Hidden Figures

Three unsung heroes of the 1960s Space Race are given their moment in the sun here. Why their story is particularly inspiring is because they were African-American women who, as well as calculating angles of re-entry, had to jump through hoops at Nasa when racial segregation was still a fact of life. Every day, maths whizz Katherine G Johnson (Taraji P Henson) must cross the grounds at Langley Research Center to use the "colored ladies room" in a literal running gag. Though it's not inherently a laughing matter, director Theodore Melfi (St Vincent) avoids beating a drum. He conveys the absurdity while honouring the can-do spirit of these ladies, who include Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) and Dorothy Vaughan (Oscar-nominated Octavia Spencer), to make their plight more involving. Mary goes to court for the right to further her career while Dorothy swots up on modern computing so that her department of number-crunchers won't be disbanded. The portrayal of their white colleagues (through fictionalised characters) is a little too pat, with only Katherine's boss (Kevin Costner) showing any open-mindedness. Still, this presses all the right buttons for a blast of enlightening, upbeat entertainment.