Roofman review: Channing Tatum is Oscar-worthy as a robber who hid in Toys R Us for six months

What disarmed these hostages was his politeness. Before locking them inside walk-in freezers to make his getaway, he’d ensure they wrapped up warm. The scheme served him well until North Carolina police captured him and sent him to jail, from which he naturally made a (deeply ingenious) daredevil escape in 2004. His arrest itself, at his daughter’s birthday party, is mounted in the film as a bravura set piece with slow-motion technique to die for.

This is only the beginning of Manchester’s story, which shape-shifts into a borderline romcom, a development that is pulled off with top-end tonal assurance in this film by the writer-director Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines).

It is at all times a glorious use of Tatum, who has needed a part like this since Magic Mike and Foxcatcher – a seriocomic, Jerry–Maguire-esque showcase letting him do more than deadpan constantly to sell us a premise. He turns Jeffrey into a relatable outcast for our times, whose yearning for the family he has lost is tenderly sketched.