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The 2018 Official Selection – Festival de Cannes Mads Mikkelsen (Rogue One, Casino Royale, The Hunt) gives a career-best performance in this gripping thriller - a tale of heroism set against a stunning glacial backdrop. Overgård (Mikkelson) is a man who has been surviving in remote land in the Arctic, having crashed his plane. After a near-rescue attempt that goes very wrong, he must decide whether to wait it out at his camp in relative safety, or risk everything on a trek which may only possibly lead to salvation. Director Joe Penna has renewed the classic survival film with this harrowing, nail biting story of a man’s quest to stay alive in the most unhospitable environment on earth.
Oscar nominee: Best Actor. Willem Dafoe embodies the most volatile and inspired of artists, Vincent Van Gogh, in Julian Schnabel’s (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) sensitive and grounded biopic that follows the painter through the last years of his life. Obsessed with light and creating vibrant paintings that reflect the world as he sees it, Van Gogh strides out into the landscape to capture it, but few others see his art as worthwhile. Financially reliant on his brother Theo (Rupert Friend), constantly falling in and out with his best friend and fellow artist Paul Gaugain (Oscar Isaac), and failing to impress the Parisian art world, Van Gogh struggles to find equilibrium between reality and art.
HAL ASHBY RETROSPECTIVE: 'Being There', (1979). Director Hal Ashby's screen adaptation of Jerzy Kosinski's novel of a simple-minded gardener raised by television continues to gain followers forty years after it was first released. Peter Sellers, giving one of his most nuanced performances, stars as Chance the gardener. Having spent his whole life within the confines of a high-walled mansion, Chance's only knowledge of the outside world has been gleaned from network television. When he leaves his home for the first time in his life, he is barely equipped to deal with the modern world. However, a chance encounter soon finds him thrust onto the national stage. Co-starring Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas (in his Oscar-winning role) and Jack Warden, BEING THERE's prescience will astonish until the final frame.
Oscar Winner! - Best Adapted Screenplay There ain’t no joint like a Spike Lee joint! The iconic filmmaker unfurls an outrageous yet true story that won him the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. As the first African-American officer in the Colorado Springs Police Department, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington, son of Denzel) is itching to make a name for himself. His means of doing so is a plan to infiltrate the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan as an undercover operative. But while Stallworth can talk to KKK members over the phone, including Grand Wizard David Duke (Topher Grace), he obviously cannot attend meetings in person. Enter Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), a white colleague who becomes Stallworth’s body double. But having two Ron Stallworths throws up complications as the pair inveigle themselves deeper into the dangerous hate group. Produced by Get Out director Jordan Peele, BLACKKKLANSMAN is Spike Lee’s most electrifying film in recent years, an anti-racism revenge tale that is all the more relevant given it all really happened.
Oscar Winner! - Best Actor (Rami Malek), Best Editing, Best Sound Mixing. Golden Globe winner - Best Picture (Drama); Best Actor (Drama). Rami Malek gives a career-defining performance as music icon Freddie Mercury in the triumphant feel-good musical drama BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. Working as a baggage handler at Heathrow airport, Farrokh Bulsara (Malek) offers his vocals to a band that has just lost their lead singer. Causing a stir with his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave range, Farrokh soon changes his name to Freddie Mercury and the band Queen is born. Touring the world with Brian May (Gwilym Lee), Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) and John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello), Queen's unconventional style divides critics but sees the band attract some of the largest concert audiences in history. His star rising and the world at his fingertips, Mercury's personal life becomes increasingly public and the price of fame begins to add up. Co-starring Aiden Gillen, Lucy Boynton, Tom Hollander and Mike Myers. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY Sing-A-Long sessions also screening, check separate page for screening times.
