The Last Viking (15)
Directed by Anders Thomas Jensen
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

ANDERS Thomas Jensen’s latest feature is a cocktail of pitch-black comedy, hardboiled thriller and psychoanalytical mystery in the tradition of Hitchcock’s Marnie. Its narrative is powered by wit, stylised violence and outrage-baiting.
 
Following a disastrous heist, Anker (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) entrusts stashing the loot to his gentle but damaged brother, Manfred (Mads Mikkelsen playing against type).

When Anker is released from prison 15 years later, Manfred has forgotten where he buried the cash. Worse, he believes he is John Lennon. Whenever this delusion is challenged, “John” leaps from open windows and moving vehicles. To jog Manfred’s memory Anker takes him to their childhood home, now a woodland B&B run by a dysfunctional couple (Sofie Grabol and Soren Malling).

Absurdity reigns when Anker – tracked by a murderous criminal associate – lets a renegade psychiatric nurse include Manfred/John as rhythm guitarist in a dissociative identity disorder version of the Beatles. The drummer thinks he’s Ringo Starr while the identities of a talented multi-instrumentalist encompass McCartney, Harrison, Bjorn from Abba and Heinrich Himmler. Embedded in the narrative is a series of deceptions, and Anker’s gradual recall of a profound childhood trauma.      
There are flaws. Jensen’s provocations are repetitive and sometimes edge perilously close to punching downwards. There are longueurs in the central segment, and the storytelling is too loosely structured to support its cargo of characters, themes and cinematic satire.

There is, however, much to enjoy – surprising plot twists, smart one-liners, skilfully wrought slapstick and performances of subtle conviction from a dazzling ensemble cast.
AH
In cinemas June 26

Blue Heron (12A)
Directed by Sophy Romvari
⭑⭑☆☆☆

THE film opens with an immigrant family travelling to their idyllic new home on Vancouver Island. The eldest child Jeremy (nicely played by Edik Beddoes), is troubled. Jeremy wears an inscrutable smile, doesn’t speak much, frequently acts out. Jeremy is the problem child, constant focus for the parents and siblings. The film explores the last weeks of the family as a unit.

Told through the youngest child Sasha’s (Eylul Guven) viewpoint, the film is described as “semi-autobiographical,” based on director Sophy Romvari’s life. This first section depicts the family settling in. Trouble erupts in Utopia: disturbances caused by Jeremy. Being told from the point of view of Sasha, the youngest child, simplifies the events. The film suggests there is more to the story but it never really emerges.

A part-fictional revisiting of a ’90s family tragedy switches to a documentary approach in its second half. Here Sasha (Amy Zimmer) is an adult filmmaker interviewing a group of social workers for her film. The pretext is to explore what might have been done to better support Jerremy and family. Underlying the film as a whole is an assumption that not enough was done.

Yet hints emerge of deeper well-springs to the tale. The mother can only describe her son’s behaviour, not its causes. When she blurts out, “Yeah, I know he hates me”, the father cuts her off. Freud would be eating his beard.

This is a missed opportunity: the problem child, known as the sentinel for deeper structural fault lines, remains in the inscrutable dark. 
FO’C
In cinemas June 26

500 Miles (12A)
Directed by Morgan Matthews 
⭑⭑⭑☆☆

TWO young brothers embark on a 500-mile road trip from Sheffield to Ireland in a bid to stay together in this bittersweet drama which packs a surprising emotional punch. 

The youngsters are heading for Dingle in County Kerry to reunite with their estranged grandfather (Bill Nighy) who their parents stopped talking to following the fateful events of the previous summer. 

It is based on Mark Lowery’s book Charlie And Me, which Malcolm Campbell adapted for the big screen, and follows Finn (Roman Griffin Davis, Jojo Rabbit) and his younger sibling Charlie (Dexter Soll Ansell, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms) as they run away to Ireland while pursued by their worried mum and dad (Clare Dunne and Michael Socha). 

Roman and Dexter are impressive and totally believable as brothers as they bicker and poke fun at each other. Nighy, sporting an intermittent Irish accent, delivers another class act. 

It is the denouement in the third act which transforms the film, giving it extra depth and dimension. 
MD
In cinemas June 26

How To Live On Earth (12A)
Directed by Fredi Devas & Jonnie Hughes
⭑⭑⭑☆☆

PRESENTED and narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, this “how to” documentary explores our vital connection to nature and how it can save the planet. 

Like many documentaries before it, it identifies animal agriculture as a major driver of environmental degradation and recommends we stop eating meat to reverse it, which isn’t new. It also features stories, from all over the world, of the measures communities and scientists are taking to team up with nature and solve global environmental challenges. Such as “coral jazz” (coral sounds) being played underwater to attract fish back to the dying coral reefs to revive them. 

Featuring breathtaking cinematography, this ambitious film puts forward some positive and fascinating proposals to save Earth. However, unless world governments back them, or there is a cultural shift particularly around animal farming and turning to veganism, this seems a pipe dream. 
MD
In cinemas June 26

Supergirl (12A)
Directed by Craig Gillespie
⭑⭑⭑☆☆

SUPERGIRL likes to party and go on drinking benders off world as she battles her hero demons in this nonstop action-packed female superhero film which picks up where last year’s Superman left off. 

Milly Alcock is this movie’s saving grace as the badass Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl and Superman’s cousin. She completely knocks it out of the park as this traumatised and rebellious super being who declares war on Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts), the ruthless and villainous leader of a gang of human traffickers of young girls, when he poisons her beloved dog Krypto. She teams up with an unlikely companion, a 13-year-old girl (Eve Ridley), to wreak vengeance and justice on Krem. 

Directed by Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Lars and the Real Girl) this is a major improvement on the 1984 Supergirl, although it is a mixed bag. I could have done without the teen side kick but the biggest revelation was Schoenaerts who finally delivers a standout though truly terrifying performance, the first since 2012’s Rust and Bone. Plus, Jason Mamoa is great fun as the cigar-smoking mercenary biker Lobo. 

I look forward to seeing Alcock as Supergirl again, and more Krypto please. A must-see for tweens.
MD
In cinemas now