Film of the week: Frozen II

Cert: PG; Now showing

Frozen II

Cynthia Erivo as Minty

thumbnail: Frozen II
thumbnail: Cynthia Erivo as Minty

Although for some parents it might be hard to imagine a world without Frozen, it is actually only six years since Elsa and Anna bid us all to Let It Go, although technically that was just Elsa. It was a well-deserved huge hit and a hard act to follow but follow it they have.

It's not quite as good as the original but is still a great piece of children's cinema.

The film opens with a flashback to the sisters' early childhood and a song their mother Queen Iduna (Evan Rachel Wood) used to sing to them. The main part of the film goes forward to a time three years after the events of the sisters' first outing. Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel) are peacefully ensconced in Arendelle. Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) is trying to work out a way to propose to Anna, and Elsa is distracted by a strange calling which she hears - but at first does not want to hear - from the North. However, obey the calling she must and the sisters, Kristoff, his reindeer Sven and everyone's favourite snowman Olaf (Josh Gad) set off on a new adventure.

The girls, by the way, while in princess attire, also have trousers on under their skirts, the first Disney princesses to do so since Mulan and Jasmine in Aladdin.

They're following the voice towards the Enchanted Forest where they find some unsettling, reparation-style truths about their own history. They also discover the origin of Elsa's powers.

And along the way, they face plenty of personal challenges and heroic acts. The basic plot is simple although it can feel a little convoluted with details, but ultimately, these don't affect enjoyment of the film.

It is once again an endearing story about family and love with a dash of the importance of truth and justice and the importance of nature too. Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee direct again, Lee is also one of the team of writers and the songwriting team of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez is once again in charge of delivering the tunes.

The original was always going to be a hard act to follow, and although it doesn't quite reach the heights, this sequel should give fans, old and new, a lot of joy.

★★★★ Aine O'Connor

A Dog Called Money

Cert: 15A; Selected cinemas.

PJ Harvey's transformation from edgy rock siren to art world elite has seen her become increasingly political as well, with 2011's all-conquering Let England Shake referencing conflicts historical and contemporary.

In the aftermath of that record, Harvey accompanied photographer and filmmaker Seamus Murphy (of these shores) on excursions to Afghanistan, Kosovo and Washington DC to document inequality and the scars of war.

A Dog Called Money is the feature film part of the collaboration, comprising footage from those trips as well as of the studio recording (itself undertaken as a public art installation via one-way glass) of Harvey's album The Hope Six Demolition Project. As a peek inside the artistic process, Murphy's film succeeds: it's the type of demystification that only serves to make the endeavour more remarkable. There is much here for Harvey fans too. Despite looking as if plucked from a Tim Burton film, she comes across as a gently determined ringleader with an active funny bone.

★★★★ Hilary A White

La Belle Epoque

Cert: 15A; Now showing 

If you're looking for a very French, clever, funny and emotionally engaging cinematic treat, Nicolas Bedos's La Belle Epoque is the very thing.

Victor (Daniel Auteuil) is a sixty-something cartoonist who is resigned, almost depressed, and feeling his age. His wife Marianne (Fanny Ardant) refuses point-blank to give in to time or age, and Victor just gets on her nerves, so their marriage ends in a fight. Their son's friend Antoine (Guillaume Canet) runs a historical re-enactment company, the star of which is his sometimes lover Margot (Doria Tillier).

When Victor is gifted a session, he chooses to re-enact his own history, May 16, 1974, a time "when it isn't horrible being me". The two difficult love stories collide with all kinds of implications and realisations. It's a very complete, satisfying and enjoyable film with beautifully observed and written roles brought to extra life by some wonderful performances.

★★★★★ Aine O'Connor

Harriet

Cert: 12A; Now showing

Cynthia Erivo as Minty

There are more than a few interesting elements in director and co-writer Kasi Lemmons's historical biography of anti-slavery fighter Harriet Tubman.

Minty (Cynthia Erivo, above) is a slave in Maryland in 1849. She escapes her nasty master Gideon (Joe Alwyn), flees to Philadelphia where slavery is illegal and, with the 'free name' of Harriet Tubman, she establishes herself with the help of William Still (Leslie Odom Jr) and Marie Buchanon (Janelle Monae). But her own freedom is not enough and Harriet begins to conduct raids to free slaves. It's told as a traditional biography but there is an element of the superhero about it too. The story itself is very much worth telling but unusually it does not overly focus on the physical cruelty of slavery which is understood rather than depicted.

This means it can reach a broader audience. It also means that the focus is more on the emotional and moral barbarity behind owning other humans. It's very effective.

★★★★ Aine O'Connor

Them That Follow

Cert: 15A; Now showing 

Into the backwoods of the Appalachians we go for this redneck drama about fundamentalist fuddy-duddies clashing with burgeoning adulthood under the eyes of God.

The roads are muddy, the leaves are brown, and a remote Pentecostal community has embraced the obscure practice of snake handling in its worship.

The snakes are caught each season and then used to morally vet parishioners from the altar. You get bitten, and if you've been a naughty sinner, you don't survive.

In this heavily cloistered environment dwells Mara (Alice Englert), the teenage daughter of the local pastor (Walton Goggins).

Mara has come of age and is due to be betrothed to a local son.

The only problem is that she has "transgressed" with a different boy and must carry the secret through the scrutiny of this fiercely puritanical community.

While comprising a fine cast - one bolstered considerably by the presence of the brilliant Olivia Colman and Booksmart's breakout star Kaitlyn Dever - this feature debut by the writer-director team of Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage never quite seems to fully catch fire, perhaps a symptom of a trope-heavy screenplay that offers up little in the way of colour, insight or invention.

★★★ Hilary A White