Film Talk: Dev in director’s chair for action passion project Monkey Man
He was the boy wonder who started in Skins and has risen to become one of the UK film industry’s shining talents.
Following his stint in the acclaimed E4 teen drama, Dev Patel had his major breakthrough in 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire. This instant Danny Boyle classic put Patel in the shoes of Jamal Malik, an Indian Muslim from the Juhu slums of Mumbai.
A contestant on Kaun Banega Crorepati – the official Hindi adaptation of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? – Jamal battles his way to the grand prize, with a series of flashbacks recounting the incidents in his life that provided him with the answer to each question. It was a masterpiece – a winner of eight Academy Awards including Best Picture – and it firmly put Patel on the map.
Since then the British born and bred star has shone in the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel series, stood out from the crowd in sci-fi thriller Chappie, and taken on the mantle of the titular Dickens character in The Personal History of David Copperfield. In each of these roles and many others, our boy Dev has never failed to put his best foot forward as a superb talent in front of the camera. Now, he has finally turned his hand to the work that goes on behind it.
Marking Patel’s directorial debut, Monkey Man is hitting screens across the land this week, and is looking to give audiences their action-thriller fix. Of course, Diamond Dev still couldn’t resist flexing his formidable acting chops, so this one sees him very much front and centre in the starring role as well.
But does Patel prove his worth in the director’s chair, and does his performance live up to his usual calibre? Let’s do this...
MONKEY MAN (UK 18/ROI 16, 121 mins)
Released: April 5 (UK & Ireland)
Actor Dev Patel’s passion project behind the camera stages a wince-inducing death match between John Wick and Slumdog Millionaire in the fictional Indian city of Yatana.
As a directorial debut, Monkey Man is an ambitious undertaking and individual sequences impress with whirling, hyperkinetic camerawork.
Working closely with cinematographer Sharone Meir and action choreographer Brahim Chab, Patel orchestrates testosterone-pumped thrills and barbarity on an outlandish scale: a night-time chase between police cars and a turbo-charged rickshaw, frenetic fisticuffs in a private elevator playing Boney M’s Rivers Of Babylon, an orgy of hand-to-hand combat around a prop-laden ballroom.
Scriptwriters Paul Angunawela and John Collee loosely weave Hindu mythology and socio-political concerns into a conventional revenge thriller.
They repeatedly interrupt dramatic flow with nightmarish flashbacks to the heavy-handed police raid that lights a slow-burning fuse on tensions between the lead character and authority figures who should uphold the law, not wilfully bend and break it.
Patel meets the intense physical demands of his role head-on including an obligatory training sequence that exposes his sweat-drenched naked torso to caterwauls of delight from co-stars.
Our delight is more muted as the film goes ape in a second-hour suicide mission without firmly anchoring emotional connection to the lead character. Sparks of romance with a female escort (Sobhita Dhulipala) are superfluous.
The pummelling begins at an underground fight ring run by promoter Tiger (Sharlto Copley).
Big money changes hands on the outcome of bone-crunching bouts and nameless orphan Kid (Patel) is the resident patsy.
He regularly dresses in a gorilla mask to take beatings from the crowd’s reigning champion, King Kobra (Brahim Chab).
The cheap, blood-spattered disguise conceals Kid’s deep-rooted grief about the murder of his mother Neela (Adithi Kalkunte) during a police raid orchestrated by sadistic chief Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher).
Her senseless death was part of a heavy-handed land-clearing operation on behalf of charismatic cult leader Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande), whose insidious influence will decide forthcoming political elections during Diwali.
Kid vows revenge and worms his way into a high-end brothel run by Queenie (Ashwini Kalsekar), which is regularly frequented by police and dignitaries.
Getting close to Rana Singh comes at a terrible price and Kid is rescued from certain death by the hijra, an ostracised intersex and transgender community, whose temple provides the perfect training ground to rebuild Kid’s strength.
“You should have died from your injuries. The gods must have a greater purpose for you,” encourages hijra leader Alpha (Vipin Sharma).
