Genre: Drama – Page 17 – Wimbledon Film Club

Loveless

Andrei Zvyagintsev (Leviathan, Elena, The Return) has created a blistering winter’s tale, with a disintegrating marriage and the disappearance of a child at its emotional pivot. The broader picture is of the implacable forces tearing apart contemporary Russia, with the personal calamity casting everything into sharper relief. Setting the scene, the camera sketches an apocalyptic…

Loving Vincent

“We cannot speak other than by our paintings,” wrote Vincent van Gogh in the week before his death. This innovative biopic takes him at his word. Live actors mesh seamlessly with paintings in the style of the artist to illuminate the circumstances of his tragic demise. Reluctantly at first, the son of the local postman…

God’s Own Country

Seen by reviewers as one of the most exciting directorial debuts of the last ten years, the impact of this story comes not only from the fact that it’s about gay love, but from the beautifully observed growth of a relationship between the son of a Yorkshire farmer and a Romanian farm-worker. Why do we…

If….

British classic If…. was a product of its time, created in a crucible of anti-establishment feeling: in 1968 civil unrest was sweeping the globe, from USA’s Black Panther movement, to student and worker protests across Europe and anti-Vietnam War rallies worldwide. The film, famous for its rebellious message and violent fantasy sequences, tracks the abuse…

Phantom Thread

Daniel Day-Lewis doesn’t make many films, when he does you know it’s going to be special. Day-Lewis plays the punctilious Reynolds, 1950s dress-maker to royalty and the rich. He needs muses to inspire him and women come and go as they fleetingly fulfil the role. Into his life comes Alma (Krieps), a strong-willed waitress who…

In the Heat of the Night

It’s the 1960s, an African-American detective (Poitier) from Philadelphia becomes reluctantly involved in a murder investigation in a small Mississippi town where the racial tension is almost palpable. With his life under threat and his Southern police partner (Steiger) holding dubious views on race, this is going to be the toughest of assignments. Adapted by…

Frantz

A change of tone again from prolific director Ozon, (Potiche, 8 Women, Swimming Pool) this time a romantic mystery with a plot that twists and turns like a slinky. French veteran, Adrien, journeys to a small German village a year after the end of World War I, to visit the grave of his friend Frantz…

In the Fade

Akin brings us an important film giving focus to the impact of xenophobia rather than the much-charted rise of extremist views in western countries, in this case Germany. In the Fade has three distinct parts, first, a terrorist attack and the effect on a woman, Katja (Kruger); the second charts the woman’s pursuit of justice…

Son of the Bride

This Argentinian comedy-drama has a stellar pedigree – an Oscar-winning director (Campanella won for thriller The Secret of their Eyes, also shown by WFC) and a cast of some of the most celebrated actors of their generation. Argentine cultural icon Aleandro and the renowned Alterio play the parents of another celebrated actor, Darin, the eponymous…

Pin Cushion

There are excellent reasons for making a firm date for Pin Cushion: it’s a breakthrough film for director Deborah Haywood; Lily Newmark proves her star potential plus it’s an excoriating dissection of social exclusion among adults and teenagers alike – relevant, funny and unsettling. Iona and mum, Lyn, move to a small town to make…