PERSUASION ★★★☆☆
Directed by Carrie Cracknell. Starring Dakota Johnson, Cosmo Jarvis, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Richard E Grant, Henry Golding. Netflix, 107 min
Already much monstered after a trailer riddled with supposed “anachronisms”, Cracknell’s adaptation of Austen’s most delicate novel proves to be a reasonably successful semi-updating. One could argue that Johnson is miscast as Austen’s Anne Elliot, but she is ideally cast as the more sardonic, less corseted Anne she plays here. There is, however, something a little dull about this Netflix release. One senses the mutated story bursting to free itself from the remaining chains and properly explode its source material. The problem is not that it has moved too far from Austen, but that it has not moved far enough. DC
THE RAILWAY CHILDREN RETURN ★★★☆☆
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Directed by Morgan Matthews. Starring Beau Gadsdon, Jenny Agutter, Sheridan Smith, KJ Aikens, Austin Haynes, Eden Hamilton, Zac Cudby, John Bradley, Hugh Quarshie. PG cert, gen release, 98 min
Railway Children: Maverick (indulge me) is set some 40 years after the cosy Edwardian fun of the 1970 original. Agutter, who played plucky Bobbie, makes a welcome return as a grandmaternal version of the same character, here caring for evacuees during the second World War. The film works in some surprising, still relevant observations on racial issues, but this is a plodding affair, characterised more by fastidious set dressing than narrative tension. Still, it means well and it could hardly be more easy on the eye. DC
THE GRAY MAN ★★★☆☆
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. Starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, Regé-Jean Page, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfre Woodard. Netflix, 129 min
Ryan Gosling, playing a cool, enigmatic Ryan Gosling character, has been recruited from prison by Thornton’s shadowy, but avuncular agent into a shadowy mercenary adjunct of the CIA. He is Six, one of the “gray men” of the title. (Ouch. That American spelling.) The latest post-MCU outing from the Russo Brothers is, by way of early fan notices, “stacked”, “relentless” and “brawny” (exclamation points implied). No argument here. The film is all of these things. If only these were attributes that were either necessary or desirable. Passes the time. TB
McENROE ★★★☆☆
Directed by Barney Douglas. Featuring John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Billie Jean King, Patty Smyth, Keith Richards. Limited release, 104 min
Barney Douglas, who has directed two feature documentaries on cricket, sets his sights on John McEnroe, the former record-breaking tennis player and one-time “Superbrat”. There’s plenty to mull over, even within a rather conventional and chronological framework, and the filmmaker hits an ace with a supporting cast that includes the reclusive Bjorn Borg and McEnroe’s sometime drinking buddy, Keith Richards. It might have been interesting to ponder McEnroe’s transformation from thorn in the side of the British tennis establishment to warm and familiar BBC presence. An engaging chronicle, nonetheless. TB
