Combining fantasy with stark realism, Lee Chang-doing’s magnificent film is both beautiful and tragic as it explores the thorny issues of how people with disabilities are marginalised. Stars Sol Kyung-gu and Moon So-ri give their finest performances as the mentally ill ex-con Jong-do (Sol) who falls for a young women suffering from cerebral palsy (Moon), would-be lovers who are sidelined by society.
Marc Isaacs first worked as an assistant to filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski and whose encouragement led Isaacs to make his debut film Lift. From that debut onwards, Isaacs reveals a great capacity to empathise with the protagonists of his films. Never judging by appearances, his skill at getting to know the characters becomes part of the narrative of the film, challenging our prejudices and preconceptions with the reality he finds. Strong human characters are at the heart of all of Isaacs' work and, in these three films, he creates a succession of deeply moving portraits, piecing together a unique vision of modern Britain.
Douglas's magnificent, award-winning Trilogy My Childhood (1972), My Ain Folk (1973) and My Way Home (1978) is the product of an assured, formidable artistic vision. These are some of the most compelling films about childhood ever made. Presented here in a High-Definition restoration, the Trilogy follows Jamie (played with heart-breaking conviction by Stephen Archibald) as he grows up in a poverty-stricken mining village in post-war Scotland. This is cinematic poetry: Although shot in bleak monochrome and featuring minimal dialogue, the warmth and unexpected humour mean the Trilogy brims with clear-eyed humanity, and affection for an ultimately triumphant young boy.
When the Filmmaker (Marc Isaacs) is told his next film must be about crime, sex or celebrity to get funded, he takes matters into his own hands. He decides to shoot a film at home, with people connected to his own life becoming its stars: the two English builders, the Pakistani neighbour, a homeless Slovakian man and the Filmmaker's Colombian cleaner. Blending documentary with fiction, and a wry humour with tenderness, acclaimed director Marc Isaacs unfolds a story which asks pertinent questions about the nature of filmmaking itself.
Poly Styrene was the first woman of colour in the UK to front a successful rock band. She introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, postmodernism, and everything she saw unfolding in late 1970s Britain, with a rare prescience. As the frontwoman of X-Ray Spex, the Anglo-Somali punk musician was also a key inspiration for the riot grrrl and Afropunk movements. But the late punk maverick didn't just leave behind an immense cultural footprint. She was survived by a daughter, Celeste Bell, who became the unwitting guardian of her mother's legacy and her mother's demons. Misogyny, racism, and mental illness plagued Poly's life, while their lasting trauma scarred Celeste's childhood and the pair's relationship. Featuring unseen archive material and rare diary entries narrated by Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga, this documentary follows Celeste as she examines her mother's unopened artistic archive and traverses three continents to better understand Poly the icon and Poly the mother.
Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza) is an unhinged social media stalker with a history of confusing 'likes' for meaningful relationships. Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen) is an Instagram-famous 'influencer' whose perfectly curated boho-chic lifestyle becomes Ingrid's latest obsession. When Ingrid moves to LA and manages to insinuate herself into the social media star's life, their relationship quickly goes from #BFF to #WTF. 'Ingrid Goes West' is a savagely hilarious dark comedy that satirizes the modern world of social media and proves that being #perfect isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Filmed on the virtually deserved Setonaikai archipelago in south-west Japan. The Naked Island tells the story of a small family unit and their subsistence as the only inhabitants of an arid, sun-baked island. Daily chores, captured as a series of cyclical events, result in a hypnotizing, moving, and beautiful film harkening back to the silent era.
A fascinating fusion of narrative and documentary from Clio Barnard, The Arbor tells the powerful true story of Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar (The Arbor, Rita, Sue and Bob Too) and her daughter Lorraine. Dunbar wrote honestly and unflinchingly about her upbringing on the Buttershaw Estate, in Bradford. When she died, tragically at the age of 29 in 1990, Lorraine was just ten years old. The Arbor catches up with Lorraine in the present day, also at 29: ostracised from Buttershaw and her family. Through compelling interviews we learn that Lorraine sees her mother as a destructive force, whom Lorraine blames for all that is wrong in her life. Through interviews with other members of the Dunbar family, we see a contrasting view of Andrea, in particular from Lorraine's younger sister Lisa. Using actors to seamlessly lip-sync the words of real-life subjects, the film presents a contrasting and not always flattering view of Dunbar. The Arbor is a compelling and essential work, offering evidence that Barnard is clearly an important new voice in British Cinema.
Milos Hrma, a bumbling dispatcher's apprentice at a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, he embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot. Milos becomes involved in a plot to blow up a German ammunition train, but when the plan backfires, he is forced to commit the ultimate act of courage.
Oldrich Lipsky's one-of-a-kind black comedy employs an ingenious twist - telling the life story of a condemned murderer entirely in reverse: from his 'birth' at the guillotine, to his 'departure' as an infant. Utilising the techniques of silent cinema, the film plays with the flow of cinematic time to audacious effect. This wildly inventive and disarmingly hilarious Czech film predates the use of reverse-chronology narratives in more celebrated fiction, theatre and Hollywood cinema. Upending the usual narrative flow, 'Happy End' is a darkly surreal Dadaist delight.
Onibaba (1964)Devil Woman / The Demon / The Hole / The Ogress / The Witch
Onibaba is set during a brutal period in history, a Japan ravaged by civil war between rival shogunates. Weary from combat, samurai are drawn towards the seven-foot-high susuku grass fields to hide and rest themselves, only to be ambushed and murdered by a ruthless team of mother (Nobuko Otowa) and daughter-in-law (Jitsuko Yoshimura). When Hachi (Kei Sato), a neighbour returning from the wars, brings bad news, he threatens the women's partnership.
Features a compilation of the work of Jonathan Glazer, interviews and commentaries. Featured music videos include Radiohead - 'Street Spirit', Jamiroquai - 'Virtual Insanity', Richard Ashcroft - 'A Song For The Lovers', Blur - 'The Universal' and Massive Attack - 'Karmacoma' and more.
The stunning debut from Scottish writer-director Charlotte Wells, 'Aftersun' juxtaposes a hopeful coming-of-age story with a poignant, intimate family portrait that leaves an indelible impression. At a fading vacation resort in the late 1990's, 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) treasures rare time together with her loving and idealistic father, Calum (Paul Mescal). As a world of adolescence creeps into view, beyond her eye Calum struggles under the weight of life outside of fatherhood. Twenty years later, Sophie's tender recollections of their last holiday become a powerful and heartrending portrait of their relationship, as she tries to reconcile the father, she knew with the man she didn't, in Charlotte Wells' superb and searingly emotional debut film.
"Birds of Passage" is a tale about indigenous traditions and the corrupting forces of wealth and power, set against the backdrop of the Colombian marijuana boom of the 1970's. A film of both gangsters and spirits, corruption and fratricidal war, this is a thrilling depiction of the origins of the drug trade told through the story of an indigenous Wayuu family's downfall when greed, passion and honour collide, putting their lives, culture and ancestral traditions at stake.
On a wintry day, a young man collapses and dies while jogging in the park. At that same moment, a baby is born. Maverick filmmaker Jonathan Glazer affirms the promise of his brilliant debut, Sexy Beast, with his new film Birth, teaming with Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman for a metaphysical love story that explores the space between what we know and what we feel. Kidman stars as Anna, a delicate young widow who is on the verge of a new life when a solemn little boy appears, claiming to be the reincarnation of her dead husband.
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