Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/739032
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 OCTOBER 2016 38 This Week IN CINEMAS TODAY Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Inferno (12A) 10:20, 13:30, 16:05, 18:40, 21:15 Miss Saigon 25th Anniversary (15) 16:00, 19:30 Kubo and the Two Strings (PG) 10:30, 13:55 Juventus Story Black And White Stripes (TBA) 10:30, 15:55, 18:25, 21:00 Deepwater Horizon (12A) 10:30, 13:45, 16:10, 18:30, 20:55 Bridget Jones' Baby (15) 13:00, 15:45, 18:25, 21:05 The Girl On The Train (15) 10:30, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Valletta Living History (U) 10:00, 10:45, 11:30, 12:15, 13:00, 13:45, 14:30, 15:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Storks (U) 13:30, 16:25, 18:30, 20:45 Captain Fantastic (15) 14:00 The Girl on the Train (15) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15 Imperium (15) 14:05, 18:25 Deepwater Horizon (12A) 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:10, 23:30 Café Society (12A) 14:15, 16:30, 18:40, 20:50 Don't Breathe (15) 14:20, 16:30, 18:50, 21:00, 23:05 Sausage Party (15) 14:20, 16:30, 18:50, 21:10, 23:10 Anthropoid (15) 14:25, 18:15, 20:55 Bridget Jones' Baby (15) 14:25, 18:20, 21:00, 23:30 Inferno (12A) 14:25, 18:05, 20:45, 23:30 The Infiltrator (15) 14:30, 18:10, 20:50, 22:50 Bianconeri Juventus Story (TBA) 14:30, 18:10, 21:05 Miss Saigon (15) 16:00, 20:00 Southside with You (12A) 16:25, 20:45 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 The Girl On The Train (15) 11:00, 13:30, 16:10, 18:35, 21:00 Miss Saigon (15) 16:00, 20:30 Deepwater Horizon (12) 11:15, 13:40 Storks (U) 11:30, 14:00, 16:30, 18:35, 20:45 Inferno (12A) 10:40, 13:20, 15:55, 18:30, 21:05 Bridget Jones' Baby (15) 10:35, 13:15, 15:55, 18:30, 21:05 The Infiltrator (15) 10:40, 13:15, 15:55, 18:30, 21:05 Deepwater Horizon (12) 16:05, 18:35, 20:55 Don't Breathe (15) 11:10, 14:00 MIDWAY through his festival- attention-courting comedy-drama Captain Fantastic, actor-turned- writer-director Matt Ross drops a fairly heavy piece of thematic expo- sition on the audience. While the itinerant – and newly-motherless – family now led solely by patriarch Ben (Viggo Mortensen) are on the road for the umpteenth time, one of his daughters, Kielyr (Saman- tha Isler), surprises him by reveal- ing that she's currently reading Vladimir Nabokov's controversial classic Lolita. Somewhat bristled by this revela- tion – she has not yet been 'officially' assigned the novel in her father's thorough but makeshift home- schooling regimen – Ben proceeds to ask her what makes the novel so notable: outwardly rejecting – aided by a booing chorus of her siblings – her initial and disapprovingly pat descriptor, "interesting". Pressed to be more and more spe- cific in her textual analysis, Kielyr ar- rives at the much celebrated moral and aesthetic ambiguity achieved by Nabokov in that landmark work of 20th century literature: the fact that on one level, the novel gives vent to an account by someone who is un- deniably a child molester, but that at the same time invites you to identify with Humbert Humbert's thwarted desire. And while there is thankfully not even the slightest hint of sexual abuse in Ben's unconventional par- enting programme, the ethics un- derlying his uncompromising back- to-nature approach leave much to be desired. But as is the case with Humbert Humbert, the incriminat- ing is mixed in with the loving, and Mortensen's delicate performance ensures we're swept along on his idealistic path for as long as is ten- able. Needless to say, perhaps, it doesn't remain tenable for very long, but we still get to indulge in Ben's uto- pian dream enough to be charmed by it. With a powerhouse perfor- mance by Mortensen – who does his thoroughly masculine brand of 'sensitive' once again – at it centre and rounded up by stellar (and consistently and surprisingly non-irritating) kids' cast rounding things up, Ross manages to get at the transgressive joys of this lifestyle. Unfortunately, this also results in some sub-Wes Anderson stylistic tics, with the kids' garish getups ap- pearing to serve as little more than viral-friendly stills, and their nature as impossibly intelligent prodigies coming across as a bit false. Ross' biggest narrative mistake is in choosing to spend too much time in the fantasy. This becomes evident when the intrusion of a kindly but party-pooping grandfather (Frank Langella – playing Leslie's grieving father) reveals the cracks in Ben's plan. But what he reveals most of all is Ben's fascinating attempt at deal- ing with grief and the degree of his denial: a conflict that's far too com- pelling for the little screen time it's given. Still, by the end of it all there won't be a single heartstring to remain unplucked as you follow this uncon- ventional family's efforts to "stick it to the man" and subsist at the fring- es of capitalist society. Mortensen doesn't falter in his quiet grief and misguided – but always true – com- passion, and the kids are also given their space to shine, with the older ones in particular gradually devel- oping their own personalities as they begin to put Ben's 'mission' into question. Captain Fantastic is a heartfelt tribute to the flawed power of fam- ily love under trying circumstances that's both enhanced and hindered by its – sometimes forced – at- tempts at dialing up the quirkiness factor. My family and other (wild) animals ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ FANTASTIC ★ ★ ★ ★ ENTHUSIASTIC ★ ★ ★ ELASTIC ★ ★ BOMBASTIC ★ DRASTIC FILM By Teodor Reljic CAPTAIN FANTASTIC (15) ★ ★ ★ Into the wild: Mortensen and Samantha Isler Quirky does it: Viggo Mortensen (second from left) takes an unconventional route to parenting in actor Matt Ross' directorial debut