Film Picks: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Cuckoo, Till We Meet Again On The Lily Hill

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (PG13)

105 minutes, now showing
★★★★☆

The 1988 comedy classic that spawned an animated series, a musical and several video games has at last produced a sequel. And it is a good one, containing much of the original’s bubbly energy and gruesome practical effects, boosted by the confident performances of returning cast members.

More than three decades after the events of the first film, Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) and stepmother Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara) return to Winter River following the death of Delia’s husband Charles.

Lydia is the successful host of a paranormal show, but is haunted by visions of the demon Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton). After her teenage daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) lands in supernatural trouble, Lydia is forced to confront her traumatic past.

Director Tim Burton, who also helmed the first film, leans on nostalgia – the stop-motion animation and campy musical numbers are nods to the first instalment, as are the gory visual gags about human souls bearing the injuries that killed their mortal selves.

Burton and the producers have thankfully resisted sequel-itis and refrained from making everything bigger, louder and more digital effects-heavy.

They could have also made this a Keaton-heavy affair, given the popularity of his character. Instead, they have chosen to keep the fractious Deetz family front and centre. It is an astute decision that keeps Keaton’s wisecracking character fresh and funny.

Cuckoo (M18)

102 minutes, now showing at The Projector
★★★★☆

In this German-American production, German writer-director Tilman Singer takes things that he loves from Gothic thrillers and drops them into the setting of a monster movie. Here is a gaslighted woman, Gretchen (Hunter Schafer), whose fears are belittled and dismissed as unprocessed feelings about her late mother.

Teenager Gretchen with her father Luis (Marton Csokas), stepmother Beth (Jessica Henwick) and stepsister Alma (Mila Lieu) head to the German Alps for a stay in a resort run by Herr Konig (Dan Stevens).

Gretchen dislikes the place. It is too isolated and the locals behave strangely, especially Herr Konig. A series of terrifying events convinces her that the community is hiding an awful secret that centres on Herr Konig and his plans to turn the resort into a special community.

For the first third or so of the film, Singer holds out the possibility that Gretchen might be going through a stress-related mental health episode.

The plot solidifies into a survival thriller by the second half, but Gretchen’s disturbed psychological state remains pertinent. There is plenty of running and screaming, but the action is driven by the teenager’s inner turmoil as much as her need to stay alive.

For actress Schafer, whose main credit so far has been a supporting role in the drama series Euphoria (2019 to present), her performance in Cuckoo proves she can carry a movie. From a sullen teen dragged along on a family trip to a survivor struggling to live through the film’s bloody climax, Schafer never puts a foot wrong.

Till We Meet Again On The Lily Hill (PG)

128 minutes, now showing at The Projector
★★★☆☆

Spoilt high-schooler Yuri (Haruka Fukuhara) blames her widowed mother and late father for the emotional issues that cause her to be apathetic about her future.

One night, after hiding out in an old air raid shelter, she finds herself transported to 1945. She meets Akira (Koshi Mizukami), a pilot with a kamikaze squadron. She develops feelings for him, despite knowing it will soon be his turn to go on a mission from which he will not return.

Director Yoichi Narita’s second feature is a time-travel romance adapted from a popular 2016 “cellphone novel” by writer Natsue Shiomi.

Narita has, in interviews, said that the film is anti-war. Despite his statements, anti-war films which humanise the aggressor while showing none of their misdeeds can make some viewers uncomfortable.

This film and others, such as the holocaust drama The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (2008), ask that the aggressors be viewed as victims – in this case, to see that kamikaze pilots were good lads in the grip of bad ideology.

For viewers able to cross this troubling moral gap, this film offers a well-crafted, heartfelt story about doomed love and valuing one’s parents, even if they do not look like ones in other families.