Spoilt for choice. That's how we feel over at Walloh H.Q. this week, what with the sheer volume of great films playing in London over the new few days. Choosing what to see is never easy, of course, but we've tried to make it that little bit simpler with our list of hand-picked highlights. Whether you're looking for a romantic comedy that pushes all the right buttons (a rarity in 2019!) or a foreign-language drama that leaves you pondering the meaning of it all, we've got you covered…

 

Vox Lux

Actor-turned-director Brady Corbet's debut, The Childhood of a Leader, was an unsettling drama about  fascism that established him – at just 28 – as a filmmaker of great intelligence. Now he's back with his follow-up feature, Vox Lux, which stars Natalie Portman as a Lady Gaga-esque pop star who owes her success to a school shooting. It's a tale perfectly suited to our increasingly shallow times, and one Corbet directs with an impressive, Kubrickian-like authority. As an exploration of modern fame (with original songs penned by Sia), Vox Lux essentially sets out to blend the mainstream appeal of A Star is Born with the stylings of an arthouse flick. For the most part, it succeeds. And what a hairdo!

Get Vox Lux showtimes in London.

 

Woman at War

Icelandic film Woman at War is that rare thing: an ecological-minded comedy that manages to be genuinely funny and environmentally conscious without hitting you over the head with its ideals. Set in the Icelandic highlands, it follows the plight of a charismatic choir conductor named Halla – played by Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir – who sets out to stop the exploits of an aluminium plant in her homeland. With its deadpan approach and an oddness that only increases with the runtime, Woman at War feels like a true original, and a near-perfect synchronization of themes and tones. Of course, Hollywood already has its eyes on a remake with Jodie Foster, but trust us: this is the only version you'll ever need.

Get Woman at War showtimes in London.

 

Avengers: Endgame

After more than 10 years of intricate world-building, Avengers: Endgame arrives with its huge cast of superheroes reeling in the wake of a catastrophe that wiped out half of the life in the Universe. But this is nowhere near as bleak an outing as Infinity War set it up to be. Instead it works as a glorious love letter to the MCU, a thank you to fans who've stuck around for the entire ride. You’ll laugh. You’ll cheer. And when it all comes together in the film’s final hour – the culmination of 22 films – you’ll even shed a tear. A monumental cinematic achievement, Endgame is everything a fan could want from a “final” instalment, and somehow not at all the film you'd expect. In other words, it's a perfect farewell.

Get Avengers: Endgame showtimes in London.

 

Ash is Purest White

Not a sequel to Blue is the Warmest Colour, but a gripping crime drama from the always interesting Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke. Part sweeping romance, part hard-boiled thriller, Ash is Purest White follows a gangster's girlfriend, Qiao, as her life is turned upside-down after she meddles in her boyfriend's affairs. Beginning at the turn of the century and spanning several years thereafter, Ash is an epic work that – so often the case with Jia Zhang-Ke – can be read on multiple levels. A social critique, a meditation on modern China, and an exploration of self-sacrifice, it's a disquieting film with a depth that can be felt in every frame. Not to mention there's a fantastic scene with the “YMCA.”

Get Ash is Purest White showtimes in London.

 

Long Shot

At a glance Long Shot looks like just another Seth Rogen vehicle pitting him with an unlikely partner and hoping for the best. Whilst past results have been varied – The Guilt Trip, anyone? – Long Shot manages to defy the odds: here's a entertaining rom-com that hits the conventional beats but comes off feeling fresh  anyway. Rogen plays a down-on-his-luck writer who gets a job working for his old babysitter, now a Presidential candidate (Charlize Theron), with the “long shot” of the title referring to the unlikeliness of their romantic pairing (she's hot, he's not – you get the idea). But the jokes land, the writing is razor sharp, and the romance rings true. In 2019, that's akin to a small miracle.

Get Long Shot showtimes in London.

 

Eighth Grade

Former YouTuber Bo Burnham makes his absurdly confident feature debut with Eighth Grade, a film he writes and directs, and one that shows him as a talented observer of teenage life. Honing in on the pitfalls of social media, the film has – quite deservedly – received lots of praise across the pond for its writing and direction. But Eighth Grade's greatest asset is lead actor Elsie Fisher, who plays a social media-obsessed teen, Kayla, during her last week at middle school. Contrary to Hollywood’s usual preference for casting actors in their mid-twenties as teens, the choice to cast – shock! – a real eighth grader proves to be the film's masterstroke. It is, in all its pimply awkwardness, a star-making turn.

Get Eighth Grade showtimes in London.

 

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Zac Efron isn't the first – or even the hundredth – actor you're likely to picture as a “serial killer,” but that's kind of the point: aside from being one of America's most prolific serial killers, Ted Bundy was known to be highly charismatic. Which is clearly the thinking behind Efron's casting in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, a new film about Bundy from the director of Netflix's Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes. Actors caught in a rut of samey parts often take left-field turns towards roles like these to varied results, but here Efron manages “notorious killer of 30 women” with aplomb. This isn't a film particularly interested in big questions or forensic detail. As a showcase for Efron's talent, though, it shines.

Get Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile showtimes in London.

 

 

A Fistful of Dollars

When A Fistful of Dollars arrived in 1964, it exploded the western genre like a barrel stuffed full of dynamite. As a loose adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's samurai film Yojimbo, shot in Spain by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone, Dollars breathed life into a genre on the verge of going stale. With its morally ambiguous lead, played by a gloriously handsome and charismatic Clint Eastwood, fast cutting, frantic zooms, and – best of all – Ennio Morricone's inimitable score, the film popularised “the spaghetti western” and went on to inspire countless generations of filmmakers. It would also spawn two further masterpieces featuring Eastwood's “Man with No Name,” but this original burns with a unique, incendiary quality.

Get A Fistful of Dollars showtimes in London.

 

Loro

Love him or hate him, there's no denying that Silvio Berlusconi has led one hell of a life. The former Prime Minister of Italy found his career entangled in one political scandal after another, including the infamous “bunga bunga” parties that shocked the world. Now he's the focus of director Paolo Sorrentino’s latest epic – so epic, in fact, that it was originally split into two movies before being re-edited into one two-and-a-half hour extravaganza. With acclaimed actor Toni Servillo taking on the coveted role of Berlusconi, Loro is a movie that proves to be as daring and edgy as the man himself.

Get Loro showtimes in London.

 

Maborosi 

The 1995 debut feature from Hirokazu Kore-eda (of Shoplifters fame) is essential viewing for anyone passionate about the work of Japanese filmmaking legend Yasujiro Ozu. That's another way of saying this sombre drama about a woman haunted by the suicide of her husband eschews close-ups and favours long takes. Highly moving and deeply melancholy, Maborosi is a film that refuses to hold your hand, allowing the viewer to make connections and fill in details. By all means go and bask in its mediative brilliance and stunning compositions (you won't regret it), though you might consider heading out for a few stiff drinks afterwards. It's that kind of film.

Get Maborosi showtimes in London.