Julia

Meet Julia, an alcoholic ginger giraffe in a flimsy dress, cheap bling and accompanied by a cloud of smoke that drifts alongside her. She’s as cold, pale and unblinking as a porcelain doll. And, like the doll, is easily smashed. She can’t be arsed with her AA meetings, shags anyone who’ll look her way and has no one for company but the fag between her skinny fingers. She’s quite odd.

But one day, after being plucked out of the gutter by Elena, her neighbour and fellow AA member, Julia finds herself roped into a complex kidnapping that needless to say, doesn’t quite go to plan. Tempted by the overpowering allure of $50,000 (that’s a lot of vodka) Julia decides to help the desperate mother take her child back from his rich grandfather.

Swinton pulls out a mystifying bag of tricks in a performance that sees her become the film. Her extraordinary facial expressions, emotional volume and remarkable ability to judge each on screen interaction with perfect precision make it impossible not to be sucked in. She has proven in the past that her talents run deep, but this time all the world is truly her stage and she taps deep into her own resources to show what she’s worth. The story does meander a little too far and the plot tangents are far too ludicrous to contend with, but none of this matters. The film is not about the story, the plot or the outcome, but as its title would suggest, it’s about Julia, and her own journey from ice-queen bitch to self-realised mother figure.

Monisha Rajesh

Anticipation:

Alcoholic nutter goes AWOL with rich kid. Bring it on.

Enjoyment:

Brilliant, but a bit long.

In Retrospect:

Plot glitches don’t matter – Swinton makes the film.