Parky at the Pictures (In Cinemas 14/12/2017)

As a leading member of the Sixth Generation of Chinese film-makers, Jia Zhangke has always been willing to explore topics that the mainstream industry chooses to ignore. Indeed, he has largely operated outside the official sector in order to assess the impact that socio-economic reform has had on ordinary citizens. Following the self-financed shorts, One Day in Beijing (1994), Xiao Shan Going Home (1995) and Du Du (1996), Jia was able to make his feature debut with Xiao Wu (1997), a shoestring study of a pickpocket in Jia's native Fenyang that not only tackled provocative political themes, but which also tilted at the calcified pictorialism of the Fifth Generation that had done so much to raise the international profile of Chinese cinema.

Ironically, his sophomore outing, Platform (1998) was an epic three-hour chronicle of a provincial performance troupe's fortunes between the Cultural Revolution and the rise of Deng Xiaoping and Jia completed his `modernity trilogy with Unknown Pleasures (1999), which focused on the consequences of the one child policy. Although none of these films was granted a release in China, Jia's growing reputation abroad prompted the authorities to offer him state funding for The World (2004), which slyly used a Beijing theme park filled with miniatures of foreign landmarks to examine China's changing status and the shifting aspirations of its people.

The price of progress also came under scrutiny in Still Life (2006), a meditation on the Three Gorges Dam project that won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and 24 City (2008), which charted half a century of change at a Chengdu factory. Throughout this period, Jia also made a number of shorts and documentaries. But he surprised many by returning from a five-year feature hiatus with A Touch of Sin (2013), which linked four storylines to expose the increasingly bleakness and violence of Chinese society. Now, he returns with Mountains May Depart (2015), which has taken two years to reach UK cinemas and suggests that Jia is still spoiling for a fight with the powers that be.

As the people of Fenyang prepare for the start of the 21st century with a rousing dance routine to `Go West' by The Pet Shop Boys, gas station owner Zhang Jinsheng (Zhang Yi) comes to show singer Shen Tao (Zhao Tao) his new red Volkswagen sedan. He asks her devoted friend Liang Jangjung (Liang Jin Dong) how things are going at the coal mine where he works and boasts of driving Tao to America. She teases Jinsheng about his poor knowledge of geography and notes that Macao will soon be returning to China and suggests that they visit there or Hong Kong.

Shortly after the new year concert, Jinsheng takes Tao and Langzi for a day out. He lets Tao drive and laughs it off when she collides with a Yellow River signpost. However, he suggests that they lose the third wheel next time they go out and Tao fails to understand why he wants Langzi out of the picture. In order to boost his prospects, Jinsheng buys the mine and fires Langzi from his post in the helmet dispensary. But his aggression gets him nowhere, as he drops in to see Tao in the electrical shop where she works to find her sharing dumplings with Langzi behind the counter. He sulks as Tao plays a Sally Yeh song to a couple interested in buying a stereo and stalks out when she resumes her lunch. Catching up with him in the street, Tao asks why he is behaving so oddly and he awkwardly confesses his feelings for her and urges her to stay away from Langzi if she wants to remain friends.

While dancing at a disco, Tao seems to favour Jinsheng and Liangzi is so upset that he punches his rival on the nose. Taken aback by her mild-mannered friend lashing out in such a way, Tao barely responds when he walks away and she throws in her lot with Jinsheng. He buys her a Golden Labrador puppy and notes that they will be turning 40 if it lives its expected 15-year span. They drive out to the river in his car and Tao is appalled to discover a bundle of dynamite in the boot. She demands to know what it's for and he admits he bought it to blow up Liangzi (after the mine foreman refused to get him a gun). Glaring, Tao orders him to detonate the explosive and he tosses it into the river and hands her a lighter to spark the fuse.

Rather than breaking up with Jinsheng, however, Tao sticks with him and informs her father that she has a boyfriend while they are travelling on a train. He is less than impressed by her choice, but has no intention of interfering with her life. Tao poses with Jinsheng in front of a backdrop of Sydney Opera House for her pre-wedding photo and rides out into the country on her scooter to give Liangzi his invitation to the ceremony. Unable to find him anywhere, she pauses on a deserted road and watches in horror as a plane seeding the nearby forest spins out of control and crashes in the scrub. A truck driver pauses to rubberneck, but nobody goes to the aid of the stricken crew.

Eventually, Tao finds Liangzi at his digs. But he declines the invitation because he is about to leave the area. He has no idea of his destination, but he knows he has to get away. As he tosses the keys over a wall, Tao asks him to say goodbye, but he insists he already parted from her at the disco. Despite her hurt, Tao goes ahead with the wedding and gives birth to a son, whom Jinsheng calls Zhang Daole and he promises to make lots of dollars so that he can live up to his name.

At this juncture, the title credit appears and Jia switches from the boxy Academy frame format to a wider 1:85 aspect ratio, as the scene shifts to 2014 and Liangzi poses for a photograph with his workmates at a provincial mine. He is married to an unnamed wife and has a young child. But he is also suffering from a cancer brought on by coal dust and his doctor advises him to return home and make arrangements for treatment with the local hospital. The trio arrive in Fenyang and Liangzi uses a hammer to break the padlock on the house he had abandoned 14 years earlier. His wife is dismayed by how big and bare it is, but she makes it cosy and resolves to help her husband through his ordeal.

When he is well enough to go out, Liangzi hooks up with the mine foreman (Sanming Han). But he is about to relocate to Kazakhstan to lay pipelines for a Chinese company and has had to borrow money from his brothers to pay his fare. Liangzi had hoped to secure a loan for his treatment, but is buoyed by the news that Tao and Jinsheng are divorced. As Jinsheng has made a small fortune with his shrewd investments, Liangzi's wife hopes that Tao will be willing to help with the medical costs and tracks her down to a wedding banquet, where she is among the guests of honour.

Tao comes to the house and is saddened to see Liangzi laid so low. She finds the wedding invitation he had discarded years before and explains that Jinsheng has custody of Dollar (Zishan Rong), who is studying at the International School in Shanghai. Digging into her bag, she produces a wad of banknotes and reassures Liangzi that she can afford the loan, as Jinsheng gave her his filling station as part of the divorce settlement. Walking away with tears in her eyes, Tao wonders how differently things might have turned out if she had chosen the right man.

Shortly afterwards, Tao drops her father (who has been trying to find her a new husband) at the train station so he can spend some time with an old army buddy. However, he dies in the waiting room after a long journey and Tao has to pay for an ambulance to bring his body back to Fenyang. She texts Jinsheng and asks him to put Dollar on a plane for the funeral. But she barely recognises him, as he has acquired big city attitudes and looks down his nose on his provincial relatives. Nettled, Tao forces Dollar on to his knees during the memorial service and makes him bow low in honour of his grandfather.

During the wake, Tao overhears Dollar calling his stepmother `mommy' while chatting online and, from a series of snapshots she finds on his tablet, she resents the fact that he has been so pampered. She also picks up that Jinsheng (who now calls himself Peter) is planning to move to Australia and she realises her time with her son is going to be short. They drive to the bridge spanning the river and she urges him to make the most of his opportunities. But she loses her temper when she sees him Skyping home again and defies Jinsheng's order to put him on the next flight by escorting him on a slow-train journey across the country. They stop off at the station where her father passed away and they sit in the deserted waiting room to pay their respects. On the last leg of the trip, Tao gives Dollar a key-ring and tells him that he will always have a home.

A final switch into the anamorphic 2.35 widescreen format takes the action forward to 2025, where Dollar (Dong Zijian) is finding life Down Under difficult, as his father has divorced again and they are drifting further apart. Although he has everything he could want, Dollar has few real friends and gets teased for his name in his Cantonese class with Mia (Sylvia Chang). He tells her that he has no mother, but disrespects Jinsheng when he interrupts a meeting with some old friends, who are discussing the possibility of returning to China now that the political situation has changed.

Back at their luxurious apartment overlooking Port Campbell, Dollar finds a couple of guns and some bullets lying on a coffee table and gets into an argument with Jinsheng about why he is finding it so tough to learn his mother tongue. Dollar has a job as a waiter at a nearby restaurant and he takes a delivery to an upmarket address and is surprised when Mia opens the door. She informs him that he is her first guest and invites him in. But he is nervous and feels more comfortable talking to her during a break in lessons. He reveals that he was joking about being a test tube baby, but insists he can't remember his mother's name. Mia explains that she left Hong Kong in 1996 to live in Toronto and found her way to Australia after her marriage broke down.

Dollar waits on Mias table when she has a frosty reunion with her ex-husband, who is demanding that she pays her share of some of the expenses he had covered during their marriage. Mia is stung by his pettiness and storms out, only for Dollar to call round with her order and a recommendation that she doesn't let the past ruin her life. However, he also needs to move on with his future and asks Mia to translate so he can have a heart to heart with Jinsheng. He announces that he is going to move out and quit college and find something to do that interests him. But Jinsheng mocks his notions of freedom and points to the guns he has bought since Australia changed its firearms laws and complains that it makes no sense to make owning a weapon legal and firing it a crime.

Mia and Dollar go for a drive and, sitting in the passenger seat, he gets a feeling of déjà vu (as he had earlier when Mia played the song he had listened to on the train with Tao). She is amused by how earnest and how naive he is and smiles when he takes the wheel and drives them into the middle of a field. When a helicopter passes overhead, he suggests that they take a flight over the bay and Mia is taken by surprise when he kisses her. She takes his face in her hands and kisses him back and they end up in bed together. As she lies with her head on Dollar's shoulder, Mia notices the key-ring around his neck and he begins to cry when he admits that his mother gave it to him. She suggests that he flies home to visit her and explains how much she missed her own mother when she first left and came to dread the ring of the phone.

Dollar and Mia go to a travel agency to plan their flights. But he gets cold feet when the clerk mistakes him for Mia's son and he urges her to leave. In the car park, he admits that he was suddenly concerned about how he would introduce Mia to Tao and she touches his cheek to show that she understands. Mia walks down to the beach and Dollar follows to apologise. But she reminds him that he is free and has a duty to himself to do whatever he wants. Meanwhile, back in Fenyang, Tao prepares some dumplings before taking her dog for a walk in the snow. Looking at the pagoda that dominates the landscape, she begins to dance and swings into the steps to `Go West' from the opening sequence.

Unfortunately, this last glimpse of Tao only reminds the audience of how much she has been missed during the last act. Poorly written and hesitantly acted, the Australian sequences require us to empathise with the most resistible characters in the storyline and take onboard a complete newcomer whose backstory is clumsily handled in a bid to coax us into identifying with her. Sylvia Chang is a wonderful actress, but even she struggles with lumpen dialogue that lurches between exposition and platitude. It hardly helps that Dong Zijian is so stiff as the teenage Dollar. But Jia also seems out of his comfort zone directing in a foreign language so far from home.

By contrast, the scenes in his hometown are handled with his customary sense of place and affinity for ordinary people. Once again, Jia works well with cinematographer Yu Lik-wai and art director Qiang Liu (whose of atmospheric colour is superb) to capture the atmosphere of Fenyang and the northern scenery in the surrounding Shanxi province, with the three sequences at the Yellow River being particularly effective, as three become one as fireworks, gelignite and controlled explosions send seismic ripples through the lives of Tao, Liangzi and Jinsheng.

Editor Matthieu Laclau and composer Yoshihiro Hanno prove equally adept at setting the pace and tone, as the triumvirate slowly disintegrates. But special mention should go to costume designer Li Hua, for the multi-coloured jumper worn by Tao (which ends up as a jacket for her dog), the black leather jacket and red pullover sported by Jinsheng and the hard-wearing blue jacket that identifies Liangzi as a lowly working man. Although their characters are somewhat sketchily drawn, Liang Jin Dong and Zhang Yi provide Zhao Tao with solid support, as she once again demonstrates how intuitively she understands the world that her husband seeks to explore. Its just a shame that he opted to deprive us of her company for so much of a disappointing denouement that doesn't delve deeply enough into the idea that luxury and escape are not all they are cracked up to be.