Oscar nominee: Best Makeup & Hairstyling From author John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let The Right One In), this uncategorizable Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard Award winner follows customs officer Tina (Eva Melander), who is known for her powerful sense of smell and ability to sense fear. When the suspicious-looking Vore (Eero Milonoff) walks past her customs station, her abilities are challenged for the first time ever. Tina can sense Vore is hiding something she can't identify, plus she feels a strange attraction to him. As Tina develops a special bond with Vore and discovers his true identity, she also realizes the hidden truth about herself and her existence. Sweden's Official Entry for the Academy Awards Swedish language, English subtitles
3 Oscar nominations - Best Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay Melissa McCarthy stars in CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?, the true story of best-selling celebrity biographer (and friend to cats) Lee Israel, who turned to forgery when her style of writing fell out of fashion. It’s a hard, lonely life, being a writer. But what if you could find a way to make money by passing off your own writing as the work of far more famous authors? Lee Israel made a name for herself writing biographies on the likes of Katharine Hepburn and Estee Lauder, but changes in reading tastes have lately found her books languishing in bargain bins. Desperation causes her to start writing letters, purportedly by famous people, and selling them for quick cash as celebrity ephemera. Abetted by her loyal friend Jack (Richard E. Grant), Lee soon finds herself raking in money – and quickly sinking into a scheme that is far more than she can handle. Lead by impressive talent behind the scenes with director Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl) and writer Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said), CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? is a typewriter thriller that should see McCarthy garner high acclaim come awards season.
Oscar nominee: Best Foreign Language Film Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes and the Audience Award at the 2018 Melbourne International Film Festival, Nadine Labaki’s epic drama of the travails of a young Lebanese boy traversing the underclass of Beirut is bravura filmmaking of the highest order. Twelve year old Zain stands up in a court room and declares to the judge that he wishes to sue his parents for the crime of giving him life. What initially seems to be an extraordinary charge slowly begins to make all too much sense as the film takes us on a journey through the myriad struggles of Zain’s young life. Born into poverty, suffering abuse, seeing his beloved sister sold into marriage, and eventually winding up on the streets taking care of an abandoned toddler, Zain’s angry cry for justice reverberates with the righteousness of the powerless. With extraordinary performances from its cast of non-professional actors from similar backgrounds as their characters, Labaki’s film is a grand achievement. Arabic & Amharic language, English subtitles
3 Oscar nominations - Best Director, Foreign Language Film, Cinematography A critical and audience favourite at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Best Director prize, and already touted as a major 2019 Oscar contender, Paweł Pawlikowski’s follow-up to the Academy Award-winning Ida is a ravishing, music-fuelled romance charting two mismatched lovers caught between East and West in 1950s Europe. In the ruins of post-WWII Poland, pianist Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) is commissioned by the Soviet state to form a musical ensemble to help rekindle national pride. Whilst touring the villages in search of talent he meets the much younger Zula (Joanna Kulig), a fiery and charismatic singer with a past, and the two fall passionately in love. When a performance in Berlin offers the pair an opportunity for escape to the West, a last-minute decision finds them stranded on either side of the Iron Curtain. As the years march on, Wiktor and Zula – whether through political circumstance or personal impetuosity – struggle to find their moment in time. Spanning 15 years across Warsaw, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, and inspired by the real-life story of the director’s own parents, COLD WAR meticulously recreates the era with virtuosic black-and-white visuals, and a terrific soundtrack that is used judiciously to signify the passage of time and shifting relationships. Warmly lyrical, impossibly romantic and visually stunning, COLD WAR is one of the films of the year. Polish, French, German & other European languages, English subtitles
Destroyer follows the moral and existential odyssey of LAPD detective Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman) who, as a young cop, was placed undercover with a gang in the California desert with tragic results. When the leader of that gang re-emerges many years later, she must work her way back through the remaining members and into her own history with them to finally reckon with the demons that destroyed her past. Co-starring Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Sebastian Stan, Scoot McNairy and Bradley Whitford. Directed by Karyn Kusama (Girlfight, The Invitation).
