Beast review – down-and-out MMA fighter film is predictable but still lands punches

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Directed by Tyler Atkins and co-written by Russell Crowe, this Australian feature follows a familiar playbook – but you’ll find yourself surprisingly invested Ah, yes: the promising fighter who could’ve been a contender, could’ve been a champion. But then life intervened: bad decisions were made, promises broken, the wrong paths taken. But what if the past came knocking on his door? What if our long-in-the-tooth hero could have another crack, set things right, get in the ring one more time? To say that Tyler Atkins’ Australian martial arts drama Beast plucks moves from a well-worn playbook is putting it lightly. This is one of those genre films in which nothing surprises in broad terms; it’s the small pivots and deviations that matter. Given the ring of familiarity surrounding everything, I was surprised to find myself as invested in the film as I was, particularly because so many chest-thumping sports movies are already out there, many of which I find about as intellectually engaging ...
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Last Swim review – a London school leaver’s complicated A-level results day

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Deba Hakmat is impressively subtle as a British-Iranian teen whose celebrations come unstuck

Sasha Nathwani is a UK-based director of award-winning short films, of Iranian and Indian heritage, stepping up here to his feature debut. It opens the Generation strandin Berlin and is a sweet-natured, heartfelt and earnestly acted film; a little precious maybe, but saved from emo-sentimentalism by irreverent humour and a wittily self-aware final image of his leading actor’s face.

Last Swim is the story of Ziba, played by Deba Hakmat, an Iranian-British teen who has just stormed her A-levels and landed a place at University College London to read astrophysics; this is despite a certain attitude on the part of her interviewer who shows, if not microaggression, then microcondescension, pointedly asking if any other members of Ziba’s family ever studied this subject. Ziba has got intricately detailed plans for her and her 6th form mates to celebrate on results day; these are Tara (Lydia Fleming), Shea (Solly McLeod) and Merf (Jay Lycurgo).

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