As we mentioned earlier this year in the review of I Am Not Madame Bovary, Feng Xiaogang has often been compared to Steven Spielberg. Initially known for comedies like Dream Factory (1997) and Big Shot's Funeral (2001), Feng became one of the most commercially successful directors in China. However, with features like The Banquet (2006) and Aftershock (2010), and the war sagas Assembly (2007) and Back to 1942 (2012), he revealed a different side of his nature and he remains in this serious vain in Youth, an imposing, if sometimes overly nostalgic epic that chronicles the fortunes of a People's Liberation Army dance troupe between the Cultural Revolution and the reforming period that occurred in the 1990s.

As narrator Xiao Suizi (Zhong Chuxi) informs us, He Xiaoping (Miao Miao) arrives in south-western China from Beijing in 1970 to join the PLA Arts Troupe. She has been escorted by soldier friend Liu Feng (Huang Xuan), who has tried to make things easier for her by removing the name of her disgraced father and replacing him with her loyal stepfather. She thanks him and looks on in awe, as the troupe rehearse a patriotic routine with a full orchestra. When the choreographer asks her to show what she can do, Xiaoping launches into a series of somersaults and draws a round of applause.

Entrusted into the care of Suizi, Xiaoping collects her kit from the store. However, there is a shortage of uniforms and she has to make do with an alternative. Suizi introduces the newcomer to pianist Lin Dingding (Yang Caiyu) and accordionist and dormitory captain Hao Shuwen (Li Xiaofeng). The latter is far from impressed when Xiaoping attempts a salute, but she heads for the showers thinking that she has found a sanctuary away from the bullying she has had to endure at home at the hands of her stepsisters.

Over in the canteen, Feng (who is the unit photographer) returns a watch he has repaired for Dingding and she thanks him for going to the trouble of buying a manual to learn how to fix it. However, he is called away when some pigs escape from their pen and he has to chase through the streets as a Red Guards procession proclaiming the benevolent genius of Mao Zedong goes past. Unfortunately, he is unable to advise Xiaoping against putting on Dingding's stage uniform for a photograph to send home and Shuwen spots the picture in the studio window as the troupe ships out to entertain a detachment of troops.

During their stay, Feng helps Dingding burst the blisters on her feet, but then makes her miss a cue by feeding her tinned oranges. Suizi also gets a crush on bugler Chen Can (Wang Tianchen) and is touched when he plays for a column of tanks massed on a muddy road. Once back on the compound, however, Shuwen finds the photograph that Xiaoping had been hiding under her pillow and she is ridiculed for lying about borrowing Dingding's uniform. Suizi watches from the dormitory doorway, as Shuwen proposes reporting her to their superiors for theft. But Dingding suggests that they find a way for Xiaoping to atone for her error of judgement.

Out on the rifle range, Shuwen has a bet with Can that she can outscore him. He is astonished to discover that she beat him with more hits on the target than she fired bullets and it transpires that Xiaoping shot so inaccurately that she peppered Shuwen's target instead. He goes off in a sulk and Suizi tries to cheer him up. Meanwhile, Shuwen continues to bully Xiaoping, who is still refusing to admit to taking the uniform. She is saved from a midnight showdown over a shirt and a padded bra by the choreographer, who reminds the girls that they are comrades and should behave as such.

Following the death of Mao in 1976, China is ruled by the Gang of Four. But, as Suizi reveals in her narration, they were soon ousted and things began to change in the Arts Troupe, too. Having been away on duty, Feng returns with post for the dancers and Suizi is overjoyed to receive a suitcase full of goodies from her father, who has been rehabilitated. This gives Xiaoping hope that her own father will be freed and she writes him a letter by torchlight explaining how she had been so afraid he would not recognise her that she had a photo taken in her uniform to send him. Now, she just hopes that they can be reunited and that he will forgive her for taking her stepfather's surname.

During a rehearsal, male dancer Zhu Ke (Zhang Renbo) refuses to hold Xiaoping because he can't stand her body odour. She is hurt and Feng offers to dance with her in front of the rest of the troupe. He is doing odd jobs with the stage crew and informs the commissar that he would like to remain with the company rather than accept a promotion. However, he is also asked to tell Xiaoping that her father has died and she reads his final letter, in which he laments having been separated from her when she was so young and thanks her for the photograph that gave him so much solace.

As time passes, Feng starts making some armchairs for one of the officers and Suizi is impressed by the fact that he can turn his hand to anything. When Can gets hold of a tape recorder and plays the group a tape by Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng, Feng is so swept away by the lyrics that he decides to let Dingding know how he feels about her. But she is taken aback by his protestation of love and they are caught with Feng bear-hugging her in silent desperation. She howls on her bunk and Shuwen is surprised that she has reacted so badly to a harmless hug. But Dingding declares Feng to be a creep and files a complaint against him that results in him being interrogated by the security branch.

Dismayed to be accused of trying to molest her, Feng puts up a fight and is punished by being sent to a timber brigade on the Vietnamese. Xiaoping comes to see him off and takes away a box of belongings that he no longer wants. She also waits at the gate to give him a last salute and he turns to take a last glimpse of the barrack where he had been so happy. Working with the costume department because she is too embarrassed to dance, Xiaoping is also on the move and she is asked to dance a leading role when her Mongolian roommate, Drolma (Sui Yuan), damages her knee before a morale-boosting performance for a cavalry unit. Feigning illness, Xiaoping swaps a thermometer to claim a debilitating fever. But the commissar marches her on stage and informs the audience that they could learn from her courage in dancing while suffering from altitude sickness and Xiaoping blushes as she returns their cheers with a salute.

After the performance, the troupe is made to stand in the driving rain on a parade ground, as the commissar congratulates them on their efforts. He also announces that Xiaoping will be leaving for health reasons and she smiles quietly at the way in which her excuse has been rumbled and punished. As a consequence, she finds herself on the south-western border in February 1979, as the Sino-Vietnamese War breaks out and she is assigned to a field hospital. Unbeknown to her, Feng is stationed nearby and several of his men are killed and wounded when his horseback supply train is ambushed in some fields and he insists on standing guard with his men with a bullet in his arm rather than receive attention.

As Suizi reveals in the narration, Feng had lost the will to live after Dingding had spurned him and he hoped that he would die in action and be immortalised in a song that she would end up playing because he had become such a national hero. She gets to learn these things because she has been transferred from the Arts Troupe to be a writer with a documentary film unit. She finds Xiaoping, who is feeling the strain after caring for the badly wounded and the dying. They embrace and she tells Suizi to keep an eye out for Feng because she knows he is somewhere on the frontline. She also reminds her to tell Dingding that she will never forgive her for breaking his heart.

That night, the hospital is blitzed during a mortar attack and Xiaoping is badly shell-shocked after her tent takes a direct hit while she is talking to a 16 year-old, who had lied about his age to sign up. She is taken to an institution, where she is reunited with Feng, who has lost the lower half of his right arm, but is still in uniform. He tries to jog her memory, but she has no idea who he is and she seems nonplussed at learning that the war is over.

Back at the Arts Troupe, Suizi finds herself in the ranks again alongside Dingding. Rumours are circulating that the army is going to disband its entertainment units and Can is so distracted that he crashes his back and loses the front teeth he needs to play his trumpet. Suizi is dismayed because she knows how much his music means to him. So, she offers her gold necklace so he can have special dentures made. But Dingding is too preoccupied with her engagement ring to care about anyone else, especially as her fiancé plans to take her to live abroad.

The commissar assembles the troupe to inform them that they will give their final performance that night. Several casualties from the war will be in the audience and Suizi recognises Xiaoping and Dingding and the other dancers rush to see her sitting sedately in her blue-striped uniform. As Drolma dances a duet, Xiaoping seems to recognise the music and she slips out of a side door and dances her own steps against the darkening sky, as the music swells from the theatre. As they drive back to their barracks, Suizi slips a love letter and her first poem into Can's trumpet case, only to learn from Shuwen that they are an item. So, when everyone else has dozed off during the journey through the night, Suizi retrieves the pieces of paper, tears them up and throws the shreds on the wind.

Led by the commissar, the troupe holds a farewell dinner and they toast their health and sing sentimental songs, as the choreographer asks why such a noble group has to be broken up. Suizi wakes with her head on a table the next morning and looks around at her comrades still sleeping it off. She reveals that many never saw each other again. But, as a Coca-Cola advert now stands where a hoarding had once borne the image of Mao, Feng returns to the old barracks and he imagines the dancers performing as he stands in the empty theatre. He is surprised to find Suizi staying in one of the dormitories and she is saddened to see he has lost his arm. Wandering into her room, he treads on a loose floor tile and finds beneath it the torn pieces of Xiaoping's uniform photo. He is more interested in her smile than in the whereabouts of Dingding and Suizi laments that all she had ever wanted was acceptance.

The scene shifts to Haikou in Hainan Province in 1991. Shuwen has come to a special event with her young son and she explains to Suizi that Can isn't able to attend because he is making so much money from real estate that he has to stay focused. As she waits for Suizi, Shuwen sees Feng cycle past and she follows to see him being roughed up in a police station, where a corrupt captain has ordered him to pay an extortionate fine to retrieve his truck. During the tussle, Feng's prosthetic arm is pulled off and Shuwen rails at the cops for disrespecting a war veteran.

She pays the fine and returns with Feng to the bookshop where Suizi is going to give a reading. Shuwen admits she sees nothing of her husband, who used the gold necklace to fix his teeth, but never played the trumpet again. While Feng goes to write a cheque, Shuwen shows Suizi a snapshot of Dingding in Australia and laugh at how fat she has become. While Shuwen rips up the cheque, Suizi passes Feng a picture of Xiaoping and he smiles at how healthy she looks.

Four years later, in Mengzi in Yunnan Province, Feng and Xiaoping meet in the cemetery to pay their respects to the young trooper they had both known at the front. As they sit on a bench, he reveals that his wife ran away with a bus driver and he jokes that he has never really understood women. She asks if he remembers the last time they had seen each other and admits that she had wanted to ask him to hold her. He puts his good arm around her and Xiaoping snuggles up to him.

As Suizi tidies up the loose ends, she reveals that Feng and Xiaoping had gone their separate ways. But, when he fell ill in 2005, she had nursed him back from the brink and they remained companions from then on. In 2016, at the wedding of Suizi's son, the Arts Troupe reassembled and she recalls how the rest bore the ravages of time on their faces, while Xiaoping and Feng looked quietly content, even though they only had each other.

Adapted by Yan Geling from her own semi-autobiographical novel, this is a rattling yarn that combines elements of Revolutionary Opera and Socialist Realist drama with the kind of effects-laden and blood-spattered combat sequences that have crept into cinema from gaming. As ever, Feng Xiaogang (who, like Yan, was a member of an arts troupe) is in complete control of his material and clearly has no compunction about allowing some of the more melodramatic segments to lapse into honest sentimentality. But, while he alludes to the stratification of Chinese society, he makes few concessions for audiences not already familiar with this tempestuous period in Chinese history and some viewers may find themselves doing some background reading to see how the pieces slot together.

