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Human Capital
This biting and stylish economic crisis murder mystery is based on Stephen Amidon’s prescient 2004 novel set in Connecticut, with the action transplanted to prosperous Milan. The destinies of two families are irrevocably tied together after a cyclist is hit off the road by a jeep in the night before Christmas Eve. Writer/producer/director Paolo Virzi…
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Timbuktu
Mauretanian director Sissako, who spent part of his youth in Mali, was inspired to make this film when he read an article in Paris newspaper in 2012 about the public stoning of an unmarried couple in the town of Aguelhok (for reportedly having children outside wedlock). Set against the stunning landscapes of the fabled Saraha…
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Whiplash
Whiplash focuses on Andrew (a standout performance by up and coming young actor Miles Teller), an ambitious and single–minded young jazz drummer inspired by his terrifying teacher Terence Fletcher (a deservedly multi-awarded performance from character actor JK Simmons). Writer-director Damien Chazelle’s second feature film draws on his own experiences as a young drummer in love…
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Lift to the Scaffold
Distinguished French director Louis Malle (1932-95) made his debut feature film at the age of 24 with this taut thriller, having won the Palme d’Or in 1956 for the documentary The Silent World, co-directed with Jacques Cousteau. The film’s narrative and editing techniques are seen as a key influence on the Nouvelle Vague movement. The…
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The Palm Beach Story
‘The Palm Beach Story’ is a fast-paced, witty and light-hearted ‘screwball’ comedy from the early 1940s, about a married couple down on their luck financially. It stars two of the great stars of the golden Hollywood era, Claudette Colbert (who won the Best Actress Oscar for ‘ It Happened One Night’) and Joel McCrea (star…
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Fruitvale Station
This recounting of the circumstances running up to the shooting of Oscar Grant III at Fruitvale Station in Oakland, California makes for an engrossing docu-drama rooted in standout performances from Jordan as Oscar Grant and Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer as his mother. For his first feature Coogler had unfettered access both to the legal documents surrounding…
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Black Cat White Cat
In this delightful comic fairy tale from the former Republic of Yugoslavia, Emir Kusturica, director of “Underground” and “Arizona Dream”, serves up a mix of farce, romance and crime. As main character Matko Destanov, small smuggler and profiteer, likes to say: “Brother, if you can’t solve a problem with money… solve it with a lot…
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Testament of Youth
WFC pays tribute to the centenary of WWI and to International Women’s Day by screening this adaptation of feminist and pacifist Vera Brittain’s landmark 1933 WWI memoir. A sterling British cast is led by Swede Alicia Vikander (A Royal Affair, Ex Machina) as Vera Brittain, in her first major English-language lead performance. First-time director Kent…
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Under the Skin
This unique and absorbing film, adapted by Walter Campbell from Michel Faber’s 2000 novel, depicts a female sexual predator (Johansson) stalking a gritty Glaswegian urban landscape. Director Jonathan Glazer (responsible for the famous Guinness horses in the surf advert) impressed with his previous films Sexy Beast (starring Ray Winstone) in 2000 and Birth in 2004,…