FILM VIEW

Her script packs an unexpectedly meaty emotional wallop as characters repeatedly avert their gaze from the painful reality of their situation.

"We all know what's coming," warns a straight-talking son to the rest of his clan, whose personal and professional woes provide the film - essentially a five-hander - with sensitively-handled narrative detours.

Chomko shoots predominantly inside a family home where years of resentment and regret have seeped into the walls, and photographs of happier times litter the downstairs rooms.

Inevitable heartache is deftly balanced with humour.

When the youngest member of the family confides to her uncle that she has just witnessed grandma drinking holy water in church, he drolly responds: "At least she's hydrated."

Two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank, Michael Shannon and Robert Forster elevate familiar and potentially cloying material, capturing the spiky rat-a-tat of dialogue between kin, who know each other too well but turn a blind eye to their own failings.

Bert Keller (Forster) wakes to find the other side of the martial bed empty.

His beloved wife Ruth (Blythe Danner), who has stage six Alzheimer's, has wandered into a snow storm wearing just a flimsy nightdress and housecoat.

Bert telephones his son Nick (Shannon), who in turn calls his sister Bridget (Swank), and she hurriedly flies into sub-zero Chicago from California with her petulant daughter Emma (Taissa Farmiga) in tow.

Thankfully, Ruth is unharmed but the unsettling episode is the last straw for Nick, who has secured a place for his mother in a memory care facility called The Reminisce Neighbourhood.

Ex-military man Bert stubbornly refuses to entertain the thought of a nursing home - "She's my girl. You can't take my girl away from me!" - and Nick's frustration boils over when peacemaker Bridget refuses to back him up.

Her determination to please the old man by accepting his judgment - and keep secrets about her unhappiness - stokes resentment between the siblings.

"You can't even tell him you're not a Catholic anymore," snipes Nick. "What's he gonna do - perform an exorcism?"

As Christmas beckons, members of the Keller clan face tough choices about their (in)ability to nurture themselves as well as the people they love.

What They Had is an assured debut feature from Chomko, who elicits compelling performances from a superb ensemble cast.

The central trio of Swank, Shannon and Forster relish the combative nature of their realistically flawed characters' scenes, neatly dividing our affection and sympathy as the picture moves towards a surprisingly lightweight conclusion.

THE AFTERMATH (15, 109 mins) Two stars

A wartime love triangle set against the backdrop of a devastated and defeated Germany makes for surprisingly gloomy viewing in James Kent's handsome but emotionally starved drama based on the novel by Rhidian Brook.

Adapted for the screen by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, The Aftermath gifts Keira Knightley another elegantly attired but emotionally stifled heroine, whose sexual awakening wreaks havoc on everyone within her orbit.

The smouldering rubble of Hamburg, which was hit by more bombs in one weekend than London suffered during the whole of the Second World War, mirrors the psychological ruins of the affection-starved characters, who have suffered tragic loses during the conflict.

Director Kent ventured into similarly fraught territory - albeit during the First World War - in his handsomely crafted 2014 picture Testament Of Youth, which was galvanised by committed performances from Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington and Taron Egerton.

Bruised and broken hearts are considerably older and wiser here but the pedestrian tug-of-war between Alexander Skarsgard and Jason Clarke for Knightley's stiff-upper-lipped affections fails to get the blood pumping.

There is a chill in the air of 1945 Hamburg, five months after the Allied victory, as Rachael Morgan (Knightley) arrives in the city to join her husband Lewis (Clarke), a British colonel who must combat any residual German resistance.

Lewis requisitions a large mansion belonging to widowed architect Stefan Lubert (Alexander Skarsgard) and consigns the host and his 15-year-old daughter Freda (Flora Thiemann) to the attic while the Morgans make use of the bedrooms and an open-plan living room complete with piano.

The household staff including Heike (Anna Katharina Schimrigk) are duty bound to serve the British intruders.

They whisper snide remarks about Rachael moving ornaments and furniture: "She's making herself at home... like a maggot in the bacon!"

The new lady of the manor is visibly uncomfortable sharing quarters with the enemy, having lost a young son to German bombs in London.

Her husband's friend and fellow officer Burnham (Martin Compston) echoes these sentiments and drunkenly humiliates Stefan during one house party.

Unthinkably, sexual tension simmers between Rachael and Stefan, and when Lewis is called away to deal with a crisis, passions boil over.

Meanwhile, impressionable Freda falls under the spell of a local boy, Albert (Jannik Schumann), who is steadfastly committed to the Nazi movement.

The Aftermath melts at a similar pace to ice covering Hamburg, even with a couple of artfully staged sex scenes involving Knightley and Skarsgard.

Kent's lens swoons at his actors in a state of beautifully lit undress but he neglects to crank up dramatic tension.

When the moment comes for Rachael to stand by one of her men, we have little invested in the outcome and its repercussions.

Also released

FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY (12A, 108 mins)

Inspired by a true story, Fighting With My Family is a heart-warming comedy drama written and directed by Stephen Merchant about a clan of wrestlers, who bear witness to a battle of the sexes between two siblings.

Patrick Bevis (Nick Frost) is a professional wrestler, who fights in the ring under the name Rowdy Ricky Knight.

His wife Julia (Lena Headey) also wrestles under the stage name Sweet Saraya and they encourage son Zak (Jack Lowden) and daughter Saraya aka Paige (Florence Pugh) to resolve their differences with a grapple.

The children are destined to fight in the ring, making them outcasts in their hometown.

WWE promoter Hutch Morgan (Vince Vaughn) invites Zak and Paige to participate in try-outs to become fully-fledged wrestlers in America.