Technically, this is nowhere near as audacious as its predecessor. But Shi Haiying's production design is exemplary, as it abets Feng's tonal and temporal shifts, while Luo Pan's nimble photography slips with equal ease between opulence and grit. Shi also did the costumes, while Zhao Lin and Dai Xiaofei contribute a knowingly pastiched score that knows when to swell and quell. The principals also judge things nicely, with Yang Caiyu and Li Xiaofeng making splendidly catty mean girls in opposition to the watchful Zhong Chuxi and the wary Miao Miao. But the most engaging performance comes from Huang Xuan, as the everyman whose good intentions rarely pan out as he had intended. In many ways, this is a reminder to the millennial generation of the sacrifices that their parents made to create the socio-economic benefits they now enjoy. To this extent, it has much in common with recent American features like Dee Rees's Mudbound. But, wary of upsetting the censors, Feng often seems as interested in entertaining as he is enlightening and, consequently, keeps his messages hidden in the lines between the human drama and the musical and historical spectacle.

A number of film editors have gone on to become successful directors, including David Lean, Robert Wise, John Sturges, Don Siegel, Mark Robson, Hal Ashby and Peter Greenaway. None of these esteemed figures could match Brazilian Daniel Rezende's achievement in earning an Oscar nomination with his first outing and he has followed his dynamic display on Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund's City of God (2002) with equally lauded contributions to Walter Salles's The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), José Padilha's Elite Squad (2007) and Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life (2011).

However, Rezende's directorial career gets off to a fitful start with Bingo: The King of the Mornings, a film à clef inspired by Arlindo Barreto, who became the biggest star in Brazilian children's entertainment by playing Bozo the Clown in a famously anarchic TV show in the 1980s. But, while Rezende makes an energetic job of recreating Barreto's antics, his insights into life behind the scenes are more formulaic. Consequently, even though it has been selected as Brazil's candidate for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, this slickly made picture always feels a bit like Krusty the Clown Meets The King of Comedy.

The son of a famous stage actress who has been reducing to judging talent shows, Augusto Mendes (Vladimir Brichta) has a lot to life up to. But, as he plays shadow puppets behind a film set with his young son, Gabriel (Cauã Martins), he has been reduced to making pornochanchadas and Gabriel sneaks a peak of his father at work. The next morning, while waiting for ex-wife Angélica (Tainá Müller) to take him to school, Gabriel suggests that Augusto makes a film for children so that he can boast about it to his classmates.

Slipping away from the premiere of The Love Lamp, Augusto heads to the bar and sees Angélica in her top-rating telenovela on Mundial. He is convinced that he has star potential and just needs a chance. So, when Angélica gets him a walk-on as a chauffeur on her show, Augusto ad-libs a few scene-stealing lines and gets a big laugh from the cast and crew. But producer Armando (Pedro Bial) insists that he sticks to the script and Augusto rips off his costume and vows to make Mundial regret the day it let him slip through their fingers.

Due to audition for a soap at the rival TVP station, Augusto sees a line of men dressed as clowns and discovers that executive Peter Olsen (Soren Hellerup) is going to syndicate Bingo the Clown after a decade of success in the United States. Asking if he can take a shot, Augusto promises Gabriel that he will make him proud and exploits the fact that Olsen can't speak Portuguese to tickle cameraman Vasconcelos (Augusto Madeira) and the rest of the frustrated crew with a coarse monologue about what they would all like to do to the demanding American. Prudish director Lúcia (Leandra Leal) is shocked by the language, but decides not to translate when Olsen declares that he has found his Bingo.

Having signed a contract that stipulates strict anonymity, Augusto returns home to break the news to his mother, Marta (Ana Lúcia Torre). He bigs up his part by noting that the clowns always get to tell the truth in Shakespeare plays. But Marta is just glad that he doesn't have to do any more porn and reminds him that they are both moths who need to be in the spotlight. Taking this advice to heart, Augusto jollies along the make-up staff, while being fitted with the blue wig and red nose that complement his white face. However, Lúcia has no time for such tomfoolery and ushers Augusto on to his spot for a rehearsal. He suggests that the translated jokes will mean nothing to Brazilian kids and asks for permission to improvise. But Olsen is adamant that he sticks to the script.

Buying a secondhand car with his advance, Augusto takes Gabriel for a drive on the beach and they eat sandwiches while sitting on the bonnet and looking out at the ocean. The boy is disappointed that he will not be able to tell his pals that his father is famous. But he sits down to watch the four-hour morning show with a great sense of anticipation. Going through his usual pre-performance ritual, Augusto launches into the live show with an audience of youngsters ringing the stage. However, they fail to laugh at his first gag and the kid he chooses for a little light banter kicks him in the shins and Lúcia is forced to cut to the cartoons.

Promising Lúcia that he is the man for the job, Augusto takes Gabriel to the circus to watch veteran clowns Dono (Raul Barreto) and Nando (Fernando Sampaio). He asks if he can be their unpaid intern for a week and they teach him the tricks of slapstick and give him a few hints about the attitude that clowns have to show to authority. Nettled by seeing Lúcia auditioning some potential replacements, Augusto takes a chance and sneaks into the ring and pretends to be taking a shower while a wall of death rider zooms around him on his motorcycle. The audience goes wild and Armando knows he has taught his student well.

Returning to the studio, he asks Lúcia if he can go off script and she gives him the nod, but reminds him it will be his own responsibility if things go wrong. With a glint in his eye, Augusto picks on a bully in the audience to play a memory game and humiliates him so slyly that the kids start cheering and Olsen is impressed by the way he has coaxed them on to his side. However, Lúcia is horrified when she goes to Augusto's dressing-room and finds him cavorting with scantily clad girls and drinking whiskey with Vasconcelos. He just manages to hide the lines of cocaine he is preparing, as Lúcia tells Augusto to behave himself if he is to keep his job. Teasing her for being religious, he asks her to let her hair down and promises to stop swearing if she shows him her real self. But she struts out, with a reminder that he can ad-lib providing it looks as though he is using the script so that Olsen never knows the difference.

Having made a bet with Vasconcelos for a bottle of 18 year-old scotch that he can seduce Lúcia, Augusto returns home to find that Mundial has hired Marta for a cameo in one of their soaps. She has been off screen for some time, since her show was a ratings sensation, and Augusto jokes that they will soon be dominating the airwaves. However, Gabriel feels a touch neglected when his father heads out for a foursome with Vasconcelos and looks on glumly as Augusto spends time with the kids in the audience after his next show, which had ended with Bingo getting everyone on to the stage to dance to a pop song.

But Gabriel does give Augusto the idea to have viewers call Bingo on the phone and he promises Lúcia that they will soon be taking on Mundial's morning show. Against her better judgement, Lúcia agrees and is thrilled when TVP moves into second place in the ratings. Olsen is also impressed and goes along with the idea of letting Gretchen (Emanuelle Araújo) perform a pop song in a figure-hugging dress after Augusto spots her while whooping it up in a nightclub with Vasconcelos. She proves to be a huge hit and Gabriel's mates can't understand why he doesn't want to watch the show, which is taking up more of the time his father used to devote to him.

Durng their next show, TVP overtakes Mundial and Olsen is delighted. But Lúcia is appalled when Bingo revels in his triumph by taunting Armando and stomps on a silver doll that resembles the rival station's logo. Suddenly, the lights dim and Bingo does a dance routing with his sidekicks Madame Conchita and Flea Boy that ends with him crowd-surfing over a gaggle of excited kids. Feeling he has earned a reward, Augusto asks Lúcia on a date, but she takes him to a church service and he imagines himself having sex with her on a restaurant table when she disapproves of him getting drunk and walks out on him.

A TVP news report reveals that Bingo is now a sensation with a huge merchandising campaign behind him. Gabriel needs no reminding, however, as each Bingo lunchbox reminds him of how far he and Augusto have drifted apart. When he shows him a magazine spread in their new high-rise apartment, Gabriel sneers that there's no point having all this publicity if nobody knows who he is. At an awards ceremony, he dreams of unmasking himself on stage. But he simply collects his prize and returns to his table to apologise to Lúcia for ruining their date. He compliments her dress, but she insists she remains the same person. So, Augusto flirts with a woman at an adjacent table and has sex with her in a toilet stall before going out to his car to remove his make-up and change into a dinner jacket. When he tries to get back into the venue, however, he is turned away by the bouncers, who mock him as a drunken nobody.

Burning the midnight oil, Augusto writes a treatment for a new telenovela and asks Lúcia to show it to the suits and promises to let her direct it when it's commissioned. But he is too wrapped up in his own concerns to remember Gabriel's birthday party and is crushed when his son calls the show to tell him how it feels to have a father who would prefer to play with other kids. Marta is also feeling low, as she was overlooked for the countess role in a soap and, having turned off the spotlight shining on the portrait that dominates her living-room, she takes to her room.

On a high after pitching his concept to a studio bigwig at a cocktail party, Augusto gets carried away and turns up days late to collect Gabriel. Angélica is furious with him for letting him down. But she also breaks the news that Marta has died and that everyone had been trying to find Augusto to get him to come to the hospital. The TV news claims she died of a heart attack, but the implication is that she took her own life because she couldn't cope with her rejection.

At the funeral, Augusto is disconsolate and clings to Gabriel and Lúcia. But, when Armando puts in an appearance, Augusto refuses to let him pose in front of the coffin for the cameras and orders him to leave for letting a great diva rot in a cheap talent show. Coked up to the eyeballs, he reports for his next show and Lúcia and Vasconcelos watch in horror as blood starts to seep out from under his red nose and drip on to the set. A slow-motion close-up captures the look of dismay on Bingo's face, as the studio audience continues to leap around in the background as though nothing untoward is going on.

A sepia tint comes to dominate the colour scheme, as Augusto goes to clear out Marta's house. But the same sense of gloom is cast over the TV studio when he sees that he has been replaced and Lúcia shrugs as if to ask what option she had. As the camera lurches off its axis, the lights go out along the corridor, as Augusto trudges away into the obscurity he has brought upon himself. Gabriel tries to cheer him up by claiming that Bingo is an idiot. But he guzzles down half a bottle of whiskey after his father passes out and Angélica vows not to let Augusto see their son again until he has sobered up. Instead, he goes home and gets so blootered that he smashes his hand into the television while watching Bingo and has to be rushed to hospital after gashing his wrists.

An elaborate drone shot takes us from the cheesily decorated apartment across the dark city to a spartan hospital room, as Gabriel visits Augusto with his mother. She whisks him away before Augusto wakes up. But he comes round while Lúcia is dropping off some flowers. He asks her to let down her hair, but she insists that he has to earn the privilege. She shows him a drawing that Gabriel had left of Bingo and Augusto realises that he has to sort his life out if he is going to be worthy of his child.

He joins Alcoholics Anonymous and is asked to say something about himself. Thinking back to the thrill of the applause when he brought a bouquet on stage to Marta as a small boy, Augusto admits that he misses his mother, his son and performing. As he leans back in his chair, he sees himself making up with Gabriel by casting giant shadow puppets on to the side of a building in his street and earning Lúcia's love by unmasking himself at a prayer meeting. But, as the glint returns to his eye, it's clear that Augusto Mendes is not finished yet.

Closing captions and black-and-white photos explain how the story we have just witnessed parallels the life of Arlindo Barreto, who has spent the last 25 years performing in churches as a clown with the wife who used to be his producer. Yet, for all the excellence of Vladimir Brichta's livewire performance, Cassio Amarante's evocative sets, Lula Carvalho's zesty camerawork and Marcio Hashimoto's sharp editing, Luiz Bolognesi's screenplay is so stuffed with showbiz cliché that this forever seems to be teetering on the brink of melodrama.

