Silence (15)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
3/5
IT’S taken more than two decades for Silence to be made but Martin Scorsese’s labour of love is a complex yet thoughtful exploration of faith, spirituality and the human condition.
It centres on two 17th-century Portuguese priests (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who embark on a dangerous trip to Japan to search for their missing mentor Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson) and to spread the Christian gospel.
The film’s based on Shusaku Endo’s award-winning 1966 novel, which investigates the poignant question of God’s silence in the face of human suffering, and that conundrum is fully explored as the Japanese authorities diligently hunt down Christians, priests in particular, and force them to publicly renounce their faith or face death.
Visually arresting and brutally violent, the film charts the priests’ merciless persecution and torture at the hands of the Japanese, who go to the most extreme lengths to break them and make them reject their faith.
Of course, God remains silent in the face of such human suffering.
Garfield and Driver are tremendous, with the latter giving his best and most surprising performance to date.
While Scorsese rams his point home over and over again in an overly long narrative, Silence remains one of the director’s more fascinating and thought-provoking films.
Maria Duarte

Assassin’s Creed (12A)
Directed by Justin Kurzel
2/5
OVER 20 years ago, video games emerged as a “creative” source for films and they’ve continued to motivate directors to deliver cinematic profit-seekers such as The Angry Birds Movie, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, Need for Speed and Resident Evil.
In this latest addition to the genre, criminal Cal Lynch (Michael Fassbender), saved from execution by Sofia (Marion Cottilard), is impelled by revolutionary technology into recalling memories of his 14th-century Spanish secret-society ancestor Aguilar, a member of the Assassins Templars. He then locks horns with their evil contemporary counterparts.
Director Justin Kurzel and three screenwriters plump for as much action and special effects as possible to cover up the narrative lacunae in an increasingly silly narrative that relies on visuals, rather than thought-through storytelling.
Fassbender and Cotillard deserve praise for keeping commendably straight faces when confronted with overwhelmingly daffy dialogue and situations.
The former impresses in the muscular action sequences — the same can’t be said for his choice of film — while Jeremy Irons, boss of the technology company responsible for reviving Fassbender’s ancient alter ego, does all that’s required in a flawless portrayal of a corrupt entrepreneur.
As such, he conforms to that most popular Hollywood creation, the rotten Englishman.
Alan Frank

Endless Poetry
Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky
3/5
LEGENDARY Chilean film-maker Alejandro Jodorowsky’s imaginative recreation of a youth spent as an aspiring poet after liberating himself from the shackles of his family is a surreal and eclectic ride.
It’s not one for the faint-hearted.
Endless Poetry continues where Dance of Reality, the previous leg of his autobiographical exploration, left off and finishes as he is about to set off for Paris.
Set in 1940s Santiago de Chile, it follows the 20-year-old Jodorowsky, played by his son Adan, who leaves home and, against his violent father’s wishes, vows to become a poet instead of a doctor.
He’s introduced to the bohemian artistic circle of the time, replete with Latin America’s future leading literary lights, among them Enrique Lihn, Stella Diaz and Nicanor Parra.
Visually visceral, it’s a film which isn’t afraid to bare all and shock its audience — the scene involving sex with a midget comes firmly to mind.
It’s a totally bizarre experience and those unfamiliar with Jodorowsky’s work may find it hard to fathom.
Definitely an acquired taste.
Maria Duarte