Sandra, a writer and her husband Samuel and their eleven-year-old son live a secluded life in a remote town in the French Alps. Samuel is found dead in the snow and the police question whether this is a suicide or a murder with Sandra being the main suspect and her son the only witness. The trial becomes an unsettling journey into the depths of Sandra and Samuel’s conflicted relationship.
(2023). 140 mins Palme d’or winner. Drama. French, English subtitles. Director Justine Triet
Directed by the makers of Pan’s Labyrinth(2006) and the Shape of Water (2017) this “Pinocchio” is a stop motion animation set in Fascist Italy during the rise of Benito Mussolini.
Pinocchio is carved from wood by a father grieving for his dead son. Born into a society of people who behave like obedient puppets, Pinocchio is independent and irrepressible refusing blind obedience to parents and authority figures, even Mussolini himself.
A story of love and disobedience: a dark and powerful film which bears no resemblance to the Disney versions!
(2022). 117 minutes. Stop motion animation. English. Directors Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson
This rich, beautiful, and inexpressibly sad film is about the friendship between two men who were best childhood friends growing up in the Italian mountains. They now unite as grown men to build a shack in the valley which will be their special place. It is set in the Italian alpine valley of Aosta with breathtaking photography as the two men try to talk about their feelings, rekindle their friendship and deal with the difficult past.
“A movie with air in its lungs and love in its heart”.
(2022). 147mins. Italian, English subtitles. Directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch.
Two childhood sweethearts are wrested apart when Nora is uprooted from Korea to America. Two decades later they are united for one fateful week as they confront destiny , love and the choices that make a life. An achingly effective love story and rare emotionally mature adult film.
(2023).106 mins. Drama. English/Korean subtitles. Dir Celine Song.
A gentle, deep drama about two filmmakers, Chris, who is in a relationship with an older man, and Tony, well-known with a big fan base. They go on a working retreat to the island that inspired Ingmar Bergman. While there, Chris wonders whether society would ever allow her to have 9 children from 6 different partners, as Bergman had and shares it as a film idea with Tony.
We begin to see her film as she sees it, with her imaginary actors playing out her script. A film within a film emerges. Tony just wants to go on a Bergman “safari” and be feted by adoring younger fans. Reality and fiction start to blur as tensions increase in the relationship between them. It is a film that gently pokes fun at the great film director, while allowing women to drive the story.
(2021). 112 mins. Swedish (English subtitles). Director Mia Hansen-Love