The main problem is the lack of socio-cultural context for Bingo's rise to fame outside the use of Nena's ’99 Red Balloons' (1983) and Echo and the Bunnymen's `Bring on the Dancing Horses' (1985). It's difficult, for example, to gauge how subversive he was simply by showing how far he departed from the transcript of a US programme that was eminently unsuitable for Brazilian audiences. It would have been more useful, therefore, to see how far he strayed from the successful Mudial format and how long it took him to refine his schtick to challenge the market leader. Rezende and Bolognesi compress the time frame so drastically that Bingo appears to be an overnight sensation and he falls just as rapidly. In the golden age of biopics, so-called `Hollywood montages' filled with newspaper headlines and calendar pages were used to suggest the passage of time and Rezende might have followed suit to prevent the impression of events tumbling in on themselves.

He might also have said more about the Brazil that Arlindo Barreto conquered, as the country was under a military regime until democracy was restored in 1985. Similarly, he could have gone into more depth about Augusto defying Olsen as being a symbol of Brazil emerging from the Good Neighbour shadow that had been cast by the United States. But one suspects that most viewers will be intrigued by the aspects that just happen to coincide with the spate of sexual harassment cases that have hit the entertainment industry, as well as the exposure of the inappropriate behaviour of so many beloved figures from British children's television from the same period.

Two decades have passed since Pascal Duquenne demonstrated opposite Daniel Auteuil in Jaco Van Dormael's The Eighth Day (1996) that it was possible to act with authenticity and conviction with Down Syndrome. In the interim, equally accomplished performances have been given by Paula Sage in Alison Peebles's AfterLife (2003), Alejandra Manzo in Marcos Carnevale's Anita, Pablo Pineda in Antonio Naharro and Álvaro Pastor's Yo, También (both 2009), Marin Gerrier in Jean-Marc Vallée's Café de Flore (2011), Ariel Goldenberg, Rita Pokk and Breno Viola in Marcelo Galvão's Buddies, Isaac Leyva in Travis Fine's Any Day Now (both 2012), Steven Brandon in Jane Gull's My Feral Heart, and Connor Long and Bridget Brown in Todd Solondz's Wiener-Dog (both 2016).

In making his second fictional feature, Pat Collins gives Rezende an object lesson in how to reinvent the biopic with Song of Granite, a paean to sean nós singer Joe Heaney to makes a perfect companion piece to Collins's deeply moving debut, Silence (2012). Containing echoes of the trilogies produced by Bill Douglas and Terence Davies, this has been photographed in a lustrous monochrome that not only evokes the places where Heaney lived and worked before his death in 1984, but also reinforces the mood generated by the glorious music. However, when the songs play such a pivotal role in a narrative that becomes increasingly fragmented after Heaney leaves Ireland, it seems more than a little capricious to leave the lyrics untranslated and, thus, marginalises all non-Gaelic speakers.

Seosamh Ó hÉanaí, known as Joe Heany, was born in Carna in Connemara in October 1919. Raised in a remote crofting community on the west coast of Ireland, he developed a keen appreciation of both the Galway countryside from his lonely wanderings and of the myths and legends of his homeland from the songs and stories that were shared around the fire at the end of the working day. Gaelic is spoken at home and in the school, which young Joe (Colm Seoighe) attends barefooted. But Catechism lessons are given in English by his teacher (Bríd Ní Neachtain), who encourages the bashful boy to sing in front of the class and reminds him to open his mouth when he performs.

When not chipping shellfish off the rocks with his pal, Darach, Joe digs peat with his father. Pádraig (Pól Ó Ceannabhaín). He also follows a lantern procession through the velvety darkness to collect lobster pots in a rowing boat. Always encouraged by his father and mother, Béib (Mairéad Conneely), he learns how to prepare potatoes for planting and the pair whistle together during their breaks. Joe also dances a jig on the rocks to the accordion accompaniment of a neighbour and listens while his father records a ballad for a stranger who is touring the area collecting the songs that have been passed down through the generations. He asks Joe if he would like to record something. But, while he insists that he only sings at home, he also informs the folklorist (Séan Ó Tarpaigh) about the heritage of the music and how it unites people with their past.

Singing and humming to himself, Joe wanders across the marshland to check on the ground nest he has been guarding since tying a thread from his pullover into a knot of grass. He finds the broken eggshells (did the chicks fly the nest or did a predator get them?) and, with his childhood symbolically ended, he looks up to catch a brief glimpse of his older self (Macdara Ó Fátharta), as the Morris Minor that is coming to collect the grown-up Heaney (Mícheál Ó Confhaola) speeds along the winding road. He draws on a cigarette, while strolling along in his overcoat and suit, and takes a last look at the landscape that had been his entire world.

As Heaney breaks into song, we see footage of miners toiling down the pit and a newspaper banner informs us that Heaney has moved to Glasgow to find work. He marries Mary (Olga Wehrly), drinks with his pal Darach (Peadar Cox) and sings in public. But, as his son recalls (in an English voiceover), he was an unreliable husband and father and disappeared in 1954-55 and only showed up again in 1961, when the boy was about 10 years old. No attempt is made to fathom what befell Heaney during this long weekend in London, but we see him in a recording studio and confiding to someone in a pub that he places himself in complete isolation for the duration of each song. A band plays a lively tune and also accompanies a man in a rousing rendition of `Rocky Road to Dublin'. A woman sings an a cappella version of `Galway Shawl' before the accordionist (Sonny Ó Conghaile) clasps Heaney's hand at the bar, while he delivers a mournful air.

Having popped in to see his sleeping wife and children, Heaney takes the boat back to Carna to help his father build a dry stone wall. They each sing a song, as the old man accepts that his son always had his eyes on the horizon and footage of New York in the 1960s gives way to Heaney putting on his uniform to work as a concierge at The Langham, a luxury apartment building at 135 Central Park West in Manhattan. Having been invited to sing at the 1966 Newport Folk Festival, Heaney decided to settle in America and we see him standing on the pavement taking in the white, black and Asian faces that pass by without seeming to notice him. Snippets of conversation can heard, as heard as we see him strolling in Central Park, eating a boiled egg with a workmate (Marcelo Arroyo), and resting his ungloved hand on the cool stone of the façade.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Collins cuts to grainy black-and-white footage of the real Joe Heaney singing `Red Haired Mary' to an appreciative audience. We then hear what must be an archived interview, in which Heaney reflects on missing things about Ireland, but not enough to make him want to return. The spirit of home is clearly alive, as he stands beside the ocean to sing `The Bonnie Bunch of Roses'. Yet, as a female voice informs us, when one of the Clancy Brothers passed on a message that Mary had died, he made no effort to contact his children and remained in his stubborn isolation.

Time passes, and the older Heaney recalls hiding behind a door at the age of 12 to sing `Sweeney's Men' at a wedding. His father had been proud of him and, as they sit out on a porch in the sunshine, he tells Rosie (Jaren Cerf) that he had learnt 500 songs by the time he left home. Sitting at her kitchen table, he admits that many of the lyrics embarrass him because they are so sentimental and twee and she teasingly asks if he's sure he is Irish. Over scenes of Heaney at his post or passing time around the city, we hear an audio clip, in which he struggles to explain the persona he adopts for each song and the interviewer surmises that he picks up on the subject's feelings, as he follows him through the storyline.

Debating whether to go back to Ireland, Heaney confides Máire (Kate Níc Chonaonaigh) that he no longer knows whether he is the warrior or the beast in the tales of derring-do he sings about. He tells a story about an ailing wanderer who was put to bed by a neighbour while she went to fetch the priest. But, he had died by the time they returned and they were surprised to see a poem detailing his sins scrawled on the wall. As we see striking images of the Irish countryside, a voice (Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhríde) reads the legend of Partholón and Tuan and this captures the homesickness that Heaney feels, as he pads around his apartment, listening to old recordings on a tinny tape recorder.

He contacts someone back home and wanders into a church during a service. His sleep is disturbed and he keeps having visions of home. We see old Heaney beside a babbling brook near to the woollen thread he left tied in the grass. His younger self approaches and asks what he is doing. They discuss the value of knowledge and poetry and seem content in each other's company.

As Delphine Measroch and Guido Del Fabbro's charming score plays over a final montage of images from Heaney's past and the terrain that inspired the songs he loved, we see him scrawl a last verse: `Birds don't sing songs of glory; Ice wrapped wings; That's my story.' It's a poignant way to end a film that rather loses its way in the closing stages, as it tries to convey Heaney's conflicted feelings for Ireland and his sense that his talent was never really appreciated by his compatriots. As Collins is so determined to avoid hard facts, however, the scenes of the older Heaney mooching around Manhattan and his conversations with Rosie (whose identity is left hanging) feel somewhat detached and are nowhere near as affecting as the return to Connemara.

Few will mind this disregard for biographical linearity, however, as Collins creates such a provocatively poetic setting for the sublime music. Richard Kendrick's photography is exceptional, as he switches between the majestic scenery and the smoky pubs in which the faces of the singers are caught in close-ups that encapsulate the intensity that Heaney claimed to experience when he sang. Editor Tadhg O'Sullivan neatly integrates the archive footage to create what Collins calls `conversations across time', while Sylvain Bellemare's sound mix causes goosebumps. In portraying Heaney from cradle to grave, Colm Seoighe, Mícheál Ó Confhaola (a fisherman and ex-boxer who is an admired singer in his own right) and Macdara Ó Fátharta serve their director well and one expects to see this cropping up soon in double bills with Alan Gilsenan's 2009 Liam Clancy biopic, The Yellow Bittern.

Yet, it still causes ripples in the press when an actor with Down Syndrome or a physical disability or intellectual difficulty takes a leading role in a film. Maybe Len Collin's feature bow can finally lay the matter to rest, as the ensemble he has assembled for Sanctuary is uniformly excellent. Mostly drawn from Galway's Blue Teapot Theatre Company, the cast was already familiar with Christian O'Reilly's screenplay, as they had performed it on stage in 2012. Thankfully, however, things have changed slightly since then, as the target of O'Reilly's satirical invective - Section 5 of the 1993 Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act, which prevented unmarried persons with intellectual difficulties from having consensual sexual intercourse - was repealed in May 2017.

Some time before Christmas, Larry (Kieran Coppinger), who has Down Syndrome, jiggles with his piggy bank to try and get at his savings. When all efforts fail, he asks his mother (Eileen Gibbons) if he can borrow some money. But she is more concerned by the look he gives an underwear ad in her magazine and packs him off for a days work at a Galway burger bar before going on a cinema trip with his friends at the nearby day care centre.

In the hostel where she lives with Rita (Jennifer Cox) and Daragh (Richard Hickey), Sophie (Charlene Kelly), who suffers from a form of epilepsy that makes her tremble, is being equally furtive, as she snaps at her carer, Eileen (Caroline Grace Cassidy), while trying to sneak a red dress into her backpack. As they are picked up by a minibus, Larry calls Tom (Robert Doherty), one of the helpers at the centre, who has promised to do him a favour. Larry shows Tom the piggy bank in a dark room off the garage and he is about to walk away when he hears the sound of shattering porcelain. Taking the money he needs, Tom promises to keep his end of the bargain and Larry heads off with a swagger and a deep sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, Mrs Kelly (Orla McGivern) breaks the news to her regular work detail that they won't be stuffing envelopes any longer because the contract has expired. William (Frank Butcher), Matthew (Paul Connolly) and Andrew (Patrick Becker) enjoy feeling useful and are less than impressed when Mrs Kelly informs them that they will be taking DJ classes and having makeovers instead. Tom tries to explain that some eejit civil servant has decided to cap the amount of money they can earn and retain access to benefits and William is less than impressed.

As Larry finishes cleaning the toilets at the burger bar, Sophie begins to fret that he will miss the minibus taking them to the cinema. But Tom holds grumpy Jim the driver (Steven Monaghan) until Larry arrives and they set off. Despite Jim banning singing, the gang belt their way through Chumbawumba's `Tubthumping' and arrive at the multiplex in good spirits. Armed with popcorn and fizzy drinks, they take their seats. Peter (Michael Hayes) gets flustered when Sandy (Emer Macken) keeps asking him questions about the film he can't answer and threatens to change seats. But Tom orders them all to stay put when Sophie accidentally on purpose drops her popcorn in the aisle and Larry follows her out with Tom to get some more.

