Deborah Ross

Late Fame stars Willem Dafoe as a postal worker whose single book of poetry – published nearly 50 years earlier – is rediscovered by a coterie of young fans who declare him ‘a genius’. It’s a tragicomedy – a satire on literary self-regard – that also manages to be exquisitely tender, delicate and a deeply layered character study. Dafoe is wonderful and, for once, is centre stage, playing a regular guy rather than some supporting-character weirdo. You can read everything on Dafoe’s face – a face that seems to have more bones than is needed in a face. It’s a face that renders the script hardly necessary.

Ridley Scott’s post-apocalyptic The Dog Stars is his third film in four years after Napoleon (disjointedly strange) and Gladiator II (not very goodus). On this occasion he’s made what I call a ‘hang on, what?’ film. Hang on, what? Who are these American Indians on horseback? Hang on, what? Why is Allison Janney suddenly cosplaying a 1950s air stewardess? The storytelling is so rushed it’s hard to follow. Scott is now 88, so perhaps he’s thinking there’s no time to muck around. One interesting feature of post-apocalyptic movies is that guns survive but no one has a toaster The film is based on a novel by Peter Heller and takes place sometime after a flu epidemic has all but wiped out mankind and civilisation has been reduced to a succession of film sets.

The film & Sons, in which a patriarch summons his estranged sons to let them in on a secret, has a stellar cast: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West (briefly), Johnny Flynn, George MacKay, Noah Jupe. It can’t possibly fail, you might reasonably think. But when I heard my companion snoring at around the midway mark, I can’t say I didn’t feel a little jealous. This is not a family you’d wish to spend any time with. If they ever ask you for Christmas, say you’re away. It sounds juicy on paper, as you’ll see. Nighy is Andrew Dyer, a famous literary novelist who, J.D. Salinger-style, is now a recluse and hasn’t written anything for 20 years.

Tony is a biopic of Anthony Bourdain, the late, great chef who, in fact, considered himself a writer first – his memoir Kitchen Confidential has sold in its millions – and a ‘skilled cook’ second. It’s not a Wikipedia entry, filmed. And it’s not hagiographic. It focuses on 1975 and the formative summer he spent washing dishes in Provincetown. He was 19 and the film opens with his own description of himself at that age: ‘I was – to be frank – a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive, thoughtless young lout who needed a good ass-kicking.’ I would say Nigella is also a writer first, skilled cook second, but perhaps any similarity ends there. Though the film feels authentic, it isn’t true true. In fact, you may sometimes wonder: did that actually happen?

A Useful Ghost is the best sex-with-a-vacuum-cleaner film I’ve seen in a while – or perhaps ever. It is deeply funny. How could it not be? But it’s also, in its way, deadly serious. A first film from Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, its camp absurdism and high jinks with electric appliances are also a satire on Thailand’s violent recent history. You can see why it won the Critics’ Week prize at Cannes. With most films you know what the film is, and where it’s going, within the first few minutes: ‘Oh, it’s this film.’ Here, you’ll have no idea. We start with a character simply called Ladyboy (Wisarut Homhuan). He lives in an area of Bangkok where the local shops and other buildings are being torn down and replaced by a shopping mall.

The Odyssey is Christopher Nolan’s relentless, deafening three-hour take on Homer’s epic poem, and while it is technically impressive filmmaking – Imax cameras; massive mechanical puppets, minimally pimped up by CGI; thousands of extras – it is set piece after set piece which becomes rather tiring. Even if weariness is part of the point of the Odyssey, it’s no excuse for the film being tiring. Even if weariness is part of the point of the Odyssey, it’s no excuse for the film being tiring What we get is an action blockbuster, without significant depth, although there is some heft to the final act – everybody’s favourite act, surely. Who doesn’t love it when Odysseus finally makes it back to Ithaca disguised as a beggar and no one recognises him?

