film
upfront
ON RELEASE: June 2022
A FILM OF THE MONTH A JUNE ELVIS
Dir: Baz Luhrmann (12A) (120 mins)
Bergman Island
BERGMAN ISLAND (15) Film buffs rejoice in this Ingmar Bergman-inspired tale of love amongst older and younger filmmakers starring Vicky Krieps and Tim Roth.
SWAN SONG (15)
Udo Kier has a ball as a flamboyant, Quentin Crisp-alike retired hairdresser, forced out of his nursing home to do a makeover for one of his clients. It’s for her funeral. Funny and heartfelt from writer/director Todd Stephens.
EARWIG (15) French Lynchian uncomfortableness in this surreal drama about a girl with teeth of ice living in a nightmarish closed world, offered a chance of escape.
LEAVE NO TRACES (15) Polish drama about the son of a poet beaten to death by police as the country suffers under oppression and the legal battle to get justice. Worthy but long.
EVERYTHING WENT FINE (15) Sophie Marceau stars in this French euthanasia drama from Francois Ozon. Heartwrenching.
I AM ZLATAN (12)
Zlatan Ibrahamovic, the Balkan immigrant footballer who went on to become a Swedish great, gets a movie of his life.
MOON, 66 QUESTIONS (15) A fractured relationship between father and daughter is reconciled in this offbeat Greek drama.
FILM PREVIEWS by KEIRON SELF
FAYA DAYI
Dir: Jessica Beshir (15) (120 mins)
A monochrome blend of documentary and drama, this immersive work places the viewer in Harar, eastern Ethiopia, where the stimulant khat is the most lucrative crop. Director Beshir grew up in this region and over the years had noticed how khat became the only game in town. Coffee used to be grown there, but now there is only this plant which holds the local populace in thrall. Get a chewing habit and you can escape the rigours and oppression of life, a habit many of the people have fallen into. The film follows several of these stories told in a visual dreamlike state as various people relate how the khat has affected them and their relationships. Khat itself is personality- altering, so stories of abuse, somnambulism and myth weave throughout the narrative. A slow- paced but visually arresting experience, Faya Dayi will be unlike anything you’ve seen before.
Out Fri 24 June GOOD LUCK TO YOU,
LEO GRANDE Dir: Sophie Hyde (15) (97 mins)
Emma Thompson stars in Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, a comedy drama that’s been rustling up excellent word of mouth, as a 55-year-old woman who has never had an orgasm. Now a widow and retired religious education teacher, she has decided that is about to end. She hires sex worker Leo (Daryl McCormack) and they embark on her sexual bucket list, everything from oral sex to roleplay. It’s essentially a two-hander, written by comedian Katy Brand and directed by Sophie Hyde, who made the excellent Animals. It promises a frank discussion on relationships, sexual satisfaction and frustration and facing fears, all anchored by a superb performance from Thompson as the woman who has conformed all her life and denied herself adventure. Destined to be a crowdpleaser, this should be a funny and warm experience with some added saucy benefits.
Out Fri 24 June Moon, 66 Questions 28
The King of Rock’n’Roll as seen through the big- budget campery of Baz Luhrmann, this biopic utilizes the relationship between Presley and his longtime divisive manager Colonel Tom Parker, who many blame for his drug-addled downfall. Austin Butler steps into Presley’s snakehips, sneer and voice nailed; Tom Hanks, buried under distracting prosthetics, is Parker, armed with a southern drawl and porkpie hat. Olivia DeJonge plays Priscilla Presley – aged 14 when Elvis started seeing her – with Kodi Smit-Mcphee also lending his gangly talent to the ensemble. The film progresses 20 years, from the birth of Presley’s fame down to his tragic end, and the soundtrack will inevitably be chock-full of his masterworks, from Jailhouse Rock to Doja Cat mashing up Hound Dog. Director Luhrmann will make sure this is a lavish tribute to the man and his music, let’s hope it’s more than just surface gloss before Elvis leaves the building. Viva Las Vegas!
Out Fri 24 June
ALL MY FRIENDS HATE ME Dir: Andrew Gaynord
(15) (93 mins)
A dark British horror comedy that trades on social anxiety and uncomfortable university reunions with a capable cast, this should hit funnybone home and
Stourton, who also co-wrote the script with Tom Palmer, plays Pete, who’s been off working with refugees for 10 years since university. Invited to a uni-mates weekend at the posh family home of wealthy George (Josh Maguire from recent BBC comedy Cheaters), Pete is looking forward to reconnecting with old chums but is riddled with worry – what will they think of him now? Well, it seems they all hate him: constantly winding him up, playing pranks and enlisting a random local man Harry, played a by a creepy Dustin Demri- Burns, to dispense insults. Events, obviously, will darkly descend as director Gaynord layers on the squirmy relationship foibles and blends them with more hardcore horror in a nightmarishly awkward and nasty friends-reunited tale.
induce winces. Tom Out Fri 10 June
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