Check out this week’s top DVD picks from Oscar-nominated The Favourite to literary biopic Colette
Oscar-winning actresses drop C-bombs in The Favourite, while
Keira Knightley misses an opportunity in Colette
IF you want to hear Oscar-winning actresses drop C-bombs while wearing sumptuous period frocks, The Favourite is the movie for you.
Simon Amstell artfully deconstructs the romcom in Benjamin but Keira Knightley's literary biopic Colette never quite gets under the skin of its fascinating subject.
DVD Of The Week: The Favourite
(15) 119mins, out May 13
OLIVIA COLMAN nabbed the accolades for her turn as Queen Anne but Emma Stone’s is the more nuanced performance in a less showy role.
She plays the ambitious schemer who inveigles her way into the queen’s affections, sparking a tooth-and-claw rivalry with Rachel Weisz’s Duchess of Marlborough in a deliciously vicious period tragicomedy.
Gorgeous to look at, with a haunting, nervous ticking-clock of a soundtrack, there are moments of pathos amid the acid and bile.
Episodic, mannered and cynical, this won’t be to all tastes -- and it comes perilously close to outstaying its welcome. But it is arguably the high point so far of director Yorgos Lanthimos’ eclectic, eccentric filmography.
★★★★☆
Benjamin
(15) 83mins, out now on digital
“SOME people will quite like it and some people won’t be into it. And then, quite soon enough, all of those people will die. Won’t they?”
So says Anna Chancellor (one of several good support turns) in Simon Amstell’s angsty romcom about a self-absorbed filmmaker’s quest for validation and love.
Merlin’s Colin Morgan is that filmmaker and Amstell surrogate, racked with doubt about whether his indie arthouse flick is any good (it isn’t) and if he is capable of human emotion (he is).
If that sounds like a tedious exercise in navel-gazing -- like reading a book about an author with writer’s block -- that is true only occasionally.
For the most part, this is a funny and tender tale with some sharp digs at the hipster wonderland in which its subjects, and presumably its creator, orbit.
★★★★☆
Colette
(15) 111mins, out now
LITERARY biopic that oozes pedigree and looks sumptuous but barely scratches the surface of its intriguing subject.
Keira Knightley is the 19th-century author whose semi-autobiographical creation Claudine becomes the toast of Paris.
Dominic West is the feckless, flatulent husband whose sole discernible talent is profiting from the more gifted people around him.
Covering similar territory to The Wife, this shares a weakness with Glenn Close’s acting masterclass in that the central relationship never fully convinces.
We are left to guess at why Colette is so loyal to her emotionally bankrupt partner -- and this has little to say on her creative process.
Colette simply knocks out one masterpiece after another at the drop of a silk top hat.
A move into darker, weirder territory is hinted at as that central dynamic mutates over the years, but the treatment of Colette’s self-discovery is cursory.
Given the richness of the source material, this feels like a missed opportunity.
★★★☆☆
Sliding Doors
(15) 95mins, out now on collector’s edition Blu-ray
BEFORE Goop, Pepper Potts and conscious uncoupling, Gwyneth Paltrow was an up-and-coming actress with subtlety and range.
Her performance of brittle charm is the most enduring feature of this otherwise forgettable late-Nineties time capsule.
Few films enter the lexicon the way this did. (There’s no such thing as a “Four Weddings moment”, unless you count Andi MacDowell pitching up on your doorstep in the pouring rain.)
But it belongs to a bygone era, with its smoking in pubs and a single outing for a chunky mobile phone.
Twenty-one years on, its sexual politics feel as dated as the fond reference to Gary Glitter and Paltrow’s character is defined by her ability to snag a man -- be it her cheating, loser boyfriend or hyperactive Monty Python obsessive John Hannah.
At times it feels daringly dark for a romcom -- but with few actual laughs to be had, what remains is an insubstantial drama that never quite comes good on its tricksy premise.
★★★☆☆
Hitman: Redemption
(15) 99mins, out now
Despite the bombastic title, this straight-to-DVD outing for the hired-gun franchise is more of a slow-burning drama than a blood-soaked romp.
Ron Perlman (the original Hellboy) plays Asher, a former Mossad agent turned Brooklyn-based hitman who is growing old and a little rusty.
When suffering something close to a heart attack on a job, he comes across Famke Janssen’s Sophie and glimpses a life beyond his grisly routine.
Unsurprisingly, living his past behind proves easier said than done and he ends up dragging Sophie into his world, rather than vice versa.
The pacing is stately, while the cinematography has a measured, unhurried quality that lets the film breathe.
Perlman is gruff but sympathetic, Janssen makes the best of a fairly thankless job and Richard Dreyfuss makes an impact with a brief airing as Asher’s boss.
They can’t elevate this beyond the perfunctory script but director Michael Caton-Jones (Rob Roy) steers it home without things getting too ridiculous.
Jasper Hart
★★★☆☆
most read in film
Fleabag Series 1 & 2
(15), 360mins, out now
THE first series was the TV revelation of 2016 - a blistering, brutal, pitch-black comedy with an utterly distinctive voice.
This year’s follow-up, though rapturously received, didn’t quite hit those heights.
But it remains utterly compelling and often hilarious, with flawless performances across the board.
And the addition of Andrew Scott as The Priest makes up for the slightly broader writing, which was perhaps inevitable given the show’s transition to BBC1.
An instant classic that redefines in two short, perfectly formed series what is possible with TV comedy.
Up there in the all-time canon with Fawlty Towers, The Office and Spaced.
★★★★★