Home//Total Film/March 2022/In This Issue
Total Film|March 2022Welcome to TOTAL FILMTHE SMARTER MOVIE MAGAZINEIt’s all about fathers and sons this issue for me – both in the vengeful Viking offspring kicking ass and taking names in Robert Eggers’ The Northman and in Ryan Reynolds’ latest actioner, The Adam Project. I’ve talked to Reynolds numerous times over the years (from wandering around LA while talking about Buried in 2010 to last year’s Free Guy) and he’s always been the entertainer in chats. This time we ended up talking about our dads and what our pre-teen selves might think of us now. “If my 12-year-old self could see where I’m at right now he would have taken his damn glove to my insolent face, and said, ‘How dare you have this amazing life that you’ll one day get to share with people?’”…1 min
Total Film|March 2022FRIENDS WITH BENEFITSWhen actress Ruth Wilson (The Affair) teamed up with Jude Law to option Deborah Kay Davies’ cult 2010 novel True Things About Me, the plan was to find a filmmaker to bring it to the screen. Harry Wootliff, who made her feature debut with 2018’s IVF drama Only You, readily agreed to adapt Davies’ tale about an unnamed single woman who works in a benefits office and – on a whim – has sex with one of her claimants in a car park.Wootliff was immediately intrigued by the book’s narrator, a woman who hasn’t followed the expected path by finding a husband and having children. “I like the fact that she’s an outsider and that she doesn’t fit in,” she tells Teasers. “I think a character that is always good…2 min
Total Film|March 2022MARRIED STRIFEI’ve always liked relationship pieces,” says Adrian Lyne. “That’s what I’ve been attracted to – the small story, rather than the large. A movie about you and me, rather than The Matrix, for example.” Lyne is chatting to Teasers ahead of the debut of Deep Water, his first movie in 20 years. The British director found fame in the ’80s and ’90s with iconic films like Flashdance and Jacob’s Ladder, and he became synonymous with erotic thrillers and dramas like Fatal Attraction, 9½ Weeks, Indecent Proposal and 2002’s Unfaithful.He’s returning to that world with Deep Water, which stars Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas as Vic and Melinda, an unhappily married couple. Infidelity leads to murder, in a loose adaptation of a novel by Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley,…2 min
Total Film|March 2022DINO MIGHT01 Four years into the neo-Jurassic Age, dinosaurs and humans are co-existing not-so-peacefully across the planet. “We’re racing towards the extinction of our species,” says Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire.02 A herd of parasaurolophus galloping along the open plains, a mosasaurus feasting on a fishing trawler’s haul… Dominion promises awe-inspiring new sights, and a mournful apatosaurus (brilliant, we’re crying again).03 Blue’s back, and… aww what a cute little baby raptor! Seems Owen’s prehistoric BFF has been busy since we last saw her. Later, adorable Baby Blue is caught in a trap, and you can bet Mum won’t be happy.04 Another first for the Jurassic films: feathered dinos! Given the way this menacing pyroraptor is charging towards Owen and Jurassic newcomer DeWanda Wise it’s safe to assume she isn’t too friendly.05 The…1 min
Total Film|March 2022STRANGERS ON A TRAINThe joint winner (with Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero) of the Grand Prix in competition at Cannes last year, Compartment No. 6 is the newest film from Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen, who previously made the charming real-life boxing story The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki, itself another Cannes prize-winner and festival darling.As Finland’s official submission for the International Feature award at this year’s Oscars, Compartment No. 6 only strengthens Kuosmanen’s status as one of the most exciting rising talents from his country. But his latest is actually set in Russia. “I like Russian scenery,” he tells Teasers. “It’s really cinematic.”Set in the 1990s, it follows a Finnish archaeology student, Laura (Seidi Haarla), taking a long train trip from Moscow to snowy Murmansk. Ostensibly travelling to observe rare, ancient…2 min
Total Film|March 2022LEAP OF FAITHMark Wahlberg has faith in Father Stu – so much faith, in fact, that he “cut the cheque” to make a film about the eponymous priest. “This is my baby that I’ve been pushing uphill for quite some time,” he says. “I financed it myself, and I think it’s the best movie that I’ve ever been in, and certainly my best performance.”Wahlberg’s passion for the project is palpable. The actor – who plays Stu and produces – is about to enter the editing room to see first-time director Rosalind Ross’ recent cut when he tells Teasers about why Father Stu was a story he couldn’t let go of.“It’s a true story about a guy from Helena, Montana, who had a younger brother who passed away from a rare disease,” Wahlberg…2 min
Total Film|March 2022FINE TUNEDNicôle Lecky is following in the footsteps of Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Michaela Coel in bringing her one-woman show from the London stage to television. The six-part Mood (formerly known as Superhoe) is every bit as distinctive as Fleabag or Chewing Gum in its portrait of Sasha, an east Londoner whose loneliness and vulnerability are hidden behind by superficial swagger and razor-sharp tongue.“Sasha’s a wannabe singer-songwriter,” explains Lecky. “She’s quite troubled, struggling with her expectations not meeting the reality of her life. She falls out with family, ends up sofa surfing with a drug dealer and meets Carly [Lara Peake], an influencer who is involved in online sex work.Sasha goes on this crazy journey, trying to find herself and her voice and figure out what she is running away from.”Mood showcases…1 min
Total Film|March 2022HARD LESSONSSet in a French primary school and sticking close to seven-year-old Nora (Maya Vanderbeque) as she witnesses the bullying of her older brother (Günter Duret), Laura Wandel’s blistering debut has been compared to concentration-camp drama Son Of Saul. Yes, it really is that traumatic, and utilises a similar visual style: everything is shot from Nora’s eye level, with shallow-focus photography amplifying her sense of disorientation and terror.“It is to confront the viewer, and to be there as a child,” says Wandel, pointing out that what is happening outside the frame is often as distressing as anything that Nora actually witnesses. The sound design is ferocious. “What is this world when you’re at that level? I wanted to bring the viewer back, because we’ve all been through it. I wanted to…2 min
Total Film|March 2022VIKING GODSTHE VIKINGS 1958A one-eyed Viking prince (Kirk Douglas) and his former slave half-brother (Tony Curtis) battle over a kingdom and an English Princess (Janet Leigh). Richard Fleischer’s epic plays more comic book than authentic, but Fleischer later directed Conan The Destroyer, and Schwarzenegger’s Conan is a key reference point for The Northman.KNIVES OF THE AVENGER 1966Italian maestro Mario Bava is best-known for influential horror movies like Mask Of Satan and Blood And Black Lace, but this stripped-down drama sees a Viking warrior protect a peasant woman from the clutches of evil. Bava shot it in just six days, and had previously tackled Vikings in 1961’s Erik The Conqueror.VALHALLA RISING 2009Mads Mikkelsen is One Eye, leading a slave revolt in the 11th century and then facing even greater hostilities when he…1 min
Total Film|March 2022MAY CALAMAWYHow did you get involved with Moon Knight?I got a message on Instagram from Mohamed’s wife. She was like, ‘My husband’s interested in you for a role.’ And I reached out to my manager and I was like, ‘Is this real?’ Because I don’t really go on Instagram a lot. Anyway, it was and I had an audition. And then two weeks later had a chemistry test with Oscar. That was it.Had you heard of Moon Knight?I’d never heard of Moon Knight. Two years ago, I was like, ‘I’m gonna watch all the Marvels,’ and I went on Reddit, I found a forum that had them in chronological order of story. And I watched all of them. That [idea came from] my best friend. He’s a super nerd about it!What…1 min
Total Film|March 2022Daisy UnchainedNothing about Daisy Edgar-Jones’ ascent to stardom has been normal. The now 23-year-old had been steadily getting supporting work in mid-size TV shows like Cold Feet and War Of The Worlds, until the 2020 TV adaptation of Normal People came along, transforming her and co-lead Paul Mescal into instant stars.We’ve eagerly awaited their next moves (Mescal recently appeared in The Lost Daughter), and now Edgar-Jones is gearing up to release her first major follow-up project. Her new film, Fresh, played to gasps at this year’s (online) Sundance Film Festival. While on the surface it might look like a standard next step for Edgar-Jones, the twisted reality is anything but.Chatting to Total Film in February 2022 – when she’s in Manchester to celebrate her grandma’s birthday – Edgar-Jones is palpably eager…8 min
Total Film|March 2022IS THIS THE WAY?Though the shareholders of the Walt Disney Company undoubtedly had dollar signs in their eyes, The Force Awakens was worth much, much more to legions of fans – the highly anticipated December 2015 release date would tell them whether the new custodians of that galaxy far, far away knew how to make a Star Wars movie.Lucasfilm’s initial strategy was clear, as they leant heavily into the beloved original trilogy, bringing back the stars and riffing off the story beats of A New Hope. More pointedly, The Force Awakens was a departure from the much-derided prequel trilogy, a big-budget manifesto announcing that trade disputes, wall-to-wall greenscreen, and coarse and rough and irritating love stories were a thing of the past. While the Force was undeniably strong with Rey, we could all…8 min
