1: The Jungle Book (PG)
(Jon Favreau, 2016, US) 106 mins
Remaking the Disney classic, even 50 years down the line, will seem like sacrilege to some, but this film (pictured above) is a very different beast. Out go the expressive line animation and groovy musical numbers; in comes staggering photo-realistic CGI (the film contains no real jungle), and a more credible man-cub adventure to go with it (the story goes back to Kipling for some new elements). A new generation of voice actors make these characters their own, particularly Christopher Walken’s world-weary King Louie and Idris Elba’s menacing Shere Khan.
2: Midnight Special (12A)
(Jeff Nichols, 2016, US) 112 mins
Sci-fi but not as we know it, as Jeff Nichols takes his trademarked slow-burn intensity (as seen in Mud and Take Shelter) into another league. It’s best not to know too much of the spoilerific plot, but the focus is a boy with mysterious powers, abducted by his father (Michael Shannon) and an accomplice (Joel Edgerton), and sought after by everyone else.
3: Dheepan (15)
(Jacques Audiard, 2015, Fra) 115 mins
As he did with A Prophet, Jacques Audiard builds a gripping, finely grained story of outsiders adapting to new circumstances. Here, it’s a Sri Lankan ex-freedom fighter and his fake wife and daughter, who are dropped into a rundown French suburb barely speaking a word of the language. Their struggle is an empathetic immigrant’s tale with an added thriller element.
4: The Brand New Testament (15)
(Jaco Van Dormael, 2015, Bel/Fra/ Lux) 112 mins
God is a misanthrope living in Brussels, and his daughter undoes all his bad work by texting everyone the dates of their deaths. That’s more than enough setup for Jaco Van Dormael to paste together an absurdist romp in the tradition of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Michel Gondry and Terry Gilliam, whose myriad delights include Catherine Deneuve getting it on with a gorilla.
5: Our Little Sister (PG)
(Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2015, Jap) 127 mins
Complex family ties are negotiated with a light touch as three grown-up siblings, effectively abandoned by both parents, take their estranged half-sister into the former family home. There’s barely any drama, and some may find the glow of all-round niceness somewhat cloying, but it’s a generational healing process tracked through seasons, rituals and some mouthwatering food.
