TORNADO
(director/writer: John MacLean; screenwriter: story by MacLean and Kate Keys; cinematographer: Robbie Ryan; editors: Selina Macarthur, Ryan Morrison; music: Ananda Chatterjee; cast: Jack Lowden (Little Sugar), Tornado (Kōki), Tim Roth (Sugarman), Takehiro Hira (Fujin), Nathan Malone (The Boy), Joanne Whalley (Crawford), Alex Macqueen (The Laird), Jack Morris (Squid Lips), Douglas Russell (Lazy Legs), Rory McCann (Kitten); Runtime: 91; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Mark Lane, Leonora Darby, Peter Hampden, James Harris; IFC Films; 2025-UK-in English, Japanese)
“It’s an atmospheric pic that’s beautifully shot.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Scottish filmmaker John MacLean (“Slow West”) directs and writes a compelling but strange puppet story film based on the story he wrote with Kate Keys. It’s an atmospheric pic that’s beautifully shot exposing the lush Scottish rural landscape by the Oscar-winning cinematographer Robbie Ryan, but has only a slight plot. It’s Maclean’s first film since 2015.
In the bleak Scotland wilds of the late 1790s, a stern Japanese puppeteer Fujin (Takehiro Hira), his unhappy dancer daughter Kōki (Tornado, a singer-songwriter & former model), and an acting troupe, tour rural Britain in a covered wagon as performing artists of a samurai show, drawing crowds spontaneously formed from around the villages wherever they stop.
Their traveling show crosses paths with a menacing crime gang, led by Sugarman (Tim Roth), his bullied son Little Sugar (Jack Lowden) and their criminal cronies like Squid Lips (Jack Morris) and Lazy Legs (Douglas Russell). While the gang is mesmerized watching the show, a little village orphan boy (Nathan Malone) steals two bags of the stolen gold kept near their feet. Tornado steals the gold from the fleeing boy, and the gang kill her puppeteer father and confront the fleeing kid and Tornado in a field.
The non-linear story leads to the showdown of the thieves fighting in the high winds with Tornado over the stolen gold from the church, as she unleashes her samurai and martial arts skills against them.
It played at the Glasgow Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 5/30/2025 GRADE: B-
dennisschwartzreviews.com