1 T2 Trainspotting (18)
(Danny Boyle, 2017, UK) 117 mins
The characters are feeling their ages 20 years on, but it’s still good to see them again. This is more of a return ticket than a sequel, revisiting old memories, old friends, old grudges and many of the original movie’s moves, all set in motion by Ewan McGregor’s surprise reappearance in Edinburgh. Lively, stylish, funny and, yes, druggy, it’s no sentimental nostalgia trip.
2 Hacksaw Ridge (15)
(Mel Gibson, 2016, Aus/US) 139 mins
Say what you like about Gibson, he’s found a great story to tell here: a soldier who refused to carry a weapon on to the second world war battlefields, but carried his comrades to safety instead. Winningly played by Andrew Garfield, he’s the anti-American Sniper. Some familiar war movie beats are forgivable in the service of a different type of war hero.
3 Cameraperson (15)
(Kirsten Johnson, 2016, US) 102 mins
A documentary cinematographer’s clips and offcuts become a miraculous, moving visual autobiography here, mixing personal and professional moments from Johnson’s varied career – from war-torn Bosnia and a Nigerian maternity ward to her dying mother. The apparently freeform structure illuminates much about images, memory and our common humanity.
4 Christine (15)
(Antonio Campos, 2016, UK/US) 119 mins
Rebecca Hall is compelling as Christine Chubbuck, a Florida news reporter who famously shot herself on air in 1974. Intelligent but naive and “tightly wound”, she’s driven to despair by frustrated ambitions, demands for sensational news stories and her all-consuming loneliness.
5 La La Land (12A)
(Damien Chazelle, 2016, US) 128 mins
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling dance along the road to stardom in this seductive old-school musical, whose dazzling camerawork and choreography elevate a bittersweet love story that’s brand new yet retro, escapist yet real.
