State of Statelessness (12A)
Directed by Tenzin Tsetan Choklay, Tsering Tashi Gyalthang, Ritu Sarin, Tenzing Sonam, Sonam Tseten
⭑⭑⭑☆☆

THIS is an unusual anthology film shot in the Tibetan language. The first ever, apparently. It is a collection of four short stories, each one broaching on issues of loss — of culture, innocence and sense of identity, through the lens of the Tibetan diaspora.

From five film directors from the Drung Tibetan Filmmakers Collective they feature episodes of exile set in Vietnam, India and the US. Each story shows influence of the Tibetan Book of the Dead underscoring refugees’ everyday lives.

It’s a mix that clarifies, allowing nuance to show through. In scenes of ordinary actions — cooking yellow Dien dien flowers or just waiting for a Mekong River ferry — the film delights with the richness of commonplace experiences.

Families are seen observing their cultural rituals, or trying to, through the most emotional events. In the second story, Bardo — in between death and life — a mother’s funeral becomes the scene of a reckoning.

When an astrologer gives the readings for an auspicious journey to her next life, the widower must find and bury his deceased wife’s brass bangle. The woman’s two daughters, sidelined by the authority the father’s religion confirms, show a more contemporary, hidden story developing. Displacement makes intolerable demands on them; the price of patriarchy is paid through female submission.

In the final story, returning to Dharmshala with his father’s ashes, a young American slips evidence of his father’s secret life into his own copy of Tolstoy’s Short Stories: against the eternal cycle of life, suppression by the forces of history becomes part of the tale.

FO’C

In cinemas January 16.

Rental Family (12A)
Directed by HIKARI
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

SET in modern day Tokyo this beautiful and heartfelt drama by co-writer/director HIKARI examines our need for human connection while providing a fascinating insight into Japan’s rental family business. 

This is viewed through the eyes of Phillip (Brendan Fraser), a US actor who is hired by the “Rental Family” agency to play numerous stand-in roles for strangers including a father, a husband and a journalist. As he becomes immersed in his work he begins to develop genuine bonds with his clients, and the lines between performance and reality start to blur. 

Although Phillip has been living in Japan for seven years he still does not fully understand the culture and the vital emotional role that rent-a-family agencies play, as therapy isn’t widely accepted or available in Japanese society. 

With his soulful and gentle demeanour Fraser delivers another standout performance as the sweet and charming but totally overwhelmed Phillip who is also struggling with isolation and loneliness.

It is a gorgeous, slow-burning drama which reminds us that no-one is an island.

MD

In cinemas January 16.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (18)
Directed by Nia DaCosta
⭑⭑⭑☆☆

THIS continues directly from the shock ending of the previous film in which young Spike (Alfie Williams) is befriended by the Jimmys (Jimmy Savile lookalikes) and is inducted into their gang which proves to be even more evil and deadlier than the infected. 

Directed by Nia DaCosta (Hedda, Candyman) and written again by Alex Garland, this is sheer horror and even more gory and violently graphic than 28 Years Later. Jack O’Connell is terrifying as Jimmy Crystal, the leader of the Jimmys who orders his followers to torture and kill survivors to prove their loyalty.  

A Satanist and a psychopath devoid of any humanity, he meets his match in the humanist Dr Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) who makes a possible life-changing discovery as Spike plots his escape. 

Bone-chilling and extremely intense, this is a hard watch which ends with a surprising twist that will please the fans. 

MD

In cinemas January 16.

The Rip (12A)
Directed by Joe Carnahan
⭑⭑⭑☆☆

MATT DAMON and Ben Affleck reunite again for this tense and gritty police drama which is inspired by real events. 

The lifelong friends, who also produced the film, play members of a team of Miami cops who uncover $20 million in cash hidden in a derelict stash house which proves too great a temptation for some of them. 

Co-written and directed by Joe Carnahan, this is a race against time thriller which examines police corruption as it becomes unclear who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. 

Damon and Affleck are always great to watch and don’t disappoint as they keep you guessing throughout in this twist-filled drama. 

MD

On Netflix January 16.