Victoria (15)

three stars

Dir: Sebastian Schipper

With: Laia Costa, Frederick Lau

Runtime: 138 minutes

SEBASTIAN Schipper’s German crime drama has been garlanded with prizes for its cinematography and attracted oohs and ahs for its one-cut filming style. All of which is impressive, as is the second half of a tale about a young Spanish woman who falls in with a gang of Berlin lads only to have her night take some handbrake turns. But man alive does it take an age to get going, with Schipper building his characters inch by inch before zooming for the finish. Deft performances, especially from Laia Costa in the title role, but much patience is required before the going gets good.

Black Mountain Poets (15)

two stars

Dir: Jamie Adams

With: Alice Lowe, Dolly Wells

Runtime: 85 minutes

FANS of Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers will be glad to see Alice Lowe turn up in this British comedy of mistaken identity and bad poetry. That’s about as far as the similarities between the two films go, alas. Lowe and Dolly Wells play con women who stumble upon a poetry retreat, are mistaken for a couple of “famous” writers, and decide to play along as the group goes camping in the titular mountains. Lowe is a likeable sort and there’s the kernel of a passable television comedy here. But from the frankly incredible premise to the baggy reams of dialogue in search of a decent joke or two, Adams’ picture is a long haul for little reward.