Total Film|March 2022JULIETTE BINOCHE‘FOR ME, ACTING... IT’S MY LIFE. THAT’S MY COMMITMENT TO WHY I CAME HERE, ON EARTH.’The French call her ‘La Binoche’. Though maybe ‘Binoche The Brave’ might be better. Since her arrival in the mid-’80s, the raven-haired Parisian has gone where angels – or at least other actors – fear to tread. Few other performers would endure, for example, the torturous three-year production of 1991’s The Lovers On The Bridge, which saw her almost drown in one scene. Fewer still would perform the legendary ‘f*ckbox’ scene in Claire Denis’ wildly off-kilter sci-fi High Life, where she got her rocks off on a moving dild*.Then there are all those performances for arthouse auteurs, like Hou Hsiaohsien (Flight Of The Red Balloon), Michael Haneke (Code Unknown, Caché) and Abbas Kiarostami (Shirin, Certified…18 min
Total Film|March 2022THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN 12A★★★★★ OUT 18 MARCH CINEMASCumbrian chancer a hit with the crowds,” trumpets a newspaper headline in Craig Roberts’ (Eternal Beauty) gentle comedy. Roberts merges crowd-pleasing material with his own sideways-on spirit for the true-life ’70s tale of Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance), a middle-aged crane operator who responds to redundancy by entering the British Open. Even though he can’t play golf.Voice ever-melodious, Mark Rylance leads as this hapless dreamer, a doting family man whose floaty optimism won’t be grounded. Whether you see him as a fabulist, failure or folk hero, Flitcroft emerges as a singular figure in Rylance’s sure grip, with echoes of Eddie the Eagle.Working from a script by Paddington 2 co-writer Simon Farnaby, Roberts anchors Flitcroft’s story in a mix of workaday reality, warming family detail and cartoonish comedy.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022FRESH 18 TBC★★★★★ OUT 4 MARCH DISNEY+If you’ve reached the stage of reading a review, you can’t go into Fresh with the innocent ignorance that would make the film hit its very hardest. It can’t be experienced in a vacuum, but that’s not to say it’s not worth your time. And be forewarned, it goes to some dark places and requires a really strong stomach…To kick off, it’s a straightforward romcom, with Noa (Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones) becoming disillusioned with the modern app-centric dating scene. Cue a supermarket meet-cute with Steve (Sebastian Stan) over cotton-candy grapes, where a warm, vibrant connection ensues. Of course, there’s a lot more to Steve than his charming fruit-based patter and killer smile.With its whiplash twists and turns, gross-out moments, midnight-black humour and acerbic commentary on contemporary…1 min
Total Film|March 2022HIVE TBC★★★☆☆ OUT 18 MARCH CINEMASInspired by a real-life story – and shot in a village where civilians were massacred during the 1999 Kosovan war – this naturalistic debut feature from writer/director Blerta Basholli centres on Fahrije (Yilka Gashi), a widowed mother of two whose murdered husband’s body was never found. Basholli exposes a rigidly patriarchal society, where Fahrije’s attempts to organise other female villagers into creating a business selling local produce are met with fierce resistance. Stylistically Hive takes few risks, yet the dignity and perseverance essayed by Gashi prove quietly affecting, and the film won three awards at Sundance.DISNEY. SONY. LIGHTBULB,, ALTITUDE. MODERN FILMS. BULLDOG. PARKLAND…1 min
Total Film|March 2022MASTER CHENG PG★★★☆☆ OUT 11 MARCH CINEMASMika Kaurismäki (brother of the famous Aki) injects an ambling sweetness into this gentle comedy, as Pak Hon Chu’s widowed Chinese chef tries to track down and reconnect with an old friend in a remote Finnish village. His slow-burn romance with Anna-Maija Tukko’s blunt diner owner is very slow indeed, the camera frequently lingering on (admittedly ravishing) Lapland landscapes, healing noodle soup and plentiful sauna gags with quirky old locals. This simple vision of food-fuelled, cross-cultural learning is no Babette’s Feast, or Tampopo, but its heart is in the right place.DISNEY. SONY. LIGHTBULB,, ALTITUDE. MODERN FILMS. BULLDOG. PARKLAND…1 min
Total Film|March 2022MARRY ME 12A★★★☆☆ OUT NOW CINEMASJ. Lo’s version of Notting Hill knowingly rides well-worn romcom grooves (there’s a Pretty Woman nod five mins in), but there’s nostalgic comfort in the familiar. Leaning more than a little into Lopez’s real-life persona, it follows an ultra-famous, thrice-married pop queen who’s about to wed a hot new Latin star (Maluma) live on social media. Instead, she ends up spliced to normo guy Charlie (Owen Wilson). Can they find love? No surprises in store, but Lopez and Wilson’s considerable charisma (plus the extensive fashion p*rn) dance over the more egregious logic cracks.CURZON. ALTITUDE, UNIVERSAL. MODERN FILMS. SIGNATURE. COSMIC CAT. MUNRO. SONY…1 min
Total Film|March 2022YOUNG PLATO TBC★★★☆☆ OUT 11 MARCH CINEMASA documentary about Kevin McArevey, the charismatic, Elvis-loving principal of a North Belfast boys’ primary school who seeks to change attitudes in his young pupils by teaching philosophical principles. He encourages them to “ask deep and meaningful questions” and “listen to different thinking”, as they grow up in a city still reckoning with the violence of its past. Repeat incidents of playground bullying suggest Mr. McArevey has his work cut out, but the boys’ response to their misbehaviour clearly shows his lessons are sinking in. It’s slight, but quietly life-affirming.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022LUCY AND DESI TBC★★★★☆ OUT 4 MARCH PRIME VIDEOIt seems that everyone loves Lucy this season: following Aaron Sorkin’s garlanded drama Being The Ricardos comes director Amy Poehler’s smart and thoughtful doc on ’50s TV prime-timers Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s on-and-offscreen marriage.Poehler’s view is more family-centred than Sorkin’s, making skilful use of Technicolor kid-crammed home movies, archive footage and newly discovered personal audio tapes to let Lucy and Desi tell their own story. No The Capote Tapes-style revelations get dug up (it’s very much a celebration, not an exposé), but Ball’s candid, husky-voiced memories of her Goldwyn-Girl-to-TV-icon journey give it an intimate, insider’s feel.A comedy ace and multihyphenate herself, Poehler’s bright, fastpaced film lauds Ball as a consummate comedian who learned clowning from Buster Keaton and became RKO’s ‘Queen of the B-movies’…1 min
Total Film|March 2022NOT GOING QUIETLY TBC★★★★★ OUT 18 MARCH CINEMASThis powerful documentary follows political activist Ady Barkan who, after being diagnosed with degenerative disease ALS, campaigned across the US for healthcare reform while his own health rapidly declined. His subsequent ‘Be A Hero’ project is explored at a national level in reaction to Donald Trump’s presidency, but it’s Barkan’s own story that hits home. The film shows how, despite the heartbreaking reality of his condition and his role as husband and father, Barkan focused on generously creating a platform for others to tell their own stories.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022HERE BEFORE 15★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMASA young family moves in next door to grieving mum Laura (Andrea Riseborough), husband Brendan (Jonjo O’Neill) and son Tadhg (Lewis McAskie). The neighbours’ daughter, Megan (Niamh Dornan), seems spookily familiar… but truth can be as slippery as grief, and two unsettling possibilities emerge: either Megan is a reincarnation of Laura’s lost child, or Laura’s losing her mind. In her feature debut, Northern Irish writer/director Stacey Gregg keeps things suitably understated, relying on the most powerful tool of all: the sorrow etched on Riseborough’s face.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022RŪRANGI 15★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS, DIGITALTrans man Caz (an effortlessly moving Elz Carrad) returns to his rural home town after a decade away in Auckland, where he transitioned, to reconnect with his estranged father. As in many hometown-return dramas, old wounds are reopened, skeletons are dug up and lost bonds are reforged. Supporting Carrad is a refreshingly gender-diverse and very talented cast who make a story that’s a little lean (and sometimes struggles with its higher emotions) feel more than worthwhile. A low-key but hope-dappled drama to add to New Zealand’s impressive film legacy.101 FILMS. WILDCARD. DOGWOOF. SHUDDER. PECCADILLO. DARTMOUTH FILMS. MUBI BOHEMIA MEDIA. VERTIGO…1 min
