Caine exudes both grace and grit in The Great Escaper

A performer of Sir Michael Caine’s elevated standing could not have landed upon a more apt – nor affecting – role with which to bid audiences farewell, writes Leigh Paatsch.

THE GREAT ESCAPER (M)

Director: Oliver Parker (An Ideal Husband)

Starring: Michael Caine, Glenda Jackson

Rating: ***1/2

All hail a Caine so able

Ten years ago, the adventurous exploits of an 89-year-old British gentleman named Bernard Jordan earned him the nickname The Great Escaper.

The UK media just couldn’t get enough of old Bernie’s story, even if this crotchety World War II Royal Navy veteran was not exactly Steve McQueen taking flight to freedom on a motorbike.

Instead, Mr Jordan found fame by making a low-speed, high-stakes run for it from his retirement home all the way to France. Just so he could take his rightful place at a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

The late Queen Elizabeth II was going to be in attendance, and the then-US President Barack Obama too. However, Bernard’s need to be there had nothing to do with a selfie with an A-lister.

Michael Caine (right) as Bernard Jordan.

There was always going to be a movie made from this touching true story, and it’s somewhat surprising it took so long to reach the screen.

Nevertheless, the wait proves to be truly worth it, largely due to filmmakers finding the perfect actor to play Bernard Jordan.

The great Michael Caine does a wonderful job bringing this remarkable character to life, gently nudging his portrayal away from the type syrupy sentimentality that other performers might have settled for.

Ninety years of age at the time of shooting – and now retired from the acting game after a long and colourful career – Caine exudes both a grace and grit as Bernard that is always convincing.

A performer of his elevated standing could not have landed upon a more apt – nor affecting – role with which to bid audiences farewell.

Though in many ways a quiet and reflective picture, The Great Escaper instantly makes a strong connection with the viewer and effortlessly holds it.

The opening act introduces us to Bernard and his loving wife Irene (the late Glenda Jackson), happily seeing out their twilight years together in a busy, understaffed retirement home.

The couple conspire to find a way to get Bernard on to the Channel Ferry and over to Normandy before anyone notices he is gone.

Michael Caine in The Great Escaper.

Theirs might be a simple ruse, but it is an effective one, and as Bernard makes slow but determined progress towards his destination, the occasional flashback fills us in on how Irene became the great love of his life.

Despite their physical limitations – both actors refrain from hiding their obvious frailties – Caine and Jackson land upon a shared energy and spirit that keeps The Great Escaper in fighting fit form throughout.

The Great Escaper is in cinemas now

SPACEMAN (M)

Rating: **

Now streaming on Netflix

Adam Sandler as Jakub in Spaceman. Picture: Netflix

Every five jobs or so, Adam Sandler will hit the pause button on the shouty dumb stuff and hit us with something much quieter and serious. Usually, these departures from his regular output (in recent times, Hustle and Uncut Gems) are pretty darn good. However, the veteran funnyman’s latest dramatic detour hits a dead-end of its own making, and just isn’t agile enough to make a U-turn and head in a better direction.

Conceptually, the movie’s one big novelty hook – the Sandman is a Spaceman! – should be far more catchy than it ultimately proves to be. A super-sombre Sandler plays Jakub, a globally renowned astronaut on a long-haul mission to the planet Jupiter. Jakub is flying solo, so when his very pregnant and very dissatisfied wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan) drops some heavy hints she wants out of their marriage, our hero understandably begins to lose his grip on reality. That’s why Jakub eventually finds himself seeking solace and a sounding board in the unlikely form of a kindly, clear-thinking space-spider (voiced by Paul Dano) only he can see.

Adam Sandler as Jakub and Hanus (voiced by Paul Dano). Picture: Netflix

While this beautifully filmed movie creates an attractively authentic (and curiously calming) version of space travel on screen, there is an underlying dullness and misplaced self-importance that smothers all creative potential here.

HOW TO HAVE SEX (MA15+)

Rating: ***1/2

Selected cinemas

Mia McKenna-Bruce in How To Have Sex.

There’s a lot more to this compelling and rather sobering British slice-of-life drama than merely an attention-grabbing title. First-time filmmaker Molly Manning embeds her audience inside the boozy, woozy and not-so-choosy world of a Schoolies Week on the Greek island of Crete. It is here we find a trio of BFFs – Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce), Skye (Lara Peake) and Emily (Enva Lewis) – fresh out of secondary school and making boys, bikinis and big nights out their first priorities.

Refreshingly, the movie avoids hitting any trashy notes as it leads us deeper and deeper into an increasingly disorienting and intimidating world. Tara turns out to be the least experienced of the three, and it is the choices she makes (both good and bad) under extreme duress that frames the affecting tale told here. A deserving winner of the coveted Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes last year.

Originally published as Caine exudes both grace and grit in The Great Escaper