By Steve Favell

SCAB Three Films Outside Basingstoke, Hampshire

I normally choose the films I watch by recommendations from people. Without sounding like a complete ponce there’s a lot of choice out there and it feels like I have less and less time so will normally completely dismiss a film if I haven’t heard of it.

I love cinema but completely by chance I seem to have amassed a group of friends who take it very seriously, which I think might have rubbed off on me. Some of my best friends include a script developer, with a BAFTA award winning father (very handy for seeing new films before they’re out), a DIT, a camera man, and a brother who has an almost identical taste to me and who somehow seems to have seen almost every film ever made.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love watching some trash as much as the next man. Come on, The Lie Detective is brilliant. I’m fascinated by humans and reality TV is a really great way to scratch that itch.

When Becky recommended The Edge of Seventeen to me, I wouldn’t normally have rushed to watch a coming of age high school movie but I decided to put it on as I worked, on the condition that I would watch Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest release The Killing of a Sacred Deer after.

She was right, it was actually great.

Charming and engaging, with the amount of humour you’d expect from a James L. Brooks production (Simpsons fans will recognise his name). And although the protagonist could have come across irritating and irrational, the narrative was quirky enough that you couldn’t help but have empathy for the character.

In fact, I could have done with watching the films in another order. The Edge of Seventeen would have been the perfect remedy to Lanthimos most harrowing film yet.

Stylish and surreal as ever, The Killing of a Sacred Deer was darker than I expected. With characteristic staccato, clipped dialogue, the film went to a darker place than Lanthimos’ dystopian back catalogue and the films premise stayed with me for days after watching.

Oh, and I also watched Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. A film that I’m sure everybody has heard the buzz about – especially in our 48 sheet bubble.

Watching Three Billboards feels like a fever dream. The film builds tension perfectly in situations that if you dreamt about you’d wake up sweaty and relieved that you would never react in that way if you were ever thrown into that situation for real. And although I walked out the cinema with achy quads having had them tensed for the majority of the 1 hour 55, the stand out takeaway from the film is the script.

There is a letter written by Woody Harrelson’s character (don’t worry, no spoilers here) that could simultaneously can make you laugh and cry and this fantastic dialogue runs throughout. Interspersed with funny and serious moments in equal measure, the winding story reflects the script and feels real and all in all made it a great watch.

A hat-trick. Three great films. Would recommend.