JULY - AUGUST 2019 ISSUE 75

JOANNA HOGG’S THE SOUVENIR WITH AND EMILIA SEBASTIAN NICK CRAIG KATE RUPERT ALEX LEELEE WARWICK SANJEEV ALEXANDER CHRIS DEREK KIM JONES CROFT FROST ROBERTS NASH GRAVES MACQUEEN MACK DAVIS BHASKAR ARMSTRONG ADDISON JACOBI CATTRALL

BIG SCREEN. TOTAL RIOT.

IN CINEMAS JULY 26 NO RATS WERE HARMED IN HORRIBLEHISTORIES.MOVIE HORRIBLEHISTORIESTHEMOVIE THE MAKING OF THIS MOVIE CONTENTS

CINEMAS 6 MEMBERSHIP 8 WELCOME CURZON ON DEMAND 12 CURZON SELECTOR 14 At the time of writing, there are 40 cinemas on the Cote BERTHA DOCHOUSE 16 d’Azur with seats that are still warm. The Curzon team are NEW RELEASES 18 back from the feeding frenzy of the Cannes Film Festival, a sleep-deprived fortnight of watching films from around the EVENTS 42 globe. It was a proud festival for our acquisitions team in FEATURES 48 particular, with three upcoming Curzon titles playing in the prestigious main competition, including Romanian thriller The Whistlers and the almost entirely female French period Editor drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which won Best Screenplay Ian Haydn Smith for its director Céline Sciamma. And we can’t wait to screen Designer South Korean home invasion black comedy Parasite, which Hannah Attwell won the top prize, the Palme d’Or. More news on their Contributors: Jake Garriock | release later in the year. Wendy Ide | Philip Kemp | Titles from Cannes form the backbone of our summer Kate Gerova | Damian programme. Previous Palme d’Or winner (for Pulp Fiction) Spandley Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood, a

curzon.cinemas hedonistic homage to Tinseltown circa 1969, was the festival’s hottest ticket. Spanish maestro Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and CurzonCinemas Glory, which picked up the Best Actor award for Antonio curzoncinemas Banderas, finds an ageing filmmaker contemplating his life. Jim Jarmusch is reunited with Adam Driver, Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton for The Dead Don’t Die, a mischievous zombie Operated by CURZON CINEMAS 2nd Floor, 20-22 Stukeley Street, comedy that is both a love letter to the genre and a London WC2B 5LR consumerist satire of Trump’s America. Participant in the Europa Cinemas/ Through our venues and the digital streaming service European Union Media Programme Curzon Home Cinema, we continue to provide customers At the time of going to print every effort was made to ensure the with new films when, where and how they want them. information contained in this programme was correct. However, Features releasing simultaneously in cinemas and at home where circumstances dictate, we this summer include The Souvenir, Joanna Hogg’s dangerous reserve the right to make changes. romantic drama set in 80’s London; The Lunchbox director CURZON CINEMAS Limited 1934. Registered in London: Ritesh Batra’s Mumbai charmer Photograph, and following Company no:283280. Est.1934. CURZON and CURZON CINEMAS the sad passing of the great Agnès Varda, her final, deeply are registered trade marks, personal film Varda by Agnès. no:2291124 and no.2424017

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We begin July with a series of environmentally themed To make sure you have access to exclusive members’ previews, priority event cinema films. They include acclaimed French documentarian Nicolas booking, free tickets and much more, join Curzon membership. Prices start from only £40. Philibert’s Nenette, about the Paris zoo’s beloved orangutan, Our standard member benefits are: and Daniel Nettheim’s The Hunter, a taut Tasmanian-set 4 FREE TICKETS | DISCOUNTED TICKETS | NO BOOKING FEES | eco-thriller starring Willem Dafoe. DISCOUNTED FOOD + DRINK | DISCOUNTS ON CURZON HOME CINEMA | CURZON12 | PREVIEWS + PRIORITY BOOKINGS | AND MUCH MORE…..

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Members’ preview screenings throughout July and August will include ONLY YOU See page 23 for synopsis PHOTOGRAPH See page 34 for synopsis TRANSIT See page 36 for synopsis THE SOUVENIR See page 40 for synopsis For venues and times, go to: CURZONCINEMAS.COM/MEMBERSPREVIEWS

The Hunter

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Curzon members can access all the titles on Curzon12 for free. Members automatically have a Curzon Home Cinema account, so just sign in and the collection will be yours to enjoy. Find out more at: CURZONCINEMAS.COM/CURZON12 The Souvenir MEMBERS

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ON DEMAND

IN CINEMAS. ON DEMAND

Films that appear on Curzon Home Cinema the same day that they are released in cinemas – allowing you to watch them your way. VARDA BY AGNÈS 19 JUL | See page 26 for synopsis PHOTOGRAPH 2 AUG | See page 34 for synopsis THE SOUVENIR 30 AUG | See page 40 for synopsis

RECOMMENDED

TRANSIT 16 AUG German auteur Christian Petzold brings the past into the present with extraordinary results in this enthralling drama. Adapted from Anna Seghers’ 1942 novel, which explores life for an escapee of a concentration camp as they attempt to seek passage to the US through Nazi-occupied France. But rather than present the action as a period drama, characters wear modern dress. The result is a film that explores past horrors but also questions the rise of the right and treatment of refugees in contemporary times. COMING SOON: DISCOVER FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY 1 JULY Gems not to be missed ONLY YOU DIAMANTINO 15 JULY JOHN MCENROE: IN THE REALM OF PERFECTION 15 JULY FERRANTE FEVER 22 JUL CAPERNAUM 29 JULY Who is Elena Ferrante? Director: Harry Wootliff One of the mysteries of the Starring: Josh O’Connor, Laia Costa, Natalie Arle-Toyne, HAPPY AS LAZZARO 29 JULY Isabelle Barth, Tam Dean Burn, Daniel Campbell, Joe Cassidy RED JOAN 19 AUG modern literary world is not answered by Giacomo Durzi’s immensely entertaining Elena and Jake meet on New Year’s Eve. The electricity documentary. Instead, between them is palpable. Soon, they move from lovers to various contributors, from live-in couple. Their trajectory is furthered by a desire to the author’s translator Ann conceive a child then stalled by problems in doing so. It’s here Goldstein to writers Elizabeth that Harry Wootliff’s breezy romance gains emotional weight, Strout, Jonathan Franzen and aided in no small way by the charismatic performances of Roberto Saviano help offer a Josh O’Connor (God’s Own Country) and Laia Costa (Victoria). comprehensive overview of With cinematographer Shabier Kirchner making the most the writer’s work, why she of Glasgow’s autumnal hues, Wootliff’s debut feature is is so loved and deserving thoughtful and moving drama. of the critical praise her magisterial Neopolitan

Transit series has attracted. 12 JULY ON CURZONHOMECINEMA.COM ON DEMAND

13 CURZON SELECTOR

MEMBERS OF THE CURZON TEAM PICK THEIR FAVOURITES FROM THE UPCOMING RELEASES

MIDSOMMAR TBC THE CURRENT WAR TBC

Few recent horror films films attracted as Late 19th-century America lay in the grip of much anticipation as Hereditary. With industrialisation and urban migration. Enter Midsommar, Ari Aster looks set to send pulses two individuals who shared the same dream: racing once again. Florence Pugh plays to light up the streets and homes of every Dani who, following a recent tragedy, joins city and town. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon brings boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) on a trip to together an impressive cast, headlined by Sweden and a festival that’s held every 90 Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon, years. What that celebration is has been kept as Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, under wraps. But don’t expect it to be fun for for a charged drama about winning the rights these unsuspecting participants. See page 22 to supply electricity to the country. See page 30

FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW TBC

Curzon might adore its Vardas, Hanekes, Sciammas and Almodóvars, but there’s always a little love for some Hollywood excess. Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham reprise their Fast & Furious roles, arriving in London to take on Idris Elba’s psycho merc villain. And The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby is on hand to dish Midsommar, 2019 out a right royal ass kickin’. See page 32

TRANSIT 12A THE LEHMAN TRILOGY

Christian Petzold has quietly built up a Following the success of his award-winning formidable body of work that encompasses production ‘The Ferryman’, Sam Mendes recent Germany history. His adaptation of returns to the stage for this compelling triptych, Anna Seghers’ 1942 novel, which recounts a detailing the rise of the famous banking family Holocaust survivor’s attempts to reach the and its eventual demise, which marked the United States via Nazi-occupied France, beginning of the 2008 global financial crisis. avoids the trappings of the past by presenting Opening in 1844 and divided into three parts, the drama with minimal period detail. The it stars Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley result is a brilliant and unsettling portrait and Ben Miles, who take on various guises. of migration. See page 36 See page 46 BOOK TICKETS NOW BOOK TICICKETS NNOW

469E17_Sony_SMFFH_PrintAd_148x210.indd 1 17/06/2019 11:05 BOOK TICICKETS NNOW The UK’s first cinema BERTHA screen dedicated to documentaries, Bertha THE HOME OF DOCUMENTARY DOCHOUSE DocHouse is a platform AT CURZON BLOOMSBURY for powerful human stories. We screen a ON THE INSIDE OF A MILITARY mix of new releases and DICTATORSHIP classics, alongside Q&As Follow the complex power struggle that arose and special events. between Nobel Prize-winning activist Aung San Suu Kyi and the dictatorship that used to rule Myanmar. Opens Fri 26 Jul

SAKAWA The electronic waste in Ghana contains a treasure trove of information. With a mine of personal details among the detritus, a group of internet scammers develop romantic relationships through dating websites, in the pursuit of an income. HAIL SATAN? Opens Fri 12 Jul A playful portrait of the Satanists who seem to be trolling the Christians of America. Hail Satan? Follows the people behind the Satanist movement, and the impact their actions are having. Opens Fri 23 Aug VARDA BY AGNÈS The ever creative, playful and curious master of cinema Agnès Varda reflects on her life behind the camera and the things that inspired her with a huge audience, and dazzling insight. MEMORY: THE ORIGINS OF ALIEN Opens Fri 19 Jul From its cultural significance to its stomach- exploding originality, this is a rigorous and insightful exploration of the story behind Ridley Scott’s classic and its imaginative creators, writer Dan O’Bannon and artist HR Giger. www.dochouse.org Opens Fri 30 Aug @BerthaDocHouse

FROM THE ACADEMY AWARD© WINNING WRITER / DIRECTOR OF THE LIVES OF OTHERS FLORIAN HENCKEL VON DONNERSMARCK SPIDER-MAN: FAR SEBASTIAN KOCH TOM SCHILLING PAULA BEER FROM HOME 12A NEVER LOOK AWAY 15

Director: Jon Watts Director: Florian Henckel Von “AN EPIC, INTERGENERATIONAL “ONE OF THE MOST Starring: Tom Holland, Donnersmarck TALE OF ART, LOVE, MESMERIZING, COMPULSIVELY TRAGEDY AND POLITICS” WATCHABLE FILMS RIGHT NOW” Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal, Starring: Tom Schilling, VARIETY THE WASHINGTON POST Samuel Jackson, Marisa Tomei, Sebastian Koch, Paula Beer, Jon Favreau, Cobie Smulders, Saskia Rosendahl, Oliver Numan Acar Masucci, Hanno Koffler, US 2019 | 129 mins Cai Cohrs, Evgeniy Sidikhin Germany, Italy 2018 | 189 mins Peter Parker is still grieving German and Russian with the loss of his friend and English subtitles mentor Tony Stark. So, a school trip to Europe seems Kurt Barnert is an acclaimed like a perfect escape. But international artist. Having things across the water survived the Nazis and life soon pose their own under Communist rule, he is problems and Peter is haunted by his past. But it’s enlisted by Nick Fury to about to revisit him in a way help. And with the arrival he could never have expected. of Mysterio, who may or This intergenerational drama may not be a force for good, by Florian Henckel Von Peter has to up his game. Donnersmarck (the Oscar- Tom Holland returns as winning director of The Lives the webbed crusader in of Others), loosely inspired by this lighter entry in the the life of Gerhard Richter, is Marvel universe. an expansive, involving epic.

OPENS: FRI 2 JULY OPENS: FRI 5 JULY

ACADEMY AWARD© 2 NOMINATIONS BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM IN CINEMAS JULY 5 BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY STRONG SEX, www.modernfilms.com/neverlookaway 15 NUDITY, THREAT NEW RELEASES

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MIDSOMMAR TBC VITA & VIRGINIA 12A THE DEAD DON’T DIE 15 ONLY YOU 15 OUR TIME TBC

Director: Ari Aster Director: Chanya Button Director: Jim Jarmusch Director: Harry Wootliff Director: Carlos Reygadas Starring: Florence Pugh, Will Poulter, Jack Starring: Gemma Arterton, Elizabeth Debicki, Starring: Adam Driver, Tilda Starring: Laia Costa, Josh Starring: Natalia López, Phil Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Liv Mjönes, Isabella Rossellini, Rupert Penry-Jones, Peter Swinton, Chloë Sevigny, Bill O’Connor, Natalie Arle-Toyne, Burgers, Carlos Reygadas, Julia Ragnarsson, Anna Åström, Archie Madekwe Ferdinando, Emerald Fennell Murray, Steve Buscemi, Danny Isabelle Barth, Tam Dean Burn, Maria Hagerman, Yago Martínez, US 2019 | 140 mins Ireland, UK 2018 | 110 mins Glover, Tom Waits, Selena Daniel Campbell, Joe Cassidy, Eleazar Reygadas, Rut Reygadas English and Swedish with English subtitles Gomez, Iggy Pop Gregor Firth Mexico, France, Germany, Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West were US 2019 | 105 mins UK 2018 | 115 mins Denmark, Sweden 2018 | Christian (Jack Reynor) has planned a trip key luminaries of Britain’s literary scene in + ON CURZON HOME CINEMA 173 mins with his friends to a once-in-a-lifetime festival the first half of the 20th century. Their Strange things are afoot in Spanish with English subtitles in Sweden. At the last minute, he’s joined by relationship is believed to be the inspiration the small town of Centerville. Elena and Jake meet, fall in his girlfriend Dani (Florence Pugh). The festival behind ‘Orlando’, one of Woolf’s most The news reports of love, move in together and A man finds his ordered world is in a remote region and Dani soon begins celebrated novels. Chanya Button’s drama happenings near cemeteries, make plans for the future. upturned on discovering his to suspect something more sinister is afoot. charts this relationship, with Gemma Arterton the electricity doesn’t always They want a child, but having wife’s infidelity. Not so much for With its nod to The Wicker Man, the latest film and Elizabeth Debicki shining in the title roles. seem to be flowing and for one isn’t quite so easy. Harry the betrayal but for keeping the from Hereditary director Ari Aster looks set to It’s a beautifully nuanced account of a local enforcement officers Wootliff’s debut profits from affair a secret from him. Carlos be the summer’s biggest horror hit. rarefied world and an illicit love affair. Cliff and Robbie, things are two fine lead performances by Reygadas’ intricate drama only going to get worse. Laia Costa and Josh O’Con- finds him playing the lead and OPENS: FRI 5 JULY OPENS: FRI 5 JULY Jim Jarmusch’s smartly nor. But it’s the sensitivity his family starring opposite him. scripted take on the zombie Wootliff brings to her writing It’s a typically sublime affair movie is a knowing, all-star and directing that makes this from the director of Battle in comedy horror.. such a rewarding film. Heaven and Silent Light.