The critically acclaimed directorial debut from comedian Bo Burnham, EIGHTH GRADE is an achingly realistic and honest exploration of the anxiety of being a teenager. Thirteen year old Kayla (a revelatory Elsie Fisher) is in her last week of middle school, and is frustrated at being constantly ignored by her peers – she longs to win any class award other than ‘Most Quiet.’ Pushing away her concerned dad (Josh Hamilton) and confiding in a series of vlogs, Kayla attempts to project the person she wants to be – confident, chatty, popular. But the indignity and embarrassments of teenage life, compounded by a new age where social media accentuates isolation, make this journey of self-actualisation anything but smooth. “Movies about teenagers are often filled with contrived excesses, but Mr. Burnham understands that some of the most pronounced extremes — the drama, the comedy, the horror — take place in that lonely room known as our heads.” – The New York Times
From two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi (A Separation, The Salesman), Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem star in a dark ‘whodunnit’ thriller of familial ties that pulls no punches. Laura (Cruz), a Spanish woman who has been living in Buenos Aires, returns to her family’s estate outside Madrid for her sister’s wedding with her two children in tow. But her trip home is about to be thrown into chaos, when Laura’s headstrong teenage daughter is kidnapped in the middle of the night’s celebrations. Desperate for any help in discovering her daughter’s whereabouts, Laura reaches out to Paco (Bardem), an old flame who is now a successful winemaker on land purchased from Laura’s father. “Everybody knows” that Laura broke Paco’s heart, but as demands from the kidnappers appear, what else about this secretive and destructive family does “everybody” know? The opening night film at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, Farhadi’s latest is a work of masterful melodrama, unravelling a family’s decades of rancour, resentment and sins until there is nowhere to hide. Spanish language, English subtitles
Oscar Winner! - Best Actress Golden Globe winner - Best Actress (Musical or Comedy) The latest film from director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) turns the period drama upside down, as three unique, calculating and unpredictable women run riot to snatch power and love from the highest bidders that they can. Early 18th century. England is at war with the French. Nevertheless, duck racing and pineapple eating are thriving. A frail Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) occupies the throne and her close friend Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) governs the country in her stead while tending to Anne’s ill health and mercurial temper. When a new servant Abigail (Emma Stone) arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah. Sarah takes Abigail under her wing and Abigail sees a chance at a return to her aristocratic roots. As the politics of war become quite time consuming for Sarah, Abigail steps into the breach to fill in as the Queen’s companion. Their burgeoning friendship gives Abigail a chance to fulfil her ambitions and she will not let woman, man, politics or rabbit stand in her way.
Oscar Winner! - Best Documentary Live beyond fear. From the directors of Meru comes FREE SOLO, a stunning, intimate and unflinching portrait of the free soloist climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream of climbing the face of the world’s most famous rock - the 3,200ft El Capitan in Yosemite National Park... without a rope. Celebrated as one of the greatest athletic feats of any kind, Honnold’s climb set the ultimate standard: perfection or death. Succeeding in this challenge places his story in the annals of human achievement. FREE SOLO is an edge-of-your seat thriller and an inspiring portrait of an athlete who challenges both his body and his beliefs on a quest to triumph over the impossible, revealing the personal toll of excellence. As the climber begins his training, the armour of invincibility he’s built up over decades unexpectedly breaks apart when Honnold begins to fall in love, threatening his focus and giving way to injury and setbacks. The film beautifully captures deeply human moments with Honnold as well as the death-defying climb with exquisite artistry and masterful, vertigo-inducing camerawork. The result is a triumph of the human spirit.
Oscar Winner! - Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor & Best Original Screenplay Golden Globe winner - Best Picture (Musical or Comedy); Best Screenplay; Best Supporting Actor. Oscar nominee Viggo Mortensen and Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) star in GREEN BOOK, a film inspired by a true friendship. In need of a driver for his 1962 concert tour, world-class black pianist Dr. Don Shirley (Ali) recruits Tony Lip (Mortensen), a tough-talking Italian-American from the Bronx. As this mismatched pair set out on their journey, they must rely on the “Green Book” to guide them to safe establishments in America’s segregated south – but they’ll need more than a book to understand each other. Winner of the Audience Award at Toronto International Film Festival, Mortensen and Ali make a winning double act in this humorous and heart-warming film.
Academy Award-winning director Neil Jordan returns to the expectation-thwarting of The Crying Game with this darkly comic, provocative thriller. Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz) is a sweet, naive restaurant hostess trying to make it on her own in New York City. When she finds an abandoned handbag on the subway, she doesn’t think twice about returning it to its rightful owner. That owner is Greta (Golden Globe winner Isabelle Huppert), an eccentric French piano teacher with a love for classical music and an aching loneliness. Having recently lost her mother, Frances quickly grows closer to widowed Greta and the two become fast friends. But Greta’s maternal charms begins to rapidly dissolve and Frances soon discovers that nothing in Greta’s life is what it seems. Wildly entertaining, wickedly funny and full of surprise turns, Greta will keep you hooked until the final frame as Moretz and Huppert face off in what could be this generation’s Fatal Attraction. "Tongue-in-cheek femme fun." (The Hollywood Reporter)
Nova exclusive! Grippingly crafted in the vein of Locke and other single-location thrillers, Gustav Moller's award-winning, taut thriller will keep you guessing until the final frame. Asger (Jakob Cedergren) is an alarm dispatcher and former police officer with a chequered past. Assigned to dispatch duty, he answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. When the call is suddenly disconnected, he decides to take matters into his own hands and is drawn into a race against time to save the endangered woman. With the phone as his only tool, Asger begins a search for her kidnappers, but soon he realises that he is dealing with a crime that is far bigger than he first thought. Danish language, English subtitles
HAL ASHBY RETROSPECTIVE: 'Harold & Maude', (1971). A box office disaster upon its original release, Hal Ashby's comedy of a death-obsessed teenager and the older woman who teaches him to live has become a cult favourite in the years since. Bud Cort stars as Harold; a young man who attends the funerals of strangers and stages fake suicides to antagonise his wealthy mother. Meeting Maude (Ruth Gordon) at a funeral, the two form an unlikely bond that will alter their lives forever.
