FILM OF THE WEEK

US (15, 116 mins) Three stars

In his Oscar-winning horror Get Out, writer-director Jordan Peele took a magnifying glass to race relations and exposed ugly blemishes in the face of present-day American society.

For his eagerly awaited second feature, the filmmaker holds up a mirror - literally and figuratively - and asks us to stare unblinking into the eyes of our distorted reflections.

Us is more bloodthirsty and physically punishing than its predecessor, obliquely referencing The Shining and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers as a family of four are held hostage by diabolical doppelgangers.

Peele's script is laboriously specific about the back stories of the lead characters but he is frustratingly ambiguous when it comes to burnishing the nuts and bolts of the social commentary underpinning the slaughter.

You can read this battle royale as an allegory about the oppression of an economic and political underclass, the fear of outsiders infiltrating our cosy suburban idylls or the war against terrorism.

Us is open to multiple interpretations, which should spark lively debate over the popcorn.

Viewed purely as a misfit member of the horror genre, Peele's picture is unsettling rather than white-knuckle terrifying and there are no conventional jump scares.

Every stab or slash is telegraphed and the script's coup de grace is evident by the chronologically fractured structure.

In 1986, when she was a little girl with pigtails, Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong'o) wandered into the Shaman's Vision Quest attraction at Santa Cruz amusement park during a thunderous downpour.

She glimpsed something unspeakable in the hall of mirrors.

Fast-forwarding to the present, Adelaide is a fiercely protective mother to two children, Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex).

"Stick with me and I'll keep you safe," Adelaide promises her boy.

She travels with husband Gabe (Winston Duke) and the kids to the family's beach house to reconnect with friends Josh and Kitty Tyler (Tim Heidecker, Elisabeth Moss) and their twin daughters (Cali and Noelle Sheldon).

Late one night, Jason interrupts his mother with disturbing news: "There's a family in our driveway."

Gabe attempts to scare away the four shadowy figures with chest-puffing bravado and a baseball bat.

His threats are hollow because the intruders are the Wilsons' gnarled, scissor-wielding doppelgangers, Red (Nyong'o), Abraham (Duke), Umbrae (Wright Joseph) and Pluto (Alex).

"Let's set some traps, some Home Alone-type stuff," foolishly suggests a panicked Gabe.

Us is a stylish home invasion thriller, which lacks the persistent itch of Get Out after the end credits roll.

Nyong'o delivers tour-de-force performances that could earn her an Oscar nomination next year while Duke provides fleeting comic relief.

Wright Joseph and Alex impress in support.

Composer Michael Abels appropriates the melody of hip hop duo Luniz's summer anthem I Got 5 On It as the discordant theme of his soundtrack, which underscores each twist in a tangled narrative.

Seeing is deceiving.

THE WHITE CROW (12A, 127 mins) Three stars

Oscar-nominated actor Ralph Fiennes ventures behind the camera for the third time to dramatise the rise of Soviet Union ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev and his 1961 defection to the west.

Interspersed with colour-bleached flashbacks, The White Crow is a beautifully poised study of creative genius in flux and the meticulously choreographed dance sequences are on pointe.

David Hare's sombre and respectful script pirouettes back and forth in time to dizzying effect.

Consequently, dramatic momentum loses its sure footing early into the excessive 127-minute running time.

Nureyev's notorious outbursts are tastefully diluted to a few choice scowls and, surprisingly, the film doesn't clearly verbalise why the dancer took the anguished decision to abandon his fiercely protective homeland.

Too much is left unsaid despite a solid, muscular performance from Russian dancer Oleg Ivenko, who makes his feature film debut as Nureyev and speaks in both English and his native tongue.

Fiennes's picture opens on a Trans-Siberian train in 1938 where a baby boy is welcomed into the world in humble and chaotic surroundings.

At the age of 17, Rudolf (Ivenko) is taken under the wing of revered dance instructor Alexander Ivanovich Pushkin (Fiennes).

Rudolf is self-confident to the point of arrogance, boasting that it will not take long until everyone knows his name.

