Film Picks: The Night House, Writing With Fire, Ex Machina

The Night House (nc16)

108 minutes, Disney+

Beth (Rebecca Hall) is left alone following the sudden death of her architect husband Owen. The beautiful, isolated lakeside home he designed is her retreat, as well as a ghastly reminder of his passing. When her dreams are interrupted by terrifying visions, secrets hidden all around the house are revealed.

Director David Bruckner (supernatural horror The Ritual, 2017, available on Netflix) plays with the idea that night shadows are fluid - stare at them long enough and a recognisable shape will emerge. It is a simple idea that delivers powerful scares.

The journalists of the women-run newspaper Khabar Lahariya, based in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, put up with a lot. When they report on extremist politicians, corrupt mining companies, biased policing or the rapes and murders of low-caste women, they are treated as pests - or worse, threats who must be bribed or intimidated into silence.

But the women keep at it, over the objections of their fathers and husbands, who see their activities as shameful because no decent woman should be outside the home after dark.

Drawn from the Dalit ("untouchable") class, the reporters and editors speak up for their community because no one else will.

Nominated in the Best Documentary category at the Oscars this year, this portrait of an inspiring organisation comes from the New Delhi-based husband-and-wife team of Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh.

In this quiet thriller, software designer Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) wins a trip to the remote homestead of his company's chief executive, the reclusive Nathan (Oscar Isaac) - a legend in tech circles and also a misanthrope.

Caleb is told that he is there to interview Ava (Alicia Vikander), an android made by Nathan, to see if she can pass off as a human.

Writer-director Alex Garland's debut feature, released in 2014, covers his main interest - how specific characters grapple with technology that erases the line between right and wrong. The theme is also present in his science-fiction works, the film Annihilation (2018, available on Netflix) and the series Devs (2020).

In Ex Machina , the sexually inexperienced Caleb and the domineering, possibly sociopathic, Nathan lock horns over Ava's humanness, - a fight that Garland makes interesting with flashes of humour and a heist-driven final act.