Queen At Sea (15)
Directed by Lance Hammer 
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

WRITER-DIRECTOR Lance Hammer’s second feature film in 18 years is a raw and powerful examination of dementia from an unexpected perspective. One that I have not seen addressed before.

The drama explores agency and consent. It asks when does someone lose the agency to make critical decisions for themselves, and who is responsible for deciding this: a spouse, a child or an institution?

The film follows Amanda (Juliette Binoche), an academic professor who is struggling with her mother Leslie’s (Anna Calder-Marshall) acute dementia, having moved to London with her teenage daughter to look after her. Although she has power of attorney, she finds herself at loggerheads with her stepfather Martin (Tom Courtenay) over her mum’s care. He has been married to Leslie for 18 years and believes he knows what she wants and what is best for her. 

Leslie, who can barely speak, appears withdrawn and in her own world, although she lashes out when in extreme pain or in distress. 

So when Amanda finds Leslie and Martin having sex she hits the roof because the question is: is Leslie, in her current state, able to give consent? 

Martin insists she can, and that she knows what she wants. In an attempt to scare Martin into stopping, Amanda reports him to the police. That puts an unstoppable process in motion which Amanda had not foreseen or wanted. 

This is a very brutal watch, particularly because it feels so realistic. Binoche, Courtenay and Calder-Marshall give astounding and fearless performances which blew me away. They are so convincing. 

It ends as it began, on a shocking, horrific note, as it doesn’t pull its punches. This is a must-see (unless you are a carer). 
MD
In cinemas September 18.

The Watergate Caper: Richard Nixon and the Death of the American Dream (tbc)
Directed by Shane O’Sullivan 
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

THIS is a film about that most distant of times, the day before yesterday (as Francis Wheen would put it). Paranoia suffused the 1970s like a thick miasma, and at the centre of it all was Richard Nixon, revealed here in all his terrible non-glory via a heady brew of archive footage and filmic reimaginings, in this nimble and immersive documentary.

There is sardonic narration from veteran Simpsons voice actor Harry Shearer, but it is used sparingly: much of the footage speaks for itself, as we move from televised presidential addresses to broadcast news reports, interviews, and senate hearings

What elevates this documentary is the skilled intertwining of clips from fiction. Whether it’s Richard Gere as the earnest journalist in All The President’s Men, or bumbling Watergate burglars in 1999’s Dick, or various fictional versions of Nixon himself, reality and art all merge into one chronological narrative of Nixon’s journey from loser to liar to something more profound.

Nixon represents “the dark side of the American Dream,” according to Hunter S Thompson. The man himself, despite his joking around on camera before presidential addresses, remains obscured: an enigma, everywhere and nowhere all at once. 
JW
In cinemas September 18.

Bad Apples (15)
Directed by Jonatan Etzler
⭑⭑⭑☆☆

A PRIMARY school teacher at the end of her tether due to a violent and disruptive pupil takes extreme action against him in this dark and bonkers comedy satire directed by Jonatan Etzler.  

In a fit of madness, Maria Spencer (Saoirse Ronan) locks the boy up in her basement. When she discovers the rest of her class is thriving and flourishing without him she has second thoughts about letting him go. 

Ronan really grounds this fantastical tale with her heartfelt and nuanced performance opposite outstanding newcomer Eddie Waller as the volatile captive Danny with severe anger issues. You can sympathise with her plight, but ultimately her actions are unhinged and unacceptable. 

Clearly, it is sheer fiction. What does ring true, however, is the stress sparked by unexpected Ofsted inspections and the fact the school has no funding to provide Danny with the one-on-one help he desperately needs.   

Worth seeing for Ronan alone. 
MD
In cinemas September 18.

Pulp: What Do You Do For An Encore? (12A)
Directed by Garth Jennings
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

THIS concert movie with a twist starts with two middle-aged men in baseball caps in the back of a taxi. Garth Jennings, director, remembers Jarvis Cocker, narrator and star, from St Martin’s College back in the day: a singular, unusual man serving coffee at the refectory.

“Barry [White] + Eurodisco + gritty northern realism = the future” was young Jarvis’s pop manifesto, and boy, did Pulp deliver. 

The greatest band from England’s greatest city (Sheffield) — it took them a heck of a time to reach pop’s summit, and a lot of the joy here is sifting through the meticulously collective archive footage, photos and doomed masterplans, rescued from assorted attics.

This works almost as a social history of 1980s and 1990s indie misfit culture. For Pulp, the fashion, politics and wider aesthetic was just as important as the music, and the music was also brilliant.

Pulp were always a lot more than Jarvis, and here we also learn to love contrarian situationist Russell Senior (“I will not be taking part in this documentary because I regard it as Stalinist”); weirdo retro-synth everywoman Candida Doyle; down-to-earth family man Nick Banks; and beloved, stylish bassist Steve Mackey, who died too young and to whom the band gorgeously dedicate Something Changed.

Pulp: live are still a mighty proposition, the slightly jarring vocoder effect on Jarvis’s vocals notwithstanding. The concert footage is joyous, the band overwhelmed by the love of the fans, who come from all ages and all backgrounds. Crucially, this is no nostalgia show: songs from 2025’s More hit just as hard as Common People.

As Jarvis puts it on Spike Island: “I was born to perform/ It’s a calling/ I exist to do this/ Shouting and pointing…”
JW
In select cinemas for one night only, September 18; streaming on Mubi from September 25.

Shaun The Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom (U)
Directed by Steve Cox and Matthew Walker
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

MARKING the 50th anniversary of Aardman Animation, Shaun the Sheep’s third animated feature is another riveting and ingenious action-packed adventure, and this time a horror and monster movie parody. 

On the eve of Halloween at Mossy Bottom Farm, the clumsy farmer accidentally destroys the flock’s pumpkin patch. Shaun turns mad scientist to fix the issue which goes awry, leading to the creation of the Beast of Mossy Bottom. 

Full of non-stop visual gags and horror references, from Frankenstein to Michael Jackson’s Thriller video with the sheep doing the iconic monster dance, this is one joyous and hilarious ride led by the adorable Shaun the Sheep. 

Although devoid of dialogue, it still features a voice cast, led by Paul Whitehouse, who just emit grunts and sounds. 

A sheer delight and another must-see. 
MD
In cinemas September 18.