jpcgillam

A South African heiress (Anne Baxter) begins to doubt her sanity when a man (Richard Todd) arrives claiming to be her brother, who was believed dead several months before, in Michael Anderson's mystery thriller.

It's got an intriguing set up, but I think a director like Joseph Losey would've done even more with it by heightening the more ambiguous psychological aspects of the story. Anderson does a good job of creating suspense here, especially in the claustrophobic shots that follow Baxter around the house, but everything's done too straightforwardly and stagily to really delve into this surreal side, which causes some of the twists to seem overly telegraphed in advance.

Nevertheless, it still builds a good mystery, with Baxter really selling her character's mounting paranoia as she struggles to convince the people around her that this stranger isn't her brother, slowly questioning her situation as time goes on. This leads to a great final sequence that really amps the tension up, rounding the story off in a way that helps to alter everything we've just seen.

Cast a Crooked Shadow is a solid thriller that has some effective twists and turns, even if it feels a bit too conventional to really stand out.

The true story of Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department who, with the aid of a colleague (Adam Driver) infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s, is dramatised in Spike Lee's biographical spy crime comedy co-starring Topher Grace, Laura Harrier and Jasper Pääkkönen.

This was widely considered a return to form for Lee, and contains an incredibly potent message, strengthened by some of the director's most urgent and energetic filmmaking since his early period. There are some truly moving moments, especially in the civil rights rally near the beginning, which sets up some of the key themes of justice and equality, using a variety of techniques to make the viewer become immersed in the meeting as much as the characters.

The most powerful scene, however, is the speech that Belafonte's character, describing a real historic lynching, gives towards the end, which is absolutely chilling, especially when juxtaposed with the KKK meeting happening concurrently. These scenes, showing the systemic racism and prejudice of the era, draws a parallel to the present day, showing how far we still need to go, with the closing scenes highlighting the injustice that still goes on today.

Although some scenes are a little too on the nose in their modern day comparisons, like Stallworth incredulous at the idea of a racist elected as President, for the most part the film gets across its ideas in a clever and subversive way. Key to this is the use of humour, walking a fine line between sending up the racists and while still showing their poisonous beliefs. This stops the film from trivialising their threat, although sometimes the tone does get in the way of the message, as the most powerful scenes are the ones played straight.

The era is recreated incredibly well, with Lee using popular culture and iconography of the time to draw us into the events of the story. Though a lot of liberties have been taken with the facts, with the results being much more conclusive than they were in real life, the story is used more as a symbol for the time, reflecting events as they should have happened, even if that does distort the story in places.

Washington gives a great performance, giving Stallworth a kind of offbeat charm and an earnestness that fits the tone of the film. He serves as an audience surrogate through which we can see the undercurrents of hate just below the surface of "conventional" society, as Stallworth uncovers the racism of the community.

However, he does feel quite sidelined at points, given a minimised role compared to real life, which means that he's a little underexplored as a character, with the phone conversations an effective device but feeling a little contrived (even if it is based on truth).

There seems to be more focus on Driver's cop, who is actually infiltrating the organisation, while Stallworth is given a (fictional) love interest when he's undercover, which gives the impression that the former did all the heavy lifting, which wasn't the case, although the romance is useful for providing a gateway into the civil rights movement of the time.

Driver is also really good here, getting across his character's discomfort in the racist ideas he has to repeat, with his religion providing an interesting point of tension in his undercover duties. However, I think the film would have been stronger if it had shown us more of Stallworth's involvement, as he's sometimes a little disconnected from the main narrative, which stops it from being as cohesive as it could have been.

Grace, as KKK leader David Duke, also gives an excellent performance, getting across a sense of smarmy arrogance in the man that make his unwitting phone conversations with Stallworth all the more enjoyable in their bitter irony, showing him up as foolish and ineffectual.

The film was attacked in some quarters for being too soft on the police, but I thought the more nuanced representation of the force added a new dimension to the story, showing that while there needs to be something done to target systemic racism, the system itself works when the right people are utilising it.

This allows for an interesting debate within the story about where Stallworth's loyalty lies, showing that his ethnicity and his job don't have to be in opposition, although the use of one overtly racist cop does risk oversimplifying the issue. There are lots of elements being explored here, and as a result some are a little undercooked, but the sheer amount of passion in display manages to allow most of the points to land, even if it does become didactic in places.

While BlacKKKlansman does have some flaws, and doesn't quite come together, it still adds up into an impactful and timely statement of equality and justice, able to get its messages across in a way that's both entertaining and thought-provoking.

The opposing styles and personalities of dramatist W. S. Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) and composer Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner) begin to clash as the famed duo attempt to mount their next production, in Mike Leigh's period drama co-starring Lesley Manville, Timothy Spall, Kevin McKidd, Shirley Henderson and Sam Kelly.

The film works as both an affectionate love letter to the theatre and a vivid snapshot of the era, with Leigh's often playful approach helping it to stand out from similar biopics. Instead of just dryly reciting the facts, he takes a look at all of the various people involved in shaping The Mikado, a much more ground-level approach that lets the various little strands all build together into one rich tapestry of stories.

This more character driven style really lets the ensemble cast shine, with Broadbent and Corduner especially standing out as the duelling duo at the centre of it all. They do a great job of bringing out the conflicting personalities of the famed collaborators, creating strong characters whose conflicts are fascinating to watch.

I loved seeing The Mikado production gradually go from page to stage, and it's told with a wryly observational sensibility that really drew me in. Like Leigh's other projects, the actors helped to form the script through improvisation, and the film explores that sense of collaboration within the story itself, which casts an fond eye on this eclectic group of performers all coming together to create something as a team.

However, I think the film could maybe have gone a little deeper into exploring the characters, as the wide scope often leaves the subplots a little thin on the ground. Topsy-Turvy doesn't always doesn't always have enough substance to fully justify the lengthy runtime, but Leigh does a fantastic job of immersing the audience in the era in a way that really brings the story to life.