Pushkin's wife Xenia (Chulpan Khamatova) invites the cocksure dancer to stay at their apartment during his tutelage and manipulates the situation to seduce Rudolf behind the back of her unsuspecting husband.

However, Rudolf's appetite is not restricted to women and he kindles a smouldering desire for fellow dancer Yuri (Sergei Polunin).

In 1961, Nureyev travels to Paris with members of the Kirov Ballet.

It is the first time since the Cold War that the company has performed in the west and security is tight.

Nureyev defies the edicts of his KGB handlers to savour the seductive delights of the capital in the company of French dancer Pierre Lacotte (Raphael Personnaz) and his friend Clara Saint (Adele Exarchopoulos).

By chance, Clara is a close acquaintance of the French minister of cultural affairs, who could oil bureaucratic cogs and facilitate a claim for political asylum.

The brutal tug of war between east and west culminates in a tense finale at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, where Nureyev attempts to slip from the grasp of his minders with the international media swirling around the departures hall.

The White Crow is a handsomely crafted biographical drama, which lacks that all-important pas de deux with the lead character's inner turmoil as he musters courage to defect.

Supporting performances show similar artful restraint.

At its very best, dance conveys powerful, raw emotion through movement and gesture.

Fiennes's impressive picture repeatedly holds back when we ache for it to cut loose.

Also released...

FIVE FEET APART (12A, 116 mins)

Two hospitalised teenagers fall madly in love as they undergo treatment in a romantic drama directed by Justin Baldoni which hopes to be this year's The Fault In Our Stars.

Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) looks like any other fun-loving 17-year-old, except she must spend a large part of her waking life in hospital, undergoing treatment for cystic fibrosis.

Her best friend Poe (Moises Arias) is also a patient with the same genetic disorder and they support one another through the inevitable emotional peaks and troughs.

One day, Stella meets charming patient Will Newman (Cole Sprouse) and she is instantly smitten.

Hospital protocol dictates that they must maintain a safe distance to avoid transferring infections, so Stella and Will conduct a fledgling romance five feet apart.

While Stella accepts her diagnosis and follows the advice of medics, Will is a rebel and flouts rules.

This daredevil attitude puts Stella at risk but the teenagers are too caught up in the emotional whirl to fully appreciate the consequences.

SHARKWATER EXTINCTION (12A, 85 mins)

On the big screen, sharks are frequently demonised as voracious predators.

In real life, more than 150 million sharks are killed every year, altering the delicate balance in our oceans.

Directed by Rob Stewart, who was killed in a diving accident in January 2017 during the final stages of shooting this film, Sharkwater Extinction is a documentary chronicling one man's quest to save the fish from oblivion.

The filmmaker travels around the world, diving into waters around Costa Rica, France, North America, Panama, Spain and West Africa to expose shark-finning and the alarming decline of the oldest remaining predators on the planet.

SORRY ANGEL (15, 133 mins)

Love moves in mysterious ways in writer-director Christophe Honore's 1990s-set gay romance.

HIV-positive writer Jacques (Pierre Deladonchamps) has resigned himself to the idea that he will never forge a meaningful connection with another man.

He puts up emotional defences as protection until he wanders into a cinema and catches a glimpse of the much younger Arthur (Vincent Lacoste) in the dark.

Unlike Jacques, Arthur is at the beginning of his journey of self-discovery as a gay man and he is keen to explore every facet of his identity away from the close-knit small town where he grew up.

The two strangers enjoy each other's company and agree to meet again.

The men's feelings intensify but Jacques has commitments to his dying ex-lover Marco (Thomas Gonzalez) and he occasionally seeks comfort in the company of a male hustler called Jean-Marie (Quentin Thebault).

FILM CHART

1. Captain Marvel

2. Fisherman's Friends

3. What Men Want

4. Fighting With My Family

5. The Lego Movie 2

6. How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

7. Instant Family

8. Green Book

9. The Prodigy

10. Badla

(Chart courtesy of Cineworld)