January 16th 2025

We Live in Time

Emilia Perez

Wolf Man

You can laugh, cry, or be scared with this week's films - a wonderfully diverse selection. Emilia Perez has just gone ballistic at the Golden Globes, and is my pick of the week. 

We Live in Time

Dir:  John Crowley

Length: 108 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n-SteWwDbk

© StudioCanal - 

Tobias (Andrew Garfield) is on the brink of a divorce, while Almut (Florence Pugh) is fancy-free and an up-and-coming chef. When Almut runs into Tobias with her car, a passionate romance ensues. But fate has a way of bringing challenges and sometimes tragedy to young lives, and the pair must figure how to deal with it, treasuring each moment they share. Some viewers will hate this sort of tear-jerking romance; I loved it, mainly because it's fresh, with a non-linear timeline structure, and features two heart-breaking performances from its leads. Following the plot is like leafing through a photo album where the chronological order has been jumbled up, and though I often dislike this type of time-jumping, it works wonderfully here, each segment expanding upon our overview of the entire story of the couple; a snapshot in time. Garfield and Pugh conjure up a sizzling yet tender chemistry, and Grace Delaney is natural and adorable as little daughter Ella. The dialogue feels natural and is never predictable, and the nature of the two lovers - Tobias's puppy-eyed devotion and Almut's feisty pragmatism - make for a lovely contrast. Fortunately, the film never descends into mawkishness, but you'd still better get the tissues out!

4 - highly recommended

Emilia Perez

Dir:  Jacques Audiard

Length: 132 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJsDl-mBUxs

© Kismet - Golden Globe Winner 
blitzes in this incredible role

The words audacious, wild, imaginative and original barely do justice to this magnificent musical story of a Mexican drug lord, who harbors the secret desire to transform his life and become a woman. Cartel boss Manitas (Karla Sofia Gascon) hires disillusioned lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldana) to help him put his plan into action. First gender reassignation surgery, then a faked death, followed by planned relocation of his wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and their two children to Switzerland. Enough said of plot lines. The film's 60 wins and 150 nominations for huge awards speak for themselves. Trans actress Gascon shines in the lead role, (she just got the Golden Globe) while Saldana's Rita is tough, tender, and gutsy all at once. The songs and the dance sequences could have felt contrived, yet they erupt seamlessly and vibrantly at each stage of the plot. This is film-making on the cutting edge. While the blend of musical numbers, gang violence, self-reflection, and redemption may be a challenging mix, they work to perfection, creating an energising, compassionate and simply transformative film experience. I loved it!

4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended

Wolf Man

Dir:  Leigh Whannell 

Length: 103 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAw4PH2IQgo

© Universal - uh-oh - something scary
out in them-there woods!

Young Blake and his dad (Sam Jaeger) go hunting in the Oregon woods, encountering a shadowy, humanlike figure in the distance. Now, between writing jobs, stay-at-home-dad Blake (Christopher Abbott) learns of his father's official death years after the man has gone missing. Together with workaholic, no-nonsense wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and Daddy's girl Ginger (Matilda Firth), Blake decides to head up to the remote home in the Oregon forest and clear out his dad's belongings. The family bonding holiday quickly goes pear-shaped when, nearly hitting a huge "animal", the rental truck crashes, and the family must flee from the creature to safety in the old house. They barricade themselves in from a mysterious large prowler, but Blake has unfortunately been scratched by the creature and starts to slowly transform into something his family cannot recognise. I make no comparisons with past werewolf films, but this one has a slight problem in that it tries to walk between worlds, flirting with themes that never fully develop: a child's unconditional love for a parent, regardless of what they become; parents' determination to protect the child at any cost; a distant mother having to step up to the plate; and unknown symptoms of illness dividing families. (Director Whannell speaks of the COVID isolation times as having influenced his approach to the film, along with his own fears about how to protect your family.) All this is played out against the tradition of well-worn horror flicks with some excellent  and very gruesome special effects in the body-horror transformation department. Some weird choices, such as Charlotte's hair staying immaculate regardless of what she goes through, really disturbed me. Though unnerved, I was not excessively scared, and the big twist near the end came as something of an anti-climax, but overall I was well entertained.

3 - recommended