Monkey Man offers brief respites from the close-up savagery with broken bottles and blades. Recuperation with the hijra provides a satisfying calm before the storm then the script strains credibility by imagining these guardian angels as a finely calibrated troupe of brightly costumed assassins.
Patel is in almost every scene and possesses seemingly inexhaustible energy.
The film lacks his stamina and strongarms us through the exhausting final reckoning.
THE FIRST OMEN (UK 15/ROI 16, 119 mins)
Released: April 5 (UK & Ireland)
In 1976, screenwriter David Seltzer introduced cinema audiences to the Antichrist – Damien Thorn – in the supernatural horror The Omen directed by Richard Donner.
Composer Jerry Goldsmith’s unsettling orchestrations won the Academy Award and underscored a grisly trilogy, which charted Damien’s rise and a second coming of Christ.
This prequel directed and co-written by Arkasha Stevenson unfolds in 1971 Rome.
Before she formally takes her vows and devotes herself to God, American novitiate Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free) travels to Italy to work at an orphanage run by Sister Silvia (Sonia Braga).
The new arrival is warmly welcomed by roommate Luz Valez (Maria Caballero) and Catholic priest Father Gabriel (Tawfeek Barhom).
Far from home, Margaret senses dark forces at work within the orphanage and she questions her faith and the motives of senior members of the Catholic church, including Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy).
SEIZE THEM! (UK 15/ROI 15A, 91 mins)
Released: April 5 (UK & Ireland)
The heady scent of revolution is blowing in the wind in a rollicking comedy adventure written by Andy Riley and directed by Curtis Vowell.
Humble Joan (Nicola Coughlan) leads the revolt against unpopular Dark Ages tyrant Queen Dagan (Aimee Lou Wood) and topples the monarch.
The queen goes on the run with her trusted maid Shulmay (Lolly Adefope) in search of a new army to restore her rightful place on the throne.
Peasant Bobik (Nick Frost) is pressganged into service as Dagan and Shulmay evade capture by Humble Joan’s angry mob.
En route, the fugitives seek kindness and counsel from the queen’s subjects including Felix the Ironmonger (James Acaster), Witgar the baker (Nitin Ganatra) and Alric the painter (Matthew Cottle).
IO CAPITANO (UK 15/ROI 15A, 122 mins)
Released: April 5 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
Directed by Matteo Garrone, the award-winning filmmaker of Gomorrah and Tale Of Tales, Io Capitano is an unflinching and timely drama which was nominated as Best International Feature Film at this year’s Academy Awards.
Senegalese cousins Moussa (Moustapha Fall) and Seydou (Seydou Sarr) leave their home in Dakar to seek a new life in Italy. The gruelling odyssey takes them through Mali, Niger and Libya using false passports and bribes where necessary to secure safe passage.
En route, Moussa and Seydou experience the cruel beauty of the desert, harsh conditions inside detention centres and the untameable fury of the sea separating them from their intended destination: Naples.
THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA (UK 15/ROI 15A, 89 mins)
Released: April 5 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
Tom (Alan Tudyk) and wife Sarah (Shirley Henderson) are on the brink of financial ruin and have no choice but to sell their stylish London home. Thankfully, they find a buyer and ahead of the sale, the couple organise a farewell dinner with friends Richard (Rufus Sewell) and Beth (Olivia Williams).
Another acquaintance, Jessica (Indira Varma), arrives for the soiree uninvited and hangs herself in the garden following an argument. Tom and Sarah realise the sale of their home will fall through if the buyer finds out about Jessica’s demise and they persuade Richard and Beth to take Jessica’s body to her flat to stage the scene there instead.
YOLO (UK 12A/ROI 12A TBC, 129 mins)
Released: April 5 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
Jia Ling directs a Mandarin-language remake of the acclaimed 2014 Japanese drama 100 Yen Love (Hyakuen No Koi).
College graduate Leying (Jia Ling) lives with her parents (Zhao Haiyan, Zhang Qi) to find herself during an extended period of solitude.
