‘The Weekend Away’

An appealling mystery poorly executed as a weekend away to Croatia for two university friends goes sadly awry.

Celebrating her divorce, wealthy Kate (Christina Wolf – TV’s The Royals, Batwoman) has persuaded new mom, Beth (Leighton Meester – TV’s Gossip Girl, Single Parents) to leave the baby with husband Rob and join her using ex-husband’s credit card. But then Kate disappears. With twists and turns involving Syrian refugees, male escorts, disinterested police and voyeuristic landlords, Sarah Alderson’s pulpy novel is a screen mess as director Kim Farrant (Strangerland, Angel of Mine) delivers contrivance after contrivance without ramping up the thrills or the reveal.

The port of Split looks beautiful, however, and Meester tries hard with below par material.

Rating: 44%

Best of Year (2017) – Male Performance

My review of films released in Australia continues with my top five male performances.

As with female performances, there were a limited number of stand-outs – and looking through films seen in the year made me aware that many of the highlights were ensemble pieces (Moonlight, Dunkirk, Danish film Land of Mine etc).

But my top five male performances for 2017 are:

5: Hugh Jackman: Logan
4: Josh O’Connor: God’s Own Country
3: Will Poulter: Detroit
2: James McAvoy: Split
1: Casey Affleck: Manchester by the Sea

Number five is something of a surprise – it was a toss up between Jackman and Joel Edgerton in Loving. But in his final appearance as Wolverine, Jackman introduced a level of humanity and vulnerability to a character who, in previous films, was something of a two-dimensional superhero.

Set in Yorkshire, God’s Own Country was described as an English Brokeback Mountain, and lonely, isolated Josh O’Connor was suitably dour and monosyllabic prior to the arrival of the Romanian casual labour, Gheorghe.

Whilst Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit was very much an ensemble piece, there was no ignoring that Will Poulter as the devastatingly sadistic white supremacist police officer and murderous psychopath was the stand-out.

A multiple personality disorder provides James McAvoy with a dream series of roles in Split – ranging from a nerdish nine year-old Hedwig, the reasoned Barry (a fashion designer) through to the menacing Patricia and disturbing Dennis. It’s a role McAvoy deserves to gain more accolades.

But it’s the quiet, nuanced Oscar-winning performance by Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea that gets my final vote.

‘Split’

The multiple split personalities of a superb James McAvoy are the lynchpin of this enjoyable claustrophobic kidnap thriller.

Three teenage girls are kidnapped by a man with an inner struggle for personality dominance by 23 separate characters awaiting the unleashing of a 24th. It’s a typical M. Night Shyamalan film with its mix of dark humour, well-paced thrills and a few unexpected surprises. But, with McAvoy and a convincing Anya Taylor-Joy as one of the teenage girls, it’s Shyamalan’s best in a while.

Rating: 64%

Director: M. Night Shyamalan film (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable)

Writer: M. Night Shyamalan film (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable)

Main cast: James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland, X-Men), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Morgan)