Wendy Ide’s pick of other films: The Stranger, California Schemin’, Undertone, You, Me & Tuscany

The Stranger

(122 mins, 15) Directed by François Ozon; starring Benjamin Voisin, Rebecca Marder, Pierre Lottin

The chameleonic French film-maker François Ozon has a gift for capturing the visual language of each new project. In the case of his latest picture, a languidly fascinating adaptation of Albert Camus’ 1942 existential novella L’Étranger, that language is a sumptuous black-and-white cinematography; it is so headily sensual that you can practically taste the sea salt in the air and feel the sunbaked sweat crackle on your skin.

The setting, a 1940s Algiers in which French colonists and the Arab population uneasily coexist, pulses with tension, captured in glimpses of protest graffiti and hostile stares. It’s not so much an explicit commentary on colonialism; rather, the inherent cruelties of the system are the subtext of every frame.

The photography, by Ozon’s frequent collaborator Manuel Dacosse, is vibrantly expressive in a way that Meursault (Benjamin Voisin), the impassive cypher of a protagonist, is not. Voisin, with his insolent feline stare, is terrific as the French expat: he tones down the natural magnetism he previously showed as one of the leads in Ozon’s Summer of 85, giving a practically empathy-proof performance.

His Meursault is a glassy empty vessel which other people – his girlfriend Marie (Rebecca Marder), for example – try to fill with their own emotions and expectations. His indifference extends to all matters, including his own trial for the killing of an Arab man on a beach (Ozon loads the murder scene with tantalising homoerotic tension).

Up until the conclusion of the trial, the film – like Meursault himself – is uneasily compelling. But unfortunately, the final act unravels, losing some of the elegant economy that makes the first section so intriguing.

California Schemin’

(107 mins, 15) Directed by James McAvoy; starring Samuel Bottomley, Séamus McLean Ross, Lucy Halliday

James McAvoy’s boisterous directorial debut is a likable if predictable real-life tall tale of a pair of scrappy underdogs in Scottish rap who, for a moment, seemed poised for greatness. In 2003, two working-class lads from Dundee – outgoing charmer Billy (Samuel Bottomley) and anxious, nerdy Gavin (Séamus McLean Ross) – had a dream: to follow in the footsteps of Eminem and achieve rap superstardom. But there’s a problem. When they audition for a London-based record label, they are laughed off stage by junior executives who can’t hear past the broad regional accents. So the boys decide to reinvent themselves – utterly unconvincingly – as Americans.

Remarkably, the ruse works. Rebranded as Silibil N’ Brains, they get signed and, dodging the bullshit radar of the fearsome Glaswegian studio boss (McAvoy), are due to be launched on MTV. The plan is to come clean, revealing the prejudices of the industry. But success is seductive, and Gavin is keen to cling to it by any means necessary.

The deception has already been explored in the 2013 documentary The Great Hip Hop Hoax, so the story might be familiar to some viewers. Those who don’t know it should still have no trouble guessing how it pans out.

Undertone

(94 mins, 15) Directed by Ian Tuason; starring Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Keana Lyn Bastidas 

Following Pascal Plante’s 2023 hit Red Rooms, this chilling horror is further proof that all you need to create a terrifying film is an actor, a computer screen and some creatively unsettling sound design. Nina Kiri stars as Evy, the co-host of a paranormal podcast whose life is on hold while she provides end-of-life care for her mother. Her main link to the outside world is the show, recorded remotely with fellow presenter, Justin (Adam DiMarco).

Their latest investigation is into a series of 10 mysterious audio recordings, sent anonymously to Justin. What initially seems like a window into the lives of a happily married couple soon has darker implications, bleeding into Evy’s sleep-deprived and hallucinogenic reality as she works in her former family home.

Director Ian Tuason’s economical approach avoids jump scares, instead favouring a slow, agonising build-up of tension through superb sonic effects and eloquently off-kilter framing. The climax, however, is something of a letdown, chewing through layers of indigestible exposition.

You, Me & Tuscany

(105 mins, 12A) Directed by Kat Coiro; starring Halle Bailey, Regé-Jean Page, Aziza Scott 

Yikes. As if geopolitical relations between Europe and the US weren’t strained enough, in this abysmal Hollywood romcom, Italy is glorified as a country-sized theme restaurant. Lovable supporting characters commit random acts of opera for comic effect, while the story is powered by olive oil and excitable hand gestures. Halle Bailey stars as Anna, a New York-based serial housesitter who travels to Italy and stays in the empty Tuscan villa of a man she met in a hotel bar.

A series of improbable misunderstandings results in her posing as the man’s fiancee, charming his adorably Italian family and saving their business – a cosy trattoria – with her cooking skills (these are questionable, as we witness her garlic-happy crimes against bruschetta early in the movie).

To complicate matters, her fake fiance has a cousin: British-born Michael (Regé-Jean Page) runs a vineyard, drives a vintage sports car and takes off his shirt to protect her hair from the sprinkler system. It’s as tacky as a Cornetto advert, and as predictable as a sugar crash.

Photographs by Carole Bethuel (c) Foz - Gaumont - France 2 Cinema/Studio Canal/Universal Pictures