NATURAL LIGHT
★★★
OUT 12 NOVEMBER / CERT TBC / 103 MINS
DIRECTOR Dénes Nagy
CAST Ferenc Szabó, Tamás Garbacz, László Bajkó
Placing audiences intimately beside a fatigued Hungarian soldier in World War II, Natural Light is a contemplative drama filled with cold temperatures and even colder stares, that undeniably engages the senses but freezes out much significant emotion. Director Dénes Nagy’s debut film follows Corporal Semetka (Ferenc Szabó) as he enforces brutal orders upon a village that’s potentially hiding enemies. Light on story but heavy in atmosphere, each sodden footstep, ropeburn, slurp of soup and inevitable bullet spray is intensely felt. The result is a film with a focused and tactile evocation of the grinding physical and mental slog of war, but perhaps fittingly, one that offers meagre rewards for making it to the other side.
SC
C’MON C’MON
★★★
OUT 19 NOVEMBER / CERT TBC / 108 MINS
DIRECTOR Mike Mills
CAST Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffman, Woody Norman
Writer-director Mike Mills follows up his Oscar-nominated 20th Century Women with this soulful but protracted black-andwhite drama about family bonds and youthful views of the future. When radio journalist Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) offers to look after his estranged sister Viv’s (Gaby Hoffman) son Jesse (Woody Norman), he soon discovers the joy and frustration of childcare. Phoenix is on delicate form and his chemistry with the confident Norman and reliable Hoffman feels natural and livedin. Robbie Ryan’s gentle camerawork adds even more intimacy, as do vignettes that point to this family’s past to contextualise their strained present. But an abundance of these flashbacks, interview footage and voice-over does feel overindulgent.
HF