So that’s the award season all done huh. Everything Everywhere cleaned the Oscars as it deserved to, while Aftersun lead the ASBOs. So… now what? Do we go back to our petty feud with everyone’s favourite cult member Tom Cruise in his attempt to bring down the blog along with the church of Scientology?
No, instead I shall extend the olive branch by listing all of Tom Cruise’s incredible top tier films:
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On with the reviews…
In a world of increasingly long films which build a universe and a world, it’s somewhere for our imaginations to go. Yet, despite the beauty of Pandora or the excitement of the MCU, we forget the excitement and the beauty of the mundane which we encounter everyday. Rye Lane as a film goes directly against this, making art of its surroundings. Not only is it one of the most exciting, fresh romcoms of recent times, it’s also a beautiful love letter to the director’s home of Peckham.
A concept that sounds simple, at an odd art exhibition our lead Yas hears Dom crying in the toilets. He’s having a private moment of reflection as he’s still hurting from a break up a few months back. When Yas later recognises his shoes, she then befriends him as they explore Peckham and Brixton and it turns out he’s meeting his ex this day. She decides to join before their friendship grows and over the course of the day, Dom decides to help Yas and hijinks ensue as our characters start to fall for each other.
At just 82 minutes long, this film flies by. No scene feels wasted, and is instead filled with this positive, exciting energy which makes every moment feel important and a pleasure to watch. The comedy is more often than not on point and efficient. It also helps teach us about the characters, not just putting in jokes for jokes sakes and really is the archetypal definition of a rom-com. David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah both have so much chemistry, it all feels natural and never forced.
Much like When Harry met Sally, this is a tale of flawed characters, albeit in a simple way. Dom is nervous, hung up on his last relationship and the level headed of this comedic duo. Meanwhile, Yas is much more bubbly, yet her lingering self doubt is more internalised as her cockiness almost comes across as a mask.
Sure, these two characters are the main ones, but the third one is South London, mostly Peckham. We meet big characters, see beautiful places and it’s shot like a piece of art. We witness many colourful buildings and strange people who are not there to be laughed at, but to be appreciated as unique parts of this area’s architecture. It becomes so apparent this film is made by people from the area and it really is a wonderful love letter.
The way the film is shot is wonderfully creative as well. Grounded realism with a set of narrow close up shots allow these characters time to be the sole focus, against the aforementioned backdrop. The witty dialogue intercut with scenes of imagination (A break up story is briefly shown in front of a theatre of consisting of an audience of the other character). Never does this feel out of place as it remembers to keep its characters front and centre both with its script and production.
Rye Lane is a thing of beauty. A brilliantly warm and funny film about being your best self, this rom com succeeds at both the rom and the com to lead to a brilliantly fresh film.
Rye Lane is in cinemas now
There is something oddly haunting about communities of the world. They’re tight knit, very good to one another, but hostile towards others. We see this in rural communities often, with probably the most famous example being Hot Fuzz whose community did things for their greater good (the greater good). While that fictitious comedy is amusing, Spain’s latest True Crime drama The Beasts certainly isn’t a chirpy stroll in the park.
While watching this film, I had no idea it was based on true events. The film starts with a group of men wrestling down a horse to tag it, showing an immediately macho environment. We then see this rural Spanish community into which an academic French couple move. When we meet this community, they have already fallen out with the male, Antoine, who they refer to as just “Frenchy”. It turns out he has voted against an energy company planting wind turbines, thus denying the poverty stricken toiling farmers a big pay day and a new start. When suspicious events start to happen, Antoine buys himself a camera to record the goings on. However, this only antagonises the locals more, particularly brothers Xan and Lorenzo.
This whole film manages to create a nastily eerie atmosphere, with an understated flutey score which is almost like the wind, but in an unnatural way. The relationships between the characters leave you with a feeling that something bad is going to happen, with a gradual escalation built on desperation. This is helped by an absolutely top form cast. Denis Menochet as the stubborn Antoine is likable and fully believable as is his fearful wife, played by Marina Fois. Luis Zehera and Diego Anido as the siblings put themselves up for early ASBO 2024 contention as well. Anido particularly with a tilting head and uneasy staring. There are loud scenes with great dialogue, but the most tension seems to happen when people aren’t saying anything and the director flawlessly allows the tension to build quietly in the right places.
The long scenes of dialogue show who our characters are and how they will never agree. The thematic strands of poverty and environment are both shown in a fully brilliant and well thought out way, with frustration and stubbornness flowing through both the main plot and the coda. This film has stuck in my head since watching it as I couldn’t take my eyes away throughout the whole 137 minutes.
An absolute masterclass in tension, The Beasts is a top level Spanish psychological thriller with a tight script, beautiful scenery, but most tellingly top class acting from everybody involved. This is a film you won’t be able to look away from.
The Beasts is available in cinemas and on Curzon Home Cinema now
I went into The Five Devils totally blind, not sure what to expect as I hadn’t even seen a trailer. It was this or John Wick 4 or Allelujah. Therefore, it totally caught me by surprise that I enjoyed this film as much as I did.
Joanne is not in a happy place in life. She seems to have totally fallen out of love with husband Jimmy, with whom she has a daughter Vicky. One day she’s out with Vicky who shows her sense of smell is rather supernatural. She can find her mum when blindfolded just using that sense, while she is also collecting and recreating smells of other people. When Jimmy’s sister Julia turns up one day, everybody has to face the past. This includes Vicky who by using the smells of Julia can travel back in time and see what lead to this moment, but also influence it.
This leads to a really weird dark fairytale. This partly reminds me of Scandi gothic tales such as Border or Let the Right One In, while also having a story oddly similar to Back to the Future. This leads to an intriguind and unpredictable tale, which is also a fantastic and totally unique romance. The script is smart in that it constantly shifts your perceptions of who is god and who is bad, with no character ever seemigly a protagonist or antagonist as more of this puzzle box is revealed.
As well as being well acted, this film was shot beautifully. The cinematography airs a mystique, with some fantastically interesting shots. The scenes all look beautiful and the lighting conveys the emotion so well. While the title suggests this is a horror, it certainly isn’t. Instead, it’s a romantic film and a brilliant one which leaves you wanting more.
The Five Devils is out now in cinemas and on MUBI on May 12th
The Film Ramble 