The King of Kings review – Charles Dickens retelling of the Jesus story does a serviceable job

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The famous author tells his son and their cat the story of Jesus in this mixed-bag family animation, voiced by an impressive cast This syrupy cartoon account of the life of Jesus (voiced by Oscar Isaac) is narrated, with consummate weirdness, by Charles Dickens (Kenneth Branagh). It’s in fact based on a story Dickens wrote for his children (and wasn’t published until 1934, decades after his death). The idea is that Dickens is telling the story of the New Testament to his young son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis) and Walter’s impish cat, explaining to the King Arthur-obsessed Walter how Jesus was the real King of Kings and all that. And so we see Walter and Charles, in their mid-19th-century garb, wandering through scenes of JC’s life nearly two thousand years earlier, from the nativity to the crucifixion – much like Scrooge and his spectral buddies in A Christmas Carol as they wander through past, present and future Christmases. It rather drags out what is already a pretty long running ...
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Big Boys review – an achingly brilliant queer coming-of-age classic

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BFI Flare festival
Isaac Krasner delivers a sublime breakout performance as a lovestruck teen in Corey Sherman’s restrained but magical debut

With its come-on of a title, its coming-of-age narrative and its teen hero on the verge of coming out, Big Boys sounds like the sort of LGBTQIA+ fare that grows on trees. In fact, this debut from the writer-director Corey Sherman is a real four-leaf clover: delicate, unique and subtly magical.

In its 16-year-old lead actor, Isaac Krasner, the film boasts a star and a breakthrough performance reminiscent of Jason Schwartzman in Rushmore. (No wonder he has just been snapped up to star with Nicole Kidman in the thriller Holland, Michigan.) His 14-year-old character, Jamie, also exudes the studied charm and comic fastidiousness of Rushmore’s hero Max Fischer. Preparing for a long weekend at Lake Arrowhead, California, with his loutish brother Will (Taj Cross) and their doting older cousin, Allie (Dora Madison), Jamie – whose hero is Anthony Bourdain – packs an array of spices to season the campfire meat.

Big Boys premiered at the BFI Flare festival.

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