Breaking the Cycle review – meet the charismatic Thai politician striving to change his country’s history

Gripping documentary examines the Future Forward Party’s unprecedented 2019 election result, and its leader’s aim to break Thailand’s repeated military coups With his disarming good looks, pro-democracy activist and businessman Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit resembles an actor rather than a typical Thai politician. Heir to the country’s largest car manufacturer, he is blessed not only with personable charisma but also inexhaustible funds. His stunning rise into public consciousness is the beating heart of Aekaphong Saransate and Thanakrit Duangmaneeporn’s debut film, a thrilling documentary about an extraordinary political campaign that shook a nation. As founder of the progressive Future Forward Party (FFP), Juangroongruangkit’s central message cut through the noise of electoral politics: secure a brighter future by correcting the wrongs of the past. Since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, Thailand has undergone a never-ending cycle of military takeovers, including 12 coups. Dur...

The Five Devils review – superpower sense of smell in intriguingly weird psychodrama

A child’s Perfume-style ability enables her to witness emotional crises in her parents’ past, in this disquieting movie

There are some intriguing ingredients in the mix for this weird, contrived supernatural psychodrama from French director Léa Mysius; some strong performances too, and a genuinely stunning final image. For good or ill, I can imagine M Night Shyamalan wanting to remake it for Hollywood. But somehow it doesn’t all come together, delivering neither the stab of actual fear nor the satisfaction of real, plausible psychological insight.

The setting is Isère near the French Alps. The always excellent Adèle Exarchopoulos carries the movie in the role of Joanne; she works at the local sports centre and is unhappily married to Jimmy (Moustapha Mbengue), a guy from Senegal. The tensions in their marriage are made much worse when Jimmy reveals that his sister Julia (Swala Emati) is coming to stay; a disturbed woman whose history with them both is disquieting. And under all this is the extraordinary figure of their 10-year-old daughter Vicky (Sally Dramé) who is subject to racist bullying at school and has a superpower sense of smell: she can recognise anything from its scent, like the hero of Patrick Süskind’s novel Perfume or Dr Hannibal Lecter.

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