Total Film|March 2022RIVER TBC★★★★★ OUT 18 MARCH CINEMASHere’s a documentary that’ll flow over you like a comforting balm. Narrated by Willem Dafoe, who seems to be doing a light Morgan Freeman impression, it’s a film that both in sound and image offers an utterly gorgeous take on the significance rivers have had on the planet and how they’ve shaped civilisation and human history. While that might not sound particularly interesting to some, Jennifer Peedom’s accomplished direction finds hidden depths in the subject matter, asking the audience to fundamentally rethink its relationship to the natural world around them.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022KIMI 15★★★★★ OUT NOW SKY CINEMA, NOW, DIGITALSteven Soderbergh’s latest follows in the recent vein of Unsane (2018) and No Sudden Move (2021), both low-budget thrillers that see the Ocean’s director conjure an impressively taut, back-to-basics vibe. Same goes for Kimi, his first collaboration with screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Spider-Man et al), which deals with advanced tech in the post-MeToo era while nodding to classic films like Blow Up, Blow Out and The Conversation.Zoë Kravitz plays Angela, a former Facebook moderator with an anguished past who now works for the Amygdala Corp, analysing data streams for Kimi, an Alexa-style device that controls everything from lights to music in your home and office space. When Angela hears what sounds like a sexual assault, a “pre-meditated murder” ‘overheard’ by the all-knowing Kimi,…1 min
Total Film|March 2022DOG 12A★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMASEarnest, macho, cutesy: Channing Tatum’s comeback movie is practically trained to disarm his fanbase. In his co-directorial (with Reid Carolin) debut, Tatum’s traumatised Army Ranger Briggs drives a bitey dog cross-country to its handler’s funeral. But who’s helping who here? Guess. Faintly bland and entirely predictable, Dog is tonally shaggy in its awkward comedy swerves yet diligently on-mission otherwise. A cosy crossbreed of canine caper, odd-couple road movie and veteran-themed issues drama emerges, wrapped in a solidly played Tatum vehicle – with shirt-off scenes delivered to order, obviously.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022CATWOMAN: HUNTED 15★★★★★ OUT NOW DVD, BD, DIGITALEXTRAS ★★★★★ Documentary, FeaturetteWith its anime styling and jazz-infused score, there’s a distinct whiff of the classic Lupin III cartoons to the heist and car chase that kicks off this feature outing for DC’s feline femme fatale. If the film subsequently devolves into a series of increasingly overblown scraps, the quip-heavy script and sparky interplay between Elizabeth Gillies’ Catwoman and Stephanie Beatriz’s Batwoman keep it fresh and fun. Not purr-fect then, but way more entertaining than Catwoman’s previous (live-action) solo feature. Includes Cat-history documentary.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022MODERN TIMES TBC1936 ★★★★☆ OUT 14 MARCH BDEXTRAS ★★★★★ Commentary, Documentary, Video essays, Deleted scenes, Shorts, BookletCharlie Chaplin’s last outing as the Little Tramp sees him navigate factory machinery, poverty and unrest during the Depression. Flustered but never floored, he falls for a homeless woman (Paulette Goddard) and finds sublime physical comedy in his battles: getting caught up in the cogs of industry, roller-skating blindfolded and accidentally ingesting cocaine. Made nine years after the advent of talkies, Modern Times is largely silent but features strategic employment of sound, including the Tramp bursting into song.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022THE FILMS OF PATRICK WANG TBC2011-18 ★★★★☆ OUT NOW CINEMAS 7 MARCH DIGITALI don’t have a big voice,” says a teenager delivering a reading in Patrick Wang’s A Bread Factory. “The voice you have will be fine,” says his mentor. Wang’s voice resonates firmly across his films: released here after much critical buzz, the New York multihyphenate’s output is – in its quiet, off-radar way – captivatingly self-possessed.Wang himself fronts In The Family (2011), playing a gay dad battling for his son’s custody. Though this struggle stirs emotions, Wang eschews fireworks for compassionate character studies, grounded in acute performances – while Wang’s measured lead compels, child actor Sebastian Banes excels under sensitive direction. The Grief Of Others (2015) is another focused small-town family portrait, anatomising loss’s rippling fallout. Messy emotions gain clarity amid pristine compositions;…1 min
Total Film|March 2022THE PROPOSITION 182005 ★★★★☆ OUT 28 MARCH BDEXTRAS ★★★★☆ Commentaries, Book, Making of, Featurettes, Gallery, PosterThe heat is on for Guy Pearce in John Hillcoat’s bleak and bloody Aussie western, which sees his captured outlaw having to track down one of his criminal siblings (Danny Huston) if he’s to save the other from lawman Ray Winstone’s gallows. Fordian in scale and Peckinpah-esque in bullet-blasted body count, it’s an Outback throwback that writer Nick Cave suffuses with a poetic and mordantly humorous sensibility. Two commentaries, a posse of featurettes and an 80-page booklet make this two-discer an enticing proposition in itself.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022CLASSIC SOUNDTRACK SCREAMEven with slasher movies, it can sometimes pay not to know the rules. Consider Marco Beltrami, a Jerry Goldsmith mentee and novice movie composer when he scored Wes Craven’s Scream. Favourite scary movie? Beltrami didn’t watch scary movies, let alone like them. He arrived at Scream unencumbered by slasher lore, free to reinvigorate the rules for new veins of “movie murder hoopla”.Though his score reconfigured its era’s horror music, you wouldn’t know it from the score’s initial release. The 1996 soundtrack album featured 3.28 measly minutes of Beltrami’s work, alongside song selections of variable quality – though Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds’ insidious ‘Red Right Hand’ rocks. In 1998, a Scream/Scream 2 album filleted Beltrami’s combined movie scores to 30-ish minutes.Varèse Sarabande later released expanded versions, now included in…2 min
Total Film|March 2022CALL SHEETEDITOR AT LARGEJAMIE GRAHAM@JAMIE_GRAHAM9Anya Taylor-Joy hasn’t changed in all the years we’ve chatted: funny, caring, grounded. And hardcore: swam in the freezing Irish sea each day when filming The Northman.DOENPLUINTEY EDITORMATT MAYTUM@MATTMAYTUMAs a Normal People obsessive, I loved talking chemistry, Crawdads and creative catering with Daisy Edgar-Jones, and was very happy to hear that she hopes to work with Paul Mescal again.CONTRIBUTORASHANTI OMKAR@ASHANTIOMKARIt was great talking Bridgerton S2 with acting legend Adjoa Andoh aka Lady Danbury. We swapped suggestions on what pairs well with Ghanaian jollof rice.CONTRIBUTORANN LEE@_ANN_LEEJohn Cameron Mitchell looked so comfortable when I interviewed him over Zoom while he was in bed. His Airbnb in New Orleans was “cold as hell”, apparently.CONTRIBUTING EDITORJAMES MOTTRAM@JAMESMOTTRAMA real privilege chatting with Moon Knight’s Oscar Isaac. After the year he’s having he…1 min
Total Film|March 2022CAGE OF ENLIGHTENMENTI mean, it’s all pretty surreal,” laughs Tom Gormican. “There’s a scene in this film where we show the making of the film you’re watching, and Nicolas Cage is watching it in the theatre. And now I’m about to watch Nic watch himself watching the movie in a theatre... Everything is sort of looping in on itself and I’m just hoping it just doesn’t all collapse!”Describing the plot of The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent takes some doing – with Nicolas Cage playing an actor called Nicolas Cage who takes a paid gig to do a celebrity appearance at a billionaire’s (Pedro Pascal) birthday party, only to find himself in an action heist trying to rescue his wife and daughter. “Pedro is a huge Nicolas Cage fan, playing a huge…2 min
Total Film|March 2022DANCE CENTRALSPEAK NO EVILA Danish and Dutch family click on a Tuscan holiday, but when the Danes accept an invitation to spend the weekend at their new acquaintances’ rural home six months later, they discover a terrifying gulf between them. As one of their friends asks, “What’s the worst that can happen?” Um, where to start… Soaked in dread from start to finish, this sharp psychological horror explores stranger-danger, social anxiety, passive aggression, middle-class inertia and cruelty to torturous effect. Horribly great.EMILY THE CRIMINALAubrey Plaza completes her transformation into tough-as-nails leading lady as a debt-riddled college dropout who enters the world of quickcash credit card fraud in first time filmmaker John Patton Ford’s gritty LA noir. Supremely tense and explosively pertinent, this is a heist thriller rooted in cutting social commentary.…3 min
Total Film|March 2022SOUND BYTES“AM I EAGER TO DO HELLBOY 3? NO, I’M 71 F***ING YEARS OLD. [BUT] WE OWE THIS TO THE FANS. SO GUILLERMO... GET THIS F***ING THING DONE”RON PERLMAN WANTS BIG RED TO RETURN (SORT OF)“You’re still making that f***ing backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the f*** are you doing, man?”PETER DINKLAGE HAS NO TIME FOR DISNEY’S SNOW WHITE REMAKE#1 IN TOPPING THE UK CHARTS, ‘WE DON’T TALK ABOUT BRUNO’ (NO, NO, NO) BECAME THE FIRST ORIGINAL DISNEY SONG TO DO SO.£290m THE REPORTED BUDGET FOR MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7, WHICH BALLOONED BY $100M THANKS TO PANDEMIC-RELATED COMPLICATIONS.“THERE IS AN INNER CIRCLE, LIKE, ‘WE ARE THE GREAT ARTISTS,’ AND THEN THERE’S THE POP ARTISTS”JENNIFER LOPEZ REFLECTS ON HER HUSTLERS OSCAR SNUB.PEOPLE OFTEN THINK OF VISUAL EFFECTS…1 min
Total Film|March 2022CAN WE TALK ABOUT?JORDAN FARLEY@JORDANFARLEYDENIS VILLENEUVEBest DirectorThere wasn’t a better-directed film than Dune in 2021, which makes the Academy’s decision to omit Sandworm-wrangler-in-chief Denis Villeneuve – in the immortal words of Josh Brolin – “f*cking totally dumb”. Consider the vision required to translate Frank Herbert’s unwieldy prose into visual poetry, the skill necessary to mount a production of unparalleled scale and never lose focus of the most intimate character interactions. Villeneuve brought out the best in those around him – a fact the Academy recognised with 10 nominations for Dune, but they missed the most important one.LEILA LATIF@LEILA_LATIFBRADLEY COOPERBest ActorWhile an actor like Bradley Cooper could skate by on classic good looks and innate movie-star charisma, the Academy failed to recognise that he pushed himself to give two of the year’s best and…2 min
