ReviewCannes 2022: Armageddon Time movie review – Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins and Jeremy Strong play family in 1980s-set coming-of-age drama from James Gray

Director James Gray’s Armageddon Time focuses on a Jewish family in New York, seen through the eyes of the youngest son

The movie is at its best in the scenes between Banks Repeta and Anthony Hopkins, who gives yet another masterclass turn.

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Banks Repeta (left) and Anthony Hopkins in a still from Armageddon Time (category TBC), directed by James Gray. Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong co-star. Photo: Anne Joyce/Focus Features

Published: 4:45pm, 20 May 2022

3.5/5 stars

James Gray returns with one of the most accessible, tender movies of his career. Set in 1980, in Queens in New York, Armageddon Time focuses on a Jewish family, seen through the eyes of Paul (Banks Repeta), the youngest son.

Attending public school, where he frequently misbehaves but dreams of being a famous artist, he’s got his “head in the clouds” as his father Irving (Jeremy Strong) says. Only his grandfather (Anthony Hopkins) seems to get through to him, but when he meets Johnny (Jaylin Webb), a black kid in his class who lives with his grandma and has been held back a year, a friendship grows – and further trouble awaits.

Gray, who was last seen telling a father-son tale in his underrated sci-fi Ad Astra, hones it back here. The portrait of the family, arguing over the dinner table, is indelible.

Jeremy Strong (left) and Anne Hathaway in a still from Armageddon Time. Photo: Focus Features

Despite Paul’s mother Esther (Anne Hathaway) being head of the Parent Teacher Association at his school, the consensus is he should go to Forest Manor, the pricey private institution where his older brother Ted (Ryan Sell) is. “You are the elite,” Paul is told when he finally has no choice but to put on the uniform and join this world of privilege.

Jessica Chastain, in a slightly odd cameo, plays Assistant US Attorney Maryanne Trump – the sister of former US President Donald Trump – lecturing the students about their potential.