Gemma Arterton

Skilfully written, directed and acted, this offbeat British period film tells a story that catches our attention with its vivid characters and original setting. Based on real people and situations, it also rings unusually truthful in its combination of comedy and drama. It's another remarkably observant movie from Danish director Lone Scherfig (An Education).

The setting is 1940s London, where the Ministry of Information has assembled a team to make movies to help with the war effort. Catrin (Gemma Arterton) is a secretary who finds herself assigned as a screenwriter, working alongside Buckley and Parfitt (Sam Claflin and Paul Ritter) to write movies for veteran actor Ambrose (Bill Nighy). When Catrin discovers a story about twin sisters who participated in the Dunkirk boatlift, she proposes it as a film idea, and soon the entire crew goes into production, adding an American soldier (Jake Lacy) to the cast to accommodate the wishes of US military allies. This annoys Ambrose, who had been hoping to play the hero himself.

Scherfig directs the film with a light touch that brings the period to vivid life and never bogs down in the intensity of wartorn Britain, recognising the reality while undermining it with brittle humour and messy romance. Catrin has an artist husband (Jack Huston) who isn't happy about her new job, and there are hints of a romantic-comedy subplot between Catrin and Buckley.

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Like a 10-years-later follow-up to 28 Days Later, this small British thriller takes a refreshingly original approach to the zombie genre. The most engaging difference is the fact that the central character is infected with a brain-eating virus, so the question has to be whether it's all bad. This introspective approach gives the movie a strong kick, and it looks great despite a small budget. So the film is involving and gripping even if, ultimately, there isn't much to it beyond a cool central idea.

The film opens with a school in an underground encampment, where soldiers guard children who are as heavily restrained as Hannibal Lecter. Their teacher Helen (Gemma Arterton) is friendly and open, as opposed to the sceptical Sergeant Parks (Paddy Considine). Dr Caldwell (Glenn Close) casually experiments on these youngsters to learn more about the virus, arguing that they're no longer human. But Helen has her doubts, especially with her super-smart pupil Melanie (Sennia Nanua). When the compound is overrun by "hungries", it's Melanie who helps Helen, Caldwell, Parks and guard Kieran (Fisayo Akinade) escape. And as they travel across a wasteland into London, they begin to wonder if there's any hope left for humanity as they knew it.

Director Colm McCarthy and writer Mike Carey keep these five survivors at the centre of the film, giving us people we can identify with as things get increasingly desperate. At each juncture, they make yet another grim discovery about this virus, forcing them to revamp their plan. This means that the film has a series of escalating set-pieces that are cleverly designed and very nicely shot and edited to build suspense and sometimes horror. It's also rare for a movie to take such an thoughtful approach to this genre, but then its three lead characters are strong, interesting women.

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Utterly bonkers, this movie confounds any attempt to categorise it, blending comedy, romance, horror and drama to become a true one-off. And it maintains such a darkly playful tone that it's impossible not to smile even as things turn rather hideously nasty. Against all odds, these contradicting moods come together into something surprisingly involving, thanks to skilled director Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and clever writer Michael R. Perry. Their approach is so inventive that it's impossible to guess what might happen next.

Set in a small industrial town, the story centres on Jerry (Ryan Reynolds), who was set up with a job in a bathtub factory after his release from a psychiatric institute. Overseen by therapist (Jacki Weaver), Jerry is settling in nicely. He has a crush on Fiona (Gemma Arterton) in accounting, even though it's actually her office colleague Lisa (Anna Kendrick) who likes him. But no one realises that he has gone off his meds and is starting to listen to advice coming from his lovable dog Bosco and his evil cat Mr Whiskers. What they tell him to do is pretty horrific, but he thinks that this is the only way to get his life back on track.

Where the plot goes is seriously grisly, but it's played out by the cast and filmmakers in a blackly comical way that's highly stylised, seeing everything through Jerry's warped perspective. The question is whether he's a serial killer, an insane criminal or an emotionally tormented young man. Whatever, the film is a remarkably internalised exploration of mental illness, because the tone refuses to let us off the hook. And because all of the performances are riotously funny, bridging the gaps between the humour, romance and violence.

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