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Senna
The first thing to say about Senna is that you don’t have to know, or care, about driving round and round in circles very fast to enjoy this terrific film. Senna is a superbly crafted portrait of an exceptional individual who thrilled the world and inspired a nation. The film begins with Senna’s arrival into…
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Le Herisson
Adapted from Muriel Barbery’s international bestseller, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, writer-director Mona Achache’s first film follows three main characters, an 11 year old girl and two eccentric characters in her building. Paloma (le Guillermic), a serious, articulate but deeply bored pre-teen has decided to kill herself on her 12th birthday, disgusted by the futility…
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XXY
Based on a short story by Sergio Bizzio, Puenzo’s first feature film follows the psychological journey that 15 year old intersex Alex (Efron) makes as she struggles to find her sexual and gender identity. In a bid to protect her from the morbid curiosity and intolerance that her intersexuality would – in all likelihood –…
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Las Acacias
New Argentinian cinema emerged after the Second World War with films that focused intently on the realities of Argentinian social and rural life, becoming political with the advent of social unrest in the late sixties and early seventies and succumbing temporarily to the seven years of suppression that followed military takeover in 1976. The return…
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Incendies
Canadian Nawal Marwan has just passed away. The only people at the reading of her will are her twin adult children, Jeanne and Simon Marwan, and the executor, Nawal’s long-time employer and friend, notary Jean Lebel. The will contains many unusual requests, the most unusual being two sealed envelopes, one to be delivered by each…
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Like Water For Chocolate
An adaptation of a novel by Laura Esquivel, ‘Como Agua Para Chocolate’ (Like Water for Chocolate) is a Latin American expression which refers to the near boiling temperature of water for use in the making of chocolate, and is, figuratively, a reference to passion. In this tale of early 20th century, pre-revolution Mexico, a family…
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Fire In Babylon
There is phenomenal cricket on show, but much more than that. A skilful documentary about how the West Indian champions became a magnificent symbol of success: a ‘yes, we can’ message to black communities in Britain and worldwide. Featuring stock footage and interviews with several former players and officials, the documentary describes the ascension of…
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Surviving Life
Here’s a psychoanalytical comedy of fascinating inventiveness where live action combines with cut-out animation of still photographs to offer a satirical and surrealist take on the weight dreams have on real life. The film dwells on the romantic exploits of Eugene (Helsus), a married middle aged office worker, to whom dreams have become fused with…
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Coriolanus
Shakespeare’s tragedy of a noble Roman general, successful in battle and encouraged to stand as a consul, might not appear to be an obvious candidate for a modern setting given the central character’s open, visceral contempt for democracy and the rarity of a military careerist becoming a politician nowadays, but Fiennes makes it work by…
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Benda Bilili
Benda Bilili means See Beyond in English and is the name of a Congolese band of homeless disabled and able bodied musicians. This uplifting and moving film documents their daily struggle to survive on the streets of the Congo capital, Kinshasa, through to achieving global recognition as artists, with some riveting twists and turns along…