Rust And Bone
One of the main reasons for the resurgence and rebranding of French cinema recently has been the stunning output of Jacques Audiard.
His films The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet rank as two of the best to come out of any country in the past decade.
His latest is just as searing and brutal, albeit in a different way.
The incredible Marion Cotillard is a killer whale trainer who suffers an horrific accident that leaves her disabled.
The bond she has formed with Ali, a young father recently arrived with his son, is strengthened and their love and adventure story grows into something epic and overpowering, for them and the audience.
Audiard leaves it all on the screen, the direction is unflinching and the performances incredible.
It might feel odd first time round, but it’s guaranteed the emotional resonance will stay with you and force you back for a second look. Brilliant film-making.
The Shining
Talking of brilliant film-making, the BFI are re-releasing a beautiful new digital restoration of Stanley Kubrick’s horror masterpiece for a short period to coincide with Hallowe’en and, presumably, to make the most of the curiosity to revisit it the wonderful documentary Room 237 will doubtless conjure.
Truly unique as an artist, Kubrick’s telling of the Stephen King bestseller is a truly individual horror movie that plays against all the traditional codes of the genre and yet still manages to terrify and unnerve.
Watching Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) go mad in The Overlook Hotel never looked so vast, crazy and utterly gorgeous. Misunderstood on release, it’s now rightly regarded as a masterpiece, not only of horror, but bravura, stylistic cinema of the psyche. Peerless.
Silent Hill: Revelation
Wisely, the cinema schedules for Hallowe’en are packed with real classics in the form of The Shining and The Rocky Horror Picture Show to make up for what passes as horror nowadays.
This sequel to an utterly forgettable piece of garbage is, lo and behold, an utterly forgettable piece of garbage.
A great cast is wasted in clicheville as a young woman is drawn back into a dangerous alternative reality when her father disappears. That may hold the secrets to her damaged upbringing, but likely won’t completely help as that would mean no need for a third rubbish outing.