STACK #148 Feb 2017

CINEMA REVIEWS

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LION

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Garth Davis CAST: Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara RATING: PG Aussie director Garth Davis's gruff and passionate debut feature has pounced upon the awards season like a wild beast. Garnering acclaim wherever it's screened, Lion 's hard-hitting beauty, earnestness and poignancy has reduced audiences to tears. Five- year-old Saroo Brierley (Sunny Pawar) is separated from his brother after boarding a cross-country train and finds himself lost on the streets of Calcutta, India. After several years of struggling to survive, Saroo ends up in an adoption centre and soon finds a new home in Tasmania. Twenty years later, Saroo (now played by Dev Patel), is haunted by the fear of what his biological family felt when he went missing, and begins a Google Earth search to find out where he came from. But as the search slowly brings him closer to his lost family, it also strains the relationships he has built in Australia. If the film came to a halt before its jump to the future, it would be a roaring win for Lion . Newcomer Pawar hits all the right notes and makes a huge impact that claws your heart to shreds. Post-jump, it’s Patel’s charm that keeps us engaged during the reduction in pace and long glances at computer screens. There’s no doubt that Lion is a tearjerker, especially for parents, but you'll feel like more time has been spent getting lost than found, resulting in a conclusion that feels premature and less emotional than it could have been. Consequently, this big cat ends with a cute little meow instead of a roar. Savannah Douglas A troubled boy growing up in the tough urban projects, a crack addict mother, a kindly father figure who tries to show him the right path… the broad story outline suggests Moonlight is just another gritty urban drama. However, Barry Jenkins’ superb Golden Globe-winner offers a totally different experience altogether. Unfolding over three haunting chapters, it’s a coming-of-age drama about Ciron – played as a boy by Alex Hibbert, a teenager by Ashton Sanders, and as an adult Travante Rhodes – who not only has to cope with the usual hardships of growing up in a poor African-American neighbourhood in Miami, but is also grappling with his own sexual identity; the fact that the rest of the school have already decided that he is gay makes life doubly difficult. The largely unknown Hibbert, Sanders and Rhodes are great as the conflicted Cirons, Mahershala Ali brings gravitas to the role of the local drug dealer who takes the young Ciron under his wing, while R&B singer Janelle Monáe is a revelation as his sympathetic girlfriend. However, the acting honours go to Naomi Harris for her electrifying turn as the boy’s hopelessly addicted mother, who realises too late the damage she has inflicted on her son. Despite the gritty subject matter, there’s a dreamy, pastoral feel to Jenkins’ imagery, which helps bring a warmth and tenderness to the otherwise bleak storyline. Melancholic, moving and magical, expect Moonlight to feature prominently at this year’s Oscars. John Ferguson MOONLIGHT RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Barry Jenkins CAST: Naomie Harris, Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monáe RATING: M

xXx: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: D.J. Caruso CAST: Vin Diesel, Toni Collette, Ruby Rose RATING: M

V in Diesel's characters just keep coming back for more. While we're unlikely to see The Last Witch Hunter 's Kaulder again, Dominic Toretto returns in April in The Fate of the Furious , there's a new Riddick movie in development, and now, after 15 years, extreme sports nut turned special agent Xander Cage is back! When a piece of tech that can turn satellites into guided missiles is stolen by a bunch of bad guys (led by Donnie Yen), who ya gonna call? "We need someone who can walk into a tornado and come out on the other side like it was a damn gentle Action to the XXXtreme.

fur coat, Cage assembles his team – comprising our own Ruby Rose (a perfect fit for this kind of action flick), Bollywood star Deepika Padukone, nerdy hacker Nina Dobrev, DJ Kris Wu, and the Hound from Game of Thrones (aka Rory McCann) – and the race is on to retrieve the device, known as Pandora's Box, before more satellites drop out of orbit. Set in a world where the laws of physics don't apply, the heroes are indestructible and motorcycles turn into jet skis to navigate tubular swells, xXx: Return of Xander Cage revels in its own shameless stupidity and rarely pauses for breath.

RATING KEY: Wow! Good Not bad Meh Woof!

It's a prime example of what the modern action movie has become in the wake of The Expendables and The Fast and the Furious . Diesel has an uncanny knack of making mindless movies more enjoyable than they deserve to be through sheer charisma alone (yes, even The Last Witch Hunter ), and this is no

breeze," says Toni Collette's NSA boss, while remaining admirably stony-faced. Flash cut to the Dominican Republic where Cage is enjoying the quiet life, skiing

through the jungle (as you do), putting Tony

Hawk to shame on a skateboard, and basking in the attention of gorgeous young women. Following a stopover in London to pick up his trademark

exception. It's "100% pure adrenaline" for a youthful demographic jacked up on too much Red Bull. Think Fast and the Furious without the cars and a lower IQ. Scott Hocking

FEBRUARY 2017

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