The Water Diviner (15)

3 stars

The great Scottish-Australian songwriter Eric Bogle has centred several of his best tracks around the horrors of the First World War, and in particular the Australian experience therein.

The Water Diviner, a best film winner at the recent Australian Film Institute awards and Russell Crowe's directorial debut, feels very much like a Bogle album brought to life, covering the madness of the conflict as well as the loss and despair caused by it to those who remain.

Inspired by a true story, it begins in Gallipoli in 1915, where the Turkish have forced the ANZAC troops to retreat. Four years later in Australia we meet Connor (Crowe), a farmer with a gift for finding water in the desert ground.

As an actor taking his first stab at directing, Crowe has a tendency to overstate the scene by pushing in for close-ups, but he more than makes up for that with some nice storytelling touches. In particular there's an early scene where he returns home, exhausted from a day's well-digging, to his wife who asks him to read to their boys.

We know from Connor's face that something isn't right here, but moments later we hear him reading anyway, as the camera pans slowly to reveal three empty beds. Their sons were all killed in Turkey, the source of a grief that drives his wife to suicide, and he promises her he'll bring their bodies back.

Connor's journey to post-war Turkey coincides with a programme there to find the bodies of the war dead, the first time this has ever been done on such a scale. As one soldier explains, previous wars generally ended with the dead piled into mass graves without identification or ceremony.

It's fairly unusual to see a post-war film as opposed to one set during the conflict, and the set-up here is a potent and emotive one, with tensions and anti-English sentiment running high. It's still firmly an anti-war film, about the human face and cost of battle, and the dealing in guilt and introspection is welcome. Some dodgy computer generated effects are used to try to beef up the clearly quite modest battle scenes and, restricted by budget, the action is generally confined to a handful of people running around.

In Constantinople Connor finds himself in a hotel run by a war widow (Olga Kurylenko), which makes for one of the film's weaker elements, providing something of a distraction as part of a deadly sag in the middle when we get mired in subplots, albeit with a good bit of local flavour and Crowe commanding the screen all the while with a powerful turn.

It picks up again for a stirring, sometimes very moving, final third, while along the way we've been treated to fine flashback scenes that reveal the bond of this family that has been torn apart. The Water Diviner does lack a bit of scale and sweep, and there are no shortage of clunky moments, but in its prime goal of delivering an emotionally charged wartime drama, it's a clear success for Crowe.

Director: Russell Crowe

Running time: 111 mins

While We're Young (15)

4 stars

A 40-something couple (Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts) enjoy a nice life together in New York, having decided they didn't want children.

He's a documentary filmmaker who has been working on the same project for years, but when they meet a hipster couple in their 20s (Amanda Seyfried and Adam Driver), they shake up their middle-aged existence in ways that are perceptive and revealing.

It's not really played for broad comedy, but the result is several hilarious sequences, facilitated by thoroughly believable characters and backed up by top performances, particularly Watts.

Though it gets a bit bogged down in its later stages in long-winded discussions of what documentaries should be, this is a warm, witty and engaging delight.

Director: Noah Baumbach

Running time: 97 mins

The DUFF (12A)

3 stars

The DUFF starts out looking like it's going to be a high school flick like all the others, presenting us with the groups and cliques with which we're all familiar.

Pupil Bianca (Mae Whitman) is fairly normal and if it's trying to function as a genre parody then it comes up short. It's hard to see what the hook is until Bianca learns she's a DUFF (designated ugly fat friend) and enlists her childhood pal, the boy next door, to help change her image.

It's a curious premise, and the execution is formulaic if not unpleasant, though a moment of Bianca's friends discussing her supposed DUFFness might have added some depth.

But Whitman is good and it grows in stature after that ropey start, while potshots at our social media obsession really hit the mark.

Director: Ari Sandel

Running time: 101 mins

The Dark Horse (15)

3 stars

A huge success in its native New Zealand, this affecting drama stars Cliff Curtis as real-life chess player Genesis Potini, just released from a mental institution into the care of his gangster brother.

Together with an old pal he sets out to teach chess to troubled kids, aiming for them to take part in a national tournament, but without the film putting too much emphasis on the chess matches, because it's not really about that.

Though at times it can be quite unwieldy and lacking credibility, The Dark Horse is at its best when delivering an eye-opening look into a world where Maori tradition clashes with modern criminality, alongside the nobility of the chess board to inspire and hopefully provide salvation.

Director: James Napier Robertson

Running time: 124 mins

Blade Runner: The Final Cut (15)

5 stars

There have been more versions of Blade Runner over the years than Ridley Scott has made great films but this, only his third feature, is certainly one of those greats.

Dark and depressing, it struggled to find an audience on its release in 1982 but now stands as one of the most influential science fiction movies of all time.

As Harrison Ford's cop, Deckard, tracks down escaped cyborgs in futuristic Los Angeles, the questions asked about humanity and mortality hum with resonance, while the breathtaking design set the template for everything that has followed.

This Final Cut, first released in 2007, removes the terrible narration that was also chopped from the 1991 Director's Cut, while tidying up some of the sound and visuals and adding more depth to Deckard's situation. Whichever way you slice it, it's a masterpiece.

Director: Ridley Scott

Running time: 112 mins