Shameless Self Expression

Set in London, Naomi Watts plays a midwife of Russian descent, who has just delivered a baby, the child of a 14-year old Russian girl named Tatiana, who subsequently dies in childbirth (in more than one sense of that term, if you think about it). Tatiana leaves behind a diary, and Watts is determined to decipher it to find the now orphaned baby’s relatives. Her crotchety, fearful Russian uncle (Polish actor Jerzy Skolimowski) warns her against this, but Watts is defiant, the search leading her to a restaurant owned by Russian Armin Mueller-Stahl. He offers to translate the diary for her, but when she gets back home, her uncle has changed his mind and done it for her. And what he finds is something Watts has already begun to realise, that Mueller-Stahl and his drunken, loose-cannon son Vincent Cassel aren’t just family members, they’re Family members. The Russian vor v zakone (mafia), to be exact. Viggo Mortensen is a long-serving driver to Cassel, and almost like an adopted member of t

Jason Statham plays a mysteriously motivated man who gets a gig at an armoured car company working for Holt McCallany. He quickly impresses on the job by thwarting a robbery attempt whilst big-talking co-worker Josh Hartnett crumbles under pressure. As the film progresses, we see flashbacks that tell more of Statham’s story and why he is where he is. Meanwhile, ex-military man Jeffrey Donovan leads a gang of armoured car robbers, including trigger-happy Scott Eastwood. Andy Garcia plays an FBI guy, Eddie Marsan plays the manager of the company, Post Malone turns up as a would-be robber, and Darrell D’Silva plays an associate of Statham’s.   I’m not a Guy Ritchie fan in the slightest (I’ve previously only enjoyed “Sherlock Holmes” and “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” ), so when I tell you that this 2021 remake of a 2004 French film is his best film to date, just bear in mind that you’re probably coming at the film from a different place to me. Adapted by Ritchie, Marn Davies (Ritchie’s v