The Invite (15)
Directed by Olivia Wilde
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

AN Oscar Wilde quote: “One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry” sets the cynical tone for this marital comedy drama and its hilarious yet biting examination of a long-term marriage falling apart. 

Middle-class Joe (Seth Rogen), a music professor and failed rocker, and his wife Angela (Olivia Wilde) prepare for a dinner party with their enigmatic and sexy upstairs neighbours Hawk (Edward Norton) and Pina (Penelope Cruz). Joe wants to confront them about their very loud sex, but the evening takes a very unexpected turn. 

Directed by actor turned filmmaker Wilde, it is set in Joe and Angela’s lavish flat and  feels almost theatrical at times. But Wilde keeps the action flowing. 

Razor sharp, yet laugh out loud funny, it nails this middle-aged couple who fight constantly and take each other for granted unlike their guests. That pair’s onscreen chemistry is sizzling and off the charts: Hawk, a retired firefighter with a rug obsession, is very zen and open to change, and Pina, a psychotherapist and sex therapist. She is charming, and beautiful, and puts Joe in his place when he quips about his wife being perimenopausal. 

The Invite is a stunning four hander, beautifully crafted by Wilde. You will be crying with laughter, cringing and then terribly tense all within the same scene, heightened by a cracking sound score. 

Ending on a poignant and thought provoking note this sexy and sophisticated farce is a must see. 
MD
In cinemas July 3

My Father’s Island (15)
Directed by Vladimir de Fontenay
⭑⭑☆☆☆

TEENAGER Roy (Woody Norman) spends a year on a remote Norwegian island with his estranged father, Tom (Swann Arlaud). When winter begins to bite, adventure and emotional bonding are supplanted by a battle to stay alive. 

Through Roy and Tom’s shifting relationship, the film examines humanity’s bond with nature, the conflict of trust and credulity, notions of masculinity, and the harm parents cause by living through their children.

Credible plot twists add thematic depth and change perceptions – think of Les Diaboliques and The Usual Suspects, but sadly, an extravagant and logically creaky revelation scuppers the narrative of My Father’s Island. Themes and character dynamics are erased and coherence sacrificed.

Vladimir de Fontenay’s intriguing blend of genres (psychological thriller, coming-of-age and wilderness survival) inspires intense central performances; while cinematographer Amine Berrada deftly captures the beauty and menace of the landscape. 

All of which is undermined by a bizarre and futile narrative curveball.
AH
In cinemas July 3

Nirvanna: the Band, the Show, the Movie
Directed by Matt Johnson
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

BACK TO THE FUTURE meets Spinal Tap in this delightful, extremely Canadian part-improvised slacker comedy.

Matt Johnson and Jay McCarroll are Nirvanna: The Band, a no-hoper duo who have wasted 17 years of their lives trying to get a gig at the Toronto Rivoli. Johnson, the irrepressible deluded fool to McCarroll’s hangdog, slightly less deluded fool, suggests skydiving off the CN Tower into a neighbouring baseball stadium as one last attempt at securing the gig, which is either a very clever critique of eye-catching marketing over talent, or a realisation that the film needed some visual sparkle.

Either way, that they pull it off is staggering. The CN Tower guards’ faces are blanked out to hide their shame. Such try-anything spirit is this movie in microcosm: what unfolds is a fast-paced, funny, and oddly moving take on friendship, ambition, and the curse of getting everything you ever wanted.
JW
In cinemas July 3

Oh My Goodness! (12A)
Directed by Laurent Tirard
⭑⭑⭑☆☆

A LIGHTWEIGHT but charming French comedy to remind us that joy and success come via the collective — in this case in the form of a tiny group of rural nuns in desperate need of monies to help their local old folk’s centre. Perhaps entering the region’s upcoming cycle race might be the miracle they need?

Occasionally reliant on the long-since-faded shock value of seeing religious authority figures acting all too human, this underdog tale passes by pleasantly, and occasionally amusingly.

Mother superior Veronique (Valerie Bonneton) is our protagonist, her relationship with a much more competent cycling nun, head of a rival convent, the backbone of our story. But it’s the peloton of supporting sisters who get the most laughs: an ancient, permanently injured nun on a vow of silence, armed with a little whiteboard (which at one point simply reads, “arrrrrgh!”), is the most satisfying of these comic foils, and serious questions about fading communities linger behind the silliness and the slapstick.
JW
In select cinemas July 3