From Ground Zero (12+)
Directed by 22 Gazan filmmakers
★★★★★

 
FROM GROUND ZERO presents a collection of 22 short films, between three to six minutes long. Together they provide very varied perspectives on people’s realities and hopes.

With external support these films were made and the data transferred for post production in France – despite the appalling challenges of trying to survive, let along to make films in Gaza, since October 2023.

The results are both deeply disturbing and extraordinarily inspiring.

There are heartrending accounts of people’s daily struggles to avoid death and destruction while searching for food and water.

One man explains how he survived three bombings in just one day. Gazans reflect on their losses: “Everyone around me is in sorrow,” a woman reflects.

And small children explain the reasons why their mothers write their names on their limbs – so that their body parts can be identified after a bombing.

But there are also extraordinary stories of resilience and hope; the woman who says “no” to stories of tragedy, preferring to make a film about music, with songs of hope for the future.

The stand up comic who performs despite 200 people having just been killed. The little girls playing and dancing amongst the rubble.
 
These films bear witness to the amazing talent that still survives in Gaza, despite the increasingly genocidal attacks. Morning Star readers will be correspondingly moved by this extraordinary Gazan collection.

MM 
In cinemas now.

The Long Walk (15)
Directed by Francis Lawrence
★★★★

BASED on Stephen King’s first novel written in 1966 when he was just 19 and is set in a dystopian USA governed by an authoritarian regime which does not tolerate dissenters. At the time it was a critique of the Vietnam War and almost 60 years on it still resonates today. 

Directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games saga) and written by JT Mollner it is a harrowing and painful watch as you follow 50 teenage boys take part in a televised walking contest overseen by the Major (a formidable Mark Hamill).

They have to walk non-stop at three miles an hour, if they don’t make it they receive a warning and on their third one they are shot dead. The last youngster standing wins untold riches and his greatest wish. 

Think The Hunger Games meets stripped down Speed. It is an intense and relentlessly brutal drama in which these boys bond and form friendships despite themselves — helping each other survive. 

The young cast led by Cooper Hoffman, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s son, and David Jonsson are phenomenal.

It is a thought-provoking, haunting film about human resilience and our humanity. 

MD 
In cinemas from tomorrow.

Islands (15)
Directed by Jan-Ole Gerster
★★★

A WASHED-UP former tennis pro believes he is living his best life on an idyllic Spanish island working as a coach at a hotel resort in this slow burning and quietly powerful drama. 

During the day Tom (Sam Riley) throws balls over the net to tourists while at night he goes clubbing, gets drunk and has meaningless hookups. 

He is very much a loner until he meets holidaymakers Anne (Stacy Martin), her husband Dave (Jack Farthing) and their son Anton (Dylan Torrell) who provide a much-needed wake-up call. 

Filmed in Fuerteventura this is a gorgeously shot, subtle thriller co-written and directed by Jan-Ole Gerster and driven by a masterful and compelling performance by Riley. 

This is an intriguing examination of sleepwalking through life and awakening to the realisation that these sun-drenched vistas and dream lifestyle aren’t paradise but hell. 

MD 
In cinemas from tomorrow.

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (15)
Directed by Rob Reiner 
★★★

FORTY-ONE years after their trailblazing mockumentary, Spinal Tap return in this highly anticipated sequel which, while capturing the spirit of the original, does not dial it to eleven. 

The now estranged bandmates David St Hubbins (Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) are forced to reunite for one last gig in New Orleans and search for a new drummer which proves tricky given the demise of their 11 previous ones.

Directed by Rob Reiner again who reprises his role as documentarian and narrator Marty Di Bergi this is a hilarious in parts and very nostalgic ride, featuring priceless cameos by Paul McCartney and Elton John. 

Not a groundbreaking masterpiece like This is Spinal Tap but it is joyful to see McKean, Guest and Shearer back as bickering, hapless lovable rockstars.

MD 
In cinemas from tomorrow.