In fact, they are leaving the building altogether and heading to the nearby hotel, where Tom has made arrangements with his receptionist friend Clare (Karen Murphy) to let Larry and Sophie have a room to consummate their relationship. Unfortunately, Clare is not on the check-in desk when they arrive and Larry loses patience with Theresa (Tara Breathnach) when she tries to patronise him. Clare appears, however, and merely smiles when Tom pays for the room with the contents of Larry's piggy bank.

While the lovebirds head up to their room, Andrew slips out into the cinema foyer to try the sweets in the pick`n'mix display. Sampling one sweet from each tub, he spits them out when he doesn't like the taste and Danny (Christopher Dunne) from the popcorn stand comes over to ask him to desist. As Andrew makes his way back to the auditorium, William complains about the film not having enough spills and thrills and he takes exception to Peter asking him to keep quiet.

Meanwhile, as Sophie puts on her make-up in the bathroom, Larry asks Tom if he has a condom. Rather naively realising that the couple plan to have sex rather than just enjoy some alone time, Tom tries to explain that it's illegal for someone with Down Syndrome and epilepsy to make love outside marriage. He agrees when Larry declares it a stupid law and hints that he could go to jail if they get caught. But Larry is adamant and asks to borrow the condom he spotted in Tom's wallet, as he doesn't want to get Sophie pregnant. Realising Larry is going to take no notice of his warning, Tom hands over the prophylactic, but draws the line at giving instructions on how to put it on.

Back at the cinema, William has noticed that Tom, Larry and Sophie have failed to return and he wanders into the foyer to find them. Having seen a poster for a martial arts film, Matthew strikes a kung-fu pose before kicking open the cubicle doors in the toilets. But there's no sign of his friends. William asks Danny if he knows where they are and he suggests giving Tom a call. But there is no answer and Alice (Valerie Egan) rushes after Andrew when he wanders into the car park. He sees a dog in the back of one vehicle and barks through the window at a young couple kissing in the next car. When he almost walks into the road, Alice insists on holding his hand to make sure he stays safe.

Peter and Sandy remain in their seats watching the film. She invites him to put his arm around her and he tries to explain that he doesn't like it when she flirts with him. Sandy asks if it would be different if she looked like the heroine in the movie, but Peter insists it has nothing to do with looks and suggests that if Sandy really liked him she would respect his boundaries. Over at the hotel, Larry is also trying to do things right and ponders long and hard before deciding it would be better to put the condom under a pillow rather than on top of the Bible in the bedside cabinet. He falls off the bed when Sophie comes out in her red dress and she is still beaming with his reaction when they sit down at the table to talk.

As there is no sign of their friends on the main street, William suggests that he and Matthew pop into a pub to wait for them to show up, while taking advantage of a buy one get one free offer on Guinness. Meanwhile, at the hotel, Tom tells Clare what Larry and Sophie are up to and she is surprised that anyone passed such an insensitive law. He explains that it was intended to protect the vulnerable from abuse and Sophie confesses to Larry that she was assaulted by staff members at her last care home. But she wants this time to be special and they dance and kiss before using some of the `love talk' they have heard on the television. However, when he reaches for the condom, Sophie is furious with him for thinking she is that kind of girl. She feels he has tricked her in order to have his wicked way and asks him to call Tom so they can go home. Desperate not to mess things up, Larry swears he loves her and plays the Girls Aloud track `Love Machine' on his phone and, when he starts to dance for her, Sophie laughs so much that she joins in.

Aghast to discover that all but Peter, Sandy and Rita are left in the cinema, Tom heads into town, with Rita hot on his heels. She wants to visit the Christmas Fair and he promises to take her when everyone is accounted for. In the pub, William is affronted when Matthew suggests he is too old for romance, but bridles at the phrase `plenty more fish in the sea' because fish give him indigestion. Aware that Tom will be worried about them, William tells Matthew to drink up. But, as Tom hasn't returned his call, Matthew take umbrage and orders four more pints because he refuses to dance attendance.

Up in the bridal suite, Larry makes Sophie a cup of tea and she recalls the first time he served her. She was touched that he didn't fill the cup too full because of her tremor and, with a smile, she tells him that she wants to make love with him. Meanwhile, Peter confides to Sandy that he is glad they won't have to stuff envelopes any longer, as he wants to get a proper job like Larry. Sandy begins to cry because Peter was hurt by her flirting, but he puts his arm around her and tells her that she can do it to her heart's content when the others aren't around.

In the shopping mall, Andrew and Alice are followed by security guard Joseph (Stephen Marcus), who watches them try on jewellery at a stall run by Iseult (Amy-Joyce Hastings). When Joseph asks if they are okay, Andrew climbs a stepladder and gives him a big hug after putting a rapper chain around his neck. While they go off to have a go on a karaoke machine, Clare bumps into Tom, who is charging around in circles. She calms him down and he realises that Alice will always take care of Andrew, while William and Matthew are inseparable. But they fail to spot them on a whistlestop tour of pubs and Tom takes Clare by surprise when he gives her a kiss.

All is not well with Sophie and Larry, either. Having downed a bottle of champagne, they are lying on the bed in white towelling bathrobes. But, while Sophie jokes about doing it in the bath so they can be dirty and clean at the same time, Larry is becoming maudlin because he knows their time is running out. By contrast, Peter has decided that it would be nice to kiss Sandy before the others get back. So, despite a dog collar glinting in the darkness a couple of rows behind them, they copy the couple on the screen and close in for their embrace.

As darkness falls, Tom finds Andrew and Alice bedecked in baseball caps, chains and shades as they emerge from the department store. He also finds William and Matthew, as they emerge from the pub and the latter promptly throws up on his shoes. But, as they return to the cinema, Peter and Sandy wander off in the other direction to find them. Fortunately, Rita is fast asleep in her seat and Tom hopes that he can track down the others before they are due to meet Sophie and Larry at a fast-food joint.

Over at the hotel, Larry is worried that Sophie might be pregnant because they failed to figure out how to use the condom. She reassures him that it takes lots of tries to make a baby, but isn't bothered if she is pregnant because she loves him and knows they could be a happy family. Larry reminds her that his parents and her carers might have something to say on the subject, but she is confident that things would work out fine. In the town centre, Tom becomes convinced that events are conspiring against him when Peter and Sandy are stopped by a policeman (Garrett Philipps). When Matthew and William blurt out that they are drunk, he demands to see Tom's ID and calls the station to check he should be in charge of the group. They agree they would rather be with him than Mrs Kelly. But, when Tom suggests they go and wait in the café, they demand to see where Sophie and Larry have been and threaten to tell the cop he intends sex trafficking them unless they get their way.

Larry and Sophie are debating what they would do if their child had Down Syndrome or epilepsy when Tom knocks on the door. He bundles the others inside, but Rita gets locked out and she heads off to the Christmas Fair. As William and Matthew help themselves to miniatures from the bar, Tom learns that Larry didn't use protection and curses him for being so reckless. The others are impressed that they have had sex, with the exception of Andrew, who calls Sophie names and tries to fight with Larry until he calms down by admitting he is just jealous because nobody has ever found him attractive.

At that moment, Alice realises that Rita is missing and Sophie has a minor fit and collapses on the floor. Tom realises that the alcohol has reacted with her medication and rushes off to find a doctor. He orders them to remain in the room and promises to come back with Rita. She is smoking dope and chugging beer with some kids at the fair, but is happy to see Tom. Back in the room, however, Sophie is struggling and Larry wants to fetch a doctor. Peter reminds them that Tom could get into trouble if the truth got out and he suggests they all keep schtum, with even Andrew agreeing when Alice gives him a wink. But when they take Sophie back down to reception, Theresa and Clare realise they have to call an ambulance and Mrs Kelly warns Tom that there will have to be an investigation when he returns with Rita.

Larry is dismayed that he is not allowed to go in the ambulance with Sophie and wipes away a tear as they ride back to the centre in the minibus. Rita is sparked out, but William and Matthew seem none the worse for their drink intake. Andrew and Alice hold hands on the backseat, while Peter looks fondly at Sandy. But the grim-faced Tom knows that he has not heard the last of this and Larry wonders if he will ever be allowed to see Sophie again, as the credits roll.

Revisiting some of the issues raised by Justin Edgar in his wheelchair-user comedy, Special People (2008), this is a warm, wise and witty picture that refuses to patronise either the cast or the audience by opting for easy answers or cosy conclusions. Indeed, the downbeat ending is one of the strengths of Christian O'Reilly's considered screenplay, even bearing in mind the fact that Section 5 has since been repealed. The scene in which Sophie discusses the abuse she has suffered is also incredibly powerful, as it not only reflects the care home scandals that have been exposed across Britain and Ireland in recent times, but it also highlights how badly misjudged Tom's best intentions actually were.

Robert Doherty makes an amiable fixer, but he is wholly upstaged by his co-stars. Kieran Coppinger and Charlotte Kelly are splendid as the lovers, but the affection demonstrated by Emer Macken and Michael Hayes and the Down Syndrome pair of Valerie Egan and Patrick Becker is just as touching. As is the bond between Frank Butcher and Paul Connolly, as they sup their pints and ponder the mysteries of the world with an ineffable logic that is both amusing and thought-provoking. The same is true of Jennifer Cox's willingness to go with the flow during her grand day out.

Making his feature bow after a distinguished career in small-screen writing and having made the shorts Bound (2014) and Fair's Fare (2016), Len Collin shows complete faith in his cast, as he keeps Russell Gleason's camera close to the characters during the dialogue sequences. But he also allows him to roam around Galway city centre to reveal the temptations that might lead the wanderers astray and reinforce the magnitude of Tom's task in rounding them up. Playfully designed by Sonja Mohlich, buoyantly edited by Julian Ulrichs and jauntily scored by Joseph Conlan, the action recalls Peter Foott's The Young Offenders (2016) in keeping the audience in good humour and off-guard. For three decades now, Mancunian Gary Sinyor has steered a laudably eclectic course through the vicissitudes of the film business. On leaving the National Film and Television School, he scripted Jim Shields's BAFTA-nominated short, The Unkindest Cut (1988), before teaming with Vadim Jean to co-direct the award-winning Ealingesque study of breeding and identity, Leon the Pig Farmer (1992). He struck out alone with the romantic fantasy Solitaire For Two (1995) and the heritage parody. Siff Upper Lips (1998), which earned him an invitation to Hollywood to remake Buster Keaton's 1925 silent gem, Seven Chances, as The Bachelor (1999).

A second romcom about the world's most unromantic woman, Love Hurts (2000), was scarcely seen and the same fate befell Bob the Butler (2005) and In Your Dreams (2008). However, Sinyor enjoyed a minor success with United We Fall (2014), which centred on the efforts of legendary football manager Sir Matt Busby (Brian Cox) to coach a Manchester boys' team. But, throughout this period, Sinyor was seeking funding for a thriller about grief, faith and insight and, after 12 years of toil and frustration, The Unseen is finally in cinemas.

Returning from a reading in bookshop near her Cheshire home, Gemma Shields (Jasmine Hyde) decides to have a swim in the indoor pool while Irish husband Will (Richard Flood) drives the babysitter home. However, she fails to ensure that the safety cover is firmly in place and, while she has a bath, her young son, Joel, drowns in the pool and his body is only found after a frantic search. Blaming herself for the tragedy, Gemma wants to move house. But Paul advises against any rash decisions, as he cuts his hand removing the child seat from the back of the car.

