film ON RELEASE: Dec 2022 / Jan 2023
THE INFERNAL MACHINE (15) A writer (Guy Pearce) is taunted by an obsessive fan in a twisty thriller.
WHITE NOISE (12A) Adaptation of Don DeLillo’s brilliant, dystopian book, with Adam Driver.
LYNCH/OZ (15) Want to make the connection between David Lynch films and The Wizard Of Oz? This film will do it for you.
TORI AND LOKITA (15)
The latest from the Dardenne Brothers, following illegal immigrants as they struggle to settle in Belgium.
THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL 30TH ANNIVERSARY (U) If you haven’t seen this Christmas gem you must! When Love Is Found… “after all, there’s only one more sleep till Christmas”… Fozziwig… best Christmas film ever!
NOCEBO (15) Tricksy sci-fi from the director of Vivarium.
THE PALE BLUE EYE (15)
Christian Bale investigates the death of a military cadet, bringing him into the sphere of Edgar Allen Poe in this chilly period horror.
TILL (15) A mother vows justice in this true-life drama based on the lynching of a child in 1955.
M3GAN (12A)
Creepy robot doll does a Chucky and starts killing people in schlocky horror.
ENYS MEN (15) A Cornish horror from Bait director, Mark Jenkyn: this will be a must-see.
MORE THAN EVER (15) Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver star in this 60s-set abortion drama. Far more relevant now than a few months ago.
THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED (15) A Costa Rican woman struggles to free herself from repressive religious and social conventions.
WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT (12A)
Crowdpleasing crosscultural romantic comedy with Lily James and Shazad Latif
PLANE (15)
Gerard Butler lands a plane in a warzone. Some punching ensues.
UNWELCOME (15)
Goblin horror as young marrieds Hannah John Kamen and Douglas Booth move to rural Ireland to find nasty things in their garden.
FILM PREVIEWS by KEIRON SELF
28 A FILM OF THE MONTH A JANUARY
TÁR Dir: Todd Field
(15) (158 mins)
Cate Blanchett is on apparent award-worthy form in this epic dissection of artistry from writer/director Todd Field, whose last film Little Children was released 16 years ago. It appears the wait has been worth it. Blanchett plays Lydia Tar, a driven, passionate conductor and classical musician; she is unapologetic in her approach to her work, treating her ambitious assistant Noemie Merlant and her lead violinist wife Nina Hoss with short shrift. Field, however, has fashioned more than a snapshot of an artist’s life: Tár, by early accounts, is also a gripping thriller and unsettling psychological horror boasting a riveting performance from Blanchett with a shattering sound design and score to boot. Destined to provoke and shine a light on abusive relationships within the creative industries as well, Tár ought to be a unique, absorbing cinematic experience and a welcome return to the big screen from Field. The baton has been raised.
Out Fri 20 Jan
EMPIRE OF LIGHT Dir: Sam Mendes
(15) (119 mins)
Like Spielberg this month, Sam Mendes is also drawing on his love affair with the silver screen in this heartfelt, small-scale drama that depicts life in a British coastal town and the cinema at the heart of it. Colin Firth plays the dodgy manager of the Empire cinema, with Olivia Colman his deputy. She is gradually unravelling on lithium but makes a connection with a new staff member (played by Michael Ward) who also has issues to contend with. Set in the early 1980s, racism, social unrest and high unemployment are prevalent – an unfortunate mirror to today’s world – and the cinema offers an escape, a force for good. Elements of Mendes’ life have been mined, including his own relationship with his mother, and this looks to be a heartfelt love letter to the wonder of the movies and a snapshot of a turbulent time. Roll the projector.
Out Fri 13 Jan A DECEMBER (15) (113 mins) FILM OF THE MONTH A
THE SILENT TWINS Dir: Agnieszka Smoczynska
The true-life tale of June and Jennifer Gibbons, twins of West Indian descent who grew up in Haverfordwest in the 1970s. Played by Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrence, they are isolated and alone, resorting to a fantasy world recreated in the film by stopmotion animation sequences. Their complicit silence irritates family members, and when they indulge in criminal acts they are sent to notorious psychiatric hospital Broadmoor. Here, they encounter Jodhi May’s Marjorie Wallace – upon whose book The Silent Twins is based, and who tries to find justice for these misunderstood individuals, victims of implicit racism and a lack of empathy and understanding. The central performances of Wright and Lawrence will apparently linger in a stark drama with moments of magic realism. Prepare for a wondrous but melancholic and quietly heartbreaking account of lives upturned and misunderstood.
Out Fri 9 Dec CORSAGE
Dir: Marie Kreutzer (15) (113 mins)
A fictional reimagining of a year in the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, a trendsetting monarch who, with Emperor Franz Joseph, presided over Austria before being assassinated in 1898. Corsage follows her in her 40th year as she attempts to subtly escape the gilded cage she finds herself trapped within. Vicky Krieps, excellent in Phantom Thread, takes the central role of the Empress, or Sissi as she was known. Patronised by the court and badmouthed now that she’s no longer deemed attractive at 40, Sissi starts to strike back at the court that wants to contain her, with gripping, feisty and amusing results. Another awards-baiting performance at its heart, with period detail aplenty and some cheeky anachronisms, Corsage has echoes of another princess from recent years who wanted to escape her claustrophobic role.
Out Fri 30 Dec
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