Longlegs ★★★★☆
Directed by Osgood Perkins. Starring Maika Monroe, Lauren Acala, Nicolas Cage, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt, Kiernan Shipka. 16 cert, gen release, 101 min
Monroe’s FBI agent tracks down Cage’s satanic serial killer in a film that maintains a running conversation with 1990s tropes (while tipping the top hat to Marc Bolan and T Rex). Longlegs really excels in the shadowy passages between more explicit atrocities. The sound design hums and buzzes with sub-ambient threat. Uncertain shapes appear in the deep background. Monroe is first-rate — pecking at her words like a nervous bird pecking at crumbs — as a woman who fears her own supernatural abilities almost as much as the larger murderous threat. Gets a bit broad later on, but top quality, classy hokum. Full review DC
The Commandant’s Shadow ★★★★☆
Directed by Daniela Völker.12A cert, gen release, 103 min
“I had a really beautiful and idyllic childhood,” explains Hans Höss. The 87-year-old was one of five siblings who lived just outside the walls of Auschwitz, the concentration camp where more than one million people were murdered during the Holocaust. He is the son of SS-Obersturmbannführer Rudolf Höss, the infamous Auschwitz commandant and the subject of Jonathan Glazer’s chilling drama The Zone of Interest. This similarly themed documentary both complements and deepens that depiction of Auschwitz operations. Documentarian Daniela Völker’s absorbing film demonstrates the unnerving historical detail of Glazer’s project. Even the accents are uncannily similar. Full review TB
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Sleep ★★★★☆
Directed by Jason Yu. Starring Jung Yu-mi, Lee Sun-kyun, Yoon Kyung-ho, Kim Gook Hee. 15A cert, limited release, 94 min
If nothing else, this spooky debut feature from Korean director Jason Yu — hitherto assistant director to Bong Joon-ho — counts as a small masterpiece of tone. It begins in the area of domestic comedy. A young couple worry over the husband’s erratic sleeping patterns while a downstairs neighbour frets about the noise above. Then suggestions of a supernatural cause build. We end in a state of deliciously escalating ambiguity, with a hectic denouement that satisfies all desire for catharsis as it makes an art of creative doubt spreading. A fine chamber piece. Full review DC
Fly Me to the Moon ★★☆☆☆
Directed by Greg Berlanti. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Woody Harrelson, Ray Romano, Jim Rash, Anna Garcia. 12A cert, gen release, 132 min
Houston, we have a problem. Who is this 1960s mish-mash for? What is it for? A counterfactual romcom set against the lunar landing, Fly Me to the Moon pitches tough advertising broad Kelly Jones (Johansson) against straight-laced Apollo mission commander Cole Davis (Tatum). On paper it’s a fine idea: two movie stars who might have been A-listers during the Mad Men era bringing old-school Hollywood chemistry to a screwball set-up. In practice, the dialogue fails to launch no matter how good the cast look in tight turtlenecks and pencil skirts. Mary Zophres’s exemplary costume designs ultimately outshine the star wattage. Full review TB
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