‘The Outrun’ (2024)
The wild beauty of Scotland’s Orkney Islands, where the bulk of the action in “The Outrun” takes place, is a fitting backdrop for this rough and rugged story. The film quite plainly is a story about addiction. Twenty-nine-year-old Rona (Saoirse Ronan), who grew up on Orkney but lives in London, returns to the islands after completing an intensive 90-day rehab program for alcohol abuse. She reunites with her father (Stephen Dillane), who struggles with bipolar disorder, and her mother (Saskia Reeves), who has separated from him and turned to religion, all while she adapts to the slow pace of the windswept islands. Her story comes to us in bits and pieces, as the narrative moves back and forth in time; while the flashbacks are initially slightly hard to follow, the patchwork they create ends up feeling like a true representation of the way we form memories. We watch the devolution of her relationship with the sweet Daynin (Paapa Essiedu) as a result of her addiction, frequent violent outbursts and tense situations, but also her commitment to rehab. It’s a harrowing yet uplifting journey based on Amy Liptrot’s memoir of the same name, which Liptrot adapted for the screen with director Nora Fingscheidt. There’s something lovable about Rona that makes you want to root for her, and, near the end, a zest for life that tells you she’s going to be okay. That’s thanks in large part to Ronan delivering one of the finest performances of her career and cementing herself as one of the best actors of her generation. It’s a more rough-around-the-edges role than Ronan usually plays (other recent credits include “Little Women,” “Brooklyn” and “Lady Bird,” all of which earned her Oscar nominations for Best Actress), but she takes it on with ease. This film requires a huge range – Rona is falling-down drunk at a London rave one minute and delivering a lamb on her father’s farm the next – but Ronan plays each aspect of her nuanced character equally well, especially in the film’s many close-up shots. She’s the kind of actor who defines the film around her; “The Outrun” is so good because Ronan is there. (Madeleine Aitken) At Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge.
‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ (2024)
Joaquin Phoenix picked up a little golden statue for his 2019 spin on Gotham City nemesis The Joker (much as Heath Ledger did in 2009 for “The Dark Knight,” so it’s a pretty good Oscar gig), an origin story directed by “Hangover” helmer Todd Phillips. “Joker” shone a light on the fragile, fragmented mind of Arthur Fleck, abused as a child, steered wrong, isolated, lonely and seething inside. His alter ego became a manifestation of false leads and media hype for entertainment at Fleck’s expense, but also his defense mechanism. As we know from the death of popular late-night-TV show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) at the end of “Joker,” Fleck gets the last bloody laugh, though “Folie à Deux” deals with Fleck’s imprisonment and trial for Franklin’s death. As we catch up, there’s been a made-for-TV movie about The Joker that has the denizens of Gotham riveted, so much so that Lee Quinzel (aka Harley Quinn, played here by Lady Gaga) commits herself to the same facility that Fleck is in, hoping for a meet-and-greet. The two meet during movie night; sparks fly, she gets him, he gets her, they need to escape and get away to a personal paradise, just them two – nothing an act of arson can’t broker. But the bigger deal is Fleck’s very public trial. After being smitten with Lee, he fires his attorney (a dutiful Cathrine Keener in a flat role) and decides to represent himself. There’s not a lot of true action in the film, and anything that has The Joker in makeup and dancing with malice-tinged merriment is an alter-reality where Quinn and Fleck, more often than not, break into song. There’s even one bit ripped from Sonny and Cher. Some of this works, but Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver can’t decide if Fleck is a Forrest Gump who transcends, a maniacal martyr or someone who got screwed by the system. Perhaps all three, and Phoenix toils arduously to shift gears as the filmmakers see fit. The awkward handling of mental illness and Gaga’s take on Quinn are other issues: She’s nowhere near the kitschy Harley Quinn of Margot Robbie in “Birds of Prey” (2020) or “The Suicide Squad” (2021); there is darkness, no question, but it’s not the infectious, high-energy of a Jersey girl but a dourness that doesn’t add up in the end. The film’s biggest hobbling is that its tonal and contextual (and textual) shifts don’t click. It goes out on a limb with bold bravery, and one of the most impressive things is Gaga and Phoenix doing all the songs on set, not in a sound studio; we know Gaga can crush it, and she does, but Phoenix holds his own for the most part and does a pretty neat tap dance to boot. But the bough breaks. (Tom Meek) At Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge; Apple Cinemas Cambridge, 168 Alewife Brook Parkway, Cambridge Highlands near Alewife and Fresh Pond; and AMC Assembly Row 12, 395 Artisan Way, Assembly Square, Somerville.
A stronger
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