OPENS: FRI 12 JULY OPENS: FRI 12 JULY OPENS: FRI 12 JULY

22 23 NEW RELEASES

ARMSTRONG PG PAVAROTTI 12A GWEN 15

Director: David Fairhead Director: Ron Howard Director: William McGregor Featuring: Neil Armstrong, Featuring: Luciano Pavarotti, Starring: Eleanor Worthington- Harrison Ford (voice) Nicoletta Mantovani, Placido Cox, Maxine Peake, Richard Domingo, Angela Gheorghiu Harrington, Kobna Holdbrook- US 2019 | 100 mins UK, US 2019 | 114 mins Smith, Mark Lewis Jones, Richard Elfyn For the first man to land on the moon, Neil Armstrong Following on from his The UK 2018 | 82 mins remained a very private figure. Beatles: Eight Days a Week David Fairhead’s (Spitfire, - The Touring Years, Ron Gwen lives with her mother Mission Control: The Unsung Howard (A Beautiful Mind, and sister in a small village in Heroes of Apollo) fascinating Apollo 13) looks at the life and the Welsh mountain range of documentary explores the life artistic career of arguably the Snowdonia. It’s the mid-19th and work of the astronaut, opera world’s most famous century and the area, building a portrait of a tenor. Charting his journey haunted by an age-old modest individual whose skill through the opera world, with spirit, faces the threat of and intelligence saw him contributions from friends violence from aggressive lead an extraordinary and admirers, Howard has industrialisation. William scientific mission. created an affecting portrait. McGregor’s impressive debut See page 47 for details of See page 47 for details of incorporates social realism a special event. a special event. into an unsettling tale..

OPENS: FRI 12 JULY OPENS: MON 15 JULY OPENS: FRI 19 JULY

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ARMSTRONG-CURZON_AD_148x210-@100%_R4.indd 1 14/06/2019 17:19 NEW RELEASES “A WONDERFUL INSIGHT INTO ONE OF OPERA’S GREATEST ARTISTS - FULL OF EMOTION, CHARM AND HUMANITY” GRAMOPHONE

FROM ACADEMY AWARD® WINNING DIRECTOR RON HOWARD

THE LION KING TBC VARDA BY AGNÈS 15 TELL IT TO THE BEES TBC

Director: Jon Favreau Director: Agnès Varda Director: Annabel Jankel Voices: Seth Rogen, Donald Featuring: Agnès Varda Starring: Anna Paquin, Holliday Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor, James France 2019 | 115 mins Grainger, Gregor Selkirk, Euan Earl Jones, Billy Eichner, French and English with English Mason, Lauren Lyle, Kate Dickie Keegan-Michael Key, John Kani, subtitles | + ON CURZON HOME CINEMA UK 2018 | 108 mins Alfre Woodard EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW WITH SATELLITE Q&A AND REMASTERED THREE TENORS ARIA US 2019 | TBC mins Agnès Varda had a career When Lydia’s husband TH as distinctive as any of her abandons their family, she JULY 13 FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY The gold standard of Disney’s French New Wave peers. If receives help from Jean, the revitalised animation house her final film proper Faces recently arrived GP. But with in the 1990s finally gets the Places showed Varda at her their growing intimacy, live-action treatment. And most playful, this filmed neighbours close their doors it’s in the safe hands of The performance offers the to them and Lydia faces Jungle Book director Jon opportunity to hear her losing her son. Annabel Favreau. An all-star cast talk about her experiences Jankel’s drama, adapted voice the characters, led throughout her long and from Fiona Shaw’s novel, by Donald Glover as the rewarding life. There are sensitively explores the grown-up Simba, who few people as interesting as growing affection between sets out to avenge his Varda and this is a lovely, if the women and highlights betrayed father. bittersweet, swansong. the prejudice they face.

OPENS: FRI 12 JULY OPENS: FRI 19 JULY OPENS: FRI 19 JULY

TH 26 IN CINEMAS NATIONWIDE JULY 15 – TICKETS NOW ON SALE

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NEW RELEASES

THE CHAMBERMAID TBC THE CURRENT WAR TBC

Director: Lila Avilés Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon Starring: Gabriela Cartol, Teresa Sánchez Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Mexico, US 2018 | 102 mins Shannon, Nicholas Hoult, Katherine Waterston, Spanish with English subtitles Tom Holland, Tuppence Middleton, Matthew Macfadyen Inspired by artist Sophie Calle’s ‘Hotel’ project US 2017 | 105 mins and a theatre play she directed, Lila Avilés’ involving, nuanced drama explores the daily In a very different direction from his life of the titular hotel employee. Recording acclaimed debut Me and Earl and the Dying the minutiae of Eve’s activities, Avilés builds a Girl, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s The Current War complex portrait of her subject, revealing her thrillingly recounts the 19th-century battle of hopes of a better life and the challenges she wits and ruthless business tactics adopted by faces, as well as shining a light on a system Thomas Alva Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) that exploits low-paid workers. It’s a fascinating and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) and intimate drama with a stunning central in the fight to control the power supply to performance by Gabriela Cartol. America’s homes.

OPENS: FRI 26 JULY OPENS: FRI 26 JULY

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FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS TEEN SPIRIT 12A & SHAW TBC ANIMALS 15

Director: Max Minghella Director: David Leitch Director: Sophie Hyde Starring: Elle Fanning, Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Starring: Holliday Grainger, Agnieszka Grochowska, Archie Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Alia Shawkat, Fra Fee, Dermot Madekwe, Zlatko Buric, Millie Vanessa Kirby, Eiza González, Murphy, Amy Molloy, Pat Shortt, Brady, Vivian Oparah, Ria Helen Mirren, Tessa Mahoney, Olwen Fouéré, Elva Trill Zmitrowicz Eddie Marsan, Cliff Curtis UK, Australia, Ireland 2019 | UK, US 2018 | 93 mins UK 2019 | 115 mins 109 mins

Violet lives on the Isle of A super criminal by the name Sophie Hyde’s (52 Tuesdays) Wight and dreams of of Brixton (Idris Elba, from drama is an unconventional becoming a pop star. When Hackney) is on the loose. and richly rewarding portrait execs from the talent show Only two heroes can stop of female friendship. Holliday Teen Spirit show up, Violet him. The Fast and Furious Grainger and Alia Shawkat jumps at her chance of fame. franchise expands, with star as Laura and Tyler. Elle Fanning reveals an Dwayne Johnson and Having reached their 30s, the impressive singing voice Jason Statham’s Hobbs two have very different views in actor-turned-director and Shaw on an action- of the world and how they Max Minghella’s feature driven adventure of their cope with it. This adaptation debut, an enjoyable, own. Helen Mirren and of Emma Jane Unsworth’s EDM-infused update of Vanessa Kirby are also on novel articulately explores the Cinderella tale. hand to steal every scene. their lives and decisions.

