30 ARTS
THE WEEK 21 March 2020Film
Misbehaviourtransportsusbackto1 97 0,andthe
MissWorldcontestthatwasdisruptedbyfurious
women’slibbers,saidDeborahRossinTheSpectator.
KeiraKnightleyandJessieBuckleyarethefirebrands
lobbingflourbombs,andGregKinnearplaysBob
Hope –theageingchauvinistcomperingthepageant.
Framedasacomedydrama,it’sallquitefunand
entertaining.It’salsofascinatingtoberemindedof
whatanastonishingeventMissWorldwas,withits
globalaudienceof 100 millionandwomenwearing
numbereddiscsontheirwrists.Butthekeypoint
aboutthe 1970 contestwasthatforthefirsttime,it
waswonbyablackwoman–JenniferHosten,whowasMissGrenada(GuguMbatha-Raw).Ifthe
comedyhastonaluncertainty,that’sbecausetherewas“atonaluncertaintytothereal-lifeevents”,
saidPeterBradshawinTheGuardian.Thefilmnicelyconveyshowtheywereatoncefarcical,and
deadlyserious.Buttheserioussideisonlyglancedat,saidTimRobeyinTheDailyTelegraph.In
theirsingleencounter,itisclearthatKnightley’scharacterhasn’tconsideredwhatthecontestmight
meantoHosten.Youhopethefilmwilleruptinfury;instead,it“ditherspolitely”.Misbehaviour
Dir: Philippa Lowthorpe
1hr 46mins (12A)When pageants and
politics collide★★★
Thisraucoussatire,inwhichacoterieofrichliberal
AmericanskidnapsomeTrumpvoting“deplorables”
andhuntthemdownforsport,wasmeanttocome
outlastautumn,saidRobbieCollininTheDaily
Telegraph.Butbeforeanyonehadachancetoseeit,
thepresidentcondemneditinatweetasbeingafilm
designed“toinflameandcausechaos”and“verybad
forourCountry!”, soUniversalonlyreleasedit last
week. Trumpwaswrong,though,saidA.O.Scottin
TheNewYork Times.Ablend of horror and humour,
the film isdesignednot to inflame passions but soothe
them“withlaughterandmayhem”.Thecharacters
areallcaricatures,saidDavid FearinRollingStone.Theliberals,led byHilary Swank–“acorporate
shark inbusiness-casualslacks”–debatethepitfallsof whiteprivilegeasthey stalk theirprey.The
deplorables, led bytheexcellent BettyGilpin,acar rentalemployeefromMississippi,sneerabout
“snowflakes”.No,thisfilmis not athreatto America.“It’ssimplyabetter-than-decentB-movie,
the kind thattakesprideinitssickkillsand throws alot ofpunchesthatonlyoccasionally connect.”The Hunt
Dir:CraigZobel
1hr30mins(15)Brutal satire of America’s
culture wars★★★
BasedonastorybyColinBarrett,Calm with Horses
issetin asmalltownin the westof Irelandwhere
formerboxerDouglas“Arm”Armstrong(Cosmo
Jarvis) worksasanenforcerfortheDevers,afamily
of violentdrugdealers.Likehisbestfriend Dympna
Devers,Arm hasfalleninto alifeof “shrugging
violenceandshadydealingbecausethere’s not much
betteron offer”,saidTimRobeyin TheTelegraph.
Hecallsthe Devers hisfamilyanddoestheirbidding,
butwhenhe istoldto punishamanallegedtohave
molestedDympna’s14-year-old sister,Arm finds his
loyaltiestorn. Unflinchingand immersive,thistaleof
“failed fathersand false families”pullsthe viewerrightintotheraging-bullmindsetofits haunted
protagonists,saidMarkKermodein TheObserver.And inthatrole, Jarvisisarevelation, saidKevin
Maher inTheTimes. The storyisawell-worn one, buthehasa“soulfulnessandinnatescreen
charisma that imbuesthis overfamiliartalewithgenuine depth”.Calm with Horses
Dir: Nick Rowland
1hr 40mins (15)Astory of torn loyalties
★★★★
The main problem with ITV’s new six-part Sunday
night saga, said Jan Moir in the Daily Mail, is that
it’s notDownton Abbey South.AlthoughBelgravia
is also written by Julian Fellowes and produced
“by the same wonderful team which turned
Downtonintoasmash”–though it’s full of “axe-
faced duchesses’ and snobbery and icy glances –
it ends up falling short. Maybe it’s because in the
first episode, set on the eve of Waterloo, most
of the characters “seem such frightful rotters”.
Or because “the chap we’re meant to like”, the
socially ambitious husband (Philip Glenister) of
Tamsin Greig, who supplies goods to the Duke of
Wellington’s army, is so hard to take seriously: his
mutton-chop whiskers look as if “they sleep in a
hutch and need regular saucers of milk”.Idon’t
know about you, said Carol Midgley in The Times, but in any case
I’m “bonneted out”. I’ve simply lost the appetite for yet more“elegant balls, empire-line dresses, social climbing,
pearl-clutching snobbery and caddish young men”.
Ishare your lack of enthusiasm, said Ed Cumming
in The Independent. But give Fellowes his due. His
script does no favours for the talents of Glenister,
Greig and Harriet Walter, yet he has an
“indisputable gift for characterisation”. “The
moment someone walks into shot we know who
they are and how they fit into the precise social
stratification of Fellowes’s universe.” You can say
that again, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian.
Straight away Fellowes lets us know we are in “the
pasteenth century in days of yore”, withaFrench
man called “Boney” causing the English no endof
worry. The decision you, the would-be viewer,must
make is this: isBelgravia“somethingto pass the
time as the coronavirus curfew descends, or something to send you
screaming into the streets and licking the first handrail you find”?Belgravia:willitfill the holeleftbyDownton?
Are we bonneted out?