Release Date – 10th April 2026, Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hours 47 minutes, Director – James McAvoy

Hopeful Scottish rappers Gavin (Seamus McLean Ross) and Billy (Samuel Bottomley) are turned down by music executives because of their accents, finding success by pretending to be American they plan to expose the industry, however their personas start to get in the way.

California Schemin’ pulls the rug from under you multiple times. Starting out as an almost Scottish That Thing You Do before becoming a more intense drama part way through a heated exchange between the two central characters I realised how utterly engrossed I was by the film. Looking up at the screen in slightly open-mouthed fascination at the unfolding ‘based on a true story’ of Silibil N’ Brains.

Also known as Billy (Samuel Bottomley) and Gavin (Seamus McLean Ross) the pair are hopeful Scottish rappers, creating hip-hop tracks when not working in a broadband call centre. It’s 2003 and major labels are looking for the next Eminem or Wu-Tang Clan, however a Dundee accent doesn’t fit the bill, with the two being mocked at a major audition as the “rapping Proclaimers.” Having had enough Gavin makes a call with a dodgy Californian accent and the pair find themselves being quickly signed up as the USA’s own Silibil N’ Brains, and finding quick success at clubs. Working their way towards a single they plan to expose the industry, and who they really are, on MTV’s The Hook.

James McAvoy, in his directorial debut, gets powerhouse performances from his leads, and those around them. It’s the characters that lead the events rather than the narrative or industry around them. There’s a spark to Ross and Bottomley’s turns which adds to the growing punchiness of the drama. The room spins around them until the tables turn and their characters start to struggle to separate themselves from their American personas; they keep up the act even when noone else is around. You can feel one’s worry for the other as they see how deep in character they’ve become, getting lost amongst drink, drugs and success – even before they’ve properly released any music. Yet, at the same time when performing together in front of a crowd there’s a sense of joint elation.

Natural laughs in the early stages, and there are a good few chuckles to be found, start to fade in line with the shifting tone of the film and its drama, it’s fitting and almost goes unnoticed. The fire of the drama is turned up and there’s a real impact to its intensity. The story could so easily tread conventional lines, and one or two such elements crop up over the course of the film although managing to avoid Dewey Cox territory, but what avoids them from coming out in full flourish is the simple connection we have with the characters and their journey. Their bond is likable, we want to see them succeed. The personas feel more like amusing deception rather than damaging lies; all until things start to turn and others are brought into the picture. Particularly Billy’s girlfriend Mary (Lucy Halliday – really holding her own when getting the chance to outshine the two leads) and the pair’s first-time manager Tessa (Rebekah Murrell), who scouted them at their first club appearance.

With his debut McAvoy creates a stunning, thoroughly entertaining drama. With his leads putting in strong turns for both their characters and their personas there’s light and dark to the deception that’s unfolding and it all lands an effect. I sat struck by the film and the performances from start to finish. It seems the UK continues to make the best musical biopics, even when we have to question whether we can consider the personas of the characters as underdogs.

A punchy, fiery drama with some good chuckles, California Schemin’ is a force that pulls the rug from under you. Ross and Bottomley are stunning as the dreamers who get fearfully lost in their own transfixing deception.

Cert – Recommended ages 18+, Run-time – 1 hour 38 minutes, Directors – Nick Kocher, Brian McElhaney

With just hours to finalise their decision for housing next year, college losers Jack (Gaten Matarazzo) and Montgomery (Sean Giambrone) take a powerful drug and go on adventure through the dorm corridors to collect their pizza order.

There’s always the fear with a new high school or college stoner flick that it’s going to try and be the next big thing for the current generation by referring to much to that for the last one. Pizza Movie opens with worries that it’s just trying to be Superbad, failing to understand that what makes films like that, and Animal House many years before it, work is that they’re so much a part of the time in which they were made. Yet, what becomes evident is that there may not be the next big teen stoner comedy here, but an amusingly silly drug-based venture.