Rosebush Pruning is one of those films where you’ll say to yourself at the end: what the hell have I just seen? And not in a good way. It’s about a wealthy family who are into fratricide, parricide, incest and blood. No quiet evenings playing Trivial Pursuit or charades for this lot. Mercifully, it is only 90 minutes long but, on the other hand, there are images you won’t be able to scrub from your mind for a lifetime. Swings and roundabouts, my friends, swings and roundabouts. When it comes to the eat-the-rich genre, this does make Saltburn look like child’s play Inexplicably, it has a knockout cast: Callum Turner, Jamie Bell, Tracy Letts, Pamela Anderson, Riley Keough, Elle Fanning, Lukas Gage. (You will want to pull each aside to ask: ‘Why? Did you piss off your agent?

The Invite is a dramedy from the dinner-party-gone-awry genre about a marriage and whether a sex party might save it – or will it make it go boom? It’s extremely savvy, very funny and packs an emotional punch. It stars Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton – and if there is more pleasure to be had than watching great actors behaving badly, I would genuinely wish to know about it. If there is more pleasure to be had than watching great actors behaving badly, I would wish to know about it It opens with a quote from Oscar Wilde: ‘One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry.’ (Wilde obviously didn’t know about the tax advantages.) Joe and Angela’s marriage is hanging by a thread.

A Private Life is a French film starring Jodie Foster as a psychoanalyst navigating what might be a murder mystery. It’s a psychological thriller (kind of), and a complex character study, and while it is très, très French, with elements that feel like a fever dream, Foster’s presence will keep you glued. She has a face you could watch for ever. It moves. It’s expressive. It captivates. She hasn’t meddled with it. ‘I don’t want to be some Botoxed weirdo,’ she has said. It makes such a refreshing change to see a 63-year-old woman who looks like a 63-year-old woman rather than a haunted doll. In fact, if it weren’t for her and Frances McDormand, it would probably be game over.

Toy Story 5 – do we need it? One worries for the narrative integrity of characters when an IP is thrashed to death like this. The latest ​instalment, however, does address one of the most pressing dilemmas of modern childhood (screen time) and whether it will be the end of toys. (‘Extinction… Not again!’ cries Rex, the dinosaur.) It is timely, with some delicious touches – Woody now has a bald spot So it is timely, with some delicious touches – Woody now has a bald spot. And while it isn’t as entertaining as the first three and stumbles at the finishing line, it may be better than the fourth, with its horrible doll Gabby Gabby.

Steven Spielberg has said his latest film, Disclosure Day, is ‘the summation of my life in science fiction’, which began with Close Encounters of the Third Kind and ends here. (He is now 79.) I adored Close Encounters when it first came out in 1977 and still do – that final scene must be one of the greatest final scenes in cinema, greater even than The Terminator. But Disclosure Day is not its match, not nearly. What we have here instead is a forgettable action film with the bones of your average conspiracy thriller. There may or may not be life on other planets, but this poor Earthling felt the life drain from her at around ten minutes in.

Madfabulous is a biopic of Henry Paget, the fifth Marquess of Anglesey, who was probably mad and definitely fabulous. His prodigalities in jewels and clothing were enormous. He perfumed his automobile so it belched violets. He was partial to wearing women’s clothing. He set up his own theatre company to showcase his ‘butterfly dance’. Needless to say, he burned through his family’s fortune in a few short years. How could all this not be wonderful on screen? Who doesn’t wish for an automobile belching violets? Alas, the film leans towards the pedestrian but, still, it will send you down a most satisfying rabbit hole. Look him up. The spit of Frank Zappa, right? And this is the late 1800s we are talking about. Respect.

I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t enjoy Tuner. It’s a heist caper as well as a romance and while it hits some familiar beats it hits them in new ways. Set in the piano-tuning world – which may be a first – it’s sound-driven (jazz, classical and more) and has something to say about music, identity, artistic envy. In addition it stars Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall, who have cracking chemistry. You will not have realised that bird song can hurt It’s a first feature film from Daniel Roher (otherwise an Oscar-winning documentary maker), who proves here that he has equal talent for fiction. Hoffman plays Harry, a New York piano tuner who once played jazz with Herbie Hancock and the like – although maybe he didn’t. (He seems to be slipping into dementia.

Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers is a deliciously sly, twisty, darkly comedic take on the art world starring Ian McKellen who has never been better on film. (Let’s not mention 2023’s The Critic ever again.) The trouble with McKellen is that for some people  (i.e., me) it’s hard not to always see Ian McKellen, but that’s not the case here. Soderbergh is a big name (the Ocean’s trilogy, the Magic Mike trilogy, plus Traffic, Erin Brockovich and many more) but with this two-hander he’s gone small, pitting McKellen against Michaela Coel. She has the quieter role but more than holds her own. (I could look at the remarkable planes of her face all day.

A three-hour Japanese epic about a classical performance art (kabuki) isn’t the easiest sell, I’ll grant you, but I’ll give it my best. Kokuho is multi-award winning. It is the highest grossing live-action film in Japan ever. It is sumptuously filmed. It is masterfully sweeping. The kabuki itself is stunning, so much so that you may one day wish to visit the kabuki theatre in Tokyo, although be warned: the shortest production is four hours. Some last all day. Looked at this way, you are getting off lightly here. I felt entirely immersed in a world I had known little about Directed by Lee Sang-il, and adapted from Shuichi Yoshida’s two-part novel, the film is a drama spanning 50 years.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006) is one of those films which, if chanced upon when flicking television channels, I will always stick with for a bit. It has zing. It has bite. It has memorable lines that I can remember without having to look them up. (‘Are we going to a hideous skirt convention?’) But mostly it has Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, the wonderfully toxic editor-in-chief of Runway fashion magazine. She is still terrific. But while the landscape has moved on, the characters have remained the same and halfway through I started to drift. Another blow is that it’s become more sentimental and less satirical. In other words – and I hate to be the one to say it – it’s not as good as the original. Where are we, 20 years on?

Rose of Nevada is the third film in Mark Jenkin’s Cornish trilogy and if you have seen the first two (Bait, Enys Men) you will have booked your cinema ticket already. Rooted in characters shaped by the histories and tensions of Cornwall’s fishing folk, Jenkin’s film-making is uniquely tactile, textured and sensory. It has been said you can’t watch one of his features without feeling the rust on your hands and the salt in your hair. I would even add that it may be a while before you find your land-legs again.

Glenrothan is Brian Cox’s directorial debut and I wish there were a nicer way of putting it but, Brian: please, please, don’t give up the day job. The screenplay, meanwhile, is by David Ashton, whose only previous film credit seems to be Freddie as F.R.O.7  (1992), a James Bond spoof starring a six foot animated frog voiced by Ben Kingsley. (‘Toadally awful’ is the first comment on IMDb.) The only thing that might actually make you laugh is the foreshadowing The film stars Cox and Alex Cumming as estranged brothers Sandy and Donal and here’s what you need to know about the pair: 40 years ago Donal left Sandy and the family business (a whisky distillery in Glenrothan) for America and hasn’t been in touch since.

François Ozon’s The Stranger is an adaptation of Albert Camus’ 1942 novel about a clerk who – spoiler alert* – senselessly murders an Arab in broad daylight on a hot Algerian beach. Why did he do it? ‘It was because of the sun’ is all he can suggest. Existential ennui: that’s what’s at play here, which isn’t generally a great draw at the cinema. It would come way down on most people’s lists. But miraculously, Ozon has managed to make a film about boredom without making a boring film. If nothing else, the radiant black and white aesthetic will grab you from the off and then never let go. Visually, it’s divine. The novel – which was published as The Outsider in this country – opens with the line: ‘Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can’t be sure.

The Drama is the latest from Norwegian writer-director Kristoffer Borgli whose films (Sick of Myself, Dream Scenario) always cause a stir, and this is no exception. It stars Hollywood big-hitters Robert Pattinson and Zendaya as a happily engaged couple whose forthcoming wedding may not go ahead after one discovers a disturbing truth about the other. What is this disturbing truth? It would be a spoiler to tell you – even though the details are splashed all over the internet and have already created a backlash. (Don’t look it up. Or do. I’m not your boss.) It is intended to shock but it may not be as shocking as it thinks it is – or even very convincing.