Logan's last run is a homer

Dafne Keen (l) and Hugh Jackman

Despite its near-futuristic setting, the super powers, and the mutants Logan is essentially a Western. Just in case we don’t get the point George Stevens’ classic 1953 film Shane is referenced at a couple of key moments. Shane, for those of you who haven’t seen it, is about a gunman with a mysterious past who arrives to save a bunch of homesteaders from the depredations of nasty landowners.

I can certainly see some of that in this film but in terms of Western tropes I felt it struck more of a chord in comparison to Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), and not just because of the grizzled Hugh Jackman’s resemblance to Eastwood. In Josey Wales, Eastwood is a former soldier who has lost everything he loves when his family is murdered. He joins a group of settlers, becomes their de facto guardian angel, and in the process rediscovers his sense of family.

Anyway, whichever it is, these are both classic Westerns and in its way Logan is a classic superhero movie. Much of this is because there’s not a cape or a Lycra onesie in sight; this is a plain clothes superhero film.

It is set in 2029, a time when there are no more mutants and Charles Xavier and his X-Men have been discredited after the mysterious ‘Westchester incident’ in which 700 people and most of the X-Men were killed. Xavier (Patrick Stewart) is now in his nineties, living in isolation and cared for by the mutant tracker Caliban (Stephen Merchant) and Logan himself.

This is very much a superhero in decline story. If The X-Men were a new pantheon of gods and heroes then this is very definitely the twilight of the gods. The aged Xavier is barely in control of his psychic powers – he has seizures which devastatingly impact everyone around him – while Logan’s mutant healing power is waning thanks to the prolonged toxic effect of his adamantium endo-skeleton.

However when a young girl, Laura, (Dafne Keen) arrives looking for their protection, Xavier convinces Logan that they have a responsibility to look after her. She is one of a generation of new child mutants who are effectively being weaponised buy a powerful quasi-governmental corporation.

There is a definite end of an era feel to Logan and director James Mangold and writer Scott Frank convey that sense of one last gunfight. Mangold and Frank are proper, grown-up, film makers and they understand the importance of motivation, stakes, and character development in engaging and audience. This is a well-written and impressively set up piece of action movie-making.

Although they do contribute to some brutally effective action sequences – this film deserves its ‘15’ rating – Logan’s powers are secondary. This is essentially a character-driven film; it defines the relationship between the surrogate father Xavier and the prodigal Logan and gives both actors some lovely moments.

The Wolverine series has always stood slightly outside X-Men continuity, although this one does hark back slightly to X-2 (2003). Logan is a very satisfying and handsomely mounted conclusion to the trilogy and, if they choose to, will also usher in a whole new franchise.

Hidden Figures add up to success

Janelle Monae (l), Taraji P Henson and Octavia Spencer

It is very rare to see a film about women which takes a celebratory tone. It is even rarer when the women in question are women of colour, which is what makes Hidden Figures such a transcendent experience. It is a joyous, feel-good film which not only celebrates achievement and empowerment but also makes one wonder how this story has remained untold for so long.

The story of America’s conquest of space is invariably told through the filter of the Mercury Seven, John Glenn et al whose story is superbly told in Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff. However, as fans of Wolfe will know, these men were just ‘spam in a can’ and considered themselves as such. The real challenge faced those whose job it was to get them into space and back again in one piece.

Hidden Figures turns on an accident of timing. To qualify for its massive budget appropriation NASA had to be an equal opportunity employer which meant it had to employ women of colour. No mean feat for an organisation headquartered in the Deep South. Of course it didn’t have to promote them, just employ them.

So this story is one of three women trying to pursue their career dreams in the face of, at best, intransigence and at worst downright opposition. Maths prodigy Katherine Goble (Taraji P. Henson), administrator Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and scientist Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) are each very good at what they do but are constantly thwarted by prejudice.

Goble has no toilet facilities in her building, Vaughan is denied a promotion she richly deserves, while Jackson is unable to get the qualifications she needs to advance her career because of a segregationist educational policy.