OPENS: FRI 26 JULY OPENS: THU 1 AUG OPENS: FRI 2 AUG BFI SOUTHBANK CINEMAS | MEDIATHEQUE | LIBRARY | SHOP | BARS | RESTAURANTS Also showing July – August

SALON MEXICO CARY GRANT The Golden Age of Mexican Cinema Britain’s Greatest Export

NO DIRECT FLIGHT ANGELA BASSETT Digital Blackness in the Age Queen of the Screen of the Internet Image: La Haine 32

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PHOTOGRAPH 15 OPUS ZERO TBC

Director: Ritesh Batra Director: Daniel Graham Starring: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Starring: Willem Dafoe, Andrés Almeida, Carlos Sachin Khedekar, Denzil Smith, Brinda Trivedi, Aragón, Irene Azuela, Cassandra Ciangherotti Lubna Salim Germany, Mexico 2017 | 81 mins Germany, India, US 2019 | 109 mins Spanish and English with English subtitles Hindi, Gujarati and English with English subtitles + ON CURZON HOME CINEMA Paul, an acclaimed composer, retreats to the home of his recently deceased father. Rafi earns a living taking photographs of people Grief-stricken, he becomes reclusive, but the in Mumbai. When asked by his grandmother story of a woman who disappeared draws when he will marry, to stop being hassled by him out and with his investigation enters a her he sends a photo of a young woman. But dangerous world. Daniel Graham’s beautifully now the old woman wants to visit in order to understated debut, skilfully employing a meet the girl, so Rafi has to find her. Ritesh minimalist palette in its intimate and powerful Batra’s charming comedy drama recaptures character study, once again highlights the the magic of his earlier The Lunchbox. versatility of the superb Willem Dafoe.

OPENS: FRI 2 AUG OPENS: FRI 9 AUG

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“THE FEEL-GOOD MOVIENew York Post OF THE YEAR”

BLINDED BY THE ONCE UPON A TIME... LIGHT 12A IN HOLLYWOOD TBC TRANSIT 12A “A MUST-SEE BEACON OF JOY” Uproxx Director: Gurinder Chadha Director: Quentin Tarantino Director: Christian Petzold Starring: Viveik Kalra, Kulvinder Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Starring: Franz Rogowski, Paula Ghir, Meera Ganatra, Aaron Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Beer, Godehard Giese, Lilien Phagura, Dean-Charles Dakota Fanning, Al Pacino, Batman, Maryam Zaree, Barbara Chapman, Nikita Mehta, Margaret Qualley, Kurt Russell, Auer, Matthias Brandt Haley Atwell, Sally Phillips Luke Perry, Timothy Olyphant “YOU WON’T STOP SMILING” Germany, France 2018 | FirstShowing.net UK 2019 | 115 mins US 2019 | 159 mins 115 mins | German and French with English subtitles A triumphant love letter It’s 1969, Hollywood is + ON CURZON HOME CINEMA to the music of Bruce undergoing a seismic change Springsteen, and which and is about to be blown A man escapes a concentration champions the underdog, apart by the Manson family. camp and attempts to make Gurinder Chadha’s (Bend Quentin Tarantino’s rollicking his way to the US via Nazi- It Like Beckham) exuberant feature tells the story of Rick occupied France. But this comedy charts the affection Dalton, a gradually fading being a Christian Petzold of one Asian boy – based movie star, his stuntman Cliff (Barbara, Phoenix) film, all is on the life of broadcaster Booth and rising star Sharon not what it seems. Updating Sarfraz Manzoor – for the Tate. It’s the visual and verbal the look of his characters allows songs of the Boss while living feast you would expect Petzold to draw parallels with in 1980s Britain. It’s a joyful from the connoisseur of the present, resulting in a paean to the power of music. pop culture. timely and potent drama.

OPENS: FRI 9 AUG OPENS: WED 14 AUG OPENS: FRI 16 AUG

FOR ANYONE WHO HAS EVER WANTED TO DREAM. YOU’RE NOT ALONE.

IN CINEMAS AUGUST 9

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0645 BBTL_Curzon FP_AW_03.indd 1 04/06/2019 17:45 NEW RELEASES “TWO TITANS AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME … EXQUISITE PERFORMANCES” READER’S DIGEST

ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER BAFTA® NOMINEE VANESSA REDGRAVE TIMOTHY SPALL

LETO 15 GOOD BOYS 15 PAIN AND GLORY 15

Director: Kirill Serebrennikov Director: Gene Stupnitsky Director: Pedro Almodóvar Starring: Teo Yoo, Irina Starring: Jacob Tremblay, Molly Starring: Antonio Banderas, Starshenbaum, Roman Bilyk, Gordon, Will Forte, Retta, Lil Penélope Cruz, Asier Etxeandia, Anton Adasinskiy, Liya Rel Howery, Millie Davis, Midori Leonardo Sbaraglia, Nora Akhedzhakova, Yuliya Aug Francis, Enid-Raye Adams, Navas, Cecilia Roth, Raúl Russia, France 2018 | 126 mins Brady Noon Arévalo Russian and English with US 2019 | 90 mins Spain 2019 | 113 mins English subtitles Spanish with English subtitles A FILM BY ADRIAN NOBLE Max, Lucas and Thor are For a musician in 1980s three boys entering their Acclaimed director Salvador Soviet-controlled Russia, a teens. Max is attracted to Mallo finds himself blocked. fine line needed to be tread Brixlee, but as none of the boys Vexed by the ailments of an between art and anarchy, have experience with girls, they ageing body and troubled by social commentary and decide to spy on their female insecurities, he cannot find critique. Kirill Serebrennikov neighbours for tips, with the creative impulse that (The Student) captures the disastrous results. Gene once revealed itself so Leningrad rock scene of this Stupnitsky pre-frathouse readily. Cannes Best Actor era to dazzling effect. The comedy comes from the stable winner Antonio Banderas cultural landscape is the star of Superbad and features a and Penélope Cruz are here and the film immerses us fine performance by Jacob outstanding in Almodóvar’s completely in that world. Tremblay (Room, Wonder). frank and moving drama.