While recording an audio book of The Psalms, Gemma is so moved by the words that she has to take a break. She goes into Joel's room and faces the accusing stare of a teddy bear that says `I love you mummy' when she presses its paw. Suddenly overcome with emotion, Gemma realises that her sight is starting to blur and, in a panic, she wanders into the street, where she is found by Paul (Simon Cotton), who takes her to the nearest hospital.

Restoring her sight with an injection, the doctor (Ashley R Woods) reassures Gemma that she has no physical damage to her eyes. But he informs her that she is suffering a rare condition that can be controlled with pills. Paul has left by the time Will arrives and he rather unsympathetically suggests that his wife needs to see a psychiatrist. But he is also struggling to come to terms with the loss and Gemma overhears Will talking to Joel in his room and she tiptoes away without intruding.

A few days later, Paul comes to the house and to see how Gemma is recovering. He used to work as a pharmacist, but recently inherited a small estate in the Lake District and is currently turning one of the buildings into a guest house. Gemma shows Paul a photo of Joel and is taken aback when he reassures her that her son is in Heaven, as she doesn't believe in the afterlife. She decides to remove the batteries from the bear and goes to the baker to buy Will a treat. As she drives home, she calls to see how he is faring and is so disturbed to hear Will and Paul playing with the talking bear that he vision begins to distort on the motorway.

After a terrifying struggle to navigate a safe path, Gemma has a crash and winds up in hospital with whiplash. Will is furious with her for failing to take the prescribed tablets for her panic attacks and urges her to do as she is told and get well. But, that night, Gemma has a nightmare, in which she is trapped in the pool beneath the safety cover and can't alert anyone to her distress. She feels the need to get out of the house and asks Will if they can take up Paul's offer to stay in the Lakes.

Gemma is hurt by his hostile lack of enthusiasm and swims and makes love with her husband with a sense of alienation. However, he informs her that he doesn't want to leave the house because he can hear Joel's voice in his room. She is sceptical and, when he starts sobbing, suggests that his mind is playing tricks on him. But Will is adamant that Joel needs him to be around and Gemma feels spooked rather than consoled.

She stays awake all night to listen out for her son calling. When she hears nothing, she pleads with Will to come to the Lakes with her. Eventually, he agrees that it might do them some good, even though it's January and will be freezing. As she emails Paul to make arrangements, however, she sees Will pour Joel's goldfish into the gutter outside and is touched by his howl of anguish.

Gemma sleeps for much of the journey north and Paul is in a tetchy mood when they go to the supermarket to get provisions. He becomes irritated by a squeaky wheel on the trolley and Gemma becomes unnerved when he suddenly dashes down an aisle, as though he has seen somebody he knew. Will goes to the nearby church to light a candle and Gemma is so confused when he asks her to hold it and pray that she rushes into the lavatory to vomit.

On arriving at the cottage, the couple find Paul putting the finishing touches to their room. He mentions that his wife is no longer living with him and invites Gemma and Will to supper in the big house because he has forgotten to get any pans for them to cook with. As he prepares the steaks, Paul warns Will that the phone reception is awful and takes him to the top of the house to show him the hub.

Will drinks heavily during dinner and Gemma is embarrassed when he asks why Paul's wife has deserted him. Gemma tries to apologise, but Paul shrugs and promises to respect their privacy, as he knows they need some solitude and tranquility to reconnect. He also recommends that Gemma cuts down her pill dosage to avoid drowsiness and assures her that he is there to help should she need him.

The next morning, Will takes Gemma to the big house to show her Paul's birdwatching apparatus. She finds his mocking tone distasteful and is uneasy at being in Paul's room when he is elsewhere. So, when she sees his boat pulling into the jetty on the lake, she goes down to meet him and helps him carry the new pans back to the cottage.

While out in the surrounding countryside, Will remembers how Joel hated going for walks. They admire the view stretching out before them and Gemma is surprised when Will asks if she thinks they deserved to lose their child because they have sinned. When she accuses him of talking religious nonsense, Will storms off down the hill and Gemma is left to make her own way down in the middle of another turn.

On reaching safer ground, Will demands to know why Gemma only took one of her pills and Paul apologises for interfering. He implores them to stay for a bit longer. But, while Gemma rests on the sofa, Will tells Paul that he misses hearing Joel talking in his room and announces that he wants to return home. Paul suggests giving Gemma some soluble sleeping pills so that Will can get a decent night's sleep. But she wakes to find him sobbing in the bath because Joel is no longer communicating with him.

Needing a microphone for her laptop so that she can do some work, Gemma takes a cab into town. While walking along the street, however, the sound of a squeaking bike reminds her of the fact that Joel had only just had the stabilisers removed from his own bicycle and she has another panic attack. When her sight returns, she finds herself kneeling beside a young boy with a tricycle and she feels disorientated and that everybody is staring at her.

During the taxi ride home, the driver, Himesh (Sushil Chudasama), confides that he has just got married and has lots of pregnancy kits in his pocket. Gemma asks to buy one and returns to the cottage to find that Will has gone home because he needs to be near Joel. She screams when Paul creeps up on her, but decides to stay for a few extra days to finish her recording. However, her sight deteriorates when Paul touches the paw of the teddy bear and it speaks in Joel's voice. She takes another pill to calm herself down and asks Paul if she can borrow his car. Despite knowing that she shouldn't be driving in her condition, he agrees. But, while she is on the road, Paul calls to warn her that it might be dangerous to take strong sedatives while pregnant and she angrily tells him to butt out.

Arriving home, Gemma is disturbed to find that Will has laid out some tea lights in a pentangle on the floor. More alarmingly, he locks her in Joel's room and orders her to apologise to the boy so that he can return. Climbing out of the window, Gemma bawls her eyes out in the car and jumps when Will bangs on the door. Nevertheless, Gemma is able to drive back to the Lakes without an attack and demands to know why Paul has told Will about her pills and pregnancy. He denies being indiscreet and offers to show her the sound recording equipment he keeps at the top of the house. She puts on some headphones to listen to the birds outside. But, as she removes them, she hears `The Flower Duet' from Léo Delibes's opera, Lakmé, which had been playing on the stereo when Joel drowned. Gemma begs Paul to turn the music off and she starts to feel woozy.

When she comes round, Paul admits that his wife has gone for good and leaves Gemma to take a bath. She takes the batteries out of the bear and tries to relax. But she hears Joel's voice and immediately begins to lose her clarity of vision. Struggling out of the tub, she calls to Paul for help and demands that he lets her take a pill and drives her home. However, he insists that the medication won't help her and Gemma asks him to leave her alone. She promises Joel that she loves him and will never abandon him and packs to return to Cheshire.

The following morning, Gemma goes to the top of the house to get a signal to let Will know when to expect her. There is no answer and she idly picks up the headphones and hears the sound of thunder clapping and dripping water. Wandering downstairs, she sees Paul drive up with Will in the passenger seat. He has been sedated and barely knows where he is. She asks him to forgive her for not believing him about Joel's voice and whispers in his ear that they are going to be a family again.

The sound of a tap dripping bothers Gemma, however, and she sneaks up on Paul and finds him listening to one of her audio books on his headphones. Finally, she suspects that he is obsessed with her and, putting the batteries back into the bear, she feigns a loss of sight so that Paul has to help her back to her room. Keeping up the pretence, she starts to undress in the knowledge that he has tricked her into thinking that he has withdrawn. She calls out to him and he makes a show of opening the door to ask what she wants. Gemma claims to have a craving for smoked salmon and chocolate ice cream and snaps at him for not taking proper care of her when he proves reluctant to go shopping.

As soon as Paul drives away, Gemma tries to wake Will. She also calls Himesh to fetch her and starts trying to lug her comatose husband down the stairs. However, she hears Paul returning unexpectedly and just manages to get Will back into his room before Paul pops in to explain that he had forgotten his wallet. Keen to buy time, Gemma asks Paul to collect her things from the cottage so that she can stay beside Will. When he leaves, Gemma goes into the audio room and realises that the entire premises have been bugged so that Paul always knows what is going on.

She is so engrossed and disturbed that she only just manages to hear Paul return and pretends to be having a fit so that she bumps into him, as if by accident. But Gemma is so shocked by the new message spoken by the bear that she betrays the fact she is faking an attack and Paul calmly begins to explain the origin of his fixation. He had first heard her voice on the radio and had bought all of her audio books. Then, he had started attending her readings and his wife had walked out on him because she thought he was mad. Paul plays `The Flower Duet' and starts taunting Gemma about letting her son die because she was such a self-centred parent.

Wounded by his words, Gemma vows not to let Paul defeat her and is relieved to hear Himesh downstairs. When she calls to him, however, Paul confronts him on the stairs and throws him over the banister. He grabs Gemma and attempts to force his hand down her jeans. But she resists and manages to stab him in the foot with a blade. As he reels back, Will comes round and thuds Paul against the wall and he slumps to the floor.

Rushing to the car, the couple prepare to make their getaway. Sitting in the passenger seat, Gemma opens her laptop and opens some files that reveal that Paul had been bugging the Cheshire house and had been present when Joel had drowned. Seething that he had done nothing to save his son, Will jumps out of the car and goes back to finish Paul off. Suddenly unable to see again, Gemma is blithely unaware that it's Paul who returns to the vehicle speaking in an Irish brogue.

However, Paul lets the guise slip once they are back in the house and Gemma tries to remain calm while asking Paul about his wife. He reveals that she is still alive and assures Gemma that she hasn't fallen victim to some twisted master plan, as he could never have envisaged that she would have problems with her sight. He even admits to having got to like Will while eavesdropping on them. Gemma offers to treat the gash in Paul's foot and he is so preoccupied with his own triumph that he fails to see her brandish a pair of hypodermic needles, which she plunges into his chest. As he stops struggling and loses consciousness, she places a cushion over his face and suffocates him.

A few months later, Gemma cradles her new baby. Will looks on indulgently and it seems as though they are making the most of their second chance. But there's just a hint that all is still not quite well with Will, as the deceptively happy scene fades.

Gary Sinyor has long been intrigued by the fact that Rob Reiner followed the classic romcom, When Harry Met Sally... (1989) with the simmering Stephen King adaptation, Misery (1990). So, as he has acquired a reputation for light entertainments, he decided to make a thriller of his own. There is a distinct similarity between the obsessions driving Paul Deitch and Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) to imprison their idols. But Sinyor's storyline is far more convoluted and Paul is much less nuanced or menacing, as he is obviously a wrong `un from his first appearance. Consequently, Sinyor struggles to generate much suspense and fails to convince with a grand reveal that exposes just the far-fetched of a narrative that also bears a passing resemblance - in isolating three characters in the middle of nowhere - to editor Carl Tibbets's directorial bow, Retreat (2011), which Sinyor co-produced with Sir David Frost.

On the plus side, however, Sinyor combines imaginatively with cinematographer Luke Palmer and editor Paco Sweetman to convey the disorientation experienced by Gemma during her turns. He also makes canny use of Tom Jenkins's sound design and his remote setting, which was initially going to be a lighthouse. But he fails to bring the best out of Simon Cotton and Richard Flood, who are nowhere near as effective as Jasmine Hyde, who had worked with Sinyor on stage in his provocative biblical satire, NotMoses, and who slips between vulnerability and resourcefulness with a deftness that the overall picture can't quite match.

As Hollywood is so synonymous with motion pictures, the name has been bowdlerised by film industries across the globe. The most famous is, of course, Bollywood, which now surpasses its American counterpart in annual output. Nearby is the Lollywood based in the Pakistani city of Lahore, while the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, is home to Dhallywood. The busiest African film-making centres are nicknamed Nollywood (Nigeria) and Ghallywood (Ghana) and the rough-and-ready features churned out on shoestring budgets have also inspired such Maghrebi film-makers as Moncef Kahloucha, who has been dubbed `the Tunisian Ed Wood'. He was profiled by Nejib Belkadhi in Kahloucha: Tarzan of the Arabs and Franco-Swedish documentarist Sonia Kronlund latches on to another prolific purveyor of no-frills entertainment in The Prince of Nothingwood, which tells the remarkable story of Afghan auteur Salim Shaheen.

