Played by Mads Mikkelsen, Martin is a high school teacher in a mid life crisis. He and his three colleagues embark on an “study” to see what level of alcohol makes them better people.
Measuring social and professional performance they drink only during working hours. Intoxicating, very funny and sobering. The film won a Bafta for Best Film not in the English Language and an Oscar for best international feature.
Directed by Thomas Vintenburg. Danish with English Subtitles.
Wim Wenders’s Oscar-nominated zen Japanese drama is his best feature film in years. Hirayama cleans public toilets in Tokyo, lives his life in simplicity, appreciating each moment, alongside encounters that lead him to reflect on himself.
This zen meditation on beauty, fulfilment and simplicity is an achingly lovely and unexpectedly life-affirming picture.
Directed by Wim Wenders. English / Japanese with subtitles.
Two lonely souls connect in a rain-lashed Helsinki in this unexpectedly uplifting drama from the Finnish master of melancholy.
Meeting by chance the two look at last to have found love. However, various obstacles thwart their hopes and dreams – lost phone numbers, mistaken addresses, alcoholism and a charming dog. Won the Jury prize at Cannes. Tragicomic romance set in modern-day Helsinki.
Directed by Aki Kaurismäki. Finnish with English Subtitles.
La Chimera is a fantasy created from fragments. For the thieves of ancient grave goods and archaeological wonders, the Chimera means redemption from work and the dream of easy wealth.
For Arthur (Josh O’Connor), fresh out of prison, the chimera means a search through time and the underworld for his love Beniamina. A piece of cinematic magical realism using the ancient and modern landscapes of Tuscany against an unexpectedly rich musical score.
The film has received 11 film awards and 26 nominations.
Directed by Alice Rohrwacher. English, Italian, French with subtitles.
Kate Winslet stars as Lee Miller – the fashion model turned war photographer for British Vogue. She bears witness to the terrible aftermath of WWIl in her new role and even gets into Hitler’s private flat and poses in his bath – a photoshot intended to shock.
She battles against prejudice as a woman war photographer which seems to give her an impetus to press further in her work.
Lee Miller lived in Sussex with her husband, Roland Penrose, an artist and art critic.
