Society Of The Snow review: This intense, gripping story is told with sensitivity and compassion, writes BRIAN VINER

Association of the Snow (15, 144 min)

Verdict: Compassionate and compelling

An uplifting true story, insofar as an account of a tragic plane crash and cannibalism can be considered uplifting, is movingly told in the Spanish-language film Society Of The Snow.

In October 1972, a Uruguayan Air Force plane, Flight 571, en route to Chile, carrying the Old Christians Club rugby team among its 40 passengers and five crew, crashed in the Andes.

Nearly half of those on board died instantly or shortly afterwards from their injuries. Others died later, but nearly ten weeks later the sixteen remaining survivors were finally rescued. To stay alive, they had eaten the body parts of their dead friends.

THE FILM: Society of the Snow, directed by JA Bayona, premiered yesterday on the streaming giant

THE FILM: The film is an adaptation of Pablo Vierci’s 2009 book, which contained accounts from the 16 survivors

REAL DISASTER: Survivors of the crash are being assisted by search teams

THE FILM: To his great credit, Spanish director JA Bayona presents this intense, gripping story without any voyeurism, but with sensitivity and compassion

REAL DISASTER: The plane’s fuselage is covered in snow during the 1972 crash

It is to his great credit that Spanish director JA Bayona presents this intense, moving story without any voyeurism, but with sensitivity and compassion.

But that doesn’t stop it from being poignant, just like his 2012 drama The Impossible, about a family caught up in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

That film starred Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor and a young Tom Holland. This one is starless, at least not from a British perspective, but in some ways all the better for it.

I saw it at a preview screening attended by Bayona and one of the survivors, now in their seventies.

They both then spoke very movingly about a tragedy that has been powerfully transformed into a triumph of the human spirit. On what optimistic note: Happy New Year!

• A longer review of One Life was published during the London Film Festival in October. Society Of The Snow is now on Netflix.

Forget Earl Grey: I’m drinking a cup of the elixir of youth

Comedies in which the elderly magically become young, or vice versa (Freaky Friday, Peggy Sue Got Married, Big), are practically a genre unto themselves. Arthur’s Whiskey (no certificate, 90 minutes, ***) is not a particularly good addition to the strain, but it is accompanied by an attractive energy and just enough humor to keep the audience laughing, if sometimes a little indulgently.

Arthur’s Whiskey isn’t a particularly nice addition to the strain, but it exudes an appealing energy and just enough humor to keep the audience laughing, if a little indulgently at times.

It’s the cast that makes us inclined to be generous: Diane Keaton, Patricia Hodge, Lulu, Hayley Mills, Bill Paterson, David Harewood and Boy George (as himself) is quite an ensemble. Hodge, Keaton and Lulu play Joan, Linda and Susan, three old friends of a certain age who discover that Joan’s late husband Arthur, an amateur inventor, found the elixir of youth just before taking off his clogs.

A few sips and (with actresses Esme Lonsdale, Genevieve Gaunt and Hannah Howland interjecting) the creaking pensioners are once again unruly and flexible, making for lots of cheap age difference jokes because they find it believable as sexy young things they need to learn a whole new language and code of conduct, which means no more orders of ‘Earl Gray without milk’ in cafes.

The Netflix drama Good Grief (no certificate, 100 minutes, **) marks Dan Levy’s feature debut as writer-director. Together with his father Eugene, he created and starred in the wonderful TV comedy Schitt’s Creek, so I had high expectations, which were unfortunately dashed early on.

It tells the story of Marc (Levy), whose wealthy husband Oliver (Luke Evans) suddenly dies, and who, in the depths of his grief, must then deal with the revelation that Oliver had an affair.

None of this is original and none of the characters are likable, a problem the film doesn’t overcome despite a decent cast including David Bradley, Celia Imrie and Ruth Negga.