The youngsters cross the Atlantic in search of glory and seek guidance from their idol, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (playing himself).

MISS BALA (15, 104 mins)

Released: March 1 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

Gina Rodriguez headlines an English-language remake of the acclaimed 2011 Mexican film, which was the country's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.

Make-up artist Gloria Fuentes (Rodriguez) is the sole witness to a gangland massacre at a nightclub, where she is celebrating with her best friend Suzu Ramos (Cristina Rodlo).

When Gloria attempts to contact the police, she is kidnapped by vicious drug lord Lino Esparza (Ismael Cruz Cordova), head of the Las Estrellas cartel.

He takes a shine to his hostage and forces her to work for him.

As Gloria becomes firmly ingrained in Lino's operations, she becomes a prime target for the DEA in their battle to prevent narcotics crossing the US-Mexico border.

THE HOLE IN THE GROUND (15, 90 mins)

Released: March 1 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

A beleaguered mother fears her young son might be an impostor - or perhaps she is simply losing her mind - in writer-director Lee Cronin's creepy psychological horror.

Sarah O'Neill (Seana Kerslake) moves to rural Ireland with her boy Chris (James Quinn Markey) to escape painful reminders of the past.

During a drive through dense woods which envelop the community, mother and child narrowly avoid hitting a local woman, Noreen Brady (Kati Outinen).

The local rumour mill speculates that Noreen murdered her son because she believed the boy had been replaced by an insidious doppelganger.

Soon after, Chris vanishes and Sarah discovers the tyke's favourite toy close to a large sinkhole in the woods.

Thankfully, Chris reappears but he is imperceptibly changed.

Following a visit to Noreen's grief-stricken husband Des (James Cosmo), Sarah comes to the conclusion that the little boy in her home isn't the same loving child who sprang from her womb.

SERENITY (15, 107 mins)

Released: March 1 (UK, selected cinemas)

Appearances are deceptive in writer-director Steven Knight's gnarly sci-fi thriller.

Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) is a fisherman, who enjoys solitary island life following the breakdown of his marriage to his wife Karen (Anne Hathaway).

She has custody of their son Patrick (Rafael Sayegh) but Baker is convinced he has a strange, unspoken connection to the boy, even though they are many miles apart.

Out of the blue, Karen visits Baker and pleads with her ex-husband to kill her new spouse Frank, who is abusive.

The fisherman agrees to help his old flame so she can be free from the violence and intimidation.

Knight's film is available simultaneously on Sky Cinema.

SAUVAGE (18, 97 mins)

Released: March 1 (UK, selected cinemas)

Everything is for sale, including a 22-year-old man's body, in French writer-director Camille Vidal-Naquet's sexually explicit yet tender first feature.

Handsome hustler Leo (Felix Maritaud) works a stretch of road with fellow male prostitutes including friend Ahd (Eric Bernard), who is blessed with the financial support of a sugar daddy.

The hustlers cater to the desires of lonely old men but rarely engage emotionally with clients, treating each encounter as a transaction to keep a roof above their heads.

Leo is more sensitive than many of his bed-hopping brethren and he nurtures an unrequited attraction to Ahd.

As Leo navigates a series of lurid encounters, he begins to shut down his emotions like the other hustlers and acknowledges that intimacy and affection must be faked for the right price.

OF LOVE & LAW (15, 95 mins)

Released: March 1 (UK, selected cinemas)

A real-life couple challenge the status quo in their collectively obedient homeland in Hikaru Toda's award-winning and life-affirming documentary.

Fumi and Kazu are sweethearts, who run the first law firm in Japan set up by openly gay partners.

Homosexuality in not illegal but LGBT rights are not openly discussed and there are no civil unions or marriages in a country with a long history of conventional gender roles.

The film follows Fumi and Kazu as they represent 'outsider' clients including an artist who is being sued for obscenity, and a teacher who lost their job for failing to sing the national anthem.

Toda's film is simultaneously available to download and stream.

ALIEN (15, 116 mins)

Released: March 1 (UK, selected cinemas)

The old dark house scenario gets blasted into deep space with a 40th anniversary re-release of the horror classic in which the crew of an industrial vessel faces an ever-growing alien terror, brought onto the ship attached to a doomed John Hurt.

Director Ridley Scott's stylish, much-imitated assault on the nerves is brilliantly sustained and truly terrifying, while Sigourney Weaver is perfect as one of sci-fi's most fearless heroines.

The special effects are a tour-de-force of gore and HR Giger's jaw-dropping designs, including the infamous dinner table scene in which a foetal beast bursts from John Hurt's chest, sending a million tubs of popcorn flying towards the cinema floor.

RING (15, 95 mins)

Released: March 1 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

Hideo Nakata's supernatural thriller returns to the big screen, skilfully eschewing explicit gore to send chills down the spine.

Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima) is a cynical TV journalist who has been asked to work on the story of a videotape which - as urban legend goes - kills the viewer exactly seven days after they watch it.

Not normally one to believe in hearsay and rumour, Reiko takes a very personal interest in the case when she discovers that her teenage niece Tomiko may have been one of the videotape's victims.

Tracking down the elusive tape to the holiday resort where Tomiko and three friends (now all dead) spent the summer, Reiko plucks up the courage to view the contents, and observes a series of eerie images.

Sure enough, once the film ends, Reiko receives a telephone call informing her of her impending death, and the seven-day curse begins.

FILM CHART

1. The Lego Movie 2

2. Instant Family

3. How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

4. Alita: Battle Angel

5. Cold Pursuit

6. The Kid Who Would Be King

7. Total Dhamaal

8. On The Basis Of Sex

9. Green Book

10. Gully Boy

(Chart courtesy of Cineworld)