OPENS: FRI 16 AUG OPENS: FRI 16 AUG OPENS: FRI 23 AUG

38 VertigoReleasingUK #LowryMovie COMING SOON VertigoRel vertigoreleasing

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THE SOUVENIR 15 BAIT 15

Director: Joanna Hogg Director: Mark Jenkin Starring: Honor Swinton Byrne, Neil Young, Tom Starring: Ed Rowe, Mary Woodvine, Giles Smith, Burke, Jack McMullen, Tilda Swinton, Richard Simon Shepherd, Chloe Endean, Stacey Guthrie, Ayoade, Janet Etuk, Chyna Terrelonge-Vaughan Jowan Jacobs, Giles King, Edward Rowe UK 2019 | 120 mins | + ON CURZON HOME CINEMA UK 2019 | 89 mins

Julie is studying film. But her life unravels In a small Cornish town, gentrification when she meets the older Anthony at a threatens to smother the local fishing party. He comes to dominate her life and industry. This is the backdrop to Mark Jenkin’s has a dark side that slowly suffocates their beautifully realised film. Shot in black and relationship. Set in 1980s London, Joanna white and on 16mm film, it is as much an Hogg’s (Archipelago, Exhibition) exquisite homage to bygone cinema as it is a critique autobiographical drama features an of a changing world. Within it, form and impressive debut by Honor Swinton narrative successfully combine to remind us Byrne, with Tom Burke outstanding as that the past is something we should learn her lover/mentor. from, not forget.

OPENS: FRI 30 AUG OPENS: FRI 30 AUG ON YOUR RADAR: PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE TBC

The Draw The Female Gaze There’s always that film at the Cannes Film With Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Sciamma Festival – the one that reaches out beyond explores a relationship between a young the industry and critics to become a talking aristocrat in 18th century France and the point amongst general cinema-going woman who has been hired to be her audiences. It might not always win the companion. The woman is actually an artist top award, but a buzz builds up around it and has been commissioned by the lady’s following its premiere. This year, it was the mother to secretly paint a portrait that will turn of acclaimed French filmmaker Céline mark her daughter’s impending marriage. Sciamma and her Portrait of a Lady on Fire. However, the relationship between the two Debuting in 2007 with her sensitive women soon takes a different turn. It’s a coming of age drama Water Lillies, Sciamma’s rapturous tale, told with Sciamma’s films are noted for their subtlety and marked customary sensitivity, but also highlights sensitivity towards gender identity. In addition her range as a filmmaker. to writing and directing the award winning Tomboy (2011) and Girlhood (2014), she wrote OPENS LATER IN THE YEAR the screenplays for André Techine’s Being 17 + ON CURZON HOME CINEMA (2016) and the gorgeous, moving animation My Life as a Courgette (2016).

40 41 VOYAGER PROGRAMME JULY-AUGUST

WE THE ANIMALS 15 IN FABRIC 15 Director: Jeremiah Zagar Director: Peter Strickland

With so many films released each week and only a limited number of screens upon which to show them, there's always a chance that you might miss out on a hidden gem or a title from around the world. That's where Voyager comes in.

Each month, Curzon cinemas around the country will offer you a chance to see a film outside the normal programme – something that will engage, perhaps even provoke, but always entertain.

For July and August, Voyager will travel to up- state New York, a wintry Venice, throughout 20th century Germany and into the wilds of Reading.

For more info, tickets and the full programme, DON’T LOOK NOW 15 NEVER LOOK AWAY 15 please visit: Director: Nicolas Roeg Director: Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck curzoncinemas.com/voyager FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: CURZON.COM/VOYAGER

EVENTS CURZON Q&As DOCDAYS

LAST STOP CONEY ISLAND: THE LIFE AND PHOTOGRAPHY OF HAROLD FEINSTEIN 12A + Q&A WITH DIRECTOR ANDY DUNN Date: Mon 15 July | 18:30 Where: Soho UK 2019 | 88 mins

Once regarded as one of the finest photographers of his generation, Harold Feinstein is finally receiving the credit he is due for his extraordinary photographic portrait of New York life. This documentary presents a fascinating overview of his life and work.

+ ON CURZON HOME CINEMA © Harold Feinstein Photography Trust BAIT TBC + INTERVIEW WITH FILMMAKER MARK JENKIN Date: Fri 30 Aug | 18:30 Where: Bloomsbury DEAD GOOD PG OF FISH AND FOE ADV 18 Date: Sat 31 Aug | 18:30 Where: Oxford + Q&A WITH FILMMAKER REHANA ROSE + Q&A WITH FILMMAKER ANDY HEATHCOTE Go to page 40 for synopsis. Date: Wed 10 July | 18:30 Where: Oxford Date: Wed 31 July | 18:30 Where: Soho UK 2018 | 78 mins Date: Thu 1 Aug | 18:30 Where: Oxford UK 2018 | 91 mins Saying good bye to those we love is a THE SOUVENIR 15 + INTERVIEW WITH FILMMAKER JOANNA HOGG painful experience. But as Rehana Rose’s Andy Heathcote’s enthralling film documents compassionate portrait of Brighton-based life for the Pullars, the last family to use Date: Thu 1 Aug | 18:15 Where: Bloomsbury funeral directors Cara and Sarah shows, traditional fishing methods to catch Atlantic Date: Mon 26 Aug | 18:15 Where: Oxford the rituals that surround it can provide salmon off the coast of Scotland, and the Date: Fri 30 Aug | 18:15 Where: Mayfair comfort and dignity. This is a fascinating environmentalists who oppose them at Go to page 40 for synopsis. and moving documentary. every turn.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO BOOK FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO BOOK GO TO CURZON.COM GO TO CURZON.COM EVENTS LIVE EVENTS LIVE EVENTS

NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA SPECIAL EVENTS

Where: Aldgate Bloomsbury Canterbury Where: Bloomsbury Canterbury Colchester PAVAROTTI 12A Colchester Knutsford Mayfair Oxford Knutsford Mayfair Oxford Richmond Date: Thu 25 July | 19:00 | 140 mins Richmond Ripon Sheffield Victoria Ripon Sheffield Victoria Wimbledon Wimbledon Where: Aldgate Canterbury Knutsford GILBERT & SULLIVAN’S Mayfair Oxford Richmond Ripon Sheffield THE LEHMAN TRILOGY THE MIKADO 150 mins Victoria Wimbledon Date: Thu 25 July | 19:00 | 240 mins Date: Tue 2 July | 17:00 Following the screening, director Ron Howard Sam Mendes directs Stefano Massini’s play Where: Oxford Ripon Victoria Wimbledon will be interviewed, live by satellite broadcast. (adapted by Ben Power) that charts the Date: Tue 2 July | 17:30 See page 24 for synopsis meteoric rise and dramatic fall of the Where: Knutsford Sheffield banking giant. Date: Tue 2 July | 18:00 Where: Aldgate Bloomsbury This repeat screening of Jonathan Miller’s hugely acclaimed 2015 production of life in the Japanese royal court remains one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular operettas.

The Barber of Seville, Glyndebourne 2019

GLYNDEBOURNE 2019

Where: Knutsford Mayfair Oxford Richmond Ripon Sheffield Victoria

ROSSINI’S THE BARBER OF SEVILLE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY Date: Sun 14 July | 17:30 | 180 mins Rossini’s joyous and rambunctious Where: Bloomsbury Canterbury Colchester comedy is a thrill from start to finish in ARMSTRONG PG Knutsford Mayfair Oxford Richmond Ripon Annabel Arden’s sparkling production. Date: Tue 9 July | TBC | 130 mins Sheffield Victoria Wimbledon Where: Aldgate Bloomsbury Canterbury MOZART’S Colchester Knutsford Mayfair Oxford MEASURE FOR MEASURE THE MAGIC FLUTE Richmond Ripon Sheffield Victoria Date: Wed 31 July | 19:00 | 210 mins Date: Sun 4 Aug | 17:30 | 180 mins Wimbledon RSC artistic director Gregory Doran oversees The acclaimed designer-directing team of Dara Ó Briain hosts this special satellite this production of Shakespeare’s late dark Barbe & Douce take on the majesty of broadcast, featuring Mark Armstrong and comedy. Mozart’s magical opera. other guests. See page 24 for synopsis

46 47 EVENTS SPECIAL EVENTS WE’RE GOING GREEN!