In November 2008, a wave of devastating terrorist attacks throughout Mumbai catapulted the city into chaos. Frantic tourists fled to the one place they believed would be safe - the renowned Taj Mahal Hotel - only to discover the famed institution was the primary target. But many more would have been killed if not for the extraordinary heroism of a few ordinary hotel staff members who valiantly risked their own lives to protect the lives of guests. This is the astonishing true story of the victims and survivors. Directed by Anthony Maras and starring Armie Hammer, Jason Isaacs, Dev Patel, Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Anupam Kher. Some Hindi, Punjabi and other foreign languages, English subtitles.
Cinema’s ultimate provocateur, Lars Von Trier, returns with a jaw-dropping, serial killer thriller starring Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman and Riley Keough. In five audacious episodes, failed architect and arch-sociopath Jack (Matt Dillon) recounts the elaborately orchestrated murders, each, as he views them, a towering work of art-that define his "career". Mixing black humour, surrealism and musings on everything from history to architecture to cinema, Von Trier fashions a radical inquiry into violence, art, and the acts of creation and destruction. The House That Jack Built is one of Von Trier’s most daring, boundary-pushing works yet.
Oscar Winner! - Best Supporting Actress, Regina King Golden Globe winner - Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winning writer/director Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) adapts James Baldwin's acclaimed novel - a love story set in 1970s Harlem, New York. After her fiancé is framed for a crime, a young woman struggles against a corrupt justice system in this brilliantly crafted, poignant drama. Friends since childhood, Tish (Kiki Layne in a breakthrough performance) and Fonny (Stephan James) are expecting their first child and are looking forward to a happy life together. But when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit, their plans are derailed and Tish must fight to prove his innocence in an unforgiving and racially biased world. "A triumph" - Vanity Fair
Thursday sold out. Extra session added by popular demand. Friday March 22 – 8.40pm Filmed over two nights at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration brings together a big-name lineup of performers to pay tribute to the legendary singer-songwriter as they sing songs from Mitchell’s extensive catalog of 19 studio albums. The celebration culminates with all of the stars performing Big Yellow Taxi and presenting a birthday cake to Joni on stage. Full List of special guests: Brandi Carlile, Glen Hansard, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Chaka Khan, Diana Krall, Kris Kristofferson, Los Lobos with La Marisoul, Cesar Castro, & Xochi Flores, Graham Nash, Seal, James Taylor, Rufus Wainwright.
Nova Exclusive! Now the top-selling female artist in the world, Yuyoi Kusuma overcame impossible odds to bring her radical artistic vision to the world stage. For decades, her work pushed boundaries that often alienated her from both her peers and those in power in the art world. Kusama was an underdog with everything stacked against her: the trauma of growing up in Japan during World War II, life in a dysfunctional family that discouraged her creative ambitions, sexism and racism in the art establishment, mental illness in a culture where that was particularly shameful and even continuing to pursue and be devoted to her art full time on the cusp of her 90s. In spite of it all, Kusama has endured and has created a legacy of artwork that spans the disciplines of painting, sculpture, installation art, performance art, poetry and literary fiction. Some Japanese language, English subtitles
Monster Fest presents LORDS OF CHAOS, based on the stranger-than-fiction true story of a rock-band whose flair for attracting attention spirals horribly out of control. A teenager's quest to launch Norwegian Black Metal in Oslo in the 1980s results in a very violent outcome. Jonas Akerlund directs the unbelievable true story of the Lords Of Chaos; a group of young men with a flair for publicity, church-burning and murder. Starring Rory Culkin, Sky Ferreira, Jack Kilmer and Emory Cohn.
