Weapons
Weapons begins at 02:17, one night in an unnamed suburb, when 17 young children from the same elementary school class get out of their beds, leave their houses, and run off into the darkness. From then on, the anguished locals have to grapple with the question of what happened and why. The solution to the supernatural mystery turns out to be a straightforward one, but Zach Cregger, the writer-director of Barbarian (2022), takes an unusually roundabout route to his jaw-dropping finale, showing events as they’re experienced by several characters in succession: the children’s bitter teacher (Julia Garner), their harried headteacher (Benedict Wong), an angry parent (Josh Brolin), a troubled policeman (Alden Ehrenreich), and more. Along the way, Cregger demonstrates his masterly control of countless horror elements, from nerve-frazzling silences to gasp-out-loud gore, from creepy surrealism to surprising humour. But it’s the bright mosaic of ordinary American life that makes Weapons unique. Influenced by Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia and Robert Altman’s Raymond Carver adaptation, Short Cuts, it feels like a whole new kind of horror film. (NB)
2. Highest 2 Lowest
This exhilarating, thoughtful thriller was inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 High and Low, but it is pure Spike Lee, which is high praise. Denzel Washington plays a music-industry mogul, David King, whose teenage son is held for ransom, although it turns out the kidnapper has mistakenly taken the son of King’s assistant (Jeffrey Wright). Will the cash-strapped King pay for someone else’s child? That moral dilemma is given shape by Lee’s usual tropes, blended into one smooth film. There is his deeply rooted awareness of race and class as pervasive social issues. There are glowing visuals, including King’s luxurious Brooklyn penthouse, filled with work by black artists. There is vibrant music ranging from rap to salsa to a full orchestral soundtrack. And as King engages with the kidnapper, there is an electrifying chase though the New York subways during the crowded Puerto Rican Day celebration. Washington is at his best (no scenery chomping here) and A$AP Rocky gives a chiselled performance in a supporting role. There are a few didactic lines of dialogue, but that goes with the territory in a Spike Lee film. Gripping and virtuosic, Highest 2 Lowest could have come from no one else. (CJ)
3. Bring Her Back
Danny and Michael Philippou made a stunning switch from YouTubers to feature-film directors with their ghostly chiller Talk to Me in 2022 – and the Australian twin brothers’ follow-up is even better. Bring Her Back is the meticulously constructed, stickily atmospheric tale of an orphaned brother and sister, played by Billy Barratt and Sora Wong, who are sent to live with a welcoming – perhaps too welcoming – foster mother, played by Sally Hawkins. The key is that the Philippous take the film’s horror and drama equally seriously. Rather than resorting to cheap jump scares or contrived twists, they tell a powerful emotional story about three-dimensional people in a believably lived-in setting; it just so happens that this particular story involves demonic possession and flesh-eating zombies. It’s gripping, viscerally intense and distinctive enough to establish the brothers as two of today’s finest horror film-makers. And if Oscar voters paid more attention to the genre, then Hawkins would be a contender for the best actress prize. (NB)
4. Materialists
Jane Austen knew that money and marriage are forever entwined, and Celine Song has smartly taken that idea, along with a great deal of wryness, into the 21st Century in this delightful almost-romcom. Materialists may look like a traditional romantic comedy, but it breaks with any stock notion of the genre and offers a clear-eyed view of relationships in our material world. Song has a way of evoking light-handed performances from her glittering cast, with Dakota Johnson as Lucy, a professional matchmaker choosing between two men in her own life. Let’s face it, there is no bad choice here. Chris Evans is the ex who still loves her, but can only offer the life of a struggling actor – and Lucy doesn’t want to be poor. Pedro Pascal is the billionaire who actually listens to her. Pascal is, as usual, a perfect blend of charm and sincerity. Yet for all Song’s practical, non-judgemental view of how money factors into relationships, she is never cynical about love itself. Following Song’s first film, Past Lives, it is another gem from one of today’s most original and nuanced film-makers. (CJ)
5. The Ballad of Wallis Island
This delightful British comedy stars its two writers, Tom Basden and Tim Key, alongside a luminous Carey Mulligan. Key plays Charles, a cheerfully eccentric lottery winner who pays his favourite folk duo, Herb McGwyer (Basden) and (Mulligan), to put on a live show on the small island where he lives. The trouble is that the duo broke up years ago, both professionally and personally, and Charles hasn’t told either of them that the other one will be on the island, too. Sensitively directed by James Griffiths, The Ballad of Wallis Island is a triumph. It’s big-hearted, sincere and picturesque, and filled with characters you care about, but it’s also consistently funny from start to finish. Charles’s dialogue, in particular, is so tightly packed with deliberately bad puns and groanworthy catchphrases that you may want to rewatch the film as soon as it’s finished to catch any punchlines you missed the first time round. (NB)
6. Lurker
Of the many films that have dealt with fame in the age of social media, with its seemingly close but illusory bond between fan and celebrity, few have been as accomplished or up-to-the-minute as this piercing psychological thriller. In his first film, writer and director Alex Russell (a writer and producer on The Bear and Beef) expertly controls the story’s trajectory as its central character crosses the line from superfandom to a toxic parasocial relationship. Matthew (Théodore Pellerin) is working as a shop assistant when pop music star Oliver (a charismatic Archie Madekwe) walks in. The enthusiastic Matthew is taken into Oliver’s entourage, but although the film gives us his point of view, that doesn’t make him a hero. As an audience we squirm at the way he lets himself be ridiculed and treated as a mascot. And when Oliver freezes him out, Matthew goes over the edge. Where most films about fandom head straight into horror, this savvy, chilling portrait is more effective because it only eventually arrives at stalkery suspense. Along the way it exposes the all-too-common roots of delusions
