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Boxing Day review

Another Tolstoy update from Bernard Rose

Reviews
By Neil Smith published 6 December 2012

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Bernard Rose follows Ivansxtc and The Kreutzer Sonata with another lo-fi Tolstoy update, based on the short story Master And Man and again starring Danny Huston as a noxious blowhard in dire straits.

Here, however, he has a reluctant companion in the form of Nick (Matthew Jacobs), a local chauffeur who shuttles him to foreclosed properties in wintry Colorado that he hopes to make a hefty profit on.

Their prickly banter prompts some mild humour before an abrupt detour steers the film into redemptive tragedy and self-sacrifice.

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  • Bill Skarsgård as Tony Kiritsis and Dacre Montgomery as Richard Hall in Dead Man's Wire Bill Skarsgård plays a scorned kidnapper in Dead Man's Wire, a surprisingly funny crime thriller
  • Bruno Núñez Arjona and Sergi López as Esteban and Luis in Sirat An unlikely Oscars 2026 nominee is a tense, gut-wrenching odyssey through the desert

Yet bleak as it is, its rigour proves darkly compelling

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Neil Smith
Neil Smith
Freelance Writer

Neil Smith is a freelance film critic and writer who contributes regularly to Heat, SFX and Screen International. He's a long-time member of the London Film Critics’ Circle and was a contributing editor at Total Film for many years.

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