Jack (Gaten Matarazzo) and Montgomery (Sean Giambrone) are the losers of their year group at college. Tormented by the jocks, unable to talk to the girls they like – for Montgomery this is Peyton Elizabeth Lee’s Ashley – if they’re not being chased down and beaten they’re trying to work out what they’re going to do in terms of housing next year. The clock is ticking and with hours left to go they order a pizza, take a drug that promises to make them feel like they’re floating on clouds and must face an adventure through the dorm corridors to get to the delivery robot that can’t get up the stairs.

The drug itself is treated like a video game, with different levels of intensity and a new gimmick each time; some lasting with more confidence in the gag than others. There’s fun to be had with the silliness on display in some of these ideas, even a joke such as the pair having to restart their journey as their heads ‘explode’ every time they swear manages to squeeze a good few laughs out of something that could quickly become thin. It helps that writer-directors Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney have kept things relatively simply in terms of what they do with their narrative.

There’s a subplot for the delivery bot, which provides a good handful of chuckles in its determination to deliver, and run-ins with jocks and a plot relating more to controlling student housing the next year – which feels slightly left behind until the third act where it comes across as more of a way to start to wrap things up instead of the pizza being more of the basis. Throughout all of this it feels like the creatives are simply having fun with their ideas, and that comes across and adds to some of the humour and silliness. Yes, not everything lands and sometimes you can feel a gag really falling flat, or trying a bit too hard to get the new Superbad-style audience, but for the most part there’s a perfectly amusing time to be had.

Things are kept moving with enough pace and focus on humour that there are enough gags which do work to see things through, and something of a surprise after a tedious set of opening events. Flashbacks, visions, truth-effects and an intensely committed robot all make for plenty of amusement in the successful silliness of a film that for the most part remembers that it’s a journey for pizza.

While some moments stray away from the simple pizza collection journey, and not every gag lands, there are a good handful of laughs in the stoner silliness of Pizza Movie to see it through its mostly simple narrative.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 34 minutes, Director – Kirill Sokolov

Seeking refuge, Asia (Zazie Beetz) takes a job working in mysterious building The Virgil as a housekeeper. However, the role turns out to be a sacrifice for Satanists who she must fend against.

You can’t exactly accuse They Will Kill You of being a wholly original film. Frequent homages to Kill Bill, and Tarantino styling, can start to border on overkill as they get near to defining the overall style of the film instead of simply being a mad action-horror – before eventually reaching insane in the third act. The plot is kept relatively simple (and familiar) as Zazie Beetz’s Asia, fleeing for her life, takes a job at exclusive members’ club The Virgil as a housekeeper. However, when some of the members (including Heather Graham and Tom Felton) attack her in her room she discovers that she’s actually the latest sacrifice for a group of Satanists.

Cue a series of bloody fight sequences with a good helping of splatter as Asia tries to escape the building and take down those trying to kill her – led by Patricia Arquette’s Lily, owner of an Irish accent fitting of Wild Mountain Thyme with how much it dances around the UK rather than Ireland. Co-writer (alongside Alex Litvak) and director Kirill Sokolov puts most focus on action, dialogue scenes are just quick breathers before the next onslaught of slashes and stabbings. While sometimes the Tarantino style can feel a bit overused there’s an undeniably amusing nature to the pulpiness of the action which is made with pure popcorn entertainment in mind.

The Satanist angle of the antagonists starts to enter the ridiculous the more we see and learn about it. While sometimes it can add to the over-the-top nature of certain sequences it can also at others, especially in the final 20 minutes, it can start to feel a bit much, even if there is still some humour to be found in the you-won’t-see-it-coming finale. Occasionally it can feel as if certain aspects are present to push the run-time just that bit further, largely those that play into the more familiar beats. However, for 90-minutes there’s enough pulp in the scene-to-scene basis of the action to see things through and make for an amusing popcorn actioner.