Total Film|March 2022POETRY IN MOTIONSix years ago, when Terence Davies was presented with the idea of making a film about Siegfried Sassoon, he jumped at it – rather blindly. “I had no idea what kind of life he had,” he says. Yet the more he read, the more he connected. “I can obviously respond to the fact that the First World War made him a great poet.“Then he was gay, I can respond to that. He then got married, which I can’t respond to because I’m not married. And then he became a Catholic, which appalled me because I was brought up a Catholic… I can’t understand why he would go into such a faith that deals in guilt all the time.”After honing the film’s script, Davies (The House Of Mirth) cast Dunkirk’s Jack…2 min
Total Film|March 2022STATUS REPORTArecord-smashing 82m households tuned into the first season of Netflix’s Bridgerton, the conversation-starting period drama set in Regency-era London. As fans get (cor)set for S2, Teasers talks to returning favourite Adjoa Andoh (Lady Danbury) and new face Charithra Chandran, who plays debutante Edwina Sharma…Why does Lady Danbury take the Sharma family under her wing? Adjoa Andoh: She has history with Lady Sharma [played by Shelley Conn] who, due to the choices she made about who she loved, was shunned by society and ended up in India. At the time, Lady Danbury was simply trying to survive and wasn’t able to help. Cut to S2: she doesn’t need to hide behind the parapet for anybody any more, and so makes reparations for her past cowardly behaviour, providing the Sharmas with everything…3 min
Total Film|March 2022SHORT CUTSWORLD WIDE WEBDakota Johnson is joining Sony’s SpiderMan Universe for a solo Madame Web movie. In the comics, Web is a paralysed mutant and sometimes ally of Spidey with telepathic abilities. Jessica Jones’ S.J. Clarkson has signed on as chief yarn spinner.RED ALERTDwayne Johnson has enlisted Captain America star Chris Evans for his upcoming ‘holiday event movie’ Red One. Plot details are non-existent, but if Dwanta Claus doesn’t make the leap to the screen we’ll eat our baubles.HEAT WAVEMichael Mann returns to his 1995 crime classic Heat with new novel Heat 2, co-written with Meg Gardiner. It will cover the lives of key characters, including De Niro’s McCauley and Pacino’s Lt. Hanna, both before and after the events of the film.WEIRDING WAYDaniel Radcliffe will play satirical musician ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic…1 min
Total Film|March 2022BILL MURRAYI have been fortunate to avoid most of the potholes,” smiles Bill Murray. Indeed, the former SNL star has a largely flawless career, from Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day to nine films with Wes Anderson, including recent literary comedy The French Dispatch. With this month’s concert film Bill Murray’s New Worlds arriving, it looks like the 71-year-old is dodging those potholes once more…Bill Murray’s New Worlds is a concert film with you, cellist Jan Vogler, violinist Mira Wang and pianist Vanessa Perez. How did this come together?I met Jan travelling back and forth from Berlin, and after seeing each other’s stuff, and getting to know each other, he said, “Why don’t we make a show?” He basically came up with this idea – he’s seen me read poetry. He plays, the…3 min
Total Film|March 2022PICTURE PERFECT“We storyboarded virtually the entire film. I think that earlier in my career, I was sort of [wary of storyboarding], because of Herzog’s statements about how storyboarding can only lead you to kitsch, and all this kind of stuff. That said, Jarin [Blaschke, DoP] and I would always shot-list our stuff very carefully.“But then with The Witch, because of some financial reasons, I needed to storyboard a few expensive sequences, and things with animals and VFX. And on The Lighthouse, it was animals, VFX, boat work, and SFX. And that became a lot more. And then on this movie, it’s like: ‘OK, boat work, SFX, fight sequences, animals, lots of background…’ And you’re just like, ‘Oh, so the whole movie!’“The other thing is, because the movie was exponentially larger than…1 min
Total Film|March 2022DAD BROMANCEWhen Total Film usually chats to Ryan Reynolds, he’s a fizzing, fast-talking quipster, rolling out caustic one-liners as deftly as Deadpool. But today when we catch up with him in a dark, wood-panelled hotel room, he’s introspective, heart-on-sleeve and disarmingly open; talking in an uncharacteristically quiet cadence about the difficult relationship he had with his dad (who died in 2020) and a vulnerable, withdrawn pre-teen version of himself. It’s not that Reynolds can’t be serious and circ*mspect – we’ve seen him essay both in roles such as Buried and Mississippi Grind – but in his most high-profile outings and his business persona as gregarious football club/gin/mobile phone network owner, Reynolds’ default is ‘funny’.The reason for his contemplation is perhaps his most personal film to date; a re-team with director/ producer…9 min
Total Film|March 2022CANCEL CULTURE CLUBAretro musical, a murder-mystery, a magical threequel. What do West Side Story, Death On The Nile and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore have in common? For all those who haven’t been locked away and out of internet range in Azkaban or elsewhere for the last few years, the answer will be clear: they are all, to variable extents, litmus-test films for the knock-on effects of cancel culture.The divergence of opinions on cancel culture shows no signs of abating right now. For many, the phenomenon is simply the previously silenced using their voices to call out perceived wrongdoing. Ennobled by the #MeToo movement, empowered by social media, these are the voices of people who wish to expose cases of injustice or inappropriate behaviour from those who might previously have seemed…10 min
Total Film|March 2022SERIAL THRILLERSOBI-WAN KENOBIEwan McGregor returns in what feels like the most monumental of all the spin-offs thus far, taking place 10 years after the events of Revenge Of The Sith. Hayden Christensen’s Anakin/Vader is also back, alongside Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse, with newcomers including Kumail Nanjiani, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Benny Safdie. ETA 25 MayANDORA spin-off of a spin-off, this Rogue One prequel follows Rebel pilot Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in the years leading up to the pilfering of the Death Star plans. Intriguingly, Tony Gilroy returns to act as showrunner, and a second series is already planned. Familiar faces include Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma) and Forest Whitaker (Saw Gerrera). ETA 2022 tbcAHSOKARosario Dawson made a huge fan-casting-come-to-life impression appearing as Clone Wars favourite Ahsoka Tano in The Mandalorian Season…1 min
Total Film|March 2022FIVE STAR TURNSTHREE COLOURS: BLUE 1993Kicking off Krzysztof Kieślowski’s tricolore trilogy, Binoche stars as Julie, whose composer husband and child are killed in a car crash that she walks away from. How she deals with that powers an emotionally resonant performance.THE ENGLISH PATIENT 1996Binoche nabbed one of the Michael Ondaatje adap’s nine Oscar wins as Hana, the nurse tending to Ralph Fiennes’ titular patient. Haunted by loved ones who have died during WW2, the ‘cursed’ Hana stoically exudes deep reserves of sadness.CACHÉ 2005This stomach-churningly tense thriller from Michael Haneke goes from sinister surveillance footage into collective Parisian trauma. Binoche and Daniel Auteil excel in roles written specifically for them.CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA 2014In the same year as delivering the standout scene in Godzilla, Binoche simmered alongside young stars Chloë Grace Moretz and…1 min
Total Film|March 2022MASTER TBCDegrees of suspense…★★★★★ OUT 18 MARCH CINEMAS, PRIME VIDEOWriter/director Mariama Diallo’s feature debut is centred on Ancaster College, an elite liberal-arts institution that’s a stone’s throw from Salem… yet feels cursed long before any ghoulish apparitions or racist abuse show up.Regina Hall plays Ancaster’s new ‘master’ Gail, the first Black person elected to the post. Gail finds it as difficult to settle into the new role as new Black student Jasmine (Zoe Renee) finds navigating the all-white frat parties, or writing essays about The Scarlet Letter’s racial subtext.As the story progresses, Diallo layers in elements of the supernatural, attending to them keenly. Unlike such recent genre outings as The Forever Purge or Antlers, Master doesn’t bog down in social commentary. With its effective jump frights and stylish nightmare sequences, the…1 min
Total Film|March 2022UNCHARTED 12A★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMASServing as a prequel to the games of the same name, this long-mooted adap sees Tom Holland step into the formerly pixelated shoes of Nathan Drake, here a skilful bartender, history nerd and occasional pickpocket who’s recruited by his estranged brother’s partner Sully (Mark Wahlberg) to search for the lost treasure of Magellan. Action-packed antics ensue, filled with enough old clues and secret passages to make Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon blush.Ruben Fleischer’s film proudly wears its adventure-movie clichés on its rolled-up safari-shirt sleeves. Alas, the Venom/Zombieland director isn’t able to muster the right sense of momentum for what should feel like a thrilling race-against-time pursuit. Still, Holland brings fresh-faced energy and physicality to a role that puts the ‘buff’ in ‘history buff’ (he researches 16th-century artefacts between…1 min
