OPENS JULY 30, CERT 18, 102 MINS
The title may threaten a rough ride, but former Skids frontman Richard Jobson's feature debut as a director is surprisingly tender. Graced by striking visual flourishes and spot-on musical choices, this story of a young man emerging from the haze of alcoholism to make a bid for redemption has a raw, vivid sense of reality.
Kevin McKidd—long deserving of a leading role—plays Frankie, who we follow from a boyhood spent in his father's shadow to his teenage years as a skinhead and his subsequent struggles to fit into sober society.
OPENS JULY 30, NO CERT, 114 MINS
Coming-of-age sports movies tend to adhere to a formula and, in essence, this debut feature from computer-effects whiz Fumihiko Sori is no exception. Familiar setbacks and triumphs are all present and correct, but this adaptation of a five-volume manga delivers enough character quirks, visual flair and unique detail to make it the Japanese equivalent of a Wes Anderson film.
Friends since childhood, the wild, outgoing Peco (Yôsuke Kubozuka) and the quiet Smile (Arata) are ping-pong heroes of their school.