A popcorn horror-actioner that understands exactly what tone it wants to strike. On occasion it might lean a bit too much into ridiculousness and Tarantino homage, but there’s still a decent 90-minutes of splattery entertainment here.

Cert – U, Run-time – 1 hour 50 minutes, Director – Ben Gregor

When their family moves to the countryside, kids Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy), Fran (Billie Gadson) and Joe (Phoenix Laroche) discover a magical tree, inhabited by fairies and pixies, that can take them to a new unique land each day.

There may not be a great deal of plot glimpsed throughout The Magic Faraway Tree, but it’s very much a film that takes delight in simply exploring the wonders that the titular tree can lead to. Whether it be the Land Of Goodies (a sweet-tooth utopia) or the Land Of Birthdays (a roller-skate disco party) there’s a simple joy to the lands the quite frankly terrifyingly high and structurally unsound ladder above the tree leads to each day. It’s where siblings Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy), Joe (Phoenix Laroche) and Fran (Billie Gadson) learn to appreciate the countryside, and perhaps the efforts of their parents (Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy), more.

Moving from the city to a dusty barn in the country after mum quits her job designing fridges, used against her knowledge to spy on potential customers, the kids are far from fans. Removed from tech, unamused by the locals and spending each day bored when Fran discovers the Magic Faraway Tree a new world is opened up by the fairies and pixies that live in it (including faces such as Nicola Coughlan, Nonso Anozie and Dustin Demri-Burns). However, all of this could be taken away when grandma (Jennifer Saunders) learns of the family’s move, giving a deadline for dad’s pasta sauce business to take off or she’ll take the kids with her.

Yet, it’s the supporting cast who largely act as figures in the individual lands rather than pushing forward the narrative. Mark Heap provides a humorous turn as a collector in the basement of the Land Of Birthdays, while the standout turn of the whole film is Rebecca Ferguson giving a gloriously panto-style performance as strict headteacher Dame Snap. Ferguson may only get a couple of minutes of screen-time, but for every second of them she’s an absolute joy, relishing the light villain role that I’d personally love to see more of from her. She’s the personality of her land, and much of where the film succeeds is in the personalities and wonders of the lands. There’s a charm to their design and effect which comes through also in Simon Farnaby’s screenplay.

Heart may not fully come through, although it’s there in the making, but certainly charm helps the film along and creates an amusing adventure for all ages. There’s likable humour scattered throughout, including a set of brief appearances from a number of famous faces (and voices), and the familial beats that form the core of the film. This strand might be somewhat light amongst the exploratory surroundings but they still manage to move along well without feeling overly schmaltzy. Perhaps it’s because of the lightness of the surroundings and the amusement there’s to be had from the film and the chuckles it provides, alongside the aforementioned joy of the worlds explored – which the film takes most delight in showing. Regardless, there’s still a charming and entertaining piece of family fare to be found here, and luckily much less of a climb to be immersed in these worlds than for the central characters.

A charming and amusing venture into a set of wonderous lands, The Magic Faraway Tree takes delight in its worlds while managing to form a light, not overly-schmaltzy family narrative around them. It’s good entertainment for all ages.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 45 minutes, Director – Kristoffer Borgli

After discussing the worst thing they’ve ever done with friends, Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie’s (Robert Pattinson) imminent wedding is thrown into turmoil when tensions rise from Emma’s dark confession.

Rarely have I been as tense laughing than during The Drama. Its humour can be dark but not edgy. The tensions come from those in the central relationship between Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Pattinson). After a night testing meals and wines for their wedding at the end of the week, alongside their married friends Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and Rachel (Alana Haim), the four find themselves drunkenly discussing the worst things each of them have done. Throughout each story Emma sits awkwardly, fidgeting and trying to show genuine reactions while the back of her mind is clearly worried about things reaching her. By the end of her story the tone has dramatically changed. Friendly, if awkward and occasionally regretful, humour turns to shock and anger at Emma’s past.