Total Film|March 2022THREE FLOORS TBC★★★☆☆ OUT 18 MARCH CINEMASVeteran Italian auteur Nanni Moretti (The Son’s Room) adapts Eshkol Nevo’s Tel Aviv-set novel, transposing this tale of three families living in the same apartment building to Rome. Amid the ensemble, Moretti and Margherita Buy play despairing parents of a troubled son, while other strands offer equally soapy storylines (family feuds, underage sex). The conflicts are clumsily handled at times, and the film is nowhere near Moretti’s best, but the quality of the cast (Italian stars such as Alba Rohrwacher and Riccardo Scamarcio also pop up) keeps this melodrama afloat.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022PARIS, 13TH DISTRICT 18★★★★☆ OUT 18 MARCH CINEMAS, CURZON HOME CINEMAFor his ninth feature, director Jacques Audiard executes a sharp, sure about-turn from The Sisters Brothers. While Audiard visited western frontiers with a male-fronted cast in that Englishspeaking 2018 outing, his latest wears its relocation on its sleeve. Adapting stories by Adrian Tomine with co-writers Céline Sciamma and Léa Mysius, Audiard stresses female perspectives for a soulful city symphony of young, modern yearning, set to pulsing techno beats.The steam rises early between sparky Emilie (Lucie Zhang) and flatmate-turned-lover Camille (Makita Samba), only to dissolve as their differing expectations of sex force a renegotiation of boundaries. A second plot strand involves Nora (Noémie Merlant), a law student who gets mistaken for cam girl Amber Sweet (charismatic Savages singer Jehnny Beth) and begins an online…1 min
Total Film|March 2022MOONFALL 12A★★★☆☆ OUT NOW CINEMASThat master of disaster Roland Emmerich is back to doing his thing – and as the title not-so-subtly hints, the big grey sphere in the sky is heading our way (a case of “mounting Moon terror” as one news report amusingly puts it). Can former astronauts Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson and conspiracy geek John Bradley carry out an intergalactic rescue mission to save the Earth in time? Bad dialogue and silly ideas aside, this apocalyptic adventure is not without its escapist pleasures. Armageddon-style jingoism is held at bay, while Bradley turns in a fine comic performance. Cornball fun.CURZON. ALTITUDE. UNIVERSAL. MODERN FILMS. SIGNATURE. COSMIC CAT. MUNRO. SONY…1 min
Total Film|March 2022SIDESHOW 15★★☆☆☆ OUT 11 MARCH CINEMASLes Dennis makes for an unlikely lead playing Stuart Pendrick, a disillusioned stage psychic whose home is invaded by two incompetent thieves in this largely crass comedy caper. Though Dennis doesn’t quite convince as the curmudgeonly clairvoyant, adequate support – including Anthony Head as his put-upon manager – picks up some of the slack, while writer/director Adam Oldroyd juggles fun character interplay with satisfying plot reveals along the way. None of that, however, can offset a script over-reliant on coarse punchlines and lowest-common-denominator one-liners.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022A BANQUET 15★★★☆☆ OUT 11 MARCH CINEMAS DIGITALRuth Paxton’s feature debut centres on a mother (Sienna Guillory) and daughter (Jessica Alexander) coping with the trauma of a family suicide while contending with a case of demonic possession. The term ‘elevated horror’ is a hotly contested one, yet this feels like a prototypical example – albeit one that struggles to keep up with the superior likes of The Babadook or Relic. It’s handsomely put together, strikingly performed and offers a nice line in slow-burning discomfort, yet A Banquet is a little too over-familiar to ever attain true terror.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022ONE OF THESE DAYS TBC★★★☆☆ OUT 1 APRIL CINEMASBastian Günther’s satiric stab at the American Dream is set in a tiny Texas town, where 20 hopefuls enter an endurance contest. The task is to keep one hand placed on the prize – a brand-new truck – at all times until only one remains. Let go and you lose… Gangs Of London star Joe Cole plays burger chef Kyle, who is desperate to be the last man standing. However, tragedy looms as greed quickly swells among the competitors, though the film never entirely capitalises on its engaging opening premise, with somewhat needless flashbacks hampering the otherwise effective drama.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022ESCAPE FROM MOGADISHU TBC★★★★★ OUT 25 MARCH CINEMASNorth and South Korea are reunited in this based-on-real-events thriller, as diplomats from both sides join forces to flee the Somali capital in the throes of civil war. There’s no denying writer/director Ryoo Seung-wan’s way with a set-piece, whether it’s a tense standoff with gun-toting rebels or a thrilling climactic bid to reach the Italian embassy. Yet its odd comic flourishes and bombastic soundtrack set entirely the wrong tone, while the depiction of the Somalis – caricatured either as venal authority figures or violent thugs – leaves an unpleasant aftertaste.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022THE SANCTITY OF SPACE TBC★★★★★ OUT 4 MARCH CINEMASThe roots of this doc lie in a photo taken in the 1930s by scientific explorer and pioneer Brad Washburn. Inspired by the snap, a trio of American climbers, including co-directors Renan Ozturk and Freddie Wilkinson, embark on a daunting challenge: an attempt to cross Alaska’s forbidding Moose’s Tooth traverse, in the shadow of Mount Denali. Years in the making, this ambitious film boasts breathtaking aerial and high-altitude cinematography. Yet in its efforts to pay tribute to Washburn while charting the twists and turns of Ozturk and co.’s expedition, it loses narrative focus.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022THE JUSTICE OF BUNNY KING TBC★★★★★ OUT NOW DIGITALArmed with only a squeegee and a smile, Bunny (Essie Davis) ekes a meagre living cleaning windscreens at intersections in her native Auckland. Her dream is to be reunited with the two children – doting Shannon (Amelie Barnes) and her brother Reuben (Angus Stevens) – she’s lost to the system. With no home, cash or prospects, though, she continually finds herself at odds with testy relatives, apathetic estate agents and government family services.At first glance, Gaysorn Thavat’s feature debut looks like another Loach-esque kitchen-sinker about a life ground down by bureaucracy. Yet Davis is too mercurial a performer to conform to that stereotype. Bunny uses her guile, charisma and flagrant deception to turn things around, however fleetingly, for both herself and a troubled niece (Last Night In…1 min
Total Film|March 2022GREAT FREEDOM TBC★★★★★ OUT 4 MARCH CINEMASA righteous howl of rage at hom*ophobic laws becomes much more in Sebastian Meise’s slow but rewarding drama. Franz Rogowski (Undine) plays Hans, a gay man repeatedly imprisoned in postwar Germany under the archaic Paragraph 175 ruling. Blurring timeframes subtly, Meise balances a piercing character study with artfully navigated riffs on prison-flick stylings, then digs deeper to mount a philosophical romance. As Great Freedom evolves into a meditation on freedoms historical and personal, Rogowski’s mesmerising study in vulnerability and resilience focuses its shifting layers beautifully.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022DEATH ON THE NILE 12A★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMASDelayed by Covid and cast controversy, Kenneth Branagh’s traditionalist whodunnit finally sails into cinemas. But you have to wonder why it didn’t dock on a streaming service earlier, where small-screen expectations might have been more forgiving of shonky CGI and scenery mastication.But we digress, mon amie… following Murder On The Orient Express (2017), Branagh’s ’tached tec Hercule Poirot finds himself at the heart of another crime of passion, this time when one of the guests on an Egyptian paddle steamer is offed while asleep.Everyone on board’s a suspect (though not, curiously, the numerous staff), having gathered to celebrate the wedding of heiress Linnet (Gal Gadot) and Armie Hammer’s Simon. Is the killer Linnet’s ex (Russell Brand)? Or maybe her godmother (Jennifer Saunders), or the latter’s jealous nurse…1 min
Total Film|March 2022SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 18★★★★★ OUT NOW DVD, DIGITALEXTRAS ★★★★★ Commentary, Featurette, Alt ending, GalleryDirector Danishka Esterhazy and writer Suzanne Keilly’s expectation-defying remake of the slyly subversive 1982 slasher classic takes a more overtly feminist approach, using the familiar setup of a group of teenage girls menaced by a drill-wielding psycho to deconstruct genre tropes and flip the gaze to hilarious and surprising effect. Working as both a reinvention and celebration of the slasher genre (the laughs are mixed with plenty of grisly kills), this is one slumber party horror fans won’t want to sleep through.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022BOAT PEOPLE TBC1982 ★★★★★ OUT 21 MARCH BDEXTRAS ★★★★★ Documentaries, Featurettes, EssaysSet three years on from the fall of Saigon, this searing drama by Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui examines why hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees fled their homeland after Ho Chi Minh’s Communist takeover. It’s seen through the eyes of a Japanese photojournalist (George Lam) who is invited to chronicle Vietnam’s rebirth, only for his lens to poke beyond the boundaries of the carefully curated New Economic Zone that accommodates his guided tour. What he discovers is a country in the throes of starvation and police brutality, where dissidents face execution squads.Given a 4K digital transfer by Criterion, Hui’s film, the third in her extraordinary Vietnam trilogy, is bolstered by quality bonus material. Two lengthy documentaries, 1997’s As Time Goes…1 min
