October 13th
Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon
A Taste of Hunger
Night of the 12th
Muru
Each week of late the selection of new releases is so varied, offering a terrific choice of genres and settings. This week we have films from Denmark, France, New Zealand and the USA.
Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon
Dir: Ana Lilly Amirpour
Length: 106 mins
 |
© Kismet - the strip club dancer and
the girl with freaky powers make for
a rivettingly good film |
Mona Lisa Lee (Jeon Jon-Seo) has been declared violent and schizophrenic and has been institutionalised in an asylum for years. She has remarkable supernatural powers that can take over people's minds and bodies and make them do her will. Why she didn't escape sooner we never discover, but the film opens with her fleeing the asylum. She meets up with Fuzz (Ed Skrein), a larger than life drug dealer, and then with strip club dancer Bonnie (Kate Hudson), single mum to eleven-year-old Charlie (Evan Whitten). Bonnie takes Mona Lisa in, with the ulterior motive of using the girl's powers to "lure" victims into handing over their cash from auto-teller machines. Soon burly policeman Harold (Craig Robinson) is on to them. This film, though it may sound bizarre, is a total blast that goes from strength to strength as it progresses. All the characters, even those who are tawdry and dubious, are in-your-face and engaging. I haven't seen Kate Hudson for some time, and this is one of her top performances. Jeon cleverly handles the heroine's journey, as she gradually learns to survive in a society that sees her as an outsider. Set in New Orleans, the film is visually arresting, making great use of saturated colour and neon.The plot is underscored by a brilliant driving soundtrack making this a top cinematic experience, worthy of its awards for sound, and its nomination for a Golden Lion at Venice.4 - highly recommended
A Taste of Hunger
Dir: Christoffer Boe
Length: 104 mins
 |
© Pivot Pictures - marriage of a foodie film
with a relationship film is a winner |
Fresh from the Scandi Film Festival, this tasty Danish film stars Nicolaj Coster Waldau (of Game of Thrones fame). He plays Carsten, a top chef, married to the beautiful Maggi (Katrine Greis-Rosenthal). Together they hunger for each other, and for a Michelin star for their restaurant. The premise is set up early on: food, like life, must consist of elements - salt, sour, sweet, fat and heat. The film then falls into chapters showing the sweetness of when the couple met, the sourness of Maggi's betrayal, and so on. This contrivance, combined with a skipping around in time that is sometimes hard to follow, is perhaps the only grating element in a movie that is otherwise engaging and beautiful on many levels. The two leads cook up a stunning chemistry together, while the food is painstakingly created in a loving and mouth-watering way. The dire effects of over-striving and obsessional work on a marriage, and on the children, are well portrayed, and the plot becomes very moving as it goes from fairly light-hearted to quite intense. Romance and fine food make a strong combo.3.5 - well recommended
The Night of the12th
Dir: Dominik Moll
Length: 115 mins
 |
© Potential - every police officer encounters
a crime that will haunt them |
Clara (Lula Cotton-Frapier) is leaving a friend's home at night when she is accosted by a masked man who throws lighter fluid on her, and sets her alight. The Grenoble police department take on the investigation. Young, newly-appointed Captan Yohan Vives (Bastien Bouillon) teams with veteran cop Marceau (Bouli Lanners) to begin a gruelling investigation. This well-crafted crime drama is a taut examination of how police officers can come across a particular crime that obsesses them. The psychology of policing is under scrutiny, as is the very timely issue of violence against women. Many of the suspects the two men interview epitomise misogynistic attitudes, and the depression and anxiety this causes both Marceau and Vives is almost sanity-destroying. The focus upon the emotional toll such work takes makes for an engaging and alternative approach to a police procedural, and both lead actors play powerfully off each other. Being set in the beautiful French Haute Alps adds an extra frisson of appeal to what is already a very engaging, surprisingly emotional, and fine film.4 - highly recommended
Muru
Dir: Tearepa Kahi
Length: 104 mins
 |
© Rialto - police brutality, Maori protest,
colonial history: a rich plot |
Police Sergeant Taffy Tawharau (Cliff Curtis) finds himself torn between his loyalty to his people and what is expected of him as an officer of the law, in this gripping but complex story of ongoing conflict between a particular group of New Zealand's First Nations peoples, the Tuhoe, and the police. As Taffy helps out driving the local school bus, between tending to his sick Dad, local lad Rusty is just out of detention, and the drama he creates causes matters to spiral out of control, while the heavily armed SWAT-style team question Taffy's loyalty. The film is inspired by several historical events, especially the arrest in 2007 of activist Tame Iti (playing himself in the film). I found the history and politics of this story somewhat confounding, so one could do well to read up on the Tuhoe and their past, to get some insight before viewing the film. Despite my struggles, I find this a well-crafted film, balancing action and tense drama with issues of injustice, persecution and identity. Great to see a film almost entirely in the Maori language, while much-awarded actor Curtis is powerful in his role. (PS Muru means "forgiveness" in the Maori language.)3.5 - well recommended
No comments:
Post a Comment