APOCALYPSE NOW: FINAL CUT 15 In the last couple of years we have + PRE-RECORDED INTERVIEW WITH taken steps to reduce the impact our FRANCES FORD COPPOLA cinemas have on the environment. A Where: Bloomsbury Canterbury Colchester lot of our efforts went into minimising Knutsford Mayfair Oxford Richmond Ripon waste, which is why if you visit one of Sheffield Victoria Wimbledon our bars you’ll now find compostable packagings for our snack and reusable Date: Tue 13 Aug | 18:40 | 183 mins titanium straws in your cocktails. Director: Francis Ford Coppola | US 1979 Starring: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando You can help us by bringing your own Francis Ford Coppola finally presents his surreal reusable cup, you’ll get a discount on masterpiece as he wanted it seen. your hot drink, or you can buy one of our Curzon KeepCup and get a free hot THE CURE – ANNIVERSARY 1978-2018 LIVE SUMMER IN SHEFFIELD drink! IN HYDE PARK LONDON 12A Date: Thu 11 July | 21:00 | 137 mins Sheffield is playing host to three films For more on Curzon’s commitment on Where: Aldgate Bloomsbury Canterbury that allow you to bask in the heat of sustainability visit: Colchester Knutsford Mayfair Oxford a cinematic summer. There’s Steven corporate.curzon.com/sustainability Richmond Ripon Sheffield Victoria Wimbledon Spielberg’s 1975 classic Jaws, which Long-term collaborator Tim Pope directs this launched the modern blockbuster concert, celebrating 40 years of the iconic and made everyone thing twice about British Band. swimming in the sea. Then we travel down under for the effervescent festival of camp that is The Adventures BOOK CLUB of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. And finally, one hot day in Brooklyn simmers then explodes as a result PAN’S LABYRINTH 12A of racial tension in Spike Lee’s urban Date: Tue 2 July | 18:15 | 118 mins angst masterpiece Do the Right Thing. Where: Soho For more information, go to: Writer Cornelia Funke, co-author with director curzoncinemas.com/sheffield/ Guillermo Del Toro of the novelisation of Pan’s coming-soon Labyrinth, discusses the film and will sign copies of her book.

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME 15 Date: Wed 17 July | 18:10 | 129 mins Where: Soho In advance of his sequel ‘Find Me’, author André Aciman will be interviewed by Skype following the screening of this hugely popular film. Each audience member will also receive a free first edition proof copy of the new novel. Thanks to Faber & Faber. Jaws

48

FEATURE RETRO STYLE Quentin Tarantino journeys back to the end of Hollywood’s golden age and a crime that shook Tinseltown to its core

by Ian Haydn Smith

Ever since he wowed audiences with his feature debut Reservoir Dogs (1992), Quentin Tarantino has made films with at least one foot planted in the past. Pulp Fiction (1994) blended various eras into an exuberant postmodern melting pot, while the Kill Bill (2003-4) diptych tipped its hat to Asian genre filmmaking classics of yesteryear. If Reservoir Dogs paid homage to the hardboiled noir of Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing (1956), visually it was indebted to gritty 1970s American crime movies like The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974). That era also held sway over Death Proof (2007), the director’s entry in the Grindhouse feature programme, and Jackie Brown (1997), a near-perfect adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s ‘Rum Punch’. His most recent work, Inglourious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012) and The Hateful Eight (2015) are all knowing period features – wildly revisionist takes on the war movie and Western. With his new film, Tarantino recalls a moment when idealism was soured by a crime that cast a shadow over the Hollywood Hills. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood integrates the story of a screen star’s diminishing career and friendship with his stunt double alongside the crimes of the Manson Family. Unfolding in 1969, it it presents Hollywood in a state of flux. The method of production that had dominated for over 30 years was being surpassed by a new approach to filmmaking. And with it came an overhaul of its moral code. Youth culture, which had been a growing force in the US since the early 1950s was too big for the ailing studios to ignore, while opposition to the Vietnam conflict had brought together a generation desperate to find a different path to the norms of the establishment. This desire for change had been reflected on the screen since the early 1960s. Even classical genres had adapted to the times. West Side Story (1961), with its opening aerial shot FEATURES

51 FEATURE FEATURE

over working class New York’s tenement buildings, offered up an edgier take on the musical. Sergio Leone, with his Dollar trilogy (1964-66), made the West a little less wholesome and in Clint Eastwood presented an anti-hero whose moral compass was wildly askew. And the burgeoning effects industry was soon to make previously marginal, B-movie genres such as horror and sci-fi hugely popular. In his entertaining account of this shift, ‘Scenes from a Revolution: The Birth of the New Hollywood’, Mark Harris found the perfect reflection of the times in the films that were nominated for the 1967 Best Picture Oscar: The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Bonnie and Clyde and Doctor Doolittle. Four films challenge social conventions, while the fifth – a dying gasp from a studio attempting to hold on to the past – highlighted just how out of touch with the world traditional Hollywood had become. And yet, what was perceived as progress also masked a conservatism that still held sway over the industry. Once Upon a Time... taps into the year when Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid might have topped the annual box office, but it was challenged by Midnight Cowboy and Easy Easy Rider Midnight Cowboy Rider, two films that employed the iconography of the Western to scratch at the faults in contemporary US society. Another traditional Western, True Grit (which won John Wayne and Oscar that year) had also made its way into the top ten. But it had been overtaken by Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, a comedy that challenged marital conventions. Taken together, these films reflected two generations in conflict, out of which emerged the Manson Family. If the story of Charles Manson and his followers drives Once Upon a Time... to a bleak resolution, the Hollywood setting allows Tarantino to indulge in his fascination with American popular culture, from diners and doughnuts to the tiny details that not only inform an era but also make the filmmaker’s worlds so immersive. Leonardo DiCaprio once again shines for his director – he appears more relaxed in Tarantino’s films than in his collaborations with Martin Scorsese – while his pairing with Brad Pitt, in his second Tarantino film after Inglourious, works a charm. Some of the magic that made the filmmaker such an icon of 1990s US cinema is present, but as it progresses Once Upon a Time... dares to go darker, questioning whether Tinseltown had a more significant role in the creation of Manson and his followers than it is prepared to admit.

ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOOD opens 14 August Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid True Grit

53 FEATURE FEATURE

Jaws The Dead Don’t Die

planet has resulted in a reversal of the life The Conversation (both 1974), the officials cycle and soon the local cops, played by that govern Amity – particularly Murray Adam Driver, Bill Murray and Chloë Sevigny, Hamilton’s snake oil salesman of a mayor – are fighting a growing army of zombies. The are compromised characters whose actions SMALL TOWN LIFE town they live in is called Centerville. It’s less threaten lives. In this instance, it is an outsider a real town than a cinematic simulacrum – – Roy Scheider’s newly arrived police chief – Jim Jarmusch and Steven Spielberg prove that life a movie version of an archetypal US town. by Neal Baker who restores order. But what makes Spielberg’s in small town USA is far from a peaceable existence Genre cinema has long drawn inspiration portrait so compelling is the attention he pays from this world, from Invasion of the Body to a world that is transformed every holiday Snatchers (1956), Night of the Living Dead season. The montage of holidaymakers There are two kinds of small town America. how creepy that world can be. But it wasn’t (1968) and The Crazies (1973/2010) to arriving in Amity is a joy to watch, as is his In the version popularised by Frank Capra, the first and certainly isn’t the last film to Halloween (1978), Impulse (1984) and The observations of the way people behave when goodness reigns. In his Mr. Deeds Goes suggest that all is not well in the sleepy Mist (2007). relaxed. It’s for these moments, as much as to Town (1938) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), heart of Smalltown USA. Spielberg’s classic offers up a wonderful the nerve-shredding tension of the shark order might be challenged by malevolent Both Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), portrait of small town life. Although its most attacks and subsequent hunt for the great forces, but it is restored by the end and life which returns to the big screen over summer, memorable moments are water-bound, the white behemoth, that makes the film such a goes happily on. Then there is the world and Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die day-to-day scenes in Amity that make up pleasure to behold. where those forces exist just beneath the play with the conflict between the peaceable a fair portion of the film’s first half tap into surface, waiting for their moment to emerge image of small town life and an unwelcome themes that dominated a number of mid- THE DEAD DON’T DIE opens 12 July and make a lasting impact. David Lynch’s force. For Jarmusch, it’s the arrival of the 1970s US movies. Though hardly a conspiracy JAWS plays in August Blue Velvet (1986) set the standard of just undead. Mankind’s mistreatment of the thriller on a par with The Parallax View or

54 55 FEATURE GIANT STEPS Amongst the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, there is a portrait of the astronaut who chose to take a step back from the limelight

With the speed of progress since the advent of the digital revolution, it seems strange to think that the technology we carry around with us on a daily basis is more advanced than the appliances NASA had available to it when, on 20 July 1969, it landed two astronauts on to the surface of the moon. That event, the culmination of two decades of research and innovation, sped on in no small part by the Cold War with the Soviet Union, remains for many people one of the greatest accomplishments of humankind over the course of the last century. And at the heart of this enterprise is one man who remained mostly silent about his achievement. Armstrong is one of a number of films celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing. Apollo 11 has already screened in cinemas. But David Fairhead’s (Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo) documentary focuses primarily on the first man to step foot on the Moon, tracing the trajectory of his life and career towards his journey to the lunar surface. It’s a welcome portrait for an individual whose life back on Earth following the Apollo 11 mission is anathema to our mediated times. Armstrong took one victory lap then shunned public life, allowing us to see the momentous event not as the achievement of one person, but that of an entire world.

ARMSTRONG opens 12 July. See page 47 for details of a special screening event

56 57 FEATURE FEATURE

UNDER AFRICAN SKIES

The Lion King is the latest and arguably most dazzling of Disney’s live-action remakes of their classic animated features

The resurgence of Disney as the home of characters. It’s unsurprising, then, that quality animated features, following a directing duties should go to Jon Favreau, the prolonged creative and commercial drought, filmmaker behind The Jungle Book. That film began with The Little Mermaid (1989) and featured a vast array of wild creatures, with was followed by the dazzling Beauty and the only one major human presence – the man-cub Beast (1991) – the first animated film to be Mowgli. But where The Jungle Book departed nominated for a Best Picture Oscar – and in tone from the light-heartedness of the Aladdin (1992). But it was The Lion King beloved 1967 animated version, what has so (1994), based on an original story, that far been seen of the new version of The Lion cemented the studios fortunes and restored King remains loyal to the original. Except that its reputation as the true home of animation. the world in which these stunningly rendered It has since held pride of place amongst the computer-generated animals roam are front rank of Disney animated features, which actual African plains, scorched by the sun began with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and thriving with life. It’s against this stunning way back in 1937. And as such, any live-action backdrop that the Shakespearean tale of remake would only be greenlit if the right power and greed plays out. creative team were in place to make it. Unlike the other recent Disney live-action THE LION KING opens 19 July remakes, The Lion King has no human

58 59 FEATURE FEATURE

SNAPSHOT

A gentle picture of Mumbai life emerges from The Lunchbox director Ritesh Batra’s latest delight by Philip Kemp

With Photograph, director Ritesh Batra (played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui), in his late allowing us to intuit what’s happened rather Batra throws in the odd subplot to add returns to the location of his much-loved 30s, and bright young student Miloni (Sanya than playing out key interchanges before our colour to the proceedings. There’s an debut feature The Lunchbox (2013): his Malhotra), shy and dominated by her family. eyes, is the city of Mumbai. It’s presented with encounter with one of cinema’s least scary teeming, fascinating and occasionally Rafi, operating at the tourist-magnet Gate a mixture of affection and exasperation. This, ghosts, Rafi develops an obsession with a infuriating native city of Mumbai. It shares of India in Mumbai, takes Miloni’s picture, it seems, is a society where everybody feels local brand of cola that’s vanished since his something of the mood of its predecessor: but she’s called away by her mother before entitled to interfere in everybody else’s childhood and Miloni’s tutor appears to have both revolve around wistful, almost-but-not- he can give it to her. He then hears that his affairs, proffering comments, suggestions predatory deigns on her. But for most of the quite romances between seemingly mis- grandmother, who lives in a rural village, and advice, presuming on the slightest film’s length, Batra is happy to let us absorb matched couples, brought about by chance, has declared a hunger strike unless he gets acquaintance, or none at all. This is the the chaotic, bustling atmosphere of Mumbai. that leave us wondering what, if anything, engaged. To placate her, Rafi tells her that source of much of the film’s comedy. Right Street food should be treated with caution might come of these tentative relationships. he’s got engaged to Miloni – even though he’s at the outset, Rafi, passing through the and rats might run across your feet in the In Lunchbox, the accidental link was got no idea where to find her. After all, he markets, is informed about his grandmother’s movie-house. But ultimately, this is a warm between Saajan, a middle-aged office doesn’t even know her name. But then hunger strike by three different people. Not and humane portrait of life in the city. worker, and Ila, a much younger woman stuck Granny announces she’s coming to the city one of them is a family member. And a taxi in a loveless marriage. Photograph offers a to meet this lovely fiancée… driver is much offended when Rafi tells him PHOTOGRAPH opens 2 August variation on that pattern. The odd couple No less important than the plot, which to mind his own business and keep his eyes + ON CURZON HOME CINEMA in this case are street photographer Rafi Batra presents in a subtly oblique manner, on the road.

