The Bachelors, Blade Of The Immortal, and Ravenous (Your Week In Film: April 2-8)

The hunger games: On the run from zombie-like creatures in Ravenous

The best and worst of this week's UK home entertainment releases on DVD, Blu-ray and digital. All the films mentioned are available to buy, rent and/or stream now, unless otherwise stated.

Ratings guide: WWWW - Wonderful  WWW - Worthwhile  WW - Watchable  W - Woeful

Kurt Voelker clearly isn't a big fan of psychotherapy. J.K. Simmons, who plays distraught widow Bill Palet in the writer/director's second feature The Bachelors (Curzon Home Cinema) WW, is given all manner of counselling, medication and, at one point, a course of ECT, to cure his chronic depression, but none of it works. In fact, the whole process (including Harold Perrineau's therapist) is treated as something a little bit sinister and not to be trusted.

As it turns out, all maths teacher Bill had needed to get the black dog off his back was for son Wes (Josh Wiggins) to shout at him and hurl a glass full of soda at a wall. Whilst no expert, I'm not entirely sure this is how mental illness – or the alleviation of its symptoms – actually works. Surely, it's just a more extreme version of telling a patient to "pull themselves together", albeit with added broken glass and stained paintwork.

Bad brain science apart, as melodramas about troubled rich people go, The Bachelors isn't bad. It sees the Palet boys move to Los Angeles after the untimely death of wife/mother Jeanie (Kimberly Crandall). An old friend has offered Bill a job at his exclusive boys' school and it's a chance for father and son to start again, with the help of two new women in their lives – Bill's teacher colleague Carine (Julie Delpy) and student Lacey (Odeya Rush), who Wes helps with her French homework. Of course, you're waiting for the two relationships to blossom into more than friendship and Voelker throws in a few deft twists and turns as his story winds its way to an inevitable and uplifting conclusion.

The main weapon in The Bachelors' armoury is a fine cast. You can't go wrong with Simmons and Delpy, but the kids are good too, especially Rush, who finds new dimensions to explore in amongst her character's "beautiful but disturbed" tropes. Lacey's family aren't in it very much but give the film its best scene – all sat round a table during an excruciating dinner that Wes has been invited to. Lacey's mum and dad are going through a divorce and the pair's disdain for each other crackles off the screen as they take verbal pot-shots at each other. They're hilariously awful and should have been in this far more.

Bachelor boys: J.K. Simmons and Josh Wiggins play a grieving father and son

Legendary Japanese director Takashi Miike's 100th film (yes, really) is a flawed but entertaining adaptation of Hiroaki Samura's Blade Of The Immortal (DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD) WW, a long-running manga which ceased publication in 2012 after 19 years.

As the title implies, Blade tells the tale of a mighty samurai – Manji (Takuya Kimura) – cursed by a witch to walk the Earth forever. He takes pity on a young girl, Rin (Hana Sugisaki), and vows to be her instrument of vengeance against Anotsu (Sôta Fukushi) and his band of master swordsmen, who murdered her father.

The opening sequence – filmed in moody black and white as Manji "dies" before receiving his curse – is truly electrifying, but, due to its extended running time and repetitive action sequences, Blade sags somewhat in the middle. However much you love well-choreographed, ultra-violent sword fights, with high body counts and lopped-off limbs, there comes a point where you just think, "Any chance Manji could do something else for a bit – maybe a spot of shopping or some gardening?" Thankfully, Miike pulls it all together in time for an impressively over-the-top grand finale, featuring Manji, Rin, Anotsu, and a few of the colourful supporting characters we've met along the way. 

There will be blood: Miike's 100th movie is violent but repetitive

Netflix adds so much new content to its catalogue these days that it's easy for something rather good to slip through the cracks unnoticed. The fact that latest "something" is a zombie movie, called Ravenous (Netflix) WWW, is surprising because, let's face it, the undead horror sub-genre hasn't exactly been renowned of late for its gems, hidden or otherwise.

Robin Aubert's film doesn't particularly do anything outrageously original – a band of survivors in upstate Quebec are menaced by an army of undead – he just does it very well. The characters are all interesting (especially Monica Chokri's Tania), it's directed with style and imagination, and the creatures themselves have one or two intriguing quirks to mark them out from the usual limb-chewing throng. In fact, I don't know whether it's right to call them zombies at all, as the fast-moving monsters here are more redolent of those from 28 Days Later or The Girl With All The Gifts.

