Nuremberg ★★★★☆
Directed by James Vanderbilt. Starring Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, Leo Woodall, John Slattery, Mark O’Brien, Colin Hanks, Wrenn Schmidt, Lydia Peckham, Richard E Grant, Michael Shannon.15A cert, gen release, 149 min
In Nuremberg, James Vanderbilt turns one of history’s most documented trials into a nervy psychological two-step. The film finds focus in holding cells, where Malek’s Douglas Kelley, a young American psychiatrist, works with the unrepentant remnants of the Third Reich. Rudolf Hess (Andreas Pietschmann) claims to have lost his memory. Hermann Göring (Crowe) exudes imposing charm during his own conversations with Kelley. The old-school courtroom sequences, cooly lit, are sleek and tense. When the polished dialogue and meticulous staging make way for real archive footage from the camps, it’s as wrenching as it ought to be. Full review TB
Born That Way ★★★★★
Directed by Éamon Little. Featuring Patrick Lydon, Gladys Lydon. No cert, limited release, 95 min
A desperately moving and beautifully made documentary about a gentle hero who deserves greater recognition. Patrick Lydon, born in Massachusetts to an Irish family, returned to the old sod during the early 1970s and ended up, with his equally inspirational wife, Gladys, establishing the innovative Camphill Community in Ballytobin, Co Kilkenny. Allowing people with special needs notable dignity, the project eventually inspired 16 further such communities in Ireland. As the film was being prepared, Lydon was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, and the piece ended up as ended up as both celebration and valediction. Essential viewing. Full review DC
RM Block
Alpha ★★★★☆
Directed by Julia Ducournau. Starring Mélissa Boros, Golshifteh Farahani, Tahar Rahim, Emma Mackey, Finnegan Oldfield. 15A cert, limited release, 128 min
Alpha (Boros) is a 13-year-old of north African origin living in an unnamed French town with her equally unnamed mother (the electric Farahani). Panic sets in when the girl returns from a party with the letter “A” tattooed on her arm. A deadly infectious disease is about the place, and Alpha’s mum – as evidenced by the fate of her brother, Amin (Rahim) – knows it can be passed on by dirty needles. Ducournau’s follow-up to the Palme d’Or-winning Titane, featuring an obvious Aids metaphor, won brickbats at Cannes, but it’s a bewitching, unsettling horror that dances to its own weird rhythms. Full review DC
Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution ★★★★☆
Directed by Shouta Goshozono. Starring Jun’ya Enoki, Subaru Kimura, Yûichi Nakamura. 15A cert, gen release, 90 min
This been a bumper year for anime, with films such as Demon Slayer – The Movie: Infinity Castle and Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc eating the world box office alive. If you’re hoping to surf the wave, this may not be the best place to start. In its lore-dense plot, the powerful curse user Kenjaku initiates a tournament-style battle royale, forcing the heroes Yuji Itadori and Yuta Okkotsu into dire moral and physical conflict. Yuta is tasked with executing Yuji. And so on. It’s a kinetic, fantastically violent self-referential spectacle, but it may be a bit hard going for the uninitiated. Full review TB
