The Promised Land (15)
Directed by Nikolaj Arcel
★★★★

 
IN 1755, an impoverished war hero aims to conquer and cultivate the harsh and barren Danish heath in the name of the king in exchange for a royal title and a manor in this slow-burning yet brutal period drama directed and co-written by Nikolaj Arcel. 

Mads Mikkelsen delivers another searing performance as the brooding Captain Ludvig Kahlen, the illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner and his housemaid, who is determined to obtain what was denied him by birth. 

Based on Ida Jessen’s bestselling book The Captain and Ann Barbara, which in turn was inspired by the real life of Ludvig Kahlen, this is Arcel’s most personal film to date which he co-wrote again with Anders Thomas Jensen. 

This powerful Nordic-style western centres on ambition, greed, racial and class discrimination as the ruthless rich landowner who rules the area, Frederik De Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg), decides the heath land belongs to him not the lower-classed Kahlen.

He then embarks on a vicious vendetta when he learns his maid Ann Barbara (Amanda Collin) and her serf husband (Morten Hee Andersen) have escaped and sought refuge with Kahlen.  

De Schinkel is relentless and cruel as he wields all his power to run Kahlen, whom he deems beneath him, off the land, while Kahlen becomes fixated with becoming the first person to succeed in making the barren heath fertile.

It is bleak, gritty and hideously violent, but totally engrossing. 

Out in cinemas February 16.

The Taste of Things (12A)
Directed by Tran Anh Hung
★★★

 
SET in 1885, the film follows the blossoming romance between cook Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) and Dodin (Benoit Magimel), the famous gourmet, who she has spent the last 20 years working for. 

The film begins with Eugenie cooking dish after dish for Dodin and his cronies in a neverending and detailed scene which features no dialogue, but just sumptuous sounds of meat and fish sizzling and sauces being prepared and served. It is a culinary visual feast and, frankly, food porn if you are a foodie, and a horror show if you are vegetarian. 

Binoche makes cooking a sexy and mouth-watering artform much as she did with chocolate in Chocolat. 

While she prepares all these gorgeous courses she isn’t allowed to partake in the men-only lunch being served above stairs which is rather sexist. Nevertheless, she maintains her relationship with Dodin on her own terms, refusing to marry him and lose her freedom. 

Written and directed by Tran Anh Hung and inspired by Marcel Rouff’s book The Life and Passion of Dodin-Bouffant: Gourmet, this is an intriguing film. 

You should definitely eat before you see it. 

Out now in cinemas.

Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande (12A) 
Directed by Tim Mackenzie-Smith
★★★★

 
“THEY were the British black supergroup that never ever happened,” states Craig Charles, actor/BBC 6 Music presenter. 

Named after the calypso word for Dove, Cymande were a remarkable funk band made up of black musicians who all came to Britain from the Caribbean as children and were part of the Windrush generation. 

Formed in the early 1970s and releasing three albums over three years, they were embraced in the US, while in Britain they were rejected and faced major racial discrimination which was rife in a turbulent country undergoing political and social upheaval. 

Using interviews with the original band members over the course of two years which are joyous, as well as archive footage and contributions from DJs, music producers, musicians and Cymande fans, British director Tim Mackenzie-Smith’s impressive debut documentary feature provides a fascinating and glorious examination of this extraordinary yet little-known band, their influence on hip hop, rap and house music (to name a few) and their legacy. Their unique sound is still being rediscovered by new generations. 
 
This is a must-see film about a South London band that deserves worldwide recognition. 

Out in cinemas February 16. 

Eureka (15) 
Directed by Lisandro Alonso
★★

 
Argentinian director Lisandro Alonso reunites with Viggo Mortensen for this surreal drama, which might make more sense if you were high as it is one incomprehensible trippy ride. 

Mortensen features in a film within a film as a gun-toting bandit searching for his kidnapped daughter in a gritty black-and-white Western which would have been more interesting. Deviating into colour, the action is then centred on a long-suffering female Native American police officer on a reservation. 

Characters mysteriously disappear or turn into cranes in this bizarre film which makes very little sense. There is no point trying to decipher it. 

Hypnotic and audacious in its intent, it sadly doesn’t quite work and I couldn’t help shouting Eureka when it ended. 

Out in cinemas, February 16.