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PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST

Autobiography and fiction collide in two award- by Wendy Ide winning films by Pedro Almodóvar and Joanna Hogg

According to Federico Fellini, ‘All art is relationship from two previous Almodóvar autobiographical’. But the director who was films from over thirty years ago: Women on inspired by his own experiences of creative the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) block to make 8 ½, which in turn loosely inspired and Matador (1986). And the early film by Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film, Pain and Glory, Mallo, retrospectively screened at the local would probably concede that some art is more cinematheque, which triggers a series of autobiographical than others. flashbacks to his youth, has much in common There is no question that Almodóvar’s with the camp excesses Almodóvar’s early work. account of a filmmaker adrift in a creative How much is Almodóvar explicitly telling mire, weighed down by physical pain and us about his own life? There was speculation memories of the past, is deeply rooted in the in Cannes that the director was hinting at filmmaker’s own life. But it’s also true that he issues with his own health. But the film’s has created the shield of afictionalised version fictional padding keeps us at a distance. of himself – a successful Madrid-based There is no such equivocation with Joanna director named Salvador Mallo (played by Hogg’s most recent film, The Souvenir, which Antonio Banderas). The name is not quite makes no secret of the fact that it is closely an exact of his, but shares enough common based on the director’s life. letters to leave us in no doubt that Mallo is Honor Swinton-Byrne stars as Julie Almodóvar’s alter ego. (based on Hogg in everything but name), The film revisits many of the thematic a young film student from a privileged but veins which have run through his previous quite sheltered background. Moving to work: the mother figure, Catholicism, London to study film, she is bowled over by childhood sexual awakening, Madrid. Even the louche charm of Anthony (Tom Burke) a the casting has a meta, self-referential sophisticated older man. But Anthony, who twist to it. In one scene, Banderas has an claims to work for the Home Office, is not affecting moment with Julieta Serrano, who all he seems. It becomes clear that he is an plays his ailing, aging mother. It reprises a addict, with all the associated slippery trust Pain and Glory 62 FEATURE FEATURE

issues. Meanwhile, Julie struggles with which screened at the Cannes Film Festival. realising her student film project. Hogg is Subsequently citing the influence of Manoj open about the fact that this film, the first Kumar’s 1970 feature Purab Aur Paschim, part of a two film autobiographical project, which deals with India’s fight for independence, is inspired by her own experiences. An Chadha’s two shorts presaged the exploration acquaintance who knew her at the time of identity that would characterise her work. commented that the recreation of Hogg’s

West London flat is uncannily accurate. Like Questioning Identity Almodóvar, however, Hogg protects herself Chadha’s films engage with race and gender. with a certain distance from the material, in Her debut Bhaji on the Beach (1993) was the this instance provided by the time which has first feature-length film made by a British passed since the events in question – the Asian woman. It followed a group of women, setting is the early 1980s. mostly Punjabis of various faiths and beliefs, Hogg and Almodóvar join a tradition of as they embark on a day trip to Blackpool. filmmakers who have drawn on their own Inter-generational conflict and the role of lives and creative process for inspiration. feminism come to the fore, but the film leavens Fellini was a prime example – in addition The Souvenir the drama with nuanced and frequently to 8 ½, Amarcord (1973) was based on his hilarious comic observations. Bend It Like village childhood. François Truffaut dipped Beckham (2002) was another breakout into his own life on numerous occasions: The success, while the more recent Viceroy’s 400 Blows (1959) was inspired by his early PAIN AND GLORY opens 23 Augus House (2017) looked at the end of Britain’s rule years as a teen tearaway, meanwhile Day MEET THE THE SOUVENIR opens 30 August in India and the chaos resulting from Partition. for Night (1973) entertainingly interrogates + ON CURZON HOME CINEMA A Musical Past See page 44 for details of post-screening the film making process. Many of the films of Q&As with Joanna Hogg the prolific German director Rainer Werner FILMMAKER Chadha’s latest film Blinded by the Light, Fassbinder were loosely autobiographical: is loosely based on the life of British Asian notable is Beware of a Holy Whore (1971), journalist and filmmaker Sarfraz Manzoor, and in which a film crew sink into a mire of drink GURINDER CHADHA inspired by his autobiographical ‘Greetings and drugs, was based on Fassbinder’s from Bury Park’, his 2007 account of growing eventful experiences filming a previous up in Luton on the 1980s. In particular, picture, Whity (1971), on location in Spain. What to know Chadha’s film focuses on Manzoor’s growing There’s clearly a tricky balance to be Born in Nairobi, Kenya, and a part of India’s obsession with the music of Bruce Springsteen struck: the cost of exposing and exploring a sizeable diaspora in East Africa, Gurinder – hence the similarity of his memoir’s title to personal life, which is opened up to scrutiny Chadha moved to Southall in West London Springsteen’s 1973 debut album ‘Greetings by the act of laying it bare for audiences, is when she was two. After graduating from the from Asbury Park, N.J. As playful as the weighed against the risk of solipsism. The University of East Anglia and LCP, she began writer-director’s best work – and co-written real danger with such films is that a director her career as a BBC news reporter before with Manzoor and her partner Paul Mayeda grossly overestimates how interesting their stepping behind the camera to direct a series Berges – Blinded by the Light once again life is to other people. In the case of both of acclaimed documentaries. Amongst these offers a colourful portrait of life in the cultural Hogg and Almodóvar, a happy balance is was the award-winning I’m British but… melting pot of contemporary society. struck which results in two exceptionally (1989) for Channel 4. She followed it with fine, but very different films. the narrative short Nice Arrangement (1991), BLINDED BY THE LIGHT opens 9 August FEATURE THE FILMS THAT MADE US

SOMETIMES, IT’S THE FILMS THAT TEAR US APART THAT FORGE WHO WE ARE

What are the films that made me? Oh boy! down, crack us open and leave us unmoored, It asks a few metaphysical questions doesn’t drifting through the rest of the day like so it? Is there a me? Am I a coherent whole – much junk plastic floating on our oceans? somehow put together with tape and glue and Characters fall in love, go on wild adventures, made by cinema? Okay, maybe it doesn’t need fight evil and take part in intergalactic space a stoner’s over-analysis, but for the sake of operas. But, like us, they also do ugly, stupid, being a contrarian and spicing-up this column, horrific things. We need to see that part of let’s interrogate these ideas a little bit. ourselves on screen. Like that desolate feeling End of year lists. Favourite films. Movie that comes over you when watching 12 Years merchandise. They all feed into a culture of a Slave (2013). The knowledge that here too cinema fandom; films that reflect our are humans, doing things that humans can personalities and give people an insight into do, and only by the grace of God am I the one our very souls. The films we bring-up on dates sitting comfortably in a cinema rather than and use to sell ourselves to potential partners. enduring it. ‘We both love His Girl Friday. Let’s get I was most recently un-made by cinema married and call the kids Water and Hildy!’ at the Cannes Film Festival when watching But what about the films that breaks us the astonishingly powerful documentary For Sama. Surrounded by the glamour, the mega yachts and the beach parties, here was a transmission from what felt like another GEMMA ELIZABETH ISABELLA dimension. Waad al-Kateab’s self-filmed ARTERTON DEBICKI ROSSELLINI footage takes us through five years of the A FILM BY CHANYA BUTTON uprising in Aleppo, as she and her husband Hamza run a volunteer-led hospital. As the war rages on, it feels like we are watching a world circling an abyss. And in the middle of it are two people who have heroically and selflessly put themselves in the line of fire in the pursuit of helping others. All in the hope of salvaging something of this world for their daughter Sama. Please seek it out when it comes to cinemas later in the year, but The Love Story that inspired Virginia Woolf’s Orlando I can’t promise you’ll feel whole after it.

th FOR SAMA will be released later in the year IN CINEMAS 5 JULY Jake Garriock is the head of publicity For Sama at Curzon. @TBIRDRELEASING THUNDERBIRDRELEASING.COM #VitaAndVirginia

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