The Age of Shadows (15)
(Kim Jee-woon, 2016, S Kor) 141 mins
There’s a real authority to this espionage thriller, which packs its grand 1920s story with lavish design, visual flair and gripping action. You’re plunged straight into it, following a detective whose loyalties are divided between the occupying Japanese forces and the Korean resistance he’s charged with infiltrating. It’s a complex story with complex characters, but hugely rewarding.
Personal Shopper (15)
(Olivier Assayas, 2016, Fra/Ger) 105 mins
A classy fashionista thriller and a ghost story for our times. Kristen Stewart excels as the celeb-serving retail slave of the title, whose dead twin brother and other virtual presences haunt her real-world existence – assuming she has one. It’s a unique, potent story, coolly executed.
Get Out (15)
(Jordan Peele, 2017, US) 104 mins
Modern-day race politics revitalises the horror genre brilliantly here, as an African-American man (Daniel Kaluuya) visits his white girlfriend’s “liberal” parents and finds himself trapped in a country club of creepiness. Initially it’s indistinguishable from mere racist micro-aggressiveness, but ultimately turns out to be something far worse.
The Lost City of Z (15)
(James Gray, 2016, US) 141 mins
Another white explorer loses it in the jungle, but this is no Herzog film. Real-life cartographer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) is a relatively enlightened Brit, whose 1906 mission to Amazonia convinces him there’s a buried civilisation to discover. The perils of his repeated expeditions are rendered in epic visuals and restrained drama.
Elle (18)
(Paul Verhoeven, 2016, Fra/Ger/Bel) 131 mins
A role possibly only Isabelle Huppert could carry, in a drama whose unorthodox narrative makes for bracing, if troubling, viewing. She plays a wealthy Parisian woman who responds to being raped in a baffling way: by carrying on with her life almost as normal. Except her life is far from normal, as we discover.
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