We all know what zombies look like – and it's got a bit boring – but Aubert is more interested in what they sound like. His creatures let out a terrible, soul-piercing shriek that reminded me of the inhuman sound emitted by the alien duplicates in Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978). It's like nails down a chalkboard and genuinely unsettling, especially in a film set amidst the peace and stillness of Quebec's countryside.

The longer the movie goes on, the further it strays from the undead template, becoming stranger and more artful as the exploration of ideas takes over from straightforward storytelling. Aubert leaves us with a lot to ponder (some reviews have suggested rather too much), but figuring out the hows and whys of this particular apocalypse is half the fun. Ravenous leaves you with some powerful images – the creatures build weird piles of furniture and technology for some unfathomable reason – and that awful shriek in your head. Although it isn't quite in the same league, it reminded me a little of Julia Ducournau's extraordinary Raw from last year. Take that as a recommendation.

Cutting edge: Ravenous reinvents the zombie movie

Film of the week: Ravenous
What I will be watching this week: Journeyman

UK Top 10 DVDs/Blu-rays (movies only)
1. Justice League
2. Paddington 2
3. Wonder
4. Thor: Ragnarok
5. Murder On The Orient Express
6. Daddy's Home 2
7. Paddington 1 and 2 (boxset)
8. Moana
9. Beauty And The Beast (2017)
10. Cars 3

London Film Festival Despatch #2: Blade Of The Immortal, 120 Beats Per Minute, and Battle Of The Sexes

Ton up: Blood Of The Immortal marks Takashi Miike's 100th film

Ratings guide: WWWW - Wonderful  WWW - Worthwhile  WW - Watchable  W - Woeful

120 Beats Per Minute WWWW is writer/director Robin Campillo's semi-autobiographical third feature, and the follow-up to his 2013 movie Eastern Boys. The powerful and compelling docu-drama is set in the early 1990s, amongst the activists of Act Up-Paris, a direct action group dedicated to combating the spread of AIDS. Their methods are non-violent but extreme, whether its drenching in fake blood the offices of a pharma company dragging its feet over the trial of a new drug, or invading a school in the middle of lessons to hand out pamphlets containing safe sex advice. Most of the characters to whom we're introduced are HIV-positive, so there is an urgent reason for their no-nonsense approach – they are, quite simply, running out of time to affect real change.

The opening scene set at one of the group's rather formal meetings is so naturalistic it took me a couple of minutes to catch on that I wasn't watching a documentary. In fact, it was only when I recognised Adèle Haenel, from Les Combattants and The Unknown Girl, did I realise these were actors, and very impressive ones at that. The fact it all rings so true, that you can feel its grit under your fingernails, is crucial to 120 BPM's success. Campillo begins with a large cast, more or less getting the same amount of screen time, before focusing in, more and more, on just two – Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), who has developed AIDS, and his lover Nathan (Arnaud Valois). As the group continues its activities, we see the former – a passionate, abrasive young man – start to fade away, in painful increments, as the disease takes hold of him. Culled directly from Campillo's own experiences as a self-confessed Act Up militant in the '90s, Sean's decline is heartbreaking, the writer/director's treatment of it impressively tender and loaded with empathy. He never loses sight of the fact his characters are people first and not just the victims of a disease. They have lives, in which they dance, drink and love, argue, fall out and make up. 

Despite sickness and death being two of the film's main themes, 120 Beats Per Minute is an uplifting piece of work. The comradeship the activists share is truly inspiring and their determination to set the agenda on the treatment of AIDS and its victims was crucial at a time when government (in France and elsewhere) was failing to act decisively, whilst paying lip service to homophobes. Act Up helped shake things up and Campillo's wonderful film is the tribute it deserves.

Class Act: Campillo's 120 BPM is powerful and compelling

Michel Hazanavicius's Redoubtable WWW isn't at all what you'd expect from a biopic of Jean-Luc Godard, the grandaddy of modern French cinema. Rather than serious, sombre and reverential, The Artist writer/director goes seriously off-message – in fact, this is frequently cheeky, mocking, and iconoclastic. Set during the Paris uprisings of 1967, it catches the left-wing director (played by Louis Garrel) at a key juncture, as he high-handedly declares "Fin de Cinéma", and vows in future to make films that don't rely on traditional means of production, distribution or exhibition. As well as railing against the ruling class and bickering with students, Godard woos and marries young actress Anne Wiazemsky (Stacy Martin), the star of his most recent film, a largely plotless but bitingly satirical piece, called La Chinoise, in which she plays a Maoist student (Redoubtable is loosely based on the late Wiazemsky's autobiography). This Godard is like the Woody Allen of Stardust Memories; fans tell him how much they love his "early, funny" movies, but there's also a touch of Basil Fawlty about him, his pomposity and hypocrisy skewered to hilarious effect (the sitcom feel even extends to a running gag in which Godard keeps breaking his glasses). However, this is far from a hatchet job. Underneath the caustic jabs, it's clear Hazanavicius has enormous affection for his subject's work, with various nods and winks to Godard's films peppered throughout, including a lovely recreation of Vivre Sa Vie's Joan Of Arc scene. That said, you don't need to be a Godard expert to enjoy Redoubtable – its smart script, fine performances and surprisingly evocative recreation of time and place see to that.

