Adrift: The hapless feline from ‘Flow’.
FLOW **** (85 minutes) G
Fresh from its long-odds Oscar triumph over far more costly studio animations such as Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot, Flow is a beautiful, beguiling, wordless work about a cat adrift on a boat with a small gaggle of other creatures seeking refuge from a flash flood.
With a love for long takes, director Gints Zilbalodis takes us through a soaked world full of spires, drowned cities and mysterious structures.
As the cat struggles to survive through storms and inevitable spells in the water, we are offered mere hints as to what kind state the world is in. One surreal scene as the boat drifts through the boulevards of an abandoned town suggests a post-human world where these modest critters are the unwitting new masters.
A remarkable, captivating work from Latvia, Flow offers a sage reminder of the power image-only stories can wield, demanding full attention from the viewer, who is in turn rewarded with a gentle stream of detail and nuance. What a fabulous film this is.
THE RULE OF JENNY PENN ***1/2 (105 minutes) MA
Confined to a motorised wheelchair while recovering from a stroke in a Kiwi care facility, Judge Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush) finds himself locking horns with fellow resident and certifiable nutcase Dave Crealy (John Lithgow), who enjoys terrorising people with a plastic doll permanently attached to his hand.
Director James Ashcroft does a nifty job with this tight Stephen King-esque psychological horror jaunt, eliciting high-end turns from his two leads, who also served as executive producers. The film is based on a short story by Owen Marshall.
Notably, The Rule of Jenny Penn is the first Geoffrey Rush film since 2019’s Storm Boy, his absence due to a career lull caused by the fallout from #metoo allegations that did not stand up in court. That adds up to about 10 Geoffrey Rush films we could have had.
BOB TREVINO LIKES IT ***1/2 (102 minutes) M
In a desperate plea to reconnect after being shunned by her deadbeat dad, Lily (Barbie Ferreira), a troubled young woman suffering bouts of depression, resorts to Facebook and accidentally bonds with a man with the same name (John Leguizamo).
They become close very quickly, each filling an aching emotional void in the other’s life.
An unabashed and very effective tearjerker, writer/director Tracie Laymon knows exactly how thick to lay it on. Veteran John Leguizamo is very good as the handsome sexagenarian but it’s the splendid performance from Barbie Ferreira (best known for Euphoria) that carries the film. The dog scene will get under the guard of even the most hardened cynic.
Kudos, too, to French Stewart who, as Lily’s dad, gives us one of the most pathetic losers we’ve seen in years.
THE RETURN ***1/2 (116 minutes) M
Very solid drama here with the indefatigable Ralph Fiennes playing the latter-day Odysseus from Homer’s Odyssey who, after decades of fighting, is washed up on the rocky shoreline of his home island of Ithaca.
Having waited long enough, his wife Penelope (Juliette Binoche) is about to reluctantly pick a new husband from her assortment of rough-edged suitors, all to the objection of their son Telemachus (Charlie Plummer).
Cloaked in shame for having lost all his men in battle, Odysseus struggles to decide if he should go all the way home before having to flee from men who do not welcome his return.
Punchy stuff this, very well-directed by Uberto Pasolini with Fiennes in top form and, at 62, looking respectably ripped alongside his much younger torso-bearing co-stars.
Quite surprised at the film’s M rating given the amount of blood and brutality on show, especially in the final reel.