Nova Exclusive! She was the greatest classical voice of the twentieth century. Now, experience the story and career of renowned soprano Maria Callas in her own words. Compiled via performances, interviews, home movies, photographs, letters and Callas’ memoirs, the vast majority of which have never been seen by the public, MARIA BY CALLAS represents years of meticulous research by director Tom Volf. The story of this gifted woman who was born in humble circumstances in New York City, and burst on to the world stage to become the very definition of an opera diva, is explored entirely through Callas’ own words either through recordings or her writings, the latter read by acclaimed opera star Joyce DiDonato. A must-see not only for opera fans but those enamoured with strong, passionate and talented artists of all stripes, MARIA BY CALLAS is a glorious celebration of the woman Leonard Bernstein called “the Bible of opera.”
4 Oscar nominations - Best Song, Best Score, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design Step in time with a brand new adventure with the world’s favourite nanny, inspired by further stories in P.L. Travers’ original book series, and filled with all the magic of the original film. Now an adult with three children, bank teller Michael Banks (Ben Wishaw) learns that his house will be repossessed in five days unless he can pay back a loan. His only hope is to find a missing certificate that shows proof of valuable shares that his father left him years earlier. Just as all seems lost, Michael and his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) receive the surprise of a lifetime when Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) -- the beloved nanny from their childhood -- arrives to save the day and take the Banks family on a magical, fun-filled adventure. With a fantastic supporting cast including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Julie Walters, Angela Lansbury, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep and – of course! – Dick Van Dyke, MARY POPPINS RETURNS is pure delight from end to end.
2 Oscar nominations - Best Costume Design, Makeup & Hairstyling It’s queen against queen as Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie face off in a new telling of the classic battle royale between Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I. Mary (Ronan) returns to Scotland as the widowed queen of France to take up the Scottish throne. Initially desiring to reign in peace alongside her cousin Elizabeth (Robbie) who is queen of neighbouring England, Mary and Elizabeth’s would-be sisterly relationship is violently rocked by the schemes, plots and machinations of the men in their lives. As relations between the two queens deteriorate, and when Mary produces an heir where Elizabeth cannot, a royal reckoning can’t be avoided. Co-starring Jack Lowden, Gemma Chan, Joe Alwyn, David Tennant and Guy Pearce, and helmed by celebrated theatre director Josie Rourke, this is the period drama at its most lush, passionate, and divinely performed.
Oscar nominee: Best Animated Feature! Mamoru Hosada's acclaimed animated adventure MIRAI returns to Cinema Nova with John Cho, Rebecca Hall and Daniel Dae Kim lending their voices to an English language version of time travel adventure. When four-year-old Kun meets his new baby sister, his world is turned upside down. Named Mirai (meaning “future”), the baby quickly wins the hearts of Kun’s entire family. As his mother returns to work, and his father struggles to run the household, Kun becomes increasingly jealous of baby Mirai... until one day he encounters strange guests from the past and future – including his sister Mirai, as a teenager. Together, Kun and teenage Mirai go on a journey through time and space, uncovering their family’s incredible story.
From master-filmmaker Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven, Gran Torino) comes an all-star comic drama about an aging divorcee forced into a lucrative life of crime, based on an unbelievable true story. Earl Stone (Eastwood) is broke, alone, and facing foreclosure of his business when he is offered a job that simply requires him to drive. Easy enough, but, unbeknownst to Earl, he’s just signed on as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. He does well—so well, in fact, that his cargo increases exponentially, and Earl is assigned a handler. But he isn’t the only one keeping tabs on Earl; the mysterious new drug mule has also hit the radar of hard-charging DEA agent Colin Bates (Bradley Cooper). And even as his money problems become a thing of the past, Earl’s past mistakes start to weigh heavily on him. Co-starring Michael Pena, Dianne Wiest, Lawrence Fishburn and Andy Garcia.