Total Film|March 2022THE FAN 151996 ★★★☆☆ OUT NOW BDEXTRAS ★★☆☆☆ GalleryIf you’re going to do a riff on The King Of Comedy then who better to star in it than Robert De Niro? That was presumably what the much-missed Tony Scott thought when making this flashy thriller about a troubled baseball fan (De Niro) whose fervent obsession with his favourite player (Wesley Snipes) takes a sinister and murderous turn. While it’s certainly far from the director’s best, The Fan is a more-than-serviceable slice of genre fare enlivened by solid performances from its two central leads as well as Scott’s typically stylish and kinetic direction.SONY/CRITERION. 88 FILMS, SIGNAL ONE. 101 FILMS. ARROW. BFI. BULLDOG…1 min
Total Film|March 2022PALE FLOWER TBC1964 ★★★★☆ OUT 14 MARCH BDEXTRAS ★★☆☆☆ Selected-scene commentary, Featurette, EssayA key work of the Japanese New Wave, Masahiro Shinoda’s cool, stylish gangster movie sees yakuza hitman Muraki (Ryo Ikebe) plug back into his old life after being released from prison. He haunts the gambling dens and is bewitched by Saeko (Mariko Kaga), a mysterious woman who might offer redemption… or a fast track to hell. Elegantly framed (Shinoda worked as an assistant to Yasujiro Ozu), simultaneously detached and oozing attitude, Pale Flower was surely an influence on Jean-Pierre Melville’s neo-noir classic Le Samouraï.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN 151994 ★★★★☆ OUT 28 MARCH BD, 4K UHDEXTRAS ★★★★☆ Commentary, Silent film, Documentary, Featurettes, BookletNever knowingly understated, Kenneth Branagh brings gothic style, a highly dramatic (and impressively realised) Arctic-set bookending, impassioned turns from a prestige cast and plenty of ham to this impeccably costumed tragedy of love, loss and hubris. Some of the more theatrical touches by Branagh may be showing their age, but Robert De Niro’s masterful monster remains untouched by time in this 4K release, which also includes the first-ever Shelley screen adap, from 1910.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022FRESH SPINSBELLE★★★★☆The lush online vision of Mamoru Hosoda’s anime comes with an expansive sweep of music to match. Available in English and Japanese versions, Belle pinballs giddily between pop bangers, jazzy trifles, symphonic eruptions, digi-techno ructions and tender song. Though faintly disjointed as a standalone listen, its riches build to a suitably epic, stadium-balladeering climax: ‘A Million Miles Away’ jerks the required rivers of tears.SING 2★★★☆☆Annoying excision of Mercury Rev’s ‘Holes’ aside, Sing 2’s soundtrack releases scrub up amiably enough. Joby Talbot composes a frisky score, while U2’s ‘Your Song Saved My Life’ opens the various artists’ album gracefully. And if ‘Tippy Toes’ and a Coldplay cover run surplus to any reasonable requirements, at least the Prince tribute and Scarlett Johansson’s U2/Yeah Yeah Yeahs covers earn some small reprieve.…1 min
Total Film|March 20222 MOREUNCHARTED: LEGACY OF THIEVES COLLECTION★★★★★OUT NOW PS5Featuring remastered versions of two already handsomely mounted adventures – A Thief’s End and Lost Legacy – this duology applies a nextgen sheen to some of the finest action set-pieces of the previous console generation. Whether you’re new to Uncharted, or the film has left you itching for a replay, this is borderline essential.STRANGE HORTICULTURE★★★★☆OUT NOW PCThis fascinating game puts you in the shoes of a plant-shop owner, tasking you with locating and identifying rare flora for your customers, whether you’re recommending something for a special occasion or to ease an ailment. Combining botany and detective work, it’s a compelling tale that fully leans into its weirdness.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022ROMANTIC FRICTION@JORDANFARLEYIf the premise of The Lost City – a sheltered author of romance novels finds herself lost in the jungle with her hot Fabio-style book cover star while outrunning baddies and trying to find treasure – evokes memories of ’80s corker Romancing The Stone, sibling screenwriter/directors Aaron and Adam Nee aren’t mad about it.Growing up, Aaron admits being ‘very influenced by Raiders Of The Lost Ark and obviously Romancing The Stone. “We went into this excited about making something like that, but then found as we were working on the concept it was turning it into something that was unique, with a distinctive flavour of comedy and romance.” Adds Adam: “And the thing that’s so exciting to us about making a movie in that world of a film like Romancing…5 min
Total Film|March 2022YOU TALKIN’ TO ME?IN THE CROSSHAIRS THIS MONTH… JAMES MARSDENYou talkin’ to me?Well, yes I am, and I’m so happy to be talking to you.Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?I have not, I usually dance with him in the daytime. That has probably kept me out of trouble all these years. Much safer, out in a public space.Do you ever have that feeling where you’re not sure if you’re awake or still dreaming?Yes, I do. I was this kid from Oklahoma who’d gotten his 1984 Honda Accord and drove out to LA on a whim, to become a movie star. And I was just young and confident and co*cky enough to think I could do it. And it’s worked out. I still pinch myself, and wonder if this…4 min
Total Film|March 2022CHIEF ENCOUNTERIt’s taken close to a decade for a live-action adap of videogame phenomenon Halo to reach fruition. But now it’s finally upon us, with the war for humanity’s survival in the 26th century being realised on an epic scale by Pablo Schreiber as super-soldier Master Chief. Oh, and one Steven Spielberg as exec producer…What was the goal in adapting such a well-known property?Kiki Wolfkill (executive producer): Adapting a beloved videogame, with 20 years of history and story and character development, is a daunting task. But it’s also really gratifying. We looked at this as, ‘How do we take the essence of the game experience and really express it in our own unique voice?’ With that, we set out to build a huge, epic 26th-century sci-fi world, with brutal aliens, Spartan…2 min
Total Film|March 2022EXOTIC CREATUREWhen Tiger King came out in March 2020, it captured the hearts of pandemic-weary viewers across the world. One person who wasn’t so enamoured, though, was actor/director John Cameron Mitchell. “It felt like another rubbernecking-for-roadkill series,” he tells Teasers. “Europe does like crazy American stories! But it felt a little empathy-free. The characters were compelling but it didn’t go very deep.”That doesn’t mean he didn’t know a juicy part when he saw one. Mitchell jumped at the chance to play Joe Exotic in Joe Vs. Carole, a TV dramatisation of Netflix’s astonishing docuseries about a bitter feud between a gay zoo owner and the founder of a big-cat sanctuary, that spirals into a mind-boggling tale of attempted murder-for-hire. With his dodgy blond mullet and oddball eccentricities, Exotic became a cult…2 min
Total Film|March 2022SUIT CASEA few years ago Graham Moore, the Oscar-winning writer of The Imitation Game, knew he wanted to make a film about a Savile Row tailor. There was only one problem: “We couldn’t quite get a story to put him into,” Moore tells Teasers. “And then one day, we were reading a book about the history of men’s clothes-making. We found this single sentence about how the first bug in FBI history was planted inside a tailor shop in Chicago, Illinois, in 1956. And we said, ‘That’s the film – it’s about a tailor who works for the Mob!’”Said tailor is Leonard, played by Mark Rylance. Leonard, more specifically, is a highly skilled ‘cutter’ who has set up shop in Chicago, where he lets local gangsters like Richie (Dylan O’Brien) and…2 min
Total Film|March 2022NEXT BIG THINGWith 40 credits to her name, 21-year-old Jenna Ortega is among the most prolific and accomplished young actors working today. Already this year she’s appeared in Scream and Foo Fighters horror-comedy Studio 666; still to come are school-shooting drama The Fallout, Ti West’s X and Tim Burton’s Wednesday, where she plays a teenage Wednesday Addams. “Working in any other field almost seems unfathomable at this point,” she says.What was it like ‘requelising’ Scream’s iconic opening scene?It was fun. It also was nerve-wracking, because it is so reminiscent of Casey Becker, down to the colour of the sweater. I know how intensely the Scream community takes the opening scene. I just wanted to make people proud, especially with Wes [Craven] not being involved.You’ve got another big horror movie on the horizon,…2 min
Total Film|March 2022LIVING NIGHTMARE1 LOST PROPERTYAdapted from Louise Candlish’s bestselling literary thriller by Simon Ashdown (co-creator of 2005’s superbly strange Funland), Our House is a suburban ordeal inspired by a real-life case of property fraud. Returning to the well-appointed south London home she had shared with her children and estranged husband Bram (Martin Compston), interior designer Fi (Tuppence Middleton) finds her belongings gone and strangers moving in: their house has been sold without her consent, Bram is AWOL and she has no apparent legal recourse. “What Fi finds seems totally absurd,” says Middleton. “Something she has put her life and soul into has gone in a day.”2 RULES OF ESTRANGEMENTRunning parallel to the fallout of the house sale are flashbacks to Fi and Bram’s marital breakdown after he has an affair. Bram and…3 min
Total Film|March 2022IT SHOULDN’T HAPPEN TO A FILM JOURNALISTTHIS MONTH... GETTING REVIEWS WRONGOver the last month or so I’ve rewatched all of Stanley Kubrick’s 13 features and my order of preference has changed. Eyes Wide Shut, a film I found repetitive, stilted and outdated upon release, this time cast a hypnotic spell – I felt like I was suffering some sort of sleep paralysis, unable to move as an ominous creature slouched towards me. Lolita, which I admired in my twenties, now seemed devoid of the novel’s brio and wit, with Peter Sellers miscast as Clare Quilty. And Barry Lyndon was exquisitely emotional whereas it used to leave me frozen to my core, like Jack Torrance at the end of The Shining.Ah, The Shining, a movie I’ve admired for 30 years, seen perhaps 20 times, but only recently…3 min
Total Film|March 2022REVENGERS ASSEMBLEWhen I first thought, ‘I want to make a Viking movie,’ I knew three things,” explains writer/director Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse), with the hint of a smile. “I knew it needs to take place mostly in Iceland, it needs to be a revenge story, and it needs to have a naked sword fight on a volcano.”Well, that’s us sold. And so was star/ producer Alexander Skarsgård, who met with Eggers back when he’d made only The Witch. Their lunch was to discuss other possible projects, but all that was shelved when they discovered their shared passion for Norse mythology. Eggers had only immersed himself recently, after visiting Iceland with his wife, clinical psychologist Alexandra Shaker, who then used her spouse’s admiration for the VistaVision landscapes to bombard him…17 min
Total Film|March 2022KNIGHT SHIFTIn the mosaic that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you suspect there has always been a place for Moon Knight. The cowl-wearing crimefighter – and the alter-ego of former CIA spook Marc Spector – may be at the lesser-known end of the Marvel Comics spectrum, but that didn’t stop fans daydreaming about his screen debut. When Kevin Feige was asked about the character back in April 2018, the producer confessed there had been discussions to bring Moon Knight into the MCU. But when? “Does that mean five years from now,” he teased, “10 years from now, 15 years from now?”Shortly afterwards, head writer Jeremy Slater (Netflix’s unorthodox superhero show The Umbrella Academy) was brought in to discuss the character for a planned six-part Disney+ series. “I am a Marvel kid…11 min
Total Film|March 2022REYNOLDS REDUCEDThis is your first movie – and with your hero Ryan. What was it like meeting him?At the audition he probably thought I was really weird, because I was just staring at him. At the beginning [of filming], it was very overwhelming. I was really freaked out that I would mess it up. But he and Shawn made me feel really good, and they taught me a bunch of cool tricks.As a huge fan, did you get any Deadpool 3 secrets out of him?I didn’t get any secrets out of him – I did try!How did you nail his voice and mannerisms?I watched Deadpool 2 a million times. In all the scenes where I’m being like him I’d pretend I was like a little Deadpool. And before I’d do a…2 min
Total Film|March 2022pitch perfectthe new film by actor-turned-writer/director Craig Roberts is at once a character study, a comedy-drama, a love story, a biopic and a sports movie unlike any you’ve ever seen. How could it be like anything that came before when it focuses on Maurice Flitcroft, a chain-smoking shipyard operator from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria who posed as a professional golfer to obtain a place in the 1976 British Open? What followed, all of it televised, was golden, and while it won’t be spoiled here, suffice to say that any triumph that this particular underdog experienced was not of the sort that Hollywood would recognise.Flitcroft, here played by Mark Rylance, only took up golf in 1974, and it’s hard to say just how serious he was. Did he genuinely believe he had talent and…9 min
Total Film|March 2022RELIGIOUS ARDOURAll good things come to those who wait. Especially if you’re a Paul Verhoeven fan. The controversial Dutch director of Showgirls and Basic Instinct was all set to bring his new film Benedetta to Cannes in 2019 until a knee operation saw him postpone his place in official competition by a year. Then the pandemic hit, Cannes 2020 was cancelled, and Benedetta was shelved for another 12 months before finally being unveiled at the world’s most famous film festival last July.When the movie finally played, social media exploded. “The first reactions to Paul Verhoeven’s latest film BENEDETTA have just dropped out of #Cannes and all we can say is: ‘OH MY GOD!’” tweeted one attendee. This historical drama based on a true story about a nun who finds solace in…8 min
Total Film|March 2022THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD 15★★★★★ OUT 25 MARCH CINEMASEnter Fleabag into your search engine of choice and the Norwegian equivalent comes back as ‘Loppepose’. A far more elegant translation than that, though, comes via this terrifically moving and wildly amusing romantic dramedy from Thelma (2017) helmer Joachim Trier, a conclusion to an Oslo-set trilogy which began with his 2006 debut feature Reprise and continued five years later with 2011’s Oslo, August 31st.Chances are you are more familiar with the work of Trier’s distant relative Lars than you are with Trier himself, a filmmaker whose best-known credit to date is probably 2015’s English-language Jesse Eisenberg starrer Louder Than Bombs. Yet prior knowledge of his oeuvre is certainly not needed to appreciate a film whose endearingly flighty hero Julie (the sublime Renate Reinsve) makes Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s…4 min
Total Film|March 2022RED ROCKET TBC★★★★★ OUT 11 MARCH CINEMASLet’s just say you’re blessed,” remarks Raylee (Suzanna Son), talking about Mikey (Simon Rex), the compelling antihero at the heart of Red Rocket. A down-on-his-luck adult-movie star, Mikey Saber – to use his full p*rn name – is certainly blessed in the trouser department. And if he’s to be believed, he has multiple AVN awards (including Best Oral). But where Mikey is really blessed is when it comes to the gift of the gab: he can charm the birds from the trees – or in this case, his way back into his estranged wife’s family home.When Mikey arrives in his old hometown of Texas City, he’s penniless – after a fracas in Los Angeles – but is soon on the couch at his mother-in-law’s shabby house.…3 min
Total Film|March 2022BROADCAST SIGNAL INTRUSION 15★★★★☆ OUT 25 MARCH CINEMAS 28 MARCH BD, DIGITALFans of Netflix show Archive 81 or Prano Bailey-Bond’s Censor will want to check out Jacob Gentry’s discombobulating Broadcast Signal Intrusion, in which a video archivist working in 1999 chances upon some freaky footage that hackers spliced into a TV show in 1987.James (Harry Shum Jr.) becomes obsessed with the static-soaked footage of a masked man babbling incoherently, and is determined to solve the mystery of who was behind it, and why. But his curiosity soon entwines with the grief he feels over his wife’s disappearance three years prior. As he unearths further broadcast intrusions, he becomes convinced they are linked to cases of missing women. The rabbit hole he is about to plunge down is deep and dark…Expanded from their same-titled…1 min
Total Film|March 2022EUROPA TBC★★★★☆ OUT 18 MARCH CINEMAS, DIGITALNewcomer Adam Ali commands every frame of this anxiety-soaked thriller from writer/director Haider Rashid (Tangled Up In Blue). Together they convey the immediate, visceral danger of one refugee’s plight, as Ali’s Kamal crosses the Turkish-Bulgarian border under cover of darkness. With the camera trained resolutely on him, Kamal is beset by ruthless ‘migrant hunters’, bloodhounds and suspicious civilians as he attempts to survive a treacherous journey. Moral lines are blurred and crossed, while resolutions are vague. Despite a slim runtime it’s an engrossing take on a vital subject.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022THE LAST JOURNEY TBC★★☆☆☆ OUT 7 MARCH DVD, DIGITAL HDWriter/director Romain Quirot takes a valiant stab at philosophical mystery in this dystopian sci-fi story expanded from his own short film, albeit with not enough material to ever feel truly expansive. With an ever-present red moon threatening to destroy life on Earth, Paul W.R. (Hugo Becker) – an unusually gifted astronaut who has suddenly gone AWOL – is the planet’s only hope of salvation. Quirot’s approach is undeniably thoughtful, but obvious budget constraints and a severely underused Jean Reno amount to mission failure.CURZON. ALTITUDE, UNIVERSAL. MODERN FILMS. SIGNATURE. COSMIC CAT. MUNRO. SONY…1 min
Total Film|March 2022COPPELIA U★★★☆☆ OUT 1 APRIL CINEMASThe classic ballet is updated for a family-friendly audience, mixing live-action performances with pastel sets and somewhat questionable CGI animation. When her townspeople become enamoured with cosmetic surgeon Doctor Coppelius (Vito Mazzeo) and his promise of unnatural beauty, Swan (Michaela DePrince) has to stop her beloved Franz (Daniel Carmargo) from falling under his spell. Free from dialogue or narration, this is ballet made palatable for young kids, complete with rudimentary staging and effects. The choreography and a positive message about vanity make for a playful adaptation.CURZON. ALTITUDE. UNIVERSAL. MODERN FILMS. SIGNATURE. COSMIC CAT. MUNRO. SONY…1 min
