Gutland (2016)

Gutland (literally 'The Good Land') is a large part of Luxembourg, I didn't know, and is presumably where this rural noir is set: Jes turns up one day looking for farmhard work, but the fact he is toting a bag full of cash suggests he has other reasons for being suddenly in this lush and peaceful, prosperous and oh-so-welcoming land, but the locals are about to be rocked by other, more menacing outsiders.

★★★★☆

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Old (2021)

No, director M. Night Shyamalan doesn't have an excuse for yet another lame ending because although this time his movie, a beach-based Picnic At Hanging Rock (a group of people lug picnic baskets to a beach only to discover they are trapped and inexplicably ageing there) is based on Sandcastle, a graphic novel by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters, Shyamalan actually changes the ending of the kooky Lost-like events, so the lame ending is his again, but up to that late point when the story turns rusty, he delivers a captivating fantasy horror thriller full of great acting, weird and wonderful ideas, a beautiful confined location like the stage of a theatre production, and of course his trademark cameo and camerawork, sweeping and overhead and long-take.

★★★☆☆

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Phantom Thread (2017)

*** SPOILER WARNING ***

As with many of Paul Thomas Anderson's movies, we are introduced to a world so immaculately and painstakingly presented and with such exquisite attention to detail that we start to wonder if the movie isn't based on historical fact - perhaps the fashion house of dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock really existed in 1950s London and really was rocked by the arrival of a lover and muse, Alma, who not only really was but was able to tolerate, unlike those before her, Woodcock's ego and control - and then, at the point Anderson's world-building gives way to narrative development, the wheels of his elegant sportscar fall off and we are left wondering why an isolated case of Munchausen's Syndrome requires such elegant, elaborate treatment, truly a beauty to behold.

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS