Conclave ★★★★☆
Directed by Edward Berger. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, Lucian Msamati, Brían F. O’Byrne, Carlos Diehz, Merab Ninidze. 12A cert, gen release, 120 min
When the sitting pope dies suddenly, Cardinal-Dean Thomas Lawrence (Fiennes) is called in to officiate the coming election. Tucci is snappy and forceful as the liberal candidate, Castellitto magnificently oily as a scary traditionalist manipulator. Berger’s preposterously gripping (and sometimes grippingly preposterous) adaptation of Robert Harris’s thumping good read is beautiful shot and rich in fascinating details of procedure. The tension mounts effectively as revelation upturns revelation. Fiennes, who does inner torture better than anyone, makes something believable of Lawrence’s battle for truth. Few will, however, survive the final scenes without pondering the Italian for “magnificent hokum”. Full review DC
All We Imagine as Light ★★★★★
Directed by Payal Kapadia. Starring Kani Kusrati, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam, Hridhu Haroon, Aziz Nedumangad. 15A cert, limited release, 118 min
Poetic study of three Hindu health workers in busy Mumbai. Prabha (Kusruti), the protagonist, is facing up to the fact that her husband, working in Germany for some years, may not be returning home. Her flatmate is having a secret affair with a Muslim man. The cook in their hospital faces eviction. The film eventually ends up at a small seaside town, but it is Kapadia’s generous polyphonic, engagement with the city that sits most memorably in the brain. We hear a chorus of dissatisfied voices. We feel the humid buzz. One of the great urban reveries. Full review DC
Moana 2 ★★★☆☆
Directed by David Derrick Jr, Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller. Voices of Auliʻi Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda, Alan Tudyk. G cert, gen release, 100 min
Mildly entertaining sequel to Disney’s 2016 Polynesian adventure. The new film resets with another call from Moana’s ancestors to seek out populated islands or face extinction. This existential threat requires - cue Jaws joke - a bigger boat. The addition of a cutesy little sister is unnecessarily saccharine and the uncanny character designs are too doll-like. Happily, the azure skies, the best boat chases since Live and Let Die, and sensitively rendered Oceanic mythology keep Moana 2 afloat. The songs are consistently, toe-tappingly good. Tudyk scene-stealing cockerel is a riot. Full review TB
Our Little Secret ★★☆☆☆
Directed by Stephen Herek. Starring Lindsay Lohan, Ian Harding, Tim Meadows, Jon Rudnitsky, Judy Reyes, Henry Czerny, Chris Parnell, Kristin Chenoweth. Netflix, 101 min
This soundstage-bound Christmas romance has festive trimmings and a clockwork plot. Avery (Lohan) is spending a first Christmas with her boyfriend’s rich and glossy family but – oops – her ex is there! And – gasp – he’s dating her boyfriend’s sister! For some flimsy reason, the exes decide to lie about their romantic history. Capering ensues. Chenoweth’s bitchy future mother-in-law gets a giggle among the broadly written caricatures. Most of the scenes feel spewed out by AI after the word prompt “awkward”. Fans of the Netflix Christmas oeuvre will watch it twice or more. There has been worse in the genre. Full review TB
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