Forever Young (15)
Directed by Henk Pretorius
★★★

IF YOU could take something that would make you young again and be able to rewrite your life would you?

That’s the fascinating question at the heart of co-writer/director Henk Pretorius sci-fi thriller starring Diana Quick and Bernard Hill.

When 70-year-old established author Robyn Smith (Quick) is offered an experimental age-reversing drug, she jumps at the chance as her biggest regret is not having had children with her elderly husband Oscar (Hill) as she put her career first.

However he refuses to take the formula as he is happy with his life and still loves his wife dearly. The younger Robyn (Amy Tyger) is now desperate to carry his child while he isn’t setting off an intriguing moral dilemma.

Featuring heartfelt performances this proves a touching and thought-provoking drama about both resisting  and embracing ageing.
 

Out in cinemas tomorrow.

Samsara (U)
Directed by Lois Patino
★★★★

                                    
 
SPANISH film-maker Lois Patino moves away from his Galician roots to transport you to Laos and Zanzibar for a profoundly sensorial and spiritual journey as he explores death and reincarnation in this his third feature.

This is a film of two halves — the first follows a Buddhist teenager as he visits a dying elderly woman’s home to read her The Bardo Thodol, The Tibetan Book of the Dead.

On her last day he whispers the last chapters as he guides her between death and the next rebirth. You are instructed to close your eyes for 15 minutes, during which you are taken to a whole new sensory plane as you are asked to travel with her experiencing light and sound.  

It is a remarkable and disconcerting experience. It is surprisingly relaxing yet unnerving as you see flashing lights through your closed eyelids.

In the second half the story moves to Tanzania where this woman seemingly reincarnates into Neema the goat.

Part observational documentary, as you see monks at work and at prayer in Laos against stunning waterfall backdrops, and part drama, this is a very ambitious film by Patino.

He offers a taste of what passing to the other side may feel like as he analyses the different cultures. But those 15 minutes will stay with you long after the end credits have rolled.
 

Out in cinemas tomorrow.

The Blessed Plot (15)
Directed by Marc Isaacs
★★★

 
SET in the Essex village of Thaxted which celebrates Morris dancing and where truth and fiction are intrinsically tied together, this surreal docu-fiction takes a hilarious look at rural England.

Directed by Marc Isaacs and written by Adam Ganz, it follows Lori, a young Chinese film-maker, who arrives in the village to make a documentary to discover the dead surround the living.

She is soon accosted by Thaxted’s former Christian socialist vicar Conrad Noel who has been dead for more than 80 years (who brought Morris dancing to the area) and Sue, the late wife of local man Keith, a staunch Arsenal fan who moved there from London.

Featuring a cast of non-professional actors (which shows) playing colourful characters the film provides a fascinating look at the area’s stories and history and asks whether it is truth or fiction.
 

Out in cinemas tomorrow.
 

Jackdaw (15)
Directed by Jamie Childs
★★

NEVER has the north-east of England looked so slick and stylish as in this relentless action thriller, written and directed by Jamie Childs, which takes place over the course of one night.

The problem lies in that Child’s debut feature appears to be all style over substance, filled with two-dimensional characters who you could not care less about and nonsensical plot twists.

The film follows Jack Dawson, aka Jackdaw (a brooding Oliver Jackson-Cohen), a former motorcross and army veteran, who, when a job for a local criminal goes awry, finds himself fighting for survival and searching for his kidnapped brother across the north-east with help of a former flame (a wasted Jenna Coleman).

The action scenes are exhausting to watch and seeing a villain escape on horseback across the gritty industrial north was just too ridiculous by half.
 

Out in cinemas tomorrow.