Souleymane’s Story ★★★★☆
Directed by Boris Lojkine. Starring Abou Sangaré. No cert, limited release, 94 min
Here is an intimate, powerful and moving chronicle of life on the margins. Directed by Lojkine, and written by Lojkine and Delphine Agut, the much-decorated film follows a Guinean immigrant over three frantic days in Paris as he works as a food-delivery rider and prepares for a crucial asylum interview. Souleymane’s situation is as precarious as John McClane’s in any Die Hard movie but without the glamour and dirty vest. Tristan Galand’s over-the-shoulder cinematography and the script’s naturalistic pacing echo the style of the Dardenne brothers and European social-realist classics. Full review TB
After the Hunt ★★☆☆☆
Directed by Luca Guadagnino. Starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloë Sevigny. 15A cert, general release, 139 min
A lecturer (Garfield) is accused of the sexual assault of a black student (Edebiri) in a feeble troll from the director of Call Me by Your Name. Few will guess where this all leads. Less because Nora Garrett’s script is inventive than because it makes no psychological sense whatsoever. Nor does it take a stand. Every scene, like the effusions of the worst social-media bore, dares different bits of the audience to get righteously furious. If you are annoyed by After the Hunt you have fallen into his trap, you right-wing, left-wing, wokeist Maga worshipper (delete where appropriate). Full review DC
RM Block
Ballad of a Small Player ★★★☆☆
Directed by Edward Berger. Starring Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, Deanie Ip, Alex Jennings, Tilda Swinton. 15A cert, gen release, 103 min
“Lord” Doyle, a hopeless gambler adrift in Macao, is going in just one direction: down, down, down. Colin Farrell eats the part alive. The deathly ambience is skilfully called up. We expect the odd hopeful reversal, but this is the most doomed cinematic addict since Nicolas Cage’s boozer in Leaving Las Vegas. Or is he? Everywhere is blare, noise and confusion, but he also finds time to connect with an old city that could welcome characters from a W Somerset Maugham story. Loses its way a bit in the last act, which feels hastily edited and a tad incomplete. Full review DC
Gerry Adams: A Ballymurphy Man ★★★★☆
Directed by Trisha Ziff. Featuring Gerry Adams. 12A cert, limited release, 117 min
If you’re expecting a fiery confrontation, Gerry Adams: A Ballymurphy Man might seem restrained. Ziff, who shot her footage over five years, lets the former Sinn Féin leader reflect on his life and times in a documentary rooted in long-form interviews. Beginning with scenes of Adams walking in the Belfast hills, the film moves through the civil-rights era, internment and the peace process. He proves a compelling storyteller – and acknowledges some of the suffering the IRA inflicted. Ziff introduces no critical voices, but her direction is elegant and unfussy, backed by exemplary archive footage. Full review TB
