Brides (15)
Directed by Nadia Fall
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

IN 2015 three British teenage schoolgirls ran away to Syria to join Isis and were later vilified by the media even though they were children. But — what would make them do this? 

Theatre-director-turned-film-maker Nadia Fall’s powerful debut feature poses that very question as it follows two alienated young Muslim girls, Doe (remarkable newcomer Ebada Hassan) and Muna (Safiyya Ingar), as they leave their lives in Britain behind in search of freedom, friendship and a new life full of purpose and meaning. 

Six years in the making and led by a predominantly female team, Fall, who runs the Young Vic, delivers an impressive drama which is told from the girls’ point of view. It provides a thought-provoking insight into these teenagers, who aren’t the devil incarnate. Doe is quiet and gentle while Muna is wild, rebellious and confrontational. Doe, who is Somalian, has to deal with her mum’s abusive boyfriend and racist bullies at school. Muna, who is Pakistani, is seen as a major disappointment by her parents. 

Both girls feel like outsiders who find solace and strength in each other as they embrace their ride or die. As teenagers, they are hardwired to take outlandish risks. Hassan and Ingar are totally mesmerising and give powerhouse performances. 

The film doesn’t mention Isis or focus on their radicalisation. Instead it centres on the girls’ friendship as you follow them on their precarious journey to Syria via Turkey, during which their money and bus tickets are stolen and Doe begins to have second thoughts.   

It ends on an emotional yet sombre note which leaves you with a lot to reconsider. 

MD

In cinemas September 26.

Dead of Winter (15)
Directed by Brian Kirk 
⭑⭑⭑☆☆

A WIDOW travelling alone through snowbound northern Minnesota comes to the rescue of a kidnapped teenage girl in this intense and nail-biting thriller with Fargo-esque vibes. 

Shot in Finland and Germany — doubling up for Minnesota — this dark, violent and unnerving drama directed by Brian Kirk is driven home by a superlative performance by Emma Thompson as an ordinary but resourceful woman, Barb, who tries to save the young girl while evading her captors. These are played by a phenomenal Judy Greer and Marc Menchaca. A hair-raising cat-and-mouse game ensues as the kidnappers try to kill Barb. Meanwhile Thompson’s own daughter Gaia Wise plays a young Barb. 

It is exquisitely shot with breathtaking ice and snow-covered landscapes, and features a unique older heroine with no superhero powers or particular skillset, yet who proves a formidable force. 

MD

In cinemas September 26.

A Night Like This (15A)
Directed by Liam Calvert
⭑⭑☆☆☆

ON paper, Liam Calvert’s romantic film (scripted by Diego Scerratti) has a promising set-up: two broken men adrift in London on Christmas night. Lukas (Jack Brett Anderson), a failed German actor freshly pulled back from the brink of suicide, collides with Oliver (Alexander Lincoln), a nightclub owner drowning in debt, drugs and grief. Their chance encounter in a pub leads to a night of wandering through empty streets, awkward bonding, and fleeting sparks of connection.

There are moments that shimmer — an intimate silent disco, a tender bus ride, a heartfelt hug — but too often, the script weighs everything down with heavy-handed, affected, or simply redundant dialogue. The actors do admirable work, but their efforts are often smothered by words when silence might have said more.

This is a film with a fine premise and flashes of poignancy, but it ultimately fails to deliver the believable, unexpected connection it promises. 

LB

In cinemas from September 26.

The Librarians (15)
Directed by Kim A Snyder
⭑⭑☆☆☆

“WE don’t censor books,” yells one of the eponymous librarians at yet another of the abrasive council meetings that punctuate this highly provincial US documentary, “We’re not communists!”

The storm in a teacup is the existence of children’s book that depict same-sex relationships between rabbits and penguins in school libraries that are the most visible candidates for a campaign of moral outrage lead by a group of unpleasant women — Moms for Liberty — egged on by an opportunistic and provocative desire to ban books, which inevitably smuggle in a number of political and anti-racist titles as well.

“Pornographer!” yells just such a mom. “Fascist!” yells back the librarian, and the film amplifies the rhetoric by drawing unjustified parallels with Nazi book burnings.

Without wishing to, this documentary exemplifies the trap set by the right for the liberal centre in the US: picking out minority issues to engineer exaggerated confrontations, and all the time ignoring the fact that on such bookshelves US notions of freedom and diversity don’t include anything by Marx.

Deep sigh. 

AR

In cinemas from September 26.