Cynthia Erivo delivers a blazingly fierce central performance in the screen adaptation of Suzie Miller’s stage hit Prima Facie, leading a varied slate of cinema releases evaluated by critics.
This week’s cinematic offerings range from deeply personal documentaries and high-stakes historical dramas to crime thrillers and classic re-releases, presenting audiences with a stark mix of intense emotional terrain and socially charged narratives.
Essential Release Verdicts
- Prima Facie: Anchored by Cynthia Erivo’s commanding portrayal of a defense lawyer whose career is upended by personal experience.
- Ebenezer: Features Johnny Depp taking on the classic miser role in a new version of the Charles Dickens holiday tale.
- How to Rob a Bank: Stars Nicholas Hoult and Anna Sawai in an anti-capitalist caper that struggles to maintain momentum across a two-hour runtime.
The Power of Stage and Screen Adaptations
Among the major new entries, Prima Facie brings Suzie Miller’s international stage hit to the screen. The film stars Cynthia Erivo as a lawyer whose career defending rape suspects is undermined by experience, alongside Daniel Ings.
“A blazingly fierce, effortlessly commanding central performance from Erivo, like something from classical drama, powers the movie,” said Peter Bradshaw, reviewing the film.
Meanwhile, classic literature receives another adaptation in Ebenezer, which stars Johnny Depp as the celebrated miser who finds redemption in a new version of the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, featuring Sam Claflin and Daisy Ridley.
“As Scrooge, Depp is in fact rather good; theatrically bad-tempered and petulant and, as with his Jack Sparrow, I suspect Depp’s comedy timing and sonorous British accent might have been learned from his old Fast Show comrade Paul Whitehouse,” Bradshaw said.
Documentary Portraits and Personal Journeys
Non-fiction releases this week offer intimate examinations of family, resilience, and historical struggle. Vincent Munier takes his father and son into the Vosges forest in France for an emotional study of human-animal interaction in Human Nature.
“A subtle, tender work that evokes the need to pass on interest and engagement in the natural world to younger generations, but which manages to avoid feeling too preachy or sanctimonious,” said Leslie Felperin.
In another deeply personal project, David Wilkinson’s compassionate film 1 in 2 deals with his own bowel cancer treatment, questioning why younger demographics face rising diagnoses.
“This is a sobering but very compassionate, humorous, generous film, and one that shows how Wilkinson’s highly personal and unselfconsciously confessional style has grown into something very watchable and distinctive,” Bradshaw said.
Refugee Soraya Akhlaghi documents her perilous flight from Iran and precarious new life over five years on her phone in Flight of Invention, reassembled with imaginative animations.
“A born creator, Akhlaghi channels her struggles and despair into florid, intense drawings,” said Phuong Le.
Historical Narratives Explore Black Special Ops and Tennis History
Historical and geopolitical narratives also anchor the current slate. Soul Patrol details the US army’s first Black special ops team at work in Vietnam, highlighting their bravery under fire and unrelenting bigotry.
“The title of course refers to the soul music that became anthemic to these soldiers, but also, with grim irony, to their sense that their souls had died in the jungle, fighting people they felt were just like them,” Bradshaw observed.
On the athletic front, Ferocious explores the career of tennis ace Billie Jean King, who fought throughout her career for respect and equal prize money in the women’s game.
“King was a ferocious force in women’s tennis from the 60s onwards and a vehement but polite advocate for equal rights on prize money,” Bradshaw said.
| Film Title | Genre / Focus | Key Talent | Critic Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prima Facie | Legal Drama | Cynthia Erivo, Daniel Ings | Commanding central performance |
| Ebenezer | Holiday Adaptation | Johnny Depp, Sam Claflin, Daisy Ridley | Theatrically effective and petulant |
| How to Rob a Bank | Action Caper | Nicholas Hoult, Anna Sawai, Pete Davidson | Strangely sluggish and flat |
| Fjord | Child Abuse Drama | Renate Reinsve, Sebastian Stan | Disquieting, ambiguous truth |
Rounding out the fictional narratives, Chen Sicheng’s cop thriller Traces of Justice follows forensic scientist Cui Daozhi—known as the “Chinese Sherlock Holmes”—across 30 years of investigations.
The film “offers a disarming mix of propaganda, copaganda and gripping narrative,” according to Mike McCahill’s review.
Conversely, the anti-capitalist caper How to Rob a Bank, starring Nicholas Hoult, Anna Sawai, and Pete Davidson, met with a cooler reception from reviewers.
“For a film that’s supposed to enrage and excite and energise, it’s all strangely, boringly flat and with a runtime stretching past two hours, surprisingly sluggish too,” Benjamin Lee said.