The tensions follow the engaged couple to their apartment, and carry on in the build-up to their wedding. Charlie wants to know more, unsure of if he sees his fiancée as the same person, while she’s reluctant to revisit this part of her past (successfully left veiled in the marketing). Instead of jumping back into humour after the reveal, writer-director Kristoffer Borgli channels the darker tones of his previous feature Dream Scenario. There’s an anxiety and tension between the central pairing, a wall put up between them that they’re both staring directly at but hoping there could be a way around it. Zendaya and Pattinson are superb, particularly the former with a layered, full-force performance.

Interactions between the pair in their joint and separate lives are thick with unease. It flows from the screen into the screening room, escalating to the point where you want to cover your eyes or stop from gasping at certain lines of dialogue. There are still plenty of chuckles to be found, captured with a slight coldness from Borgli’s Scandi roots. The cuteness of the opening meet-cute and relationship-so-far fade with a lingering darkness hanging over the film. It’s caught in the dramatic sides as flashes of who Emma could now be in Charlie’s eyes are seen in visions and flashbacks. The balance is well handled through the editing which brings through the sharpness and, as the film points out, a slight look at a wider America, although not becoming a broad, reflective film.

Pacing varies throughout from the gradual table discussion that kicks everything off and excruciating events of the wedding day itself to more frequent beats of flashes of uncertainty and regret faced by the pair. All comes together evenly in a sharply written screenplay and focus editing which forms a consistently entertaining film in both the genuine rom-com beats and the bad or awkward decisions made, largely by Charlie as he tries to cope with what he now knows, in light of the unveiling that feels as if it could break out and more could find out about it at any second whilst avoiding falling into cringe comedy. Unease and tension is rarely this funny.

Sharp, searing and tensely funny there are plenty of laughs from and amongst the unease and darkness of The Drama, helped by two stellar performances from Zendaya and Pattinson, surely two of the best we’ll see this year.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 2 hours 36 minutes, Director – Bi Gan

In a world where only a handful of people still dream, those that do are called Deliriants and hunted down to prevent their dreams from leaking out and harming the longer lives of those who don’t.

Over the years, if something has had a hazy, down-to-interpretation narrative it may well have been referred to as Lynchian. Much of what gets labelled to this simply doesn’t make sense. Where the term if less used is in the dream-like nature that the director immersed himself in so much. Famously he loved dreams and the power they could have, the sides of reality they could contrast with and show. A love of dreams and what art can say fuels writer-director Bi Gan’s Resurrection, a film deserving of the Lynchian label.

Set in a world where the majority of people have chosen not to dream to extend their lives, those who still do are known as Deliriants, with hunters sent out to kill them in case their dreams leak out and cause harm to others. Jackson Yee plays one of the last ones left, already slipping away a projector is set up in his mind by a hunter (Shu Qi) so his last moments can be lived through dreams, visions and film styles and genres of the past. Opening as a silent film with dialogue cards and plenty of texture in the production design to fit the era we move through the decades from there with just as much attention to detail. Immersing both the Deliriant in the different roles he takes on and the audience.

Chapters play out to capture the six senses of Buddhist thought (the five basic sense and mind). There’s something personal and solemn about each one. A feeling of something closing for the last time, the shutters being pulled down as if a soulful farewell to cinema. Yet, Bi avoids negativity or a downbeat tone. Instead, he celebrates dreams and the power they have. How they can transport us, how we can identify with them and not be completely mindless by having them. It’s a film about the power of dreams and film. One rich in their ability, and in just how it shows this.

The design of each location we visit, each story that unfolds is striking from both cinematography and production design. While there can be a slightly long feeling to the just over two-and-a-half hour run-time there’s a continuing emotional undercurrent to the segments and the lives the central Deliriant takes on – Yee plays each lead role in the stories while the faces of those around him change, he’s dropped into each film and scenario. Experiencing the emotions alongside the cast of the films the projector shows. Bi’s film is as much about feeling as it is dreams, the pair go hand-in-hand, those who don’t dream are blank-faced, turning in unison in the opening stages to stare at the camera in empty judgement for it continuing to look to the fading silver screen.

