more news coming up. cheerio. hello, and a very warm welcome again to the film review on bbc news. to take us through this week's cinema releases, mark kermode again. hi, mark. hello. we are fully into award season... yes! ..as you can tell by the kind of big beasts that are coming into the cinema. so, we have belfast, which is the new film by kenneth branagh. we have nightmare alley, which is the new film by guillermo del toro. and we have ajournal forjordan, which is the new film by denzel washington. so, belfast. yeah. kenneth branagh grew up in belfast. he did. some people might not realise. and this is very much inspired by his childhood. it is the story of a nine—year—old boy in �*60s belfast whose main worry is he's fallen in love with somebody at school and he doesn't know how to talk to her and he needs to take advice on the subject, and he takes advice largely from his grandmother and grandfather, played by ciaran hinds and damejudi dench. here's a beautiful clip from belfast. the wee girl is still showing some interest, yeah? she looks at me sometimes, but we're not allowed to talki in the class, so i . can't say anything. and then, when we goi out to the playground, she always goes off| with the other girls. anyways, i think she i loves that other fella. ah, you don't know that for sure. women are very mysterious! and women can smash your face in two, mister! your granny has become less mysterious over the years. so, you really like her? when i grow up, i want to marry her. yeah, sounds like you really like her. you know, she's not only at school. you could see where she lives maybe. it's reynolds drive, _ four houses in from the right — the one with the wonky eight. well, you've done your research. i pass it every day on the way home. i try to look in, - but she never sees me. she's always doing - her bloody homework! if she were a wee bit| more stupid like me, we'd be sitting together by now. ah, pity beyond all telling is head and the heart of love. ah, he's full of pretty answers, that one! come on, it's time to go. we don't want your mummy shouting at me because you're late. cheerio, son! cheerio! aw! now, everyone — everyone in my ear, everyone who's listening to that — they're all chuckling in a really lovely way. none of us have seen it, and we all already want to see it, i think. it's lovely. and then, of course, what happens is that with the rise of the troubles, there are, you know, barricades and divisions and the world around him starts to change. and so, here's the thing with the film — on the one hand, it's like, you know, john boorman�*s hope and glory is being referenced here, because it's like a child's—eye view of conflict. yep. it also has something of alfonso cuaron�*s roma — which, of course, was a big success at the oscars. it's shot in black and white, branagh said, because he remembers his past in black and white, but also because black and white enables you to do infinite shades of grey in terms of the political turmoil. i also think it's important to acknowledge that there is a lot of terence davis in this — particularly in the fact that when he — the kid goes to the cinema and the cinema is suddenly in colour, chitty chitty bang bang is suddenly in colour, and that thing about the rapture of going to the cinema when you're young is something that, really, terence davis kind of pioneered and i think that branagh has taken a leaf out of his book. i think this is a very charming, engaging — to some extent slightly schmaltzy, but, hey — i think it hits that sweet spot between the film that pleases the critics and the film that absolutely pleases the crowds. i think it's got a really strong shot at being — i told you this before — i think it's the best picture contender. i mean, i — it would not surprise me at all if this walked off with the top prize at the oscars because it's kind of got that written all over it. it's made with real love and heart, and yeah, there are a couple of things that are a little bit hokey about it and it's slightly sentimentalised, but it's a childhood view — it's a memoir about childhood. it's fiction, but it's clearly inspired by real life, and as you said, from watching that clip, if that clip didn't sell you the movie, nothing well, frankly. yes! it sounds — it sounds delightful. and it's funny because british people, ithink, think of kenneth branagh still as a classical stage actor, but actually, he has directed a lot of films, and this is a... 0h, he's a — he's a very accomplished film—maker. i will still fly the flag for frankenstein, which is much derided, and i think that is a very, very underrated film. so, second film this week. total change of gear. nightmare alley — new film by guillermo del toro who, obviously, shape of water, but