It’s a tried and tested tradition: after the chaos of Christmas, take a deep breath and plonk your butt in front of a big screen for a couple of hours. This year’s Boxing Day releases span a wide gamut, from some of the year’s best films to a couple of disappointing works from usually reliable European auteurs. Enjoy!
Anora
Starring: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn
Directed by: Sean Baker
Writer-director Sean Baker’s compulsively watchable, Palme d’Or-winning action-drama follows the eponymous stripper and sex worker (played by an unforgettable Mikey Madison) who marries the son (Mark Eydelshteyn) of a Russian oligarch at a Vegas chapel. When word gets back to mum and dad, goons are sent to annul the marriage, but Anora is no pushover: she’s used to fighting and used to raising hell. The first half is flavoured with the tang of young love, but in the second hour the tone turns white hot – there’s lots of screaming, running and trampling across town. My favourite of Baker’s oeuvre is still his Christmas movie Tangerine, shot on an iPhone – but this is an instant classic.
Read more: Anora review – stellar turn from Mikey Madison in sex work non-love story
All We Imagine as Light
Starring: Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam
Directed by: Payal Kapadia
Writer-director Payal Kapadia brings a richly earthly texture to her depictions of Mumbai, both realistic and dreamlike, tuned to one character’s description of it as a “city of illusions”. Introductory moments present Mumbai as a place teeming with people and possibilities before the narrative settles on three women who work at a hospital. Prabha (Kani Kusruti) is a nurse who hasn’t heard from her husband since he left the county after their arranged marriage; her younger and more outgoing housemate Anu (Divya Prabha) – also a nurse – is engaged in a secret romance with a Muslim man; and Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), a cook, faces eviction by the hand of a wealthy property developer. There’s lots of pondering in this very absorbing film; lots of ruminations about home and the places we belong.
Read more: All We Imagine As Light review – dreamlike and gentle modern Mumbai tale is a triumph
Better Man
Starring: Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Damon Herriman
Directed by: Michael Gracey
The musician biopic genre has been a bit crusty for yonks; the great comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story skewered its timeworm conventions way back in 2007. But Michael Gracey’s event movie about the life of Robbie Williams feels fresh despite an archetypal star-is-born template. The bizarre decision to feature a CGI chimpanzee in the lead role has a profound effect, othering the subject and positioning the film a half step away from a higher, weirder reality. Plus, we get the rare sight of a simian snorting prodigious amounts of cocaine. Some of the musical numbers are absolute belters – including a stunning, Regent Street-set rendition of Rock DJ.
Read more: Better Man review – Robbie Williams chimpanzee biopic is a bananas gamble that pays off
The Room Next Door
Starring: Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, John Turturro
Directed by: Pedro Almodóvar
I’m no fan of Pedro Almodóvar’s first English language film: the drama felt cold and stagey and the lead performances – from the usually great Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore – are airy and nebulous, with lots of vacant looks and yearning expressions. Swinton plays Martha, a former war correspondent who, suffering from late-stage cervical cancer, decides to die by euthanasia and asks Ingrid (Julianne Moore), an old friend and novelist, to assist her journey. There are some tender moments, and flecks of dramatic intrigue here and there. But tonally the film is quite loosey-goosey and connections to contemporary issues, including climate change and the re-emergence of the far right, feel forced.
Read more: The Room Next Door review – Almodóvar’s English-language debut is extravagant and engrossing
Parthenope
Starring: Celeste Dalla Porta, Gary Oldman
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
The eponymous character in Paolo Sorrentino’s latest film is a stunningly beautiful woman played by Celeste Dalla Porta, who literally turns heads. Men ogle at her; crowds catch their breath. Sorrentino, too, is clearly smitten with her, his breath fogging up the lens. The Italian auteur’s famously ostentatious style gets thrown out the window, replaced with something much slower and more swooning as he tells the story of Parthenope’s sexual awakening and academic pursuits. Some scenes play like parodies of European art films, though; Parthenope left me longing for the loud, flashy Sorrentino of old.
Read more: Parthenope review – Paolo Sorrentino contrives a facile, bikini-clad self-parody
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Starring: Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, Idris Elba
Directed by: Jeff Fowler
Remember when the trailer for the original Sonic the Hedgehog movie freaked everybody out so much that they redesigned the character? That was pretty funny. The official synopsis of Sonic’s third cinematic outing informs us that “Sonic, Knuckles and Tails reunite against a powerful new adversary, Shadow, a mysterious villain with powers unlike anything they have faced before”. Jim Carrey came out of retirement to return to the role of super villain Dr Robotnik, lured by a great script – no, wait, he did it for the money.
Read more: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review – Jim Carrey supplies laughs and energy for hedgehog threequel
A Real Pain
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin
Directed by: Jesse Eisenberg
Written and directed by actor Jesse Eisenberg, who also stars alongside Kieran Culkin, this character-driven dramedy follows two cousins as they move through Poland, travelling with a Holocaust tour group. It’s receiving some strong write-ups and plenty of Oscar buzz for Culkin, with the Observer’s Oliver Jones describing it as a “remarkable film” that “demonstrates how we can and must reconcile with the forever festering wounds of the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people”.
Read more: A Real Pain review – Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin lead pat buddy dramedy