Some have referred to Resurrection as a love letter for film’s deathbed, David Ehrlich fittingly said on Letterboxd that if you told him this would be the last movie anyone ever made he wouldn’t be surprised. It’s a look back at cinema, at film and dreaming and a push for the power that it holds without mentioning the busyness of the modern day, the instancy of smart phones and on-demand. Because it’s not about that, it’s about cinema and the ability to feel and dream. About connecting. And Bi shows this with an occasional wooziness that doesn’t flood with sentimentality. Visions flash before the eyes of the Deliriant, a flicker of frames. We get to live in them for a little bit at a time and know for us they aren’t fading just yet.

A Lynchian set of filmic dreams, brought to life with precise production design and cinematography, and a woozy, if slightly lengthy, look at our connection with cinema and the world around us through dreams and the emotions they create and understand.

Cert – PG, Run-time – 1 hour 38 minutes, Directors – Aaron Horvith, Michael Jelenic

When Bowser’s (Jack Black) son (Benny Safdie) kidnaps space princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) to use her powers so the pair can control the universe, Mario (Chris Pratt) and co must venture into the galaxy to save Rosalina and beyond.

With her role as Princess Rosalina in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Brie Larson has shattered the record for the highest hourly rate ever paid. I can only presume this is the case because with her character having been featured heavily in trailers, and Larson a prominent face on the promotional trail, it comes as quite a surprise that she must have only spent an hour in the recording booth with around ten lines of dialogue; largely confined to the opening. For the rest of the film she’s an afterthought, or is just kept awkwardly silent as if the writers just forgot to give her lines in scenes where plenty of others speak.

Donald Glover (who apparently campaigned to be cast in his role), too, must have had an easy day at work repeating his character Yoshi’s name and otherwise uttering gibberish. Yoshi’s inclusion in this sequel to the highest grossing film of 2023 is largely a case of ‘just because’. It’s the reason for almost everything that happens here, a barrage of easter eggs and musical cues shouting to the audience ‘hey, remember this!?’ as references to the Mario game franchise, and beyond, are prioritised over a plot.

As Bowser Jr (Benny Safdie) kidnaps Rosalina in order to use her power to free his father (Jack Black) so they can control the universe Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) set out to save her and the galaxy, whilst Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) set out on their own adventure. Scenes jump back and forth between different events and characters with a barrage of visually and audibly loud sequences which provide little to engage. It’s difficult for a film this loud and chaotic to feel thoroughly boring, yet somehow I found myself struggling to stay awake as the clutter of the poster made its way into the editing.

Action scenes feel as if the film is cutting around itself so that shots switch away from the action, or sit just outside of it, as if trying to avoid properly showing it in a succession of rapid cuts. All while still trying to throw more and more references at the screen. It’s as if the creatives don’t entirely have confidence in the screenplay – hinted at in just how starry the voice cast is, relying on names over anything else. Yet, the new additions get almost nothing to do in utterly thankless roles. The same could be said for returning characters; Peach may have dialogue, but even her strand feels like a side plot largely given because she’s Peach and needs something to do.

There’s more of the same here in terms of both humour and what’s thrown at the screen and audience in the hope of entertaining, although misjudging what’s entertaining rather than just whether it will be or not. Trying to appeal to fans of the games, there’s little structure for anyone else, or even them as it will most likely work best for the youngest audience members (although at the screening I saw this at there was little laughter or response from even them – The Magic Faraway Tree had a much more engaged family audience). It’s a film that would border on overload if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s so dull. Maybe it would be a different experience if I could name which game which item or power-up comes from, but even then that’s just a reliance on audience nostalgia and participation, avoiding both a properly formed narrative and characters who actually have something to do.