Total Film|March 2022ZEROS AND ONES 15★★★☆☆ OUT 7 MARCH DIGITAL 4 APRIL DVDThe poster art’s ‘Olympus Has Fallen in Vatican City’ vibe couldn’t be more inappropriate; no surprise given that Abel Ferrara directs. The elusive ‘plot’ involves soldier J.J. (Ethan Hawke) on a mission in Rome, trying to find his missing twin, Justin (also Hawke). Themes of religious fundamentalism, human trafficking and quarantine intermingle, but the film remains as intentionally obscure as Sean Price Williams’ (Good Time) darkly hazy cinematography. It can feel impenetrable, but a gaunt, haunted Hawke is magnetic, and the deeply unsettling tone lingers.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022THE LEDGE 15 TBC★★★☆☆ OUT 14 MARCH DIGITAL 21 MARCH DVDClimbing up sheer rock faces is a hair-raising prospect in itself; throw in a bunch of murderous climbing bros and you’ve got the recipe for a true nightmare. Our hero Kelly (Britanny Ashworth) finds herself trapped on a small rocky ledge halfway up a mountain, only 20 feet away from a group of men who have killed her best friend and are planning the same grisly fate for her. Howard J. Ford’s survival thriller is let down by some one-note performances and a few dodgy effects, but at its peak it conjures an impressively visceral sense of terror.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022SWEETIE, YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT 15★★★★★ OUT NOW BD, DIGITALIf you’ve ever dreamt of seeing a Kazakh horror comedy that plays something like the son of The Hangover and Deliverance after he’s been fed through the woodchipper in Fargo, then Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It is for you.Our nominal hero is Dastan (Daniar Alshinov), going on a weekend break with two mates to escape the demands of his pregnant wife. Arman (Azamat Marklenov) loads the van with sex dolls, which is the nearest virgin Muram (Yerlan Prynsetov) has ever got to a real woman. Maybe they can hook their elusive masculinity during this rite-of-passage fishing trip? But they catch more than they bargained for, running into a band of clumsy gangsters, a creepy father-and-daughter act with kidnapping on their mind, and a one-eyed skinhead who’s…1 min
Total Film|March 2022THE SPINE OF NIGHT TBC★★★★★ OUT 24 MARCH SHUDDERUsing rotoscope techniques to conjure a retro-fantasy vibe, Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King’s epic animation combines ultraviolence with soaring cosmic existentialism for an original story that transcends its clear ’80s inspirations (of which Heavy Metal is obviously one). Richard E. Grant, Lucy Lawless and Joe Manganiello lend cast credibility to this medieval swords-and-sorcery saga, about an all-powerful sacred plant that corrupts mankind throughout the many ages of the universe. But it’s the mindbending concepts and imaginative frights that really leave an indelible impression.101 FILMS, WILDCARD, DOGWOOF, SHUDDER, PECCADILLO, DARTMOUTH FILMS, MUBI, BOHEMIA MEDIA, VERTIGO…1 min
Total Film|March 2022THE TINDERBOX TBC★★★★★ OUT 25 MARCH CINEMASBritish-American documentary maker Gillian Mosely (who was raised in a Zionist household) travels around Israel exploring, via archival footage, the deep-rooted causes of the long-standing Arab-Israeli conflict and how citizens’ lives have been shaped by historical enmities. Among her diverse interviewees are a Christian Palestinian mother, a rabbi settler and a Jewish heavy-metal singer. The sentiments expressed in this humane documentary are admirable, notably the need for meaningful dialogue between both sides – yet any prospects for lasting peace seem bleaker than ever.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022REBEL DREAD TBC★★★★★ OUT 4 MARCH CINEMASDJ, musician and filmmaker Don Letts recounts his fascinating life in William E. Badgley’s spritely documentary. Present at the birth of punk, this Rasta-loving, Brixton-raised Brit was soon hobnobbing with the Sex Pistols and the Clash and built key relationships with John Lydon and Mick Jones, while also shooting influential music videos (including the one for the Clash’s ‘London Calling’). Though the film rambles a fair bit, particularly once punk fades from the fore, Letts is a great raconteur – and a worthy figure on which to hang this study of British ’70s and ’80s music culture.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022THE GODFATHER PART II 151974 ★★★★★ OUT 4 MARCH CINEMASViolent death and innocence come closely linked in Francis Ford Coppola’s magisterial sequel to his 1972 Mafia epic. Young Vito Corleone witnesses his family slaughtered, an older Vito embraces his kid after slaughtering adversaries, Michael’s son’s First Communion ends in gunfire… If an expansive sadness elevates Part II, it resides in this sense of innocence – or any kind of pure motive – scarred in the fallout from power’s pursuit.If subsequent years have instilled sequel fatigue and prequel frustration in viewers, Coppola’s tragedy shows how deep and broad both can go. Deftly, he navigates two timelines, Vito’s (Robert De Niro) ascendancy in 1901 New York and his son Michael’s (Al Pacino) late-’50s empire-building. We see how earlier generations’ actions haunt the family psyche, like a…1 min
Total Film|March 2022JACKASS FOREVER 18★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMASThe first Jackass since 2010’s 3D outing sees the guys (including stalwart director Jeff Tremaine) return significantly older but none the wiser. Newbies such as Jasper Dolphin and Rachel Wolfson acquit themselves well, but unfortunately, the laughs are less raucous and spontaneous than before. Aside from Johnny Knoxville being cannon-fired on feathered wings á la Icarus, there’s a dearth of crazed, surreal setups here. Instead we get extra servings of bodily fluids – plus an array of sketches using pissed-off animals (bears, bees, vultures) that make for morally discomforting viewing.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022ARMOUR OF GOD 151986 ★★★☆☆ OUT NOW BDEXTRAS ★★★★★ Alt cut, Alt soundtracks, Commentaries, Featurettes, Music video, OuttakesBest remembered as the film that almost killed Jackie Chan (when a simple stunt – for him – went wrong), this uneven Indiana Jones-inspired action-comedy casts him as a former pop star turned treasure hunter blackmailed into hunting for a mythical set of armour. While the film has its problems, the same can’t be said for this comprehensive Blu-ray release, which not only boasts two cuts of the film, but serves up a whopping nine soundtrack options for one of them – and that’s not including the three commentaries!…1 min
Total Film|March 2022THE MCPHERSON TAPE 151989 ★★★☆☆ OUT NOW BDEXTRAS ★★★☆☆ Director’s cut, Commentary, FeaturettesAn unsung pioneer of the found-footage genre, this no-budget curio (written, directed, produced and shot by Dean Alioto) was denied a legit release in ’89 thanks to a distribution-company warehouse fire. After a title card proclaiming, Blair Witch Projectstyle, that what follows is true, we see the Van Heese family celebrating a birthday party while nerdy Michael (Alioto) records everything on his video camera. Of course, he keeps filming when aliens decide to attack, and what follows is in equal parts irritating and intense.SONY/CRITERION. 88 FILMS, SIGNAL ONE. 101 FILMS. ARROW. BFI. BULLDOG…1 min
Total Film|March 2022NIGHTMARE ALLEY PG1947 ★★★★★ OUT NOW DUAL FORMATEXTRAS ★★★☆☆ Commentaries, Documentary, GalleryMore than two years later than originally scheduled, Edmund Goulding’s sardonic and fatalistic noir masterpiece hit Blu-ray just as the remake arrived in UK cinemas. The wait was definitely worth it, however, with the disc’s immaculate remaster making the most of Lee Garmes’ striking black-and-white cinematography. Meanwhile, film historians Michael Brooke and Johnny Mains explore the differences between the film and the original novel, plus myriad other production details, in an exclusive commentary.…1 min
Total Film|March 2022EXTRASVARIOUSTURNING RED MERCHANDISEOUT TBC MARCHAlas, thanks to a review embargo we can’t tell you what the film’s like… but we can show you the merch. And as you’d expect from a Disney/Pixar production, there’s plenty on offer – from panda-hooded dressing gowns to figurines to food bowls, Mei Lee’s giant red alter ego is all over the shopdisney.co.uk. As the tie-dye t-shirt puts it, ‘Too Cute’.COLLECTIBLESTHE BATMAN FUNKOSOUT NOWThe Bat is back, bringing law, order and Pop! vinyl coolness to your mantelpiece. One of the Pat-man variants is tagged ‘Battle-Ready’, though he looks pretty up for a ruck in all cases, tbh; can’t see him stopping at too many red lights in his open-top Batmobile. Look out, meanwhile, for ‘chase’ variants of Selina Kyle and Oswald Cobblepot, the former without…2 min
Total Film|March 2022GAMES DYING LIGHT 2 STAY HUMAN★★★★☆ OUT NOW PC, PS4/5, XBOX ONE/SERIES, NINTENDO SWITCHThe run-up to Dying Light 2’s release has been dominated by boasts about its sheer size – from developer Techland’s statement that it would take 500 hours to achieve full completion to comparisons between its 350,000-word script and Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.No two ways about it: Stay Human is a huge game – although that daunting runtime is actually a much more manageable 30 hours if you simply want to see the story through to its conclusion. And for all the sprawling scope of its post-apocalyptic world, it’s a game defined by moment-to-moment decision-making. One minute you’re working out the most efficient route to the next safe zone as night falls and you suddenly find a horde of ravenous zombies snarling at your…2 min
