Hope Gap – A quiet and intimate film, Hope Gap explores the realities of marriage and what it means to age together. Bill Nighy and Annette Bening deliver reliably strong performances as a couple who face some cold truths about their relationship.

The Secret Garden – It may not have the emotional pull that you’d expect from a story about children undergoing the trauma of parental loss, but what it lacks in dramatic clout it makes up with the quality of its production. Although being cast with the acting talents of Colin Firth and Julie Walters, the film’s biggest star is its art department. Luscious set designs and exquisitely lit forested wallpapered hallways wonderfully flirt with magical realism and blur the lines between interior and exterior, fantasy and the real. The overall effect is one of total visual emersion.

See my reviews for the NZ Herald here and for Witchdoctor here.

Tenet – A Christopher Nolan brain-bender that incorporates his signature blockbusting clout and a heady blend of time, physics, and action. While this is far from Nolan’s best, it manages to carry you along with some astonishing set pieces. And if you can unshackle yourself from the mind-contorting plot, Tenet becomes quite an exhilarating two hours.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things – Director Charlie Kaufman appears to relish peering into the psyche of loners (Adaptation., Being John Malkovich etc.) often with alluring results. Captured from the novella by Iain Reid, I’m Thinking of Ending Things reveals the inner workings of a very private life and is dripping with Kaufman’s typically wordy style as he tells the story of Jake (Jesse Plemons) and the strained relationship with his girlfriend (played by Jessie Buckley). Indeed the film’s inner monologues can occasionally feel like wading through molasses, but the intriguing characters linger in your mind long after you’ve put the Netflix remote down, calling you to piece together the film’s many clues and ponder its allegories. As expected all is not what it seems and I’m Thinking of Ending Things begs for a deep post-view reading. Doing so delivers a wonderfully rewarding experience and if nothing else it’s worth seeing for the brilliant Jessie Buckley.

See my reviews for the NZ Herald here and for Witchdoctor here.

Here are some flicks I’ve seen that are due out in cinemas this week …

The Australian Dream – A powerful and challenging film that documents the racial abuse of AFL player Adam Goodes. The film brilliantly peels back the layers of his story as he stares straight down the barrel of the camera lens, implicating and provoking a reaction from its audience. A well-structured documentary that found me effortlessly floating in the invisibility of its filmmaking and thinking only of the man at its centre. Would make a great (but arduous) double-bill with Sweet Country.

The Quarry – A man on the run assumes a new identity in this searing slow burn that’s been left in the frying pan too long. It makes a reasonable attempt at exploring the theme of forgiveness, but it’s far too strained and elongated to effectively get the message through. Michael Shannon does what Shannon does best but Shea Whigham is painfully wooden.

Fatima – Based on true events this swooning period piece tells the story of three children and their miraculous visions of Mary that lead to unrest in their small Portuguese town. It’s patchy but honest story telling that longs for a Malickian touch but doesn’t quite get there.