes overwritten and occasionally under-created characters to credible life.

The screenplay’s too often pretentious and is considerably less convincing than the well-used New England locations which, atmospherically filmed by cinematographer Zak Mulligan, gives the drama impact and add a much-needed dose of realism, given the film’s less than credible melodramatic moments.

While We Are Animals fails to deliver what it promises, it’s never dull. Yet I felt that debut director Jeremiah Zagar would prefer to be hailed as an art-film creator rather than as an audience-friendly storyteller.

AF

The Hummingbird Project (15)
Directed by Kim Nguyen
★★★★

WHO’D have guessed that the world of high-frequency trading and fibre optics could prove the riveting catalyst for a quirky and wonderfully funny technological caper? But that’s exactly what The Hummingbird Project does.

It has Jesse Eisenberg as high-frequency trader Vincent Zaleski who, with the help of his computer genius cousin Anton (Alexander Skarsgard), decides to build a straight fibre optic cable line from Kansas to New Jersey in order to transmit stock market data at the speed a hummingbird flaps its wings — thus making them millions.

But it’s a race against time before their ruthless ex-boss Eva Torres (a deliciously villainous Salma Hayek) beats them to it.

Eisenberg and Skarsgard make a compelling double act in an Of Mice and Men-style dynamic. The former is on top form as the fast-talking hustler without any moral scruples, while Skarsgard’s clearly having a blast playing against type as the socially awkward Anton, who’s balding, middle-aged and paunchy.

Canadian writer-director Kim Nguyen delivers a gripping and sharp-witted thriller which exposes the cut-throat edge of an increasingly digital capitalist world and its moral and environmental cost.

MD

Sometimes Always Never (12A)
Directed by Carl Hunter
★★

SADLY, nothing that follows is as compelling or memorable as cinematographer Richard Stoddard’s superbly composed wide-screen opening shot of Alan (Bill Nighy) standing alone on a northern English beach.

The story, described by screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce as a mix of detective fantasy and family drama, “where a love of words helps a father reconnect with a missing son,” then kicks in.

What follows is sincere and it’s occasionally enlivened by comic moments as tailor Alan searches for his missing son, who stormed out over a game of scrabble.

Board games drive a story which, regrettably, focuses far too often on Nighy’s character. His customary performance becomes increasingly irritating, despite a comparatively smart screenplay.

AF

Men in Black International (12A)
Directed by F Gary Gray
★★★

AFTER a seven year hiatus, the Men in Black franchise returns with a back-to-basics adventure led by Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson as the first female agent in the field.

The pair are on a mission to find the Men in Black’s greatest threat to date. There’s a mole in their ranks — although it’s not difficult to guess who it is — which takes them from London to Marrakesh to Italy.

Former MIBs Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones have left big shoes to fill as their chemistry and repartees were electric and acute. Hemsworth and Thompson aren’t quite in the same league, though they have a great rapport and do a decent enough job and Hemsworth is always easy on the eye. They are easily upstaged by minute alien Pawny (Kumail Nanjiani).

The wonderful Emma Thompson returns fleetingly as Agent O and brings a touch of class and biting put-downs as she tackles the thorny issue of why the organisation is still called Men in Black with acerbic wit. I wish we had seen more of her.

There is nothing groundbreaking about this latest MIB adventure but it’s fun and entertaining enough to watch.

MD

Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf (U)
Directed by Thomas Piper
★★★★

THE EXTRAORDINARY wonders of Dutch-born Piet Oudolf’s unique and revolutionary garden designs are the subject of Thomas Piper’s intriguing and gripping documentary.

It’s a chance to savour the life and work of the most influential landscape designer of the last 50 years, who’s been responsible for landmark gardens in the US, Britain and Germany, as well as his own garden in Holland.

He comes across as a truly unique character, who modestly sums up his work as putting “plants on stage and letting them perform.”

Piper showcases Oudolf at work in a documentary that supports his contention that design isn’t just about plants, “it is about emotion, atmosphere, a sense of contemplation. You try to move people with what you do.”

Which, captivatingly, he does.

AF

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