this actually dates back to when he was making cronos, which was like a vampire movie. and this is based on a novel from the �*aos that was first filmed in 1947 — a kind of a film noir. story is bradley cooper is a natural born con man. he's running away from his past. he takes up with a carnival. he learns the tricks of mentalism — like a coded way in which you can do an act that makes you look like a mind reader. first half of the film takes place in a carnival, the second half takes place in the city, where he develops an act as the great stanton — the great mind reader. and then, his path crosses with cate blanchett, who is a psychoanalyst, and he's kind of offered the opportunity to sell his soul, which hejumps at. what i love about this is — well, three things. firstly, i love guillermo del toro's films anyway, because he's a properfilm—maker. he make films that — they — he create worlds. you know, the world is artificial, but it's also got its feet on the ground. the whole thing is completely immersive. second thing is, yes, this is a neo noir, but it's — it owes a lot to horror, it owes a lot to tod browning's freaks from the 1930s. it's a real sort of cinematic treat. and the other thing is it has the darkest ending of any film in recent memory, and i love the fact that it doesn't bottle out. i love the fact that it's — the story has got an arc to it and it goes from here to the — and the place that it's going to is inevitable and it does not look away from it. it's real cinema, it's transportive. i thought it was great. i know you're not a horrorfan, so i'm going to say to you it's a film noir, it's a neo noir, it's not a horrorfilm, 0k? i am intrigued, most definitely. i think you'll like it. i — i sort of enjoyed the shape of water, which won the oscar, didn't it? yeah, absolutely. but in a slightly odd way, perhaps without understanding it, but i — but i enjoyed it. it's, you know... visually, it was extraordinary, and i'm getting the sense that this is, too. shape of water is a creature from the black lagoon meets splash. this is nightmare alley, as re—envisioned as a horrorfilm, but it's not a horror film. 0k! 0k. i get it, i get it! ajournalforjordan. ajournalforjordan — again, this couldn't be more different. directed by denzel washington, true story about first sergeant charles monroe king, who, while he was in iraq, kept a diary for his son of home truths and life lessons. chante adams and michael bjordan are the journalist and soldier who are the parents tojordan. here's a clip. ah, there we go! little head. ispy... and... ..heartbeat. dana, thank you. i love you. i love you, too. you guys want to know the sex? both: yes! chuckles. it's a boy. i knew it! yes, it's a boy! ah, what's up, little fella? how you doin'? it's papa! i chuckles. i knew it was a boy, i knew it! so, here's the thing — i mean, it feels, to some extent, like a tv movie. on the good side, it is good to see a film in which male heroism is portrayed as being caring and being sensitive and teaching lessons about respecting yourself, respecting your heritage, respecting women particularly, and its messages are all very positive. it does, however, feel — it's a little bit kind of ordinary. it has a strange time structure, flashing backwards and forwards, which i kind of thought complicated rather than compressed the narrative. and it's — it's not a brilliantly made film, but it is a film whose heart is in the right place and i do confess, as i get older, you know, you see a film in which — which is so clearly — look, these are good messages, these are strong messages, these are the kinds of things that people — i can imagine somebody, in the right frame of mind, somebody really taking it to heart. i thought it was ok. it is more of a tv movie than a film. ok. but its heart in the right place. 0k. and your best out this week is still... licorice pizza. and you still don't like it? well, i don't love it! i don't love it. i cannot tell you how many frank exchanges i have had in the newsroom in the last week about licorice pizza. yeah... and there's a divide out there. oh, it's very... there's a real divide. it has proved surprisingly divisive — much more so than i thought it was going to — but, hey, you know, in a way, that's what cinema is meant to do. it is meant to divide opinion. and i still love the two central performances, and we're looking at them now. alana haim isjust great. i mean, and she — you know, neither of them have starred in a movie before and, i don't know, it feels natural and funny and — i mean, — i — ijust found it enchanting. i know people who absolutely loathe it! so, it's, you know, it is kind of interesting the way it's dividing audiences but, you know, it's a paul thomas anderson film and like