Preparation for the Next Life (15)
Directed by Bing Liu
★★★★☆

ACADEMY award nominated director Bing Liu’s debut feature is a bold and uncompromising drama about two troubled souls who are let down by the system, but who find an unexpected connection. 

Based on Atticus Lish’s prize-winning novel of the same name and adapted for the screen by Martyna Majok the film follows Aishe (impressive newcomer Sebiye Behtiyar) an undocumented Uighur immigrant who arrives in New York seeking a fresh start. She ends up working in Chinatown’s underground kitchens and meets Skinner (Fred Hechinger, Nickel Boys) a young US soldier just back from three tours of the Middle East who is battling his own demons and PTSD.  

Despite her guardedness she lets him in and they form a deep connection which develops into love.  It is beautiful to watch although you are expecting the other shoe to drop at any time. Particularly as Skinner  drinks heavily to forget his trauma and turns volatile. He vows to protect her and promises to marry her so she won’t be deported. 

Her greatest fear is realised when she is apprehended by unidentified ICE officers in the street who take her into custody in a tense and frightening scene while Skinner is getting drunk at a local bar. 

The film, which parallels Liu’s mother’s own story, is a slow burner which is driven by stunning and quietly powerful performances by the two leads as it explores survival, resilience and loneliness. 

As in real life love is messy and does not conquer all or result in happily ever after. 
MD
In cinemas December 12

The Tale of Silyan (12A)
Directed by Tamara Kotevska
★★★☆☆

THE focus of this hybrid of pure documentary and creative nonfiction is Nikola, a North Macedonian farmer whose livelihood is jeopardised by falling crop prices. It also considers the restorative potential of animal companions and the enduring resonance of myth.

At his lowest ebb, separated from his family and working on a landfill, Nikola nurses an injured white stork. This echoes the story of Silyan, a Macedonian folktale involving a curse and a magical transformation.

The narrative reflects the director’s lengthy immersion in Nikola’s world. We see his family working their land, protesting at the falling value of produce and discussing migration to Germany. As events unfold, style is shrewdly matched to theme, flipping between verité and elegiac lyricism. I have one quibble: the music is distracting.

Terse but thoughtful and crammed with memorable images, the film highlights the precarity of ecosystems and the loosening of bonds between people and place.
AH
In cinemas December 12

Eleanor the Great (12A)
Directed by Scarlett Johansson
★★★☆☆

JUNE SQUIBB, who is 96, proves that age is just a number as she continues to mesmerise this time as a 94-year-old Jewish widow who accidentally wanders into a Holocaust survivors’ support group in New York and starts recounting her best friend’s experiences in a concentration camp as her own. 

Squibb, who was 94 at the time, lifts this emotional rollercoaster ride to outstanding heights as the razor sharp, witty  and spirited Eleanor Morgenstein, who is trying to honour her lifelong friend and flatmate Bessie (Rita Zohar) following her recent death. Her deception begins to spiral out of control as she befriends a grief-stricken student journalist (Erin Kellyman) who is fascinated by her tale. 

The directorial debut of Scarlett Johansson, written by Tory Kamen, and featuring real life Holocaust survivors, the film examines trauma, grief and loss. Each time Eleanor lies the drama cuts to Bessie relating her own harrowing story. 

Both heartbreaking and funny it is worth seeing for Squibb alone. 
MD
In cinemas December 12

Who, If Not Us: The Fight for Democracy in Belarus
Directed by Juliane Tutein
★☆☆☆☆

JULIANE TIUTEIN’s documentary on the campaign against Belarus’s Lukashenko government offers little political analysis or historical context. Based on the experiences of three female activists, it could have been a compelling human-interest investigation but disappoints in this respect too.

Tutein elicits compassion for a veteran campaigner, an exiled activist, and an NGO director separated from her family and refused permission to leave the country, but fails to illuminate the factors underpinning their struggle.

There are allusions to freedom, democratic values and an enemy that “prevents development,” but these notions are not examined in detail. The clearest acknowledgement of plurality of political opinion in Belarus comes in the final five minutes.  

Aspects of the presentation feel contrived: informal chats are laden with exposition and music is used — somewhat clumsily — to nudge emotional response.

Anyone wishing to understand the situation of the working class in Belarus will need to look elsewhere.
AH 
Streaming on True Story from December 12