Cafe de Flore (15)
HH
Dir: Jean-Marc Vallee
With: Vanessa Paradis, Kevin Parent
Running time: 120 minutes
JEAN Marc-Vallee's drama is a film of many parts, some of which charm and enthral while others baffle. Ultimately, the whole seems so much less than it promised to be. There are two main stories, that of Jacqueline (an impressive Vanessa Paradis), the single mother of a son with Down's syndrome whose favourite LP is Cafe de Flore, and Antoine, a DJ. The tales play out worlds and decades apart - Jacqueline's in Paris, 1969, and Antoine's in the Montreal of today. Half the fascination is how Vallee is going to knit the stories together, and for a time it looks as though he might pull off the same kind of satisfying trick as The Time Traveller's Wife. But there's too much going on here, and trying to make sense of the swirl of half-formed ideas is a chore.
Glasgow Film Theatre and Filmhouse, Edinburgh, from tomorrow.
Jeff Who Lives at Home (15)
HHH
Dirs: Jay and Mark Duplass
With: Jason Segel, Ed Helms
Running time: 83 minutes
THE Duplass brothers, founding princes of Mumblecore – hipster, meandering, naturalistic filmmaking – are back with a characteristically free-flowing comedy that's more wry than laugh out loud funny. The Jeff of the title is played by Jason Segel, friend of The Muppets. Jeff's life of getting high and watching television infuriates his married, middle management brother Pat (The Hangover's Ed Helms), and their mother, Sharon (Susan Sarandon). There's much gassing goes on as Jeff struggles to find direction, Pat wrestles with problems at home, and Sharon is in a tizzy over messages being sent to her by a secret admirer. Even though the outcome is predictable, the Duplass duo deliver a few zingers in the way of dialogue and with a cast like this no film could go far wrong.
All in Good Time (12A)
HHH
Dir: Nigel Cole
With: Amara Karan, Reece Ritchie
Running time: 93 minutes
THE writer of East is East meets the director of Calendar Girls with mixed results in this British comedy-drama. Vina and Atul (Amara Karan and Reece Ritchie) are a couple of newlyweds looking forward to starting their life together. But after the excitement of the wedding, reality hits home as they move in with his mum and dad. Faced with thin walls, nosy neighbours and a heap of emotional baggage, young love has trouble triumphing. A fine cast, including Harish Patel and Meera Syal as Atul's parents, are given some decent lines, but Cole and Ayub Khan-Din's film is all over the place in tone. The soft-edged comedy clashes badly with heavyweight dramatic interludes that seem to come out of nowhere and disappear just as fast.
Beauty (18)
HHH
Dir: Oliver Hermanus
With: Deon Lotz, Roeline Daneel
Running time: 99 minutes
FRANCOIS (Dean Lotz) is an Afrikaner businessman, father, husband, regular pillar of the community stuff. He's also a towering hypocrite, railing against gay men while being secretly gay himself. Francois is managing to keep his complex life together, but then he meets trainee lawyer Christian (Charlie Keegan), the son of an old friend, and the tensions become too much. Oliver Hermanus's drama is plotted like a thriller, with the suspense mounting as Francois's growing obsession with Christian becomes increasingly apparent. Not an easy watch, and it only becomes more disturbing as it goes along.
GFT, May 14-17; Filmhouse, Edinburgh, May 25-29.
ALISON ROWAT'S FILM A-Z: PAGE 24
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