Brendan Craig

I think any film lover over 40 is going to find this self indulgent, over written and not nearly as original as younger fans might think. Think Kafka meets Terry Gilliam to remake Portnoy's Complaint. Joaquin Phoenix is terrific as usual. The quirky film certainly gets off to a rollicking start. And it has its twists and hilarious and disturbing moments. But too many self-consciously clever ideas drag the film into a slow 3 hours. We started getting very restless as the plot borrowed Hamlet's play within a play trick and on it dragged. It could have arrived at the final twist an hour earlier.

Ignore the poor reviews! One of Ben Kingsley's best performances. And that's saying something. Beautiful score. Visually superb. Story angle takes a brave and unexpected view of an ageing icon and his equally passionate, equally performative, equally insatiable wife. Why bother dwelling on the works or the era of Dali's heights of fame? Far more intriguing is the rather sad decline into money grabbing, cynical, desperation we rarely consider or know of. There may be something even worse than never living to see your fame as an artist. And that is outliving it. A must see for any art lover.

This is a magnificent, layered film. Aside from Cate Blanchet's commanding performance as the complex and flawed Tar, the film is a fascinating journey inside the tension-riddled world of a professional orchestra. Politics, status, jealousy, manipulation, bullying, and the hypocrisy and corruption which come with power are all woven into the compelling script. Fascinating too is the ways that the film itself works with a musical rhythm, finishing like a great symphony. Brilliant conversational passages illuminate ideas about time, timing and music itself.