Trying to branch out into the galaxy, the world seems a lot smaller when it’s limited to game references which do little more than simply act as a reference. With barely used new characters and a shambolically-assembled set of subplots and action scenes it’s a bland mess that doesn’t seem to have confidence in its own material.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 45 minutes, Director – Michael Angelo Covino

When Carey’s (Kyle Marvin) wife (Adria Arjona) asks for a divorce he learns friends Paul (Michael Angelo Corvino) and Julie’s (Dakota Johnson) marriage secret is an open relationship. However, chaos and competition erupts between all four when Carey and Julie sleep together.

Despite good reviews I was somewhat sceptical going into Splitsville. Not being overly struck by the trailers it seemed the sex comedy angle may have been likely to not particularly strike me. What a welcome surprise it is that in actuality a rom-com in the vein of the late-90s and 2000s emerges from this polyamory comedy. One led and consistently sparked by the decisions of its characters rather than situations thrown at them.

Carey (Kyle Marvin) believe that he’s happily married to Ashley (Adria Arjona) until in the middle of a car ride she asks for a divorce. Running to his married friends’ house for help he learns that the secret to Paul (Michael Angelo Corvino) and Julie’s (Dakota Johnson) happy marriage is that they’re in an open relationship. However, when Carey and Julie sleep together tensions erupt leading to scraps and competition between all four characters as open relationships are tested and explored.

A wave of guests, some staying much longer than others, come in and our of Carey and Ashley’s home. A handful of scenes capture the busy chaos of the personalities, and bodies, seemingly sent to test Carey as he’s busy falling more into a relationship with Julie. Leaning into the comedy of these characters, without bringing out a sense of wackiness, and the situation they’re all a part of – has Ashley broken up with them yet, or are they on the schedule to be broken up with next week?

Corvino and Marvin’s screenplay (Corvino also acts as director) is smart and filled with plenty of chuckles as it relaxes into the swing of its shaken relationship story. Putting the characters and their responses at the core of that story and seeing the developments all the way through to the end – including an amusing turn from Nicholas Braun as a mentalist struggling at a children’s birthday party. In this way, it feels as if things infrequently step into cheap gags just for the sake of a laugh, it wouldn’t fit in with the surroundings, including a subplot about Paul and Julie’s young son Russ (Simon Webster) starting to act out, a running gag involves him having a tendency to steal jet-skis.

There’s a sparky rom-com in Splitsville, the tagline runs “an unromantic comedy” which perhaps seems more fitting than calling it an anti-rom-com. However, there’s still a genuine feeling to the relationships at hand as their tested from all angles with increasingly relaxed attitudes which just add to the tensions in the quartet’s separate and joint relationships with each other. A solid dose of modern-angled comedy in a familiar rom-com vein, and a welcome surprise, too.

A modern-angled rom-com in a 90s-2000s vein, Splitsville is a smart, funny, character-led look at the chaos the growing tensions in the central relationships raises.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 31 minutes, Director – Vicky Jewson

After breaking down in the woods on the way to a competition, a group of ballet dancers are taken into an inn run by a criminal enterprise, from which there may be no way out.

It would be easy to find issue with Pretty Lethal’s ballet actioner. It is with almost any slice of pure genre entertainment. But, what’s the point in doing so when the aim is to simply have a good time, and one is certainly had in this bloody slice of B-movie genre schlock.

From the moment that creates the sudden turn in the opening few minutes to the title card and beyond there’s a string of giggle-inducing thrills throughout as a group of young American ballet dancers find themselves stranded in the Hungarian woods after breaking down on the way to a competition. Taking refuge in a gothic inn, which seems like more of a nightclub mixed with a hotel, one gunshot leads to a fight for escape and survival (and Uma Thurman doing an accent).

