April 13th

Nobody Has to Know

Happening

The Good Boss

Eiffel - digital download

It always feels odd when all the high-profile films from the Oscars have come and gone. Things settle into some sort of  "normality", with some excellent new releases that sometimes slip under the radar. This week's films are all worthy of a watch, with one being quite a stand-out. 

Nobody Has to Know

Dir: Boulie Lanners, Tim Mielants

Length: 99 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ird570nlxKs

© Maslow/Umbrella - love and 
lies in later life

Phil (Boulie Lanners) a seemingly healthy middle-aged man, has a stroke, causing him to lose his memory. When he is released from hospital Millie (Michelle Fairley) picks him up and soon tells him that prior to his memory loss they were lovers. Phil has no reason to question this; her attentions are pleasing to him. This film has a couple of real strengths: love in later years is always welcome on screen, and the chemistry between Lanners and Fairley is strong. Also the setting, a windswept island off Scotland, is a suitably desolate reflection of the lonely lives both lead. Not a lot happens until the shocking denouement, but as a gentle reflection upon loneliness, love and connection the film works. It's obviously a story very personal for Lanners who has written, directed and starred in it. (PS for those wondering where they've seen Fairley, think Game of Thrones!)

3.5 - recommended

Happening

Dir: Audrey Diwan

Length: 100 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqsPt2lfOx0

© Rialto - social history that is
alarmingly relevant to today's repressive world

Winner of many prestigious awards including the Golden Lion at Venice, this deeply disturbing film is the story of Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei), a student in France in the late 1960s. Her deeply-held ambition to become a writer is upset when she discovers she is pregnant. Abortion is not legal in France at that time. And so begins the desperate attempt to terminate the pregnancy. The film is based upon a memoir, and the director never flinches or avoids the most upsetting and horrific moments of Anne's increasingly dangerous attempts to solve her dilemma, making it feel totally real. The performance from Vartolomei is intense and brilliant. What is truly alarming is that, in today's world, with many American states trying to wind back women's rights to abortion, this is all horrifyingly real and threatening.

4 - highly recommended

The Good Boss

Dir: Fernando Leon de Aranoa

Length: 120 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlH6FWDZQIo

© Sharmill - Bardem proves again that
no role is beyond him - drama or comedy

Blanco (Javier Bardem) is the boss of a respected Spanish company which manufactures industrial scales. Hoping to win a prestigious award for business excellence, he is determined that nothing must go wrong. But he is faced with a disgruntled sacked employee who sets up a protest tent opposite the factory, another depressed worker, and a very young intern who has her eye on him. This film has totally blitzed with a multitude of  Goya Awards (a bit like the Spanish Oscars), plus a heap of other awards and nominations. The film belongs totally to Bardem, who plays it for all he's worth - starting off as the smooth, charming, apparently uber-caring boss, who becomes a stressed out mess as he starts to meddle in everyone else's lives. Depending upon what makes you laugh, you may either love it or find it merely amusing. 

3.5 - well recommended

Eiffel

Dir: Martin Bourloulon

Length: 108 mins

Available to rent from Apple TV, Google play and Prime Video Store

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STXwmr01J0o

© how romantic can it get?? 

Gustave Eiffel (Romain Duris) was a successful  engineer who was commissioned to build a special monument for the Paris World Fair in 1889. This film is the story of how he built the iconic Eiffel Tower, but apparently it takes a few liberties with the actual facts, using a quasi-fictional romance as its cornerstone. The film claims that Eiffel was once engaged to the love of his life Adrienne Bourges (Emma Mackey), but her socially "superior" family forbade the union. Years later he re-meets Adrienne, now married to his friend Antoine, and the flame is rekindled. Fuelled by love, desire and regret, Eiffel throws his all into his project. Despite the embroidered facts, this sure makes for a handsome and entertaining romance, with some absolutely wonderful scenes and reconstructions of the engineering genius that went into the design and progressive build of what is now one of the world's most romantic and recognised structures. Duris is simply gorgeous, the vision of the wealthy socialites' Paris of the era is a delight, and all in all the film is a good, lightweight entertainment.

3.5 - well recommended