Monday 7 December, 8:30pm
Rust and Bone
MA15+
France, 2012
Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Corinne Masiero
What's it about?A freak accident at southern France's version of Sea World has devastating consequences for Marion Cotillard's Stephanie, in the powerful Rust and Bone. Saddled with a disability and severe depression, she meets single father Ali (rising Belgian star Matthias Schoenaerts), a nightclub bouncer and street fighter. Nominated for two Golden Globe awards in 2013, including Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actress.
[link title="Watch trailer / Read review" url="node/5840"]
Pan's Labyrinth
MA15+
Spain/Mexico/USA, 2006
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Álex Angulo, Doug Jones, Sergi López, Ivana Baquero, Maribel Verdú
What's it about?Guillermo del Toro's masterpiece transports us into the terrifying fantasy world imagined by young girl to escape the harsh realities of life under fascism. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero)'s family relocates from a large Spanish city to a rural area in the North of the country. Faced with an abusive stepfather (Sergi Lopez), Ofelia enters an imaginary world of creatures and demons. Winner of multiple prestigious awards such as the 2007 Oscars for Best Achievement in Art, Cinematography and Makeup.
[link title="Read ★★★★★ review" url="node/5242"]
Monday 14 December, 8:30pm
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
MA15+
Sweden, 2009
Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist, Sven-Bertil Taube
What's it about?
Noomi Rapace stars as badass hacker Lisbeth Salander, the heroin of late Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson's bestselling Millenium trilogy. In this first gripping chapter, journalist Mikael Blomqvist (Swedish icon Michael Nyqvist, As It Is in Heaven) is hired by industrialist Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance of his niece. He enlists the help of Lisbeth Salander and together, the odd couple starts to dig in the Vanger family's darker past.
[link title="Strength of character: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" url="node/367"]
[link title="Read review" url="node/4985"]
Farewell
M
France, 2009
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: Guillaume Canet, Emir Kusturica, Fred Ward, Willem Dafoe
What's it about?This brilliant Cold War thriller is based on one of the most astounding spy cases of the 20th century, which took place in Moscow in the early '80s. The film commands impressive performances from its two leads – Serbian director Emir Kusturica (Black Cat, White Cat) and actor/director Guillaume Canet (Little White Lies), as it follows Sergey Grigoriev, a KGB colonel disappointed with his country's regime, who decides to bring down the system. He makes contact with Pierre Froment, a young French engineer posted to Moscow, who becomes embroiled in a case that threatens his life and the lives of his family.
[link title="Read review" url="node/5080"]
Monday 21 December, 8:30pm
Café de Flore
M
Canada/France, 2012
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Starring: Vanessa Paradis, Kevin Parent, Evelyne Brochu, Hélène Florent
What's it about?
Jean-Marc Vallée, who following his 2005 success C.R.A.Z.Y., went on to direct big Hollywood films such as Dallas Buyers Club and Wild, offers us two intertwined love stories, set 50 years apart. Beautifully photographed, and showcasing Vallee's usual knack for great soundtracks (with songs by Sigur Ros, Pink Floyd, The Cure), Café de Flore stars Kevin Parent as a globetrotting DJ who left his wife and kids to be in a passionate relationship, and Vanessa Paradis as a protective single mother, who struggles to raise her special needs son.
[link title="Read interview with Jean-Marc Vallée" url="node/883"]
[link title="Read review" url="node/5822"]
Soul Kitchen
MA15+
Germany, 2009
Director: Fatih Akin
Starring: Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibtreu, Birol Áœnel
What's it about?
Director Fatih Akin looks for laughs in the story of his best friend and actor Adam Bousdoukos' terrible judgement. Soul Kitchen follows Zinos (played by Bousdoukos), a young restaurant owner down on his luck, pining for his long-distance girlfriend and dealing with declining numbers of diners. Things start looking up when the hip crowd embraces his revamped culinary concept, but that doesn’t mend Zinos’s broken heart. He decides to fly to China for a loving reunion, leaving the restaurant in the hands of his unreliable ex-con brother Illias (German superstar Moritz Bleibtreu, Run Lola Run). Both decisions turn out disastrous.
[link title="Read interview with Fatih Akin" url="node/382"]
[link title="Fatih Akin shows his fun side in Soul Kitchen" url="node/2457"]
[link title="Read review" url="node/5021"]
Monday 28 December, 8:30pm
Kon-Tiki
M
UK/Norway/Denmark, 2012
Director: Joachim Ronning, Espen Sandberg
Starring: Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen, Gustaf Skarsgard, Anders Baasmo Christiansen
What's it about?
Set in 1947, Kon-Tiki follows the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl's epic attempt to cross the Pacific ocean in a wooden raft in order to prove it was possible for South Americans to settle in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. During the three months aboard the primitive vessel, named after Inca god of sun and storm Kon-Tiki, the crew is met with terrifying dangers. Directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg's impressive epic adventure film led to them being approached to direct the fifth Pirates of the Carribean movie Dead Men Tell No Tales, due in 2017.
[link title="Kon-Tiki: Joachim Rønning interview" url="node/1468"]
[link title="Kon-Tiki Review" url="node/6162"]
Black Book
MA15+
The Netherlands, 2006
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Starring: Carice van Houten, Thom Hoffman, Sebastian Koch
What's it about?Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Showgirls) returns to his native Holland to tell us the story of a young Jewish singer during World War. After surviving the massacre of her family while trying to escape the Nazis, Rachel infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance and becomes involved with a high ranking SS officer Ludwig Muntze, hoping to gather useful information. A sexy and entertaining war thriller, starring the fantastic Carice Van Houten, recently seen in Game of Thrones as the manipulative and murderous priestess Melisandre.
Watch original The Movie Show review
Watch interview with Gerard Soeteman and Paul Verhoeven
Read: Why You Should Watch Black Book