Arriving on location to make two features, actor-director Salim Shaheen whips up the small crowd that has come to greet him before hosting an all-male screening of his latest opus. As he jokes, Afghan cinema has earned the nickname `Nothingwood' because it has no money, no resources and no equipment. Having covered the strife that has beset Shaheen's homeland for French radio, Kronlund is keen to analyse the impact that his movies have on ordinary Afghans and she is given a warm welcome by a larger-than-life character who is certainly not slow in coming forward or in promoting his own brand.

Having already racked up 110 titles, Shaheen is shooting four more simultaneously when Kronlund hooks up with him. She films him directing a musical number with a masked actress in a lurid red costume and keeps having to remind her not to dance too provocatively, as any suggestion of sensuality is frowned upon by censors and audience members alike. There is a feel of low-wattage Bollywood kitsch about the routine, as Shaheen calls the shots while rolling around on the ground. But his energy and enthusiasm for cinema are infectious.

Thus, Kronlund follows him into places few other Western journalists would dare to venture. While heading into one neighbourhood, Shaheen leaps out of his vehicle to help an elderly driver whose wheel had become stuck in the pitted road. Kronlund amusing cuts away to a scene from one of his films, in which Shaheen single-handedly lifts the rear of the villain's car off the road. But, as he jumps back inside his people carrier, he jokes that even stars have a duty to help the old and poor.

He takes Kronlund to see a friend who breeds fighting dogs. They watch footage of a skirmish and he decides to include a character who is so heinous that he trains dogs and goats to battle each other for sport. She also sees footage from the time that Shaheen fought in the civil war - which claimed 65,000 lives in Kabul alone between 1992-95 - and one of his old friends reveals that Shaheen made films while in uniform and enlisted the men under his command to act as extras.

His three comrades remember the day the building they were due to film in was shelled and they managed to survive. But a 10 year-old girl died after the hand clutching an apple was blown off in the blast and Shaheen shakes his head at the memory. He wipes away a tear, while thinking of the 10 members of his unit who perished that day. Yet, two days later, they returned to finish the picture, even though many were heavily bandaged and one was on crutches. Proud to be associated with Shaheen, he smiles while proclaiming a love for cinema that ensures that the show must go on.

Always ready to use incidents from his own life in his scripts, we see footage of a young boy sneaking into a cinema, as Shaheen recalls how he used to slip past ushers to watch movies for free. Despite being unable to pay for a ticket, he was obsessed from an early age and he learned a lot about life and himself while hunkering down in the darkness.

Landing in Bamiyan (the site of the 5th-century Buddhas that were infamously blown up by the Taliban in 2001), Shaheen plans to shoot two films based on his own life. He is met at the airport by a security detail, who reassure Kronlund that it will be safe to work in the area. But, even though he is mobbed by fans while handing out posters, the bodyguards caution Shaheen about going out alone. Thus, they have an escort vehicle when they head into the hills and screenwriter Zaki Entizar joins Shaheen in reminding Kronlund that there is no point in fearing death because it's inevitable.

They jump out in the middle of nowhere to pose for photographs and generally fool around before continuing with their journey. Kronlund asks Entizar about working with Shaheen and he reveals that the director had little schooling because of the Soviet invasion and struggles to read and write (although he can speak a smattering of English). Entizar (who looks a little like Joe Eszterhas) also explains why he wears sunglasses all the time to hide the scars from the bombing raid that cost him so many friends. He is modest about his contribution and claims that Shaheen is the driving force. But he is equally eager to introduce actors Qurban Ali Azmali and Farid Mohibi when they visit a hill tribe renowned for their equestrian skills. Shaheen is applauded when he mounts one of the horses and he teases Kronlund that she is trying to get him killed.

One of the locals tells Shaheen that he enjoyed his performance in Qais, the Tea Seller (and we see a clip of him peddling his wares) and tells Kronlund how he risked the wrath of the Taliban to watch the film on a borrowed television because they believe such entertainments go against Islamic Law. Another commends Shaheen for dancing with the heroine of his favourite feature and, when Kronlund asks if he would let his own wife dance on screen, he jokes that she is too busy dancing with him every night. Everyone laughs and Shaheen is delighted to have met such a character, who informs the director that he is 62, but feels like 45 when he watches his movies.

Kronlund meets a young woman who fulfilled her dream of acting when she bumped into Shaheen on the street while getting a shoe mended. She sought her father's permission, as she had been forced to stop attending the local school because people were spreading rumours about her. But he knew how much a moment in the spotlight would mean to her and she is seen singing to Shaheen in a musical number that is notable for the limited dance moves that are permitted. When Kronlund compliments her on her clothes, the unnamed woman shows her how she looks with her face covered and Shaheen claims that burqas were imported by the Arabs and are not a traditional form of Afghan apparel.

Out in the mountains, Shaheen finds a waterfall and has Entizar film him lip-synching a ballad. He also borrows some guns from the security guards and reassures them that he knows what he is doing because he was a general in the army. Kronlund is made nervous by the way Shaheen brandishes the Russian weapon, which is loaded with live ammunition. But the onlookers trust him implicitly and hang on his every word as he improvises a scene with Entizar. Kronlund makes no effort to discover the significance of the action or how it will fit into the finished film. She is just content to cling on to the coattails of this force of nature, as he goes about doing what he loves.

Next, he borrows a young donkey from one of the villagers and has the strapping Qurban mount it so that he can shoot a comic scene of being refused permission to travel to the next settlement to propose marriage to his beloved. Shaheen is delighted with the contrast between Qurban on this tiny donkey and Entizar on a full-size horse. He proclaims how happy he is to be in his mother's birthplace, but Qurban confides in Kronlund that he says this everywhere he goes to win over the locals. When she looks round to find Shaheen, he has already disappeared to shoot another playback song against another dramatic backdrop.

Shaheen takes Kronlund to meet one of his brothers. He recalls (with another clip from the film based on his youth) how his father had been furious with him for wasting his time in the cinema and how he had ordered his siblings to beat his love of movies out of him. But Shaheen had continued to slip away and taken his punishment as a small price to pay for being transported to another world. The brother jokes that Shaheen's early films were essentially choreographed street fights without a storyline. But he admits that he has improved over the years, even though he still clearly considers cinema to be a frivolous pastime.

As Qurban needs some new female clothes for his next role, Kronlund follows him to the market, where he gets a mixed reaction from the stallholders when he tries on a burqa and a skirt. He camps up some dialogue and Mohibi (who has come along to pay for the costumes) warns him to be careful because not everyone will get the joke that he often has to play female parts in Shaheen's films because the authorities frown upon uncovered women on screen. The director also ticks him off, while laughing that it would be Qurban's own fault if he got stoned to death.

Before setting off for their next location, Kronlund mentions the threat of landmines and Shaheen blusters that no one should be afraid and teases Kronlund that he has every bit as much beauty to lose in an explosion as she has. She dubs them `the Frarless Man and the Fearless Woman', but intercuts footage of atrocities happening across the country at the same time. The danger they face is very real, especially as Shaheen has enemies among the extremist groups. But he carries on regardless because he can't envisage the alternative.

While Qurban goes off to paint his nails before shooting a scene, Shaheen explains how his mother used to send him to the bakery and get annoyed when he stopped off to lip-sync videos with a friend who owned a camera. He roars with laughter when he realises how much Qurban resembles his mother, as he prepares son Shah-Zaki (who is playing his younger self) for the recreation of a shoot that was interrupted by his mother trying to thrash him before falling to her knees to pray for help in stopping her son from throwing his life away on trashy films.

Qurban throws himself into the scene and Shaheen leads the crew and the handful of curious locals in a round of applause. His admiration is genuine, as he knows how much he relies on Qurban, whose effete mannerisms belie the fact that he has four children with his wife. He laughs when Kronlund asks if he has just the one spouse and jokes that he has no need of more, especially as he is the only man he knows who is bullied by his wife. She smiles and tells Kronlund that she just lets him get on with it and no longer worries about him because everyone recognises him. He reveals how he made his debut for Shaheen at the age of 17 in The 4 Aces and we see a clip of him playing a character in a burqa on a TV show called The Cousin that was designed to teach male viewers how to treat women with respect.

Shaheen has two wives and they live in the same house in Kabul. He introduces Kronlund to his eight sons, Azim, Reza, Ali, Shah-Zaki, Zahir, Abbas, Qais and Padshah. All but the youngest have appeared in his films and they eat with him for the camera. However, he keeps his wives and six daughters away and Kronlund is disappointed with his fib that they had not wanted to be seen. She smokes, as he reveals that his parents arranged his first marriage to a woman who was five years older than him and he complains that this is a major problem in Afghanistan, as so many women find themselves lumbered with unsuitable partners.

His mother promised that he would be allowed to choose a second wife when he was financially secure and this is what he did. But he discloses that he was so unhappy with his first wife that he tried to commit suicide with pills on several occasions. When Kronlund implies that he must have had some feelings for her to have had six children with her, Shaheen replies that he did so to uphold the family's honour. Yet, he clearly believes in romantic love, as we see from a clip from one of his pictures, as a young suitor climbs a wall to see his beloved. But, while she lets the topic drop, Kronlund does enough to highlight the contradictions that are current in so many aspects of Afghan society.

Back in Bamiyan, they shoot at the shrine where the Buddhas were destroyed. Shaheen asks Kronlund how she felt when the Taliban desecrated the site and, when she proves reluctant to answer, he declares it a crime against humanity and culture and she agrees. He mimes along to a song, while Qurban strikes a series of poses in front of the monument. They climb up the winding stairs to the top of one of the recesses and the portly Shaheen shadow boxes with Kronlund to show how fit he is. As they survey the view from the cliff, Shaheed marvels at how the ancients managed to carve the statues without modern technology.

As if to demonstrate the risks that Shaheen and his company are taking, Kronlund interviews a member of the Taliban. He supports Islamic State and wants to see Sharia Law established in Afghanistan. But he keeps his face covered for fear of reprisals, as he admits that his comrades used to download Shaheen's films to their phones, while he has also sold pirated DVDs. When pressed by Kronlund about what he has learned from the movies, he gushes about patriotism and doing one's duty and he concludes by declaring Shaheen a hero.

Following a montage of clips, Shaheen recalls how people were free to choose their brides before the Soviet invasion. He describes how his father died of a heart attack after his younger brothers were conscripted by the invader and how he returned from Iran and enlisted in the Afghan army. Although only 17, he volunteered to join a concert party and became so well known that a general's daughter fell in love with him and he was punished by being sent to the frontline.

Kronlund interrupts these reminiscences to show members of an élite NATO-trained squad helping Qurban perfect his saluting and gun-toting technique to play an effeminate conscript. They gather round and laugh, as Shaheen teases his star about playing the part too well. He asks Kronlund if she would mind if he killed a chicken to mix its blood with some water to create some special effects and she withdraws while the killing is done to watch as Shaheen mixes his gore. She asks Shah-Zaki if he enjoys working for his father and they get the giggles when discussing his weight. But Shaheen must have overheard, as the charm vanishes and he admonishes Kronlund for wasting his light and he sneers that those used to making films would know about such things.

