Films / October 2

How Green Was My Valley (1941) / The Magic Bow (1946) / Marriage Story (2019) / Trio (1950) / Jumanji The Next Level (2019) / I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) / Tombstone (1993)

How Green Was My Valley (1941) Artistry suffuses every frame of Ford's expertly realized story of hope and loss (personal and community) in a Welsh mining community. Sentimental in the best sense, the collective talent in front and behind camera makes for supreme entertainment.

The Magic Bow (1946) Despite lengthy and captivating musical interludes, this Gainsborough biography of Paganini fails to realize its potential and feels curiously flat and fragmented. Without the flights of melodramatic fantasy, script and cast flounder amid the period artifice.

Marriage Story (2019) Intense, heartfelt, uncompromising detail of the breakdown of a marriage, alternating the cruelty and love still bounded in the relationship between two fragile, desperate people. Bravely vulnerable Scarlett  Johansson and Adam Driver provide emotion and dark humor.

Trio (1950) Somerset Maugham stories provide unassuming portraits of characters facing turning points in their lives. Detail and subtlety provide the most compelling strengths and gleaming visuals are evocative - and yet individual moments remain more persuasive than the whole. 

Jumanji The Next Level (2019) In essence, a remake of the 2017 reimagining with the paucity of original ideas tempered by the likeable cast. Interest and comedy further enhanced by Awkwafina, Danny DeVito and Danny Glover, yet the narrative mechanics creak too easily into view.

I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) There's a genuine rush embodied by Wendy Hiller's independent heroine who collides with the poetry of Scottish legend in bursts of humour, emotion and music. Beautifully shot, packed with memorable characters, an enduring fable that never dates.

Tombstone (1993) Aggressively cinematic and overtly emotional, a gloriously melodramatic tale that ties appealing performances to polished technical work and a rich, dramatically acute score by Bruce Broughton. A powerful, sensory experience in the cinema, it remains as exciting and moving in any realm.