St Patrick's Day event screenings! A landmark documentary that tells the story of a hundred years of a life as seen through the eyes of thirty Irish centenarians. Directed by Alex Fegan, Older Than Ireland explores each centenarian’s journey, from their birth at the dawn of Irish independence to their life as a centenarian in modern day Ireland. Reflecting on such key events as the day they got their first pair of shoes, the thrill of their first kiss, from the magic of their wedding day to the tragic loss of their loved ones, these centenarians have lived through it all. Having witnessed a century of immense social, political and technological change each centenarian has a unique perspective on life and its true meaning. These centenarians are our living history and these are their extraordinary stories.
Felicity Jones stars as the Notorious RBG, but in a story you may not be familiar with. ON THE BASIS OF SEX is inspired by the true story of a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg – then a struggling attorney and new mother – who faces adversity and numerous obstacles in her fight for equal rights as her career begins to rise. When Ruth takes on a ground-breaking tax case with her husband, attorney Martin Ginsburg (Armie Hammer), she knows it could change the direction of her career and the way the courts view gender discrimination. The film also chronicles the touching romance between Ruth and Marty, a partnership that succeeded both personally and professionally. Co-starring Kathy Bates, Justin Theroux and Sam Waterston, ON THE BASIS OF SEX is a rousing film about the genesis of an American icon.
Meet The Filmmaker event screening! Join rising Australian actress Geraldine Hakewill (Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries) when she screens and discusses her comic romance of a woman and the imaginary friend she has known since childhood. Charlie (Geraldine Hakewill) and Hugo (Michael Whalley) are aged in their 20s and live in a rural town in Central Queensland with Charlie's father, Roger (David Field). Charlie and Hugo have been best friends their whole lives. There’s just one thing – Hugo is Charlie’s imaginary friend. Though their relationship has always been platonic, when Charlie begins to fall for Guy (Benedict Wall), a producer from the city scouting for a TV documentary series – Hugo realises he’s in love with Charlie. Tony Prescott’s beautifully shot crowd-pleaser is touching and funny in equal turns.
Nova Exclusive! Is art that is the most expensive the best, most important art? Art collectors and auction houses would like you to believe so, and the contemporary art market has inflated to such extraordinary proportions that ‘art as asset’ collecting is causing billionaires to pay obscene prices for artworks, whipping the art world into hysteria and sought-after artists into production overdrive. But when art is viewed primarily as a commodity and status symbol, what does that do to artists, and does it devalue art as a form of personal and cultural expression? Documentarian Nathaniel Kahn’s THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING explores the art market bubble, talking to curators, collectors, auctioneers and artists themselves, and asking the question: when art and commerce are so entwined, what happens when the bubble bursts?
HAL ASHBY RETROSPECTIVE: 'Shampoo', (1975). A seminal film in the 'New Hollywood' movement, Hal Ashby directs Warren Beatty in a comedy written by Robert Town (Chinatown). Beatty stars as a Beverley Hills hairdresser who spends as much time in the salon as he does in bed with his female clients. Hoping to open his own business, he finds little interest from financial institutions, forcing him to make other plans. Co-starring Goldie Hawn, Julie Christie, Carrie Fisher and Jack Warden, SHAMPOO's cheeky brand of sexual comedy was a sensation upon release.
Oscar nominee: Best Foreign Language Film Winner: Palme d'Or, Cannes Film Festival 2018. From master Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda comes an uplifting tale of small-time criminals who take in a child they find on the street. Shoplifting to make ends meet, Osamu and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter her, Osamu's wife agrees to take care of the child after learning of the hardships she faces. Although the family is poor, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets and tests the bonds that unite them. Japanese Language, English subtitles.
Sharp of both suit and vocabulary, Alan (Bill Nighy), is winningly deadpan as a Scrabble-obsessed Merseyside tailor, whose eldest son Michael stormed out of the house after a particularly heated round of the popular board game, never to return. With his family torn apart, Alan and his other son Peter (Sam Riley) must search for Michael while also trying to repair their own strained relationship. Working from a witty and astute script by veteran screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce (The Railway Man, Goodbye Christopher Robin), Liverpudlian director Carl Hunter deploys a vivid visual style and striking production design to capture the shifting moods of a family who know plenty of words but struggle to communicate. A stylish and heartfelt comedy-drama with a a triple score-worthy supporting cast including Jenny Agutter and Tim McInnerny. ★★★★ Peter Bradshaw – The Guardian
Oscar Winner! - Best Animated Feature Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the creative minds behind The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street, bring their unique talents to a fresh vision of a different Spider-Man Universe, with a ground-breaking visual style that’s the first of its kind. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse introduces Brooklyn teen Miles Morales, and the limitless possibilities of the Spider-Verse, where more than one can wear the mask. Featuring the voices of Jake Johnson, Mahershala Ali, Liev Shreiber, Lily Tomlin, Hailee Steinfeld.