Retaining his business-like demeanour, Shaheen readies Zaki to recreate the moment when his unit was massacred by the mujahideen at a remote outpost and he borrowed a gambit he had seen on screen of smearing blood on his face and lying amidst the corpses. He implores his actors to `act better' as the scene progresses, while he tells Kronlund in voiceover how he was feted by the top brass for his cunning and was given a camera as a reward. In order to ensure authenticity, Shaheen makes Qurban drink some of the chicken blood so that it seeps through his lips when his body is prodded and the watching Afghan troops roar when he rushes away to vomit the second Shaheen calls `cut!'

Clearly this isn't one of Shaheen's better days, as he loses his temper with Shah-Zaki while they are filming his triumphant return to base and he blames Entizar for writing such lousy dialogue before storming off the set. Kronlund asks Mohibi where he's gone and he reassures her that he will return. She inquires why Mohibi wants to be an actor and he admits that he isn't a big film fan, but quite likes the idea of being famous. We see a clip of him embracing Shaheen in a shamelessly emotive scene, as Mohibi concludes by stressing that cinema is Shaheen's life and he is grateful that he allows him to help wherever he can.

When Kronlund hooks up with Shaheen for a meal, he informs her that directors have to exhibit a range of emotions to get what he wants on the set. He is quite prepared to rant and rave if it works, but would prefer to be gentle and kind. Nodding with a mouthful of food, Kronlund takes this masterclass tip to heart, as a clip of Shaheen shows him losing an arm during a tug-of-war with two vans. It sums up the cheap-and-cheerful machismo that courses through his pictures and reinforces their similarity to those produced in Nollywood.

As Kronlund's shoot nears its end, Shaheen takes her to the rock formation known as Ali's Dragon. An imam was reputed to have slain a monster here and Entizar shows Kronlund the rift where the creature was sliced in two. However, she is scared of heights and sits away from Shaheen and his ensemble, as they pose for photographs. She asks him if he believes in the myth and he hedges his bets. Yet, when Kronlund and Mohibi snigger about it being unlikely to be true, Shaheen almost loses his temper, as he senses her mocking his beliefs and he just about keeps his feelings in check, as he claims that she needs some tea to help her recover her manners. Moreover, she makes light of the tiff by cross-cutting to a scene in an old picture, in which Shaheen serves his lady love with a glass of tea.

It's all smiles, as Shaheen's party flies out of Bamiyan and he seems to be back on good terms with Kronlund, as they ride in the backseat of a car to his house. There are no farewells and no grand summations of Shaheen the man or the movie-maker. Instead, the credits roll with an insert box that cuts from the dance number with the girl in the red mask to an epic punch-up in the snow, as Shaheen comes to rescue a captured buddy. Yet the sequence perfectly encapsulate Shaheen's single-handed effort to sustain an Afghan cinema tradition that dates back to Reshid Latif's Love and Friendship, which starred Ustad Bina and Latif Nashad Malek Khel back in 1946.

Although Salim Shaheen is the undoubted centre of attention of this compelling portrait, the lengths to which Sonia Kronlund and cinematographers Alexander Nanau and Eric Guichard went in order to record the footage should not be overlooked, as they placed themselves in extreme danger in order to follow a human whirlwind, who appears to careen through life with the assurance of a sleepwalker. Kronlund might make light on screen of driving into off-limits neighbourhoods or known minefields, but there must have been moments when she wondered whether pursuing Shaheen and his cohorts was worth the candle.

Despite relishing the spotlight, the strain of maintaining his public persona also seems to have proved too much for Qurban Ali, who disappeared during a promotional trip for the film following its premiere at Cannes. One wonders about the fate of his family, but he clearly felt he could not return to a country where acceptance and tolerance are often in short supply. Perhaps Kronlund can take up his ongoing story somewhere along the line?

It's certainly to be hoped that she continues to make films, although her métier is radio and her expertise at posing tricky questions in the most disarming manner frequently comes in handy while dealing with Shaheen and his shifts between flirtatious affability and prickly egotism. However, such is her focus on Shaheen's personality and passion that she leaves herself little room for analysing the symbolism and meaning of the macho fantasies inspired by the likes of Ramesh Sippy's Sholay (1975) and Ted Kotcheff's First Blood (1982). Moreover, she and editors Sophie Brunet and George Cragg might have labelled the film clips, as Shaheen is supposed to be an artist, albeit along the lines of Edward D. Wood, Jr. There are moments when Kronlund seems to be using clips to poke fun at the quality of his acting and directing. But she has also done a splendid job in bringing Shaheen to wider attention and revealing the extent to which his prodigious output has boosted the morale of his war-scarred homeland over the last three decades.

Finally, in 2017, we come to Mountain, the middle section of a vertiginous trilogy by Australian director Jennifer Peedom that started with Sherpa (2015) and will conclude in the next year or so with a biopic of Tenzing Norgay. A cross between an cine-essay and a travelogue, this Willem Dafoe-narrated meditation on humankind's relationship with the world's highest peaks takes its philosophical cues from Mountains of the Mind, a 2003 tome by Cambridge academic Robert Macfarlane. Its soul, however, lies in the majestic score performed by Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, which combines pieces by the conductor himself, as well as Antonio Vivaldi, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, Edvard Grieg, Arvo Pärt and Peter Sculthorpe.

By rights, the stars of this cinematic adrenaline rush should be the peaks themselves, as well as the mountaineers, ice climbers, free soloists, skiers, snowboarders, mountain bikers, BASE jumpers, wingsuiters, heliskiers, parachute cyclists and tightrope walkers who seek to conquer them. But, as Peedom has opted not to identify any berg other than Everest, the spotlight should fall on cinematographer Renan Ozturk and aerial cameraman Anson Fogel, who contribute over two-thirds of the 2000 hours of footage (the rest coming from the Sherpas Cinema archive) that has been shaped into a brisk and breathtaking 70 minutes by editors Christian Gazal and Scott Gray.

Cutting from monochrome footage of Dafoe and the ACO preparing to record their soundtrack to a shot of a tiny red-shirted figure on a sheer face, Peedom wastes no time in revealing what a dizzying odyssey this is going to be. As the camera exposes the peril the climber is in, Dafoe explains that those who don't get mountaineering will be baffled by such reckless folly. But there are just as many who are lured by the siren song of the summit and a slow montage of aerial passes over snow-tipped peaks certainly helps justify their allure.

Yet, just three centuries ago, the notion of scaling mountains would have been considered lunacy, as they were places to be avoided because of the gods and monsters that dwelt there. As the camera swoops over moving specks in the wilderness, however, Dafoe opines that mountains came to be made of dreams and desire, as well as rock and ice, and their conquest became a challenge that could no longer be shirked. A goat makes light of a precarious ledge, as we see Buddhist monks praying in a mountain-top monastery. We are also shown archive footage of early expeditions, as Dafoe describes how reverence was replaced with a sense of adventure that drove the likes of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine to take on Everest.

They perished in the attempt, but their intrepidity convinced others `to replace mystery with mastery', as the great powers sought to name and claim the highest places on the planet in the name of imperialism and progress. But the trailblazers were soon followed by soldiers and tourists, as ski resorts were made accessible by cable cars and the once forbidding terrain became the playground of the rich and leisured. Yet, it wasn't until Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay scaled Everest in 1953 that mountaineering really seized the popular imagination.

Keen to escape the controlling confines of the city, people started to climb in order to experience sensations that existed solely on the time-warping summits that seemed to beckon and betray in equal measure. A series of images shows the physical strain involved in climbing, as athletes take on implacable obstacles with a mix of brio and bravery that is both humbling and numbing. Much depends on honed technique and, yet, the physical reality often proves more resistant than the image in the mind's eye. Consequently, some of the most experienced climbers have lost their lives in pursuit of their ambitions, and so have the countless anonymous locals who signed up for expeditions for pay packets that could mean the difference between starvation and survival.

This was very much the theme of Sherpa and Peedom doesn't dwell on it here. But the point is well made through shots of climbers howling with the pain of their exertions, while others plunge downwards to be saved only by their ropes. Even safe zones like tents and caves can be inhospitable and the close-ups of stoves boiling hot drinks seem almost sensually reassuring. But, as Dafoe notes, the ranges are often spectacularly beautiful in the morning sunshine and a montage of inspiring vistas send the climbers on their way with a renewed vigour and purpose that is rewarded by reaching their destination and posing for that all-important photograph to show to the folks back home. One pair even have time for a joint with their feet dangling over the edge of an incline.

But the conquest of the mountains has led to them being exploited and a timelapse sequence not only shows hundreds of holiday skiers making patterns on the piste, but also the clearance of woodland to make room for more chalets and parking lots. Dafoe wonders if we have ceased to acknowledge the power of the mountains when stunt skiers and snowboarders use them as the stage for exhibitions of gymnastic derring-do. As Vivaldi pulsates on the soundtrack, Peedom uses Go-Pro rigs and static cameras to juxtapose headlong point-of-view shots and slow-motion replays to showcase the skills of these seemingly fearless thrill seekers.

Risk has become its own reward and some now actively seek danger as an escape from the conformity of daily life. They are even willing to pay to put themselves in peril, as the knowledge one is so close to death enhances the feeling of being alive. The need to do something no one else has achieved has driven people to tightrope walk across vast expanses, cycle to the peak of a crag, throw themselves off tethering rings or plummet of precipices in wingsuits. We see cyclists and skiers employ parachutes to hurtle through the air, as Dafoe describes how such athletes compare their need to prove themselves to feeding a rat with fear. Among the most ridiculous of these pursuits is heliskiing, although leaping from a giant seesaw seems equally preposterous. Dafoe (and, therefore, Peedom and Macfarlane) seem to tut in disapproval, as they regard adrenaline junkies who are `half in love with themselves, half in love with oblivion'.

The supreme test for those wishing to prove themselves or banish their demons remains Everest. But thousands now pay for the privilege each year and Dafoe sneers that this is no longer climbing, but queuing, while exploration has been replaced by crowd control. Yet the mountain can still bite back, as it did with the 2015 avalanche that killed 22 people, the majority of whom were Sherpas. As Dafoe laments, there is no glory for those left behind to mourn. In such ways, mountains humble human instincts and expose our insignificance and a deeply moving timelapse shot of a starry night sky is complemented by the reminder that these forms existed long before life emerged from the slime and will continue to do so long after it has been extinguished.

A truly awe-inspiring sequence follows showing molten lava cascading down the side of a volcano. A furious red against the darkness, it cools to an amorphous grey that bubbles and flumps in an almost comic fashion. But, as Dafoe reminds us, mountains are born of fire and force and, thus, they are forever moving in a unique symphony that accompanies the dance of life. Amidst the most beautiful shots in the entire film, we see water babbling through an ice cave and a waterfall steepling downwards under the unconcerned gaze of an owl and a deer. Remarkable close-ups reveal the shape of snowflakes as they land on the forest floor and timelapse sequences shows drifts and thaws and stretches of water freezing and melting to prove the earlier point about mountains being in motion.

As clouds swirl around a lone peak and we see a party of two trek along a narrow ledge, Dafoe returns to the idea of the indifference of the Earth to our presence. Those who have scaled the heights often struggle to communicate the sensation of feeling time passing over them and leaving nothing behind but their shadows. But, while mountains don't need us, we need them to reconnect us with their wildness and revive our jaded sense of wonder.

It's hard not to feel a touch inconsequential at the end of this assault on the senses. There are moments when the drone and chopper shots seem conspicuously flamboyant, while the prose can sound a little purple and preachy. Moreover, some of the high-rise antics seem to have been included simply to invite our disdain at the foolhardiness of those courting danger in order to delay the onset of humdrum mediocrity. But many will be awestruck by the dynamic athleticism on display in a panoply of audiovisual splendour that demands to be seen on a giant screen.

For the record, the countries included in this often exhilarating treatise are Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, France, Greenland, Iceland, India, Italy, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland, Tibet and the United States.