The God-father: Redoubtable takes aim at Jean-Luc

Legendary Japanese director Takashi Miike's 100th film (yes, really) is a flawed but entertaining adaptation of Hiroaki Samura's Blade Of The Immortal WW, a long-running manga which ceased publication in 2012 after 19 years. As the title implies, Blade tells the tale of a mighty samurai – Manji (Takuya Kimura) – cursed by a witch to walk the Earth forever. He takes pity on a young girl, Rin (Hana Sugisaki), and vows to be her instrument of vengeance against Anotsu (Sôta Fukushi) and his band of master swordsmen, who murdered her father. The opening sequence – filmed in moody black and white as Manji "dies" before receiving his curse – is truly electrifying, but, due to its extended running time and repetitive action sequences, Blade sags somewhat in the middle. However much you love well-choreographed, ultra-violent sword fights, with high body counts and lopped-off limbs, there comes a point where you just think, "Any chance Manji could do something else for a bit – maybe a spot of shopping or some gardening?" Thankfully, Miike pulls it all together in time for an impressively over-the-top grand finale, featuring Manji, Rin, Anotsu, and a few of the colourful supporting characters we've met along the way.

Slice of life: Blade is packed with sword-fighting action

Oscar-winner Emma Stone plays tennis legend Billie Jean King in the light but likeable comedy-drama Battle Of The Sexes WW. Set in the early 1970s and based on real events, it sees King duking it out with her sport's ruling body for prize-money parity with male players. She and other rebel female stars set up their own tour in opposition to the authorities but proceedings take a turn for the pantomimic when ageing former men's No.1 Bobby Riggs (Steve Carrell) challenges King to a match. Riggs is a huckster, gambler and showman, selling himself as the ultimate "male chauvinist pig" to shift tickets and put his fading career back on the map. After he cruises to victory against women's champ Margaret Court (Jessica McNamee), King agrees to take him on. Carrell is perfectly cast as the roguish Riggs but his rivalry with King is only a sideshow to this movie's wider preoccupations: the fight for women's rights (the tennis world provides a microcosm of what was going on in wider US society at the time, including Roe vs Wade) and married King's struggle to come to terms with her attraction to another woman (Andrea Riseborough's Marilyn). The frothiness of directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris's delivery, nor the circus-like tennis finale, detract from the serious issues under the microscope here, while Stone lends King a quiet but palpable strength.

Love match: Battle Of The Sexes explores King's sexuality

Five years after Safety Not Guaranteed, Aubrey Plaza finally lands another film role worthy of her talents, in black comedy Ingrid Goes West WW½. Plaza plays the titular Ingrid, mentally fragile and desperately lonely, following the death of her mother. After being left $60,000 in her mum's will, she moves to Venice Beach aiming to make friends with glamorously ghastly Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen), whose pretentious and vainglorious Instagram page she obsessively follows. A Single White Female situation quickly develops as Ingrid and Taylor become fast friends, but the arrival of Taylor's equally wretched brother Nicky (Billy Magnussen) puts a big fat fly in the ointment as he discovers Ingrid's multitude of deceptions. Matt Spicer's feature debut treats Ingrid's mental health issues with just enough due care and attention to avoid serious criticism but sometimes you're unsure whether you're meant to be laughing with Ingrid or at her, and the humiliating depths plumbed by her stalkerish behaviour. Plaza, who has a refreshing unpredictability and air of danger about her, could have had the part of Ingrid written for her so perfectly does it fit, while Olsen delights in sticking a metaphorical boot into California's army of boho beach blondies. Part character study, part biting satire, Ingrid Goes West asks some pretty tough questions about social media and the detrimental effect it can have on the self esteem of vulnerable people. 

California scheming: Aubrey Plaza has plans to make a new friend

Despatch #3 will include reviews of The Shape Of Water, Happy End, and Downsizing. Your Week In Film will return next Monday (October 23).