6 minute read
Belonging
Few things are as strong as the ties that bind us to those we love, nor as devastating as when those ties break. Love, children and responsibility hold families together as they struggle with the disruptions that would tear them apart, from immigration law and health issues to deceit and death. Throughout these gripping narratives the need to belong burns bright.
Director/Screenplay: Justin Chon USA 2021 | 119 mins
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Cast: Justin Chon, Alicia Vikander, Mark O’Brien, Linh-Dan Pham, Sydney Kowalske Producers: Charles D King, Kim Roth, Poppy Hanks, Justin Chon Cinematography: Matthew Chuang, Ante Cheng Languages: In English and Vietnamese, with English subtitles Festivals: Cannes (Un Certain Regard) 2021
“To New Orleans family man Antonio LeBlanc (Justin Chon) and everyone close to him, he’s as American as the tattooed eagle spreading its wings defiantly across his throat... To ICE authorities, however, he’s nothing more than a Korean immigrant with a criminal record and faulty paperwork, and they want him out. ...Blue Bayou holds little back as it rails against the cruelties and hypocrisies of American immigration law to stirring effect... Closer in tenor to his mannered third feature Ms. Purple... Chon’s overwrought filmmaking stands in stark contrast to the bone-weary believability and restraint of his own lead performance... Chon is out to highlight the casual everyday prejudice that is endemic to the Asian-American experience. Blue Bayou is best when it raises these issues through organic observation.” — Guy Lodge, Variety
“[Alicia] Vikander, often acclaimed for roles that call for elegance and poise, has rarely been this forceful and immediate on-screen, and she and Chon achieve a portrait of a marriage that pulses with warmth, life and a ferocious mutual need.” — Justin Chang, LA Times
Screenings
LUM Tue 2 Nov, 8.45 pm LUM Wed 3 Nov, 4.00 pm LUM Sat 6 Nov, 8.45 pm LUM Fri 12 Nov, 6.30 pm
M Violence & offensive language
Nowhere Special
Presented in association with
Director/Screenplay: Uberto Pasolini Italy/UK 2020 | 96 mins
Cast: James Norton, Daniel Lamont, Eileen O’Higgins Producers: Cristian Nicolescu, Roberto Sessa, Chris Martin, Uberto Pasolini Cinematography: Marius Panduru Festivals: Venice, Busan 2020 Preceded by short film Topping Out, 16 mins. See p20 for details
When window cleaner John (James Norton) is given just a few months to live, he thinks only of his son, Michael, four years old and incredibly perceptive. With Michael’s mother out of the picture and no relatives to speak of, John sets out across Northern Ireland to find a replacement family for Michael, but soon realises he’s not even sure what ‘family’ means. Having grown up in the foster care system himself, John is determined to find the perfect match for Michael, but as time ticks on and social services grow impatient, John must make a decision – the greatest decision of his life.
Best known for his moody turns on British television (Happy Valley, Grantchester), James Norton is excellent here as John: a soulful, reticent type dealing with his own heartache. Directed by Italian film producer Uberto Pasolini, this moving, tender odyssey grapples with what it means to be a good father, even in the most heartbreaking of circumstances. — Amanda Jane Robinson
Screenings
ITR Thu 4 Nov, 10.30 am ITR Fri 12 Nov, 1.00 pm
Jadde khaki
“Crackling with energy and outbreaks of exuberant lip syncing, riotously funny at times and quietly devastating at others, the phenomenal feature debut from Panah Panahi looks set to be one of the major discoveries of this year’s Cannes. A road trip in a borrowed car: a father laid up with a leg in plaster, a mother laughing through tears, a young child rattling around the vehicle’s interior like an errant firework. And an adult son who says nothing, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. From these basic ingredients, Panahi crafts a vibrantly humane and utterly relatable portrait of a family at a crossroads... Panahi demonstrates a complete mastery of tricky tonal shifts: a very funny moment involving a cyclist is followed by a veiled heart to heart between the parents which gives some indication of the gravity of the journey; a breathtaking wide shot, in which the single most important and emotionally wrenching event of the film plays out, is followed by a wondrous moment of fantasy which combines an homage to 2001 with a comic riff about Batman’s bashed-up batmobile. Thrillingly inventive, satisfyingly textured and infused with warmth and humanity, this is a triumph.” — Wendy Ide, Screendaily “With a touch on the pedal so light you don’t even feel the woosh, Panah Panahi... goes instantaneously from zero to 60 with his debut feature... its 93 minutes whip by so airily, it’s possible not to realize how much you’ve learned to love the family whose road trip you’ve shared in, until the credits roll and you immediately start to miss them.” — Jessica Kiang, Variety “Hit the Road is damned near to being a masterpiece – if it isn’t simply one already… The wonderful cast inhabit their roles so fully it’s hard to believe this is not a bona fide family.”
— John Bleasdale, CineVue
Cast: Hassan Madjooni, Pantea Panahiha, Rayan Sarlak, Amin Simiar Producers: Panah Panahi, Mastaneh Mohajer Cinematography: Amin Jafari Editors: Ashkan Mehri, Amir Etminan Music: Payman Yazdanian Language: In Farsi with English subtitles Festivals: Cannes (Directors’ Fortnight), Vancouver, New York, London 2021
Screenings
LUM Tue 2 Nov, 6.30 pm LUM Wed 10 Nov, 1.15 pm LUM Sun 14 Nov, 1.45 pm MM Timaru Thu 11 Nov, 8.00 pm
M Offensive language
After Love
Having converted to Islam as a young woman in order to marry her Pakistani sweetheart Ahmed (Nasser Memarzia), Mary (Joanna Scanlan) is content with their gentle, pious marriage. But when Ahmed dies suddenly and she finds in his wallet the ID card of an elegant French woman named Genevieve (Nathalie Richard), she discovers the man she thought she knew so well had been living a double life all along. With the realism of a Dardenne brothers odyssey and the twisting, tangled web of one of Asghar Farhadi’s domestic melodramas, After Love is an assured feature debut from English-Pakistani writer-director Aleem Khan. Khan himself notes that, at its core, the film questions what is left of yourself when you have changed so much for somebody else. “When that person leaves or dies, how do we begin to recalibrate and find our sense of self again?” Lensed by First Reformed cinematographer Alexander Dynan and anchored by a quietly mesmerising Joanna Scanlan, After Love offers a restrained, sensitive portrayal of the loneliness and shame of having been deceived. — Amanda Jane Robinson bomb who could explode at any time. Scanlan shows how she has suffered a triple mortification. Ahmed is dead. So is the Ahmed she knew. And so, perhaps, is Mary herself. She is humiliated and horrified by what she is uncovering on a moment-bymoment basis.” — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian “At [After Love’s] heart is a constrained yet wonderfully expressive performance by the versatile Joanna Scanlan… here offering a masterclass in the dramatic power of understatement.”
Director/Screenplay: Aleem Khan UK 2020 | 89 mins
Cast: Joanna Scanlan, Nathalie Richard, Talid Ariss, Nasser Memarzia Producer: Matthieu de Braconier Cinematography: Alexander Dynan Editor: Gareth C. Scales Music: Chris Roe Languages: In English, French and Urdu, with English subtitles Festivals: Cannes (Critics’ Week Selection), London 2020 Preceded by short film Marieville, 8 mins. See p20
Presented in association with
Screenings
ITR Tue 2 Nov, 10.30 am ITR Thu 11 Nov, 6.15 pm MM Timaru Wed 17 Nov, 5.45 pm MM Timaru Fri 19 Nov, 1.30 pm