There’s a consistently entertaining energy to the action led by the characters, at times scattered around the building in very different circumstances. While Millicent Simmonds casually eats snacks from behind a desk watching her friends on CCTV, having flirted with one of the mob members trapping the group, the likes of Avantika and Maddie Ziegler (pitched as the lead of the troupe) are amusingly battling giving away information with one under the influence of a truth drug.

Director Vicky Jewson leans into an overplayed style that tries to turn multiple dials up for a blown out entertainment flick. Amounting to plenty of giggles from the characters as they fight or try to get out of various situations and some flinch-inducing swipes and stabs when it comes to the action, certainly wearing a blood-coated 15 rating with pride. It all builds up to a delirious dance fight which could well, and perhaps should, act as the grand finale, or close to it. It certainly feels aimed as such, despite there being 20 more minutes of the run-time left. 20 minutes which can’t quite reach the heights of what has come before, especially right before, and feels as if it just doesn’t have the same energy, and is almost somewhat coasting. A shame for a film that has been riding rather high on energy and pure enjoyment for so long, it almost just seems to run out of steam, tired out from its grand highlight dance fight whilst trying to figure out how to wrap up its unresolved points in the moment.

But, for genre thrills, and spills, there’s plenty to enjoy within what comes beforehand in Pretty Lethal. It’s a welcome surprise that may not quite stick the landing, but has a good number of chuckles and gleeful splatter in an action film that’s aware of itself. It’s exactly what you’d hope for from a film about ballet dances facing the mob. Great fun.

While it might not quite stick the landing, Pretty Lethal is an entertaining, splattery surprise with plenty of giggles along the way. An energetic slice of joyous genre schlock.

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 30 minutes, Director – Polly Findlay

An aging couple (Lesley Manville, Ciarán Hinds) take a trip to Amsterdam which causes them to confront personal feelings and past tragedies in their relationship.

A perfect example of a drama lifted by its leading performances, Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds are the heart of Midwinter Break, even if it, like those of their characters, isn’t entirely beating. They play long-married couple Stella and Gerry. Over an opening which sees a Christmas where there’s perhaps more fondness than love, but still some spark present between them, Stella gifts a holiday for the couple to Amsterdam. However, there may be more to the trip for her than just a present, stemming back to a tragedy faced decades ago during The Troubles – which forced the couple to move from Belfast to Scotland.

While we see details of the tragedy acting as the film’s opening there’s still an air of mystery around Stella’s intents in Amsterdam. There appears to be more behind her want to see the various Catholic churches in the city than just her religious beliefs, while Gerry tags along with a slightly disinterested view with his own lack of belief. Yet, the mystery that plays out doesn’t have a great deal of actual mystery. Everything that we see in Midwinter Break is on the surface of both the characters and narrative. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and Manville and Hinds both give, as you’d expect, solid performances which hold the film up.

Without them then there may be a faltering nature to things, and a slight blandness even at just 90-minutes. However, the pair, and indeed the feature debut direction of Polly Findlay lean into the theatrical, without overdoing things and still bearing in mind this is a film. It helps that Findlay comes from a theatrical background, having directed productions for the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company, and appears to have worked closely with her lead actors in this film in forming their characters and the relationship rooted in growing distance and lingering tragedy.

Emotions come to the fore, particularly in the monologues of the final stages, and there are some nice touches in the silences and failed interactions that crop up two. Gerry tries to start conversations, or make light after a particularly heavy conversation, especially for him on the receiving end, as his wife continues on her way and largely ignores him. There may not quite be punches throughout, however much the film may want them – those final monologues seem more like a back-and-forth of ideas trying to individually lead towards wrapping up than something properly fluid. Yet, there’s still an overall likability to things. A slight gentleness that sees the events pan out over a largely contained hour-and-a-half with help from two strong performances who hold the film up and see it through with an authenticity in the characters and their relationship, even if not entirely a connection with their dramas.

Manville and Hinds deliver expectedly strong performances which lift up Midwinter Break, allowing for interest in its on-the-surface drama if not always emotion.