From acclaimed screenwriter Jeff Pope (Philomena), STAN & OLLIE pays homage to the original kings of comedy Laurel & Hardy, celebrating a unique friendship and brilliant working partnership. Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly star as the legendary movie icons, in this BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated heart-warming story of what would become the pair’s triumphant farewell tour. With their golden era long behind them, the duo embark on a variety hall tour of Britain and Ireland in 1953. Despite the pressures of a hectic schedule and with the support of their wives Lucille (Shirley Henderson) and Ida (Nina Arianda), their love of performing, as well as for each other, endures as they secure their place in the hearts of their adoring public. ★★★★ - The Telegraph
Featuring extended scenes and unreleased musical performances not included in the original version of the film, get more Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in A STAR IS BORN Encore Edition: in cinemas for a special one-week engagement! An old Hollywood tale, reborn anew. Bradley Cooper directs and stars in A STAR IS BORN, with pop superstar Lady Gaga making her leading role feature film debut. Seasoned rock ‘n’ roll musician Jackson Maine (Cooper) is an icon on the precipice of a downward spiral. With tinnitus and an alcohol problem pickling him from the inside out, Jackson is the very picture of a fading star. But his life is lifted when he discovers – and falls in love with – Ally (Gaga), a struggling singer who may be a nobody, but has a voice that Jackson knows will turn her into a somebody. She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer… until Jack coaxes her into the spotlight. But as Ally’s career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is begins to break down, as Jack fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons.
After sending shockwaves across contemporary culture and setting a new standard for provocative, socially-conscious horror films with his directorial debut, Get Out, Academy Award-winning visionary Jordan Peele returns with another original nightmare that he has written, directed and produced. Set in present day along the iconic Northern California coastline, US stars Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o as Adelaide Wilson, a woman returning to her beachside childhood home with her husband, Gabe (Black Panther’s Winston Duke), and their two children (Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex) for an idyllic summer getaway. Haunted by an unexplainable and unresolved trauma from her past and compounded by a string of eerie coincidences, Adelaide feels her paranoia elevate to high-alert as she grows increasingly certain that something bad is going to befall her family.
Oscar Winner! - Makeup & Hairstyling Golden Globe winner - Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) Oscar winning writer/director Adam McKay (The Big Short) brings his trademark wit to the true story of US Vice President Dick Cheney in VICE. George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell) wins the 2000 election, but it’s Cheney (Christian Bale) who quietly takes charge, wielding his newfound power as vice president to reshape the country and the world – with lasting consequences. Featuring magnificent performances from Bale, Rockwell, Amy Adams and Steve Carell, VICE is a smart, irreverent comedy-drama that will shock and entertain in equal measure.
Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) is a teenage music prodigy whose talent shines through during a memorial service when she sings a song that touches the hearts of the mourners. Guided by her sister (Stacy Martin) and a talent manager (Jude Law), Celeste's meteoric rise to fame dovetails with a shattering terrorist attack on the nation, elevating her to a new kind of celebrity: American icon, secular deity, global superstar. Eighteen years later, Celeste (Natalie Portman) now finds herself on the comeback trail when a scandal, personal struggles and the pitfalls of fame threaten her career. Featuring original songs by Sia and a transcendent performance by Natalie Portman, VOX LUX is an origin story about the forces that shape us, as individuals, nations, and gods.
When Claude Monet re-emerged from the depression that had led him to abandon painting, he devoted himself body and soul to his most colossal undertaking: The Grand Décoration - huge panels depicting his water lily pond, so all-enveloping that the viewer's gaze is lost in an atmosphere of serenity and peace. This brand new and deeply immersive art film allows us to discover what gave Monet the inspiration to return to work, and to produce such a stunning and immortal work of beauty. Follow the River Seine on a visually stunning journey from La Havre to Giverny and Paris, through influential moments in the life of the world’s most influential painter, with astonishing up-close access to some of his greatest masterpieces. Featuring special guest stars actress Elisa Lasowski (Game of Thrones), and presented with the exclusive participation of Ross King, author of the best seller Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies.