Wendy Ide’s pick of other films: Frankenstein, Roofman, Ballad of a Small Player and more

Frankenstein

(150 mins, 15) Directed by Guillermo del Toro; starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth

The Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro has an affinity with monsters. Whether sympathetic figures such as the meat-fisted demon spawn Hellboy and the misunderstood merman in The Shape of Water, or more unsettling malevolent entities like Pan’s Labyrinth’s child-eating Pale Man, Del Toro approaches them all with a fascinated reverence. It’s no surprise, then, that adapting Mary Shelley’s gothic classic has been a long-cherished ambition for the director. Who better to find the beauty in the grotesque creature at the heart of the story, with its patchwork face and body assembled from corpse offcuts? What’s unexpected, however, is that by casting Saltburn star Jacob Elordi as the monster created by the deranged and driven scientist Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac), Del Toro confronts us with undeniable physical beauty rather than the pure, misunderstood soul of previous incarnations. Let’s be straight: the monster is hot.

Then again, the whole film is overflowing with a rich, troubling, macabre kind of beauty. Del Toro has always been an extravagant and distinctive visual stylist and, with the deep pockets of Netflix to dip into, his baroque imagination is given free rein. With its lascivious appetite for gore and its steampunk-meets-sci-fi take on Victoriana, this could only be a del Toro picture.

This is a thrillingly immersive, sensual experience. But there is a sluggish self-indulgence in the storytelling and a running time that isn’t justified, even by the director’s singular vision.

Roofman

(126 mins, 15) Directed by Derek Cianfrance; starring Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, LaKeith Stanfield

Channing Tatum is a goofy delight in this engaging if overlong caper. Roofman tells of a real-life American outlaw who hid from police for months inside a North Carolina Toys-R-Us. Tatum plays Jeffrey Manchester, who earned the nickname Roofman for his modus operandi: smashing a hole in the roof of strip mall fast food joints and stealing their takings. When the law catches up with him, he’s clad in a frothy pink feather boa and a tiara. He’s sentenced to 45 years in prison, but this is a man who, in the words of one cop, combines a genius-level IQ with idiocy.

So Jeffrey escapes, holing up behind the bike display of the toy store and starting an ill-advised relationship with an employee, appealingly played by Kirsten Dunst. Directed by Derek Cianfrance, the film shares thematic territory with his stunt rider-turned-criminal thriller The Place Beyond the Pines. Tonally, though, it’s quite a swerve, showcasing both Tatum’s considerable gifts in physical comedy and his serious dramatic chops.

Ballad of a Small Player

(101 mins, 15) Directed by Edward Berger; starring Colin Farrell, Fala Chen; Tilda Swinton

After the bravura technical accomplishments of All Quiet on the Western Front and the exquisite wit and precision of Conclave, the prolific director Edward Berger returns with something weirder and trickier to pin down.

Ballad of A Small Player, adapted by Rowan Joffé from Lawrence Osborne’s Macau-set novel, is a woozily seductive account of compulsive self-destruction. Colin Farrell plays Lord Doyle, a sweat-sodden high-rolling gambler whose luck has run out. There’s a shimmering, hallucinogenic quality to James Friend’s oily cinematography: Macau looks slightly unreal at the best of times, but filtered through the alcohol fumes and frenzied superstition of the increasingly desperate Doyle, it takes on a nightmarish, supernatural quality.

Fellow travellers in this world of greedy ghosts include Tilda Swinton’s frumpy private investigator and Fala Chen’s casino employee. Farrell is excellent, peeling away accents and booze-stained suits as he hides himself from the sins of his past and the appetites of the present.

Sunlight

(96 mins, 15) Directed by Nina Conti; starring Nina Conti, Shenoah Allen, Bill Wise

A woman who refuses to take off a stolen monkey costume forges an uneasy alliance with a suicidal local radio journalist named Roy in this eccentric American road movie. The funny and sweary directorial debut of the British comedian Nina Conti, who also dons the boggle-eyed monkey head for the leading role, Sunlight is gloriously offbeat and entirely original.

Working from a script that appears to leave plenty of room for improvisation (and ad hoc profanity), Conti and her co-star and co-writer Shenoah Allen craft the oddest of odd-couple romances.

It’s a baggy, digressive tale that doesn’t always hang together: the pursuit of the couple by Bill Wise, playing the owner of the monkey suit and the coercive sometime lover of the woman inside it, is an unwieldy subplot. But the chemistry between Monkey and Roy is sparky and persuasive, and a little kinky at times.

Good Fortune

(97 mins, 15) Directed by Aziz Ansari; starring Seth Rogen, Aziz Ansari, Keanu Reeves



A dimbo angel whose remit is the texting and driving beat, Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) longs to make a real difference in someone’s life. Unfortunately, he’s not the sharpest implement in the celestial toolbox: his attempt to convince embattled casual worker Arj (Aziz Ansari, who also wrote and directed the film) that his life is worth living backfires disastrously. Gabriel swaps Arj’s life with that of wealthy tech bro Jeff (Seth Rogen) in the hope that the experience will convince him that unlimited money has a downside.

But Arj, who was swimming in debt and living in his car, has no intention of going back to his old existence. Sporadically amusing but a little pleased with itself, it’s Trading Places for the gig economy era.

Photograph by Netflix