Ellen E Jones’s pick of other films: Apocalypse in the Tropics, The Other Way Around, Modì and more

Apocalypse in the Tropics

(109 mins, 12A) Directed by Petra Costa; starring Petra Costa, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Jair Bolsonaro

In many ways a sequel to her 2019 Oscar-nominated film The Edge of Democracy, Petra Costa’s expansive, essayistic documentary Apocalypse in the Tropics traces the evangelical Christian power grab that enabled the rise of Jair Bolsonaro.

The former Brazilian president himself is on the margins here, memorably dismissed as “an ultra-right politician of the lowest ranks, always running towards the nearest camera”. Instead, the televangelist turned campaign-coordinator, Silas Malafaia, is the documentary’s true focus. (Could Disney or Dickens have conceived of a more villainous name?)

Costa convincingly argues that Malafaia was always the puppet master to Bolsonaro’s dead-eyed marionette, rewinding and replaying one particular archive clip to point out how the former president glances at Malafaia for approval. There are obvious comparisons to be made with Billy Graham and the rise of the religious right in the US, but it’s the contemporary parallels with Donald Trump that have the strongest impact: the Covid denialism, the “cultural Marxism” dog whistle, the contesting of any election he doesn’t win. All of it seemingly derived from the same 21st-century fascist playbook.

While Adam Curtis was wise to give up his trademark deadpan narration for fear of slipping into self-parody, Costa has adopted the technique to great effect. Her words – narrated over closeups of paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and footage of debris left after the 8 January Brasília mob invasion that followed Bolsonaro’s election defeat in 2023 – combine with Rodrigo Leão’s tropical jazz score to untangle all the destruction. Listen closely. This is the voice of a political prophecy that will echo inside your mind for years to come.

The Other Way Around

(114 mins, 12A) Directed by Jonás Trueba; starring Vito Sanz, Itsaso Arana, Fernando Trueba

How about we stop marking the union of a couple with a big party and start celebrating at the moment of separation instead? It would be like a wedding, but “the other way around”. That’s what Álex (Vito Sanz) and Ale (Itsaso Arana) decide to do at the dissolution of their 14-year relationship, in this airy and unexpected meta-romance.

As they begin making arrangements for the party, film-maker Ale is also editing, and actor Álex is also auditioning, which allows for the line between the movie that we’re watching and the films that they’re making to be blurred in playful, poetic ways.

In one scene, Ale visits a film set. The director tells her his story follows a couple over a decade. She asks if they will break up at the end. He says he doesn’t know yet. There are multiple references to Bergman’s 1973 Scenes from a Marriage, and a snippet of audio from The Philadelphia Story (1940), the classic screwball comedyin which divorced couple Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant eventually remarry after spending most of the film trading barbs.

Will Ale and Álex get back together? Maybe. Their friends and family seem to think so, but we know only that, on the subject of their separation, these two are as one. In this way, Trueba’s light-footed film keeps their relationship in a state of sweetly suspended animation: Ale and Álex will be together, and not together, for ever. What could be more romantic than that?

Nine Queens

(109 mins, 15) Directed by Fábian Bielinsky; starring Ricardo Darín, Gastón Pauls, Leticia Brédice

Many consider a perfectly taut crime caper to be a prize more valuable than any sheet of rare stamps – even the coveted “nueve reinas” that gave this 2000 Argentinian classic its name. Like all true treasures, Nine Queens has only appreciated in value since its original release and is now gracing your local arthouse cinema in a crisp 4K restoration.

The late writer-director Fabián Bielinsky set his film over 24 hours and shot it almost entirely on location, with hidden cameras capturing the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires, the backdrop to a pair of bravura central performances.

The story begins when one conman, Marcos (Ricardo Darín of the Oscar-winning 2009 drama The Secret in Their Eyes), happens upon another, Juan (Gastón Pauls), mid-scam and decides to lend a hand. From there, they partner up, albeit temporarily and very cautiously, like two scorpions, each offering to carry the other across Aesop’s river. After wandering around the city for a few hours, pulling tricks and proving their skills, they stumble across the score of a lifetime.

It sounds simple: connect counterfeit stamps with credulous buyer, but from there the complications multiply and it’s not until the final frame that the longest con elegantly unravels.

Modì ­– Three Days on the Wing of Madness

(108 mins, 15) Directed by Johnny Depp; starring Riccardo Scamarcio, Antonia Desplat, Stephen Graham, Al Pacino

For his second film as director in nearly 30 years, Johnny Depp attempts to capture the chaotic genius of artist Amedeo Modigliani’s Parisian years and instead manages all the authentic bohemian atmosphere of Côte Brasserie’s Bishop’s Stortford branch.

Lead actor Riccardo Scamarcio does have a twinkle in his Oliver Reed eyes, but his “Modì” is like Pirates of the Caribbean’s Jack Sparrow; over-reliant on a dubious, rakish charm. The performance also hints at another Depp character, gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson. Only it’s Montparnasse, not Vegas, that he’s navigating on a cocktail of Bordeaux, hashish and, somewhat anachronistically, shrooms. There are flashes of originality and beauty, but only when glimpsed in Modigliani’s works. The film’s own uninspired composition suffers greatly from the comparison.

Photographs by Netflix; Los ilusos films; Modi