Blinded by the Light (2019), directed by Gurinder Chadha

It is 1987, the last year of school for aspiring writer Javed and what a big year it is. He finds his writing voice, gets his first girlfriend, discovers the music of Bruce Springsteen and begins to break away from his traditional Pakistani family. Inspired by the true story of writer Sarfraz Mansoor, the film effectively captures the teenage angst and frustration of feeling trapped in a dead-end town—Luton, in Thatcher’s Britain. Unemployment is at an all-time high and racist National Front thugs roam the streets with impunity. Do you stand up for yourself? Do you fight back? Do you escape? Springsteen’s songs have all the answers. The film has something of a fairytale quality, minor characters border on caricatures and the musical sequences are a tad over the top. Viveik Kalra as Javed is all exaggerated facial expressions at the start, but he grows into the part and becomes more credible; his graduation speech at the end is moving and convincing. The Springsteen soundtrack matches the narrative well, although some songs play too long, rather hammering home the point. There are loads of familiar faces among the supporting cast, with Hayley Atwell as an encouraging teacher, Nell Williams as girlfriend Eliza and Dean-Charles Chapman as best friend Matt the standouts. It’s a feelgood film that is enjoyable if not quite up to the standard of Chadha’s earlier work, such as Bend it Like Beckham and Monsoon Wedding.

Last Christmas (2019), directed by Paul Feig

Selfish, feckless and estranged from her family, since recovering from a serious illness aspiring singer Kate seems to be perpetually living on the brink of disaster. That starts to change when she meets Tom, who shows her that helping others can make you happy. But is the elusive Tom really the solution to Kate’s troubles? Written by Emma Thompson, using the music of George Michael and Wham!, the story arc is very predictable but it is done well. Emilia Clarke sparkles in her elf outfit as Kate and Henry Golding charms in the slightly tricky role of Tom. The supporting cast makes the best of a script that teeters on the edge of sentimentality, but throws in enough dirty laughs to save it from total soppiness. It features Michelle Yeoh in an unusual role and Emma Thompson, who is hilarious as Kate’s Yugoslavian mother. The film makes a few gentle political points about xenophobia and exclusion of the other. It relies a little too heavily on too few songs, which adds to the predictability, but Clarke sings them very appealingly. It’s a nice touch to see a cameo appearance at the end by Andrew Ridgeley.

The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood

A much-hyped sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments takes a similar path, purporting to be witness accounts from the tyrannical regime of Gilead. This time the tale is told from three points of view, which enables Atwood to take a long view from the very beginning of Gilead to around 15 years after the time of June’s story. This is a very clever device that picks up on elements of the television series, which extended June’s story beyond the Handmaid’s Tale, without relying on the changes made. The three voices belong to Aunt Lydia, a founder of the regime; Agnes Jemima, daughter of a commander; and Daisy, a Canadian orphan. This allows examination of the history of Gilead and how it developed, its inner workings and contradictions and the fight against it, both inside and out. We see how victims become perpetrators as a means of survival and how there are many forms of rebellion and resistance. The accounts are gripping and shed a new light on Gilead, but the tale falters a little when the three strands are woven together. What should become a nice, strong plait of a story is let down by stray strands that stretch credulity in the same way as the TV series. Intricate plans leave a bit too much to chance; miraculous strokes of luck and coincidence save the day; and those in a position to ask obvious questions and uncover the truth remain quiet and/or ignorant. The postscript of an academic symposium makes for a clever and amusing conclusion to the chronicles of Gilead. It will be interesting to see what, if anything the TV series makes of it, given how thinly it has stretched the original material so far.

Too Much Lip, by Melissa Lucashenko

Riding into the piss-poor northern New South Wales town of Durrongo on a hot Harley, Kerry Salter plans to pay her respects to her dying pop and get out of Dodge asap. Grieving the break-up from her girlfriend, who is in gaol in Brisbane, Kerry has to navigate her tricky family while dealing with the town’s shonky mayor/real estate developer. Her religious mother Pretty Mary, alcoholic brother Ken and anorexic nephew Donny don’t make it easy, while an encounter with her high school crush Steve makes her question her sexuality. Melissa Lucashenko brings to life a family on the fringe of society and the law, making them real and comprehensible, funny and tragic. Culture and history informs the narrative but never bogs it down, rather illuminating the very real impact of generational trauma on the practical reality of modern life. The writing is very visual and it would be easy to see it made into a three or four-part TV series. Equally entertaining and informative, with a flawed heroine who is totally relatable, it is no wonder this novel has reaped awards.

The Farewell (2019), directed by Lulu Wang

Struggling writer Billi emigrated from China to the US with her parents when she was six years old. Her grandmother – Nai Nai - was left behind, but Billi remains as close to her as is possible from so far away with infrequent visits. When Nai Nai is diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer the family conspires to keep it from her, as is Chinese custom. They arrange a family wedding to allow everyone to say a covert farewell, but Billi struggles with the deception. The film starts by declaring it is based on a real lie. Written by director/producer Lola Wang, it provides an interesting meditation on cross-cultural differences and the divided loyalties of child migrants who struggle to retain their culture. It also paints a picture of how rapidly China has been changing as it develops economically. It has wry and funny moments, none more so than the laugh-out-loud twist at the very end of the film. But at times it is slow moving to the point of tedium, with far too many long lingering shots of faces expressing sadness as soaring strings play. Awkwafina does a great job as Billi and there is a fine, largely unknown, supporting cast – especially Shuzhen Zhao as Nai Nai. Special mention should be made of the Japanese actress who plays the bride and has hardly a word to say, as she speaks no Chinese. The dialogue is largely in Chinese with English subtitles, which are done very well. This is a thoughtful film, which could have been better; possibly the director is a little too close to the material.