Film
The timeless mystery of Charlie Chaplin
Eleven years ago, I was summoned to the Manoir de Ban, a huge white house overlooking Lake Geneva, to meet…
The closing of the Chinese mind
I was born in Nanjing five years after the Tiananmen Square protests. By then, records of the demonstrations and the…
For meta or worse
Bergman Island sounds, on first acquaintance, like a theme-park attraction. Roll up, roll up! Let us speed you through the…
Fresh knickers
Last April Fools’ Day, Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo wound up their award-winning film review show on BBC Radio 5…
It pierces the heart
Terence Davies’s Benediction is a biopic of the first world war poet Siegfried Sassoon told with great feeling and tenderness.…
Poetry in motion
Craig Raine on the challenges of translating poets’ lives and work to the screen
Dark side of the rune
In Rus, which we now call Ukraine, Amleth (Alexander Skarsgard) begins his pursuit of revenge. A sea captain who later…
Slippery slope
Downton Abbey: A New Era is the second film spin-off from the TV series and, like the first, it doesn’t…
Thrills, frills and folderols
A clever, original exhibition at the Wallace Collection has Laura Freeman twirling her way through the West End
You’re Nicked
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent stars Nicolas Cage playing a version of Nicolas Cage, in a parody of Nicolas…
The great deceit
Operation Mincemeat is based on the book by Ben Macintyre, which in turn is based on what Sir Hugh Trevor-Roper…
The man who disappeared
In September 1890 a Frenchman called Louis Le Prince left his brother in Dijon and boarded a train to Paris,…
Strangers on a train
Compartment No. 6 is set aboard a long train journey across Russia, a country we don’t hear much of these…
Diary
Oscar week is intense – and it’s been a while since it’s been as intense. The red carpet is full…
Safe and sound
This year the Oscar for best film went to the drama Coda– ‘Child of Deaf Adults’ – but the ceremony…
Norwegian wood
The Worst Person in the World is a Norwegian film that has made a big splash. To date, its star…
Bunker mentality
Phantom of the Open is a comedy-drama telling a true story that would have to be true as no one…
The artful todger
Mikey (Simon Rex) first appears striding down a road in utterly wrecked jeans and shirt. He is carrying nothing and…
Suited and rebooted
The latest Batman film, The Batman, may be a reboot, or even a reboot of a rebooted reboot that’s been…
Stolen pleasures
The Duke is an old-fashioned British comedy caper that is plainly lovely and a joy. Based on a true story,…
Beyond a joke
Charlie Chaplin is one of the most famous movie stars ever and is certainly the most famous movie star with…
Small wonder
As there are no stand-out films this week aside from Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Death on the Nile — is…
High on the Hogg
The Souvenir: Part II is Joanna Hogg’s follow-up to The Souvenir (2019) but it’s not your regular sequel. It’s not…
A work of art
Pedro Almodovar’s latest is a film about identity, secrets, lies, buried skeletons, real and metaphorical. But what you mainly need…
Home and away
After Artemis Fowl and Murder on the Orient Express you may have had concerns about Kenneth Branagh ever helming a…
