FINNISH WAR MOVIE IS A BLOODY GREAT SUCCESS FILM Once on this Island review: Gorgeous show, problematic story

BY ADAM BLOODWORTH

There’s nothing that signals the start of summer so brightly as the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, which has kicked off its 2023 season with an adaptation of the musical Once on this Island. It’s a beautiful production, with some brilliantly catchy songs, but it’s hard to ignore that the story carries an outdated message that numbs the impact of the performances.

Once on this Island is the nineties stage adaptation of Rosa Guy’s 1985 novel My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl. It’s the story of an underprivileged Caribbean girl called Ti Moune, who helps a wealthy man called Daniel, the son of a Colonial French invader who came to the Caribbean in the 19th century. He takes her into his gated mansion and the two get together, until societal barriers get in their way.

It’s important to acknowledge that

I’m a white critic writing about the black experience of colonised Caribbean islands, but for me, the play ends up stranding Ti Moune narratively, her character becoming a sad symbol of the oppression and injustice of colonialism. She isn’t given a reprieve, and the story ties up her tale of vengeance against the FrenchCaribbean aristocracy in a way that feels like it would instigate trauma for her rather than help her move through the injustices.

I can’t help but feel more progressive stories that centralise the black experience, rather than its place within white colonial history, could be given such important stages. But nevertheless, it’s tremendously done. The songs slap, including One Small Girl and Waiting for Life, the boldly minimal collection of props leaving the actors to fill the stage, which they do confidently. Gabrielle Brooks is charming and heart-breaking as Ti Moune; Stephenson Ardern-Sodje ripe with a toxic mix of privilege and charisma as Daniel.

It’s a brilliant watch, but one that leaves you pondering.

Taxi Driver writer Paul Schrader returns with Master Gardener, another simmering drama starring Joel Egerton

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MASTER GARDENER

DIR. PAUL SCHRADER

BY VICTORIA LUXFORD

Paul Schrader, the writer of Martin Scorsese classics Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, has had a spotty history as a director. For every American Gigolo or Affliction there have been several The Canyons or Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcists.

This seemed to be behind him following the success of 2017’s nail-biting First Reformed and 2021’s divisive The Card Counter. He returns with what feels like the latest in a thematic trilogy, Master Gardener.

Joel Egerton plays Narvel Roth, a groundskeeper for the estate of wealthy Southern widower Norma Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver). Obsessed by the precision and order of horticulture, his routine is disrupted when Haverhill asks him to take on her great niece Mata (Quintessa Swindell) as his apprentice.

Schrader once again tells the story of a quiet man desperately suppressing his past.

That’s no bad thing, given that this formula has produced some great cinema, but the lack of deviation is beginning to feel restrictive. Bringing the subject of race into the story is also tricky. Maya is Black, and Narvel has past links with a hate group, although this conflict is brought in for tension rather than social discourse, which seems like a shame given the religious dialogue that rages in First Reformed.

Nevertheless, it’s a tale bedded in fine dialogue, with a cast who all bring their best to the screen. With slicked back hair and a monotone voice, Egerton is the latest in Schrader’s long line of intriguing male leads. He works wonderfully with Weaver, who thrives in a different type of role, while Swindell ensures there’s a simmering chemistry that flies in the face of the discomfort generated by the difference between her and Egerton’s age.

Master Gardener is unlikely to be as fondly remembered as its immediate predecessors, but like Narvel himself it maintains the high standard expected of it.

Unmissable Sisu

DIR. JALMARI HELANDER

BY VICTORIA LUXFORD

Abig success on its premiere at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, indie war movie Sisu arrives in cinemas with a lot of hype. Set in Finnish Lapland (with dialogue in English), the film is set towards the end of World War 2.

A company of retreating Nazi soldiers cross paths with an unassuming old prospector carrying a lot of gold. When they try to take it, violence ensues, and they find themselves in a battle for survival when that old man turns out to be former commando Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila), a ruthless survivalist nicknamed “The Immortal”.

The film wears its influence on its sleeve proudly. The film is divided into Quentin Tarantino-like chapters (despite the film being barely ninety minutes), and there are similarities to First Blood, with the director Jalmari Helander repeatedly claiming the Rambo classic was an inspiration.

Despite all of this, it feels fresh and exciting. The simplicity of the storytelling makes for a thrilling chase that will delight fans of Sylvester Stallone’s war franchise, and films like John Wick. There’s a glee with which Helander zooms in on the in- jury detail, with body parts flying all over the Finnish landscape. It’s made palatable with such simple morality: it’s not hard to root for an old man and his dog fighting literal Nazis. Despite barely opening his mouth, lead Tommila tells a whole film’s worth of backstory with his eyes. Covered in blood and scars, he’s the kind of grizzled, mythical figure that makes you believe he can survive the many assaults he endures. On the other side, Aksel Hennie is superb as the Nazi general on his tail. A great character actor in films like Headhunters and The Martian, with a bigger platform he shines as the leader of a cartoonish group of villains, aware the war is lost and intent on taking what he can get.

The gory action and threadbare characterisation won’t be for everyone, but Sisu does what it sets out to do. This One-Man Army spectacular is sure to become a cult hit, and a sequel wouldn’t be unwelcome either.