BOTTOMS 15

★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS

It’s nearly Booksmart, but not quite. Nevertheless, this queer take on high-school cliques is a heightened-reality hoot with a banging Charli XCX soundtrack. Set in a timeless universe (Discmans, non-era specific costumes, no contextual info), it follows ‘gay, ugly, untalented’ P.J. (Rachel Sennott, who co-wrote) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) as they set up a girls-only fight club to seduce hot cheerleaders. Potty-mouthed and daft, Emma Seligman’s (Shiva Baby) film is nominally feminist but diverting fun with tonal glitches and a gag reel that suggests a saltier cut might have been in the offing.

THE MISSION TBC

★★★★★ OUT 17 NOVEMBER CINEMAS

The fine line between faith and folly is vividly explored in this documentary account of 20something US missionary John Allen Chau. In 2018, Chau illegally travelled to the Indian island of North Sentinel, with the aim of converting its indigenous people to Christianity. Co-directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss (Boys State) reconstruct Chau’s story via interviews with friends and colleagues, animations, clips from feature films and footage from an earlier anthropological visit to the same location. The end result is a rigorous interrogation of the ethical basis of missionary projects.

DREAM SCENARIO TBC

Overnight fame…

★★★★★ OUT 10 NOVEMBER CINEMAS

What happens when an unremarkable man starts popping up in the dreams of thousands? That’s the delicious premise of this English-language debut from Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself). Nicolas Cage, in one of his more restrained, vanity-free performances (à la Adaptation or Joe), plays college prof Paul Matthews. Married to Janet (Julianne Nicholson) and a father of two daughters (Lily Bird and Jessica Clement), he’s a real Mr. Average – until he becomes a shining star at night…

Although he can’t witness others’ dreams, Paul initially revels in his new-found notoriety. Borgli craftily replicates some of these fantasias (classroom earthquakes, jungle raids), and wisely makes no attempt to explain this phenomenon. Instead, the writer/director has Paul courted by a slick ad agency led by Michael Cera’s unctuous CEO, who wants to turn him into a dream-fluencer.

For a while, the film seems unsure which direction to take, until a darker third act sees Paul’s benign personality begin to warp in dreamland, impacting his entire life. Meanwhile, echoing the work of Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich in particular), Dream Scenario morphs into a wickedly funny satire on the pernicious nature of social media. A late cameo from Succession’s Nicholas Braun also amuses, but nothing outflanks Cage, far more real here than he was playing himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

THE VERDICT Cage is on fire in a dark comedy that, like all the best dreams, will stay with you the morning after.

NYAD 15

★★★★★ OUT NOW NETFLIX

How do you sustain a story about long-distance swimming? By building it around a fabulous character: restless but resolute real-life athlete Diana Nyad (played by Annette Bening) who, at the age of 60, attempts her life-long dream of completing a 110-mile, open-ocean swim. Steeped in grit, guts and glory, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s (Free Solo) sporting drama is also about friendship; the key driving force is the bond between Diana and coach Bonnie (Jodie Foster). Rhys Ifans delivers a soulful turn as Team Nyad’s navigator, but it’s the leading ladies who are most likely to make an awards splash.

DURAN DURAN: A HOLLYWOOD HIGH PG

★★★★★ OUT NOW DIGITAL

The New Romantic veterans’ links to LA provide a flimsy premise for this hybrid of docu-concert movie and album puff piece. While the four band members are engaged interviewees – on/off guitarist Andy Taylor is only mentioned – the positing of ‘fame… star culture’ as the motifs that tie Duran to Hollywood offer a tenuous cue for a rooftop gig, plugging 2021 album Future Past alongside a few hits. Simon Le Bon is in decent voice on Come Undone and Ordinary World, but the smallscale event whiffs of exclusivity and corporate ties, with the nearby Capitol Records tower in full view. KEVIN HARLEY