What is remarkable about Hidden Figures is that none of these women requires the saving intervention of a white male. They each have agency in their own resolution and are perfectly capable of sorting things out for themselves. This, I think, is the most important aspect of Hidden Figures, and conversely it is the area which has attracted most criticism.

The film has been accused of a certain ‘made for TV’ sensibility and while I wouldn’t go that far I would concede that it tells its story in broad strokes. However, to my mind, the content is so important that the form has to be as accessible to as many people as possible. This is a film that will inspire women of all ages and ethnicities so why not celebrate the accomplishment of these remarkable women in a feel-good style.

The performances from all three women are marvellous. They bring home the real economic and social cost of racism without ever being strident or preachy. Henson is the flashiest role but the others make a big impression. Mahershala Ali, for the second time this week, contributes a small but memorable role and Kevin Costner continues his career revival in an understated role as the man whose job it is to get all this to work.

The one genuinely transgressive issue with Hidden Figures is in its casting. Jim Parsons is a grudging and narrow-minded scientist while Kirsten Dunst is a prissy, condescending office manager. Neither of them is especially well served by their roles but it does make a change to see the two thankless, stereotypical roles played by white actors.

Moonlight casts a haunting glow

It is hard to know where to start with a film like Moonlight. For one thing, it is a story that you have seen before, the themes are universal after all, it’s just that I can’t recall this story ever told in such an accomplished or affecting way. In some ways, it is a mirror image of Richard Linklater’s Boyhood (2104), but much more grounded in the real world.

Boyhood famously filmed one group of actors for a fortnight every year for twelve years to create, in effect, a real time narrative. Moonlight tells the story of one young man of colour in Miami over a similar period but uses three separate actors to tell the story.

In our first encounter, we know him as Little (Alex Hibbert), when we next meet him he is Chiron (Ashton Sanders), and in our final encounter he is Black (Trevante Rhodes). These three stories form a triptych of self-discovery as Little responds to the influences of his life and  the circumstances that surround him, until he finally emerges as a young man who is certain of himself if nothing else in his life.

Along the way his encounters with key people in his life are beautifully captured by writer-director Barry Jenkins and an impeccably chosen cast.

The first section deals with Juan (Mahershala Ali) a drug dealer who provides an unlikely steadying influence in Little’s life. In a world of absent male authority figures it is Juan who gives Little some stability.  The second section deals with Chiron’s relationship with his drug-addicted mother Paula (Naomie Harris) and his burgeoning sexuality which finds expression in a tender moment with his friend Kevin (Jharrel Jerome).

When we meet Black, in what we might call episode three, he has been in prison – a result of his retaliation to bullying – but the memory of Kevin has sustained him. This final section is the most familiar, it’s a potentially trite story, but I genuinely struggle to think of having seen this scenario played out like this before. It is honest, affecting, profoundly moving and ultimately hopeful.

The performances throughout are excellent. Hibbert, Sanders, and Rhodes are marvellous as Little/Chiron/Black. Jenkins apparently didn’t let the three actors see each other’s performance, or even meet, so their individual takes on the character make for an interesting approximation of the ageing process and character development.

Mahershala Ali dominates the film; even though he only has a few scenes he is an actor of enormous power. And Naomie Harris is simply terrific in a performance which avoids all the clichés.

Moonlight’s greatest strength is the way it faces toxic racial stereotypes head on and deals with them in an uncompromising manner. These are the conditions that created Black but Jenkins, who comes from a similar area, never lets them define him.

Visually the film is magnificent. Cinematographer James Laxton’s use of colour, allied to Jenkins’ selection of music, brings an ethereal quality to parts of the story rendering it almost spiritual.

Moonlight is probably not going to win the Oscar, even though it should, but it is a film for the ages and, for me, one of the genuinely great films of the 21^st century. This is a film that will be talked about and will resonate long after its Oscar rivals are no more than trivia questions.