punch drunk love, his films are not for everyone. and i'm intrigued by your choice of dvd this week. yeah — well, this is streaming. i don't know it, but i'm interested. so, not dvd — streaming. streaming, streaming. ok, so but it is also in cinemas, but mainly streaming. so, mass, which is on sky cinema — but is also in some cinemas. this is a forehander about two sets of parents meeting in a room in a church in the wake of the tragedy that has engulfed them and they are having the meeting in order to attempt to find some kind of reconciliation. and it's jason isaacs, martha plimpton, reed birney, ann dowd — really, really great actors. fran krantz is the writer—director — debut feature. i thought it was astonishingly good. i saw it a year ago when it played at sundance, which was the virtual festival, and it's kind of now got lost in all the awards. but it's an ensemble cast like you've never seen before, um... and i looked at it and wondered whether it had started life as a play, actually, because a couple of the american actors are real, classic stage actors — martha plimpton among them. yeah, yeah — i mean, great performances — no, it didn't. and weirdly, enough, it is actually very cinematic when you consider that it is a film about four people in a room, talking. the other thing to say is the subject matter that it's dealing with may be very, very dark and very, very difficult but it is a — it is not a film about despair, it is a film about hope, and that makes it quite a hard film to sell because it is dealing with some very, very dark subject matter — school shootings and, you know, tragedies like that — but the performances are brilliant — i mean, absolutely brilliant — and i saw it, knowing nothing about it other than a friend of mine had said, "jason isaacs is in the best film i've seen in ages" and it's — i would really hope if you get a chance to see it in a cinema, go and see it in a cinema. otherwise, it is on sky cinema. but however you see it, see it, because it is one of the most powerful films i've seen in a good many years. and it's funny how something can get lost, actually, maybe in that covid way, things have been so different and... it has been such a strange time for cinema and, stuff opening on the small screen rather than the big screen and then simultaneously. and also, around awards season — as you can telljust in this one show — we've had nightmare alley, we've had belfast, all of these things suddenly backing up whereas last week, it was a very different — was a very different picture. so, i think during awards season, things do get lost in the shuffle. please, don't miss out on mass. 0k. it is so worth your time. i'd love to know what you think of it. i'm looking forward to that, despite — yeah, really looking forward to that, streaming and cinemas. thank you very much, mark. thank you. it's a cracking week. thank you. see you next time and enjoy your cinema—going, whatever you choose to see. see you very soon. bye—bye. hello. sunshine at a premium again for part two of the weekend. a mild start in scotland and northern ireland, a hint of frost across the coldest parts. we've had a few clear spells in wales and england to begin with, maybe a few mist and fog patches reluctant to clear. parts of wales, southwest england, a few spots in northern ireland, northeast scotland could well see a few sunny spells, perhaps a few brighter breaks elsewhere. a breezier day in northern england and northern ireland, quite windy in northwest scotland. gales developing in the west, although not quite as mild as saturday. rain moving into northern scotland on monday night, though the wind is going to be easing. the chance of a touch of frost again through parts of wales and england with any clear spells. a few mist and fog patches are possible. on monday, we'll see a bit of rain just edging a little further south through scotland, especially towards the north and west. could see some reaching into northern ireland. just to the south of this system, a few sunny spells. the further south you are, a good deal of cloud. highs of around 6—9 celsius. that's your forecast. this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. britain accuses russia of planning to install a pro—kremlin leader in ukraine, as fears of an invasion grow. foreign aid is being distributed in tonga, with the un saying more than 80 percent of the population has been affected by last weekend's volcanic eruption and tsunami. two years to the day since china forced the city of wuhan and its 10 million citizens into lockdown, we have a special report on how beijing is containing the virus. there does appear to be widespread support for the government policy on covid because you get this, it looks quite normal, but nobody