Aug 12th  
Oppenheimer** (15)   
(Electric Palace, Harwich)

(US/GB 2023) 
Universal/Syncopy/Atlas Entertainment. 180m. Panavision/IMAX bw

J. Robert Oppenheimer torments himself about being the inventor of the atomic bomb.
Stylish and pretentiously overblown from the get-go (long before it needed to be during its atomic research scenes), this otherwise well acted and reasonably well recorded account of historical events rather obsesses over Oppenheimer's Communist links and subsequent post-war investigations, and this sidelines the most significant aspect of the war against Japan. Enjoyable when the actors are allowed to be heard above the overbearing soundtrack; the essential point could have been told in half the length.

Written and Directed by: Christopher Nolan, based on the book "American Prometheus" by Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin.
Producers: Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, Christopher Nolan.
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jnr, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Conti (as Einstein), Jefferson Hall, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Matthew Modine, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman (as President Truman), and others.
Photography: Hoyte van Hoytema.
Music: Ludwig Goransson.
Editing: Jennifer Lame.