What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 7th October 2021.

The 59th New York Film Festival is currently running form 24th September through until 10th October. Founded in 1963, it is one of the longest-running and most prestigious film festivals in the United States. This year Joel Coen's 'The Tragedy of Macbeth' starring Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Corey Hawkins, Brendan Gleeson and Harry Melling was chosen as the Opening Night film, with the Closing Night's film being Pedro Almodovar's 'Parallel Mothers' with Penelope Cruz. The centrepiece screening is Jane Campion's 'The Power of the Dog' with Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemmons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Thomasin McKenzie and Frances Conroy. The non-competitive festival is centred on a 'Main Slate' of typically 20–30 feature length films, intending to reflect the current state of cinema. The program is a mix of major international art house films from the festival circuit, new discoveries, and studio releases targeting awards season. The studio films are often selected as Opening Night, Centrepiece, and Closing Night presentations.

As such, this years Main Slate includes the following feature films :-

* 'Ahed's Knee' - Directed and Written by Nadav Lapid, this Israel, French and German co-produced film stars Nur Fibak. At Cannes, this film shared the Jury Prize with 'Memoria'.

* 'Benedetta' - Directed and Co-Written by Paul Verhoeven this French and Dutch co-produced film stars Virginie Efira, Lambert Wilson and Charlotte Rampling.

* 'Bergman Island' - Directed and Written by Mia Hansen-Love, this international co-production stars Mia Wasikowska, Tim Roth, Vicky Krieps and Anders Danielsen Lie.

* 'Il Buco' - Directed, Co-Written and Co-Produced by Michelangelo Frammartino, this Italian drama film stars Paolo Cossi, Jacopo Elia, Denise Trombin and Nicola Lanza. It won the Special Jury Prize at last months Venice International Film Festival.

* 'Drive My Car' - Directed and Co-Written by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, this Japanese drama film stars Hidetoshi Nishijima. At Cannes this year, it won the Best Screenplay Award, the FIPRESCI Prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury.

* 'Flee' - Directed and Co-Written by Jonas Poher Rasmussen this internationally co-produced animated documentary film with Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau serving as Executive Producers, and narrating an English-language version of the film. At the Sundance Film Festival, it won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary section, and was subsequently screened at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Feature Film.

* 'In Front of Your Face' - Directed, Written, Co-Produced, photographed, edited, and scored by Hong Sang-soo, this South Korean drama film stars Hyeyoung Lee, Cho Yun-hee and Kwon Hae-hyo.

* 'Introduction' - Directed, Written, Produced, photographed, edited, and scored by Hong Sang-soo, this South Korean drama film stars Shin Seokho, Park Miso and Kim Young-ho. The film won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the Berlin International Film Festival in March this year.

* 'Memoria' - Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, this international co-production stars Tilda Swinton and was awarded the Jury Prize at this years Cannes Film Festival, which it shared with 'Ahed's Knee'. 

* 'Passing' - Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Rebecca Hall in her Directorial debut, this US and UK production stars Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, Alexander Skarsgard, Bill Camp and Andre Holland. 

* 'Petite Maman' - Directed and Written by Celine Sciamma, this French drama film stars Josephine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Stephane Varupenne and Nina Meurisse.

* 'The Souvenir Part II' - Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Joanna Hogg, this US, UK and Irish drama film stars Honor Swinton Byrne, Tilda Swinton, Richard Ayoade, Charlie Heaton and Joe Alwyn.

* 'Titane' - Directed and Written by Julia Ducournau this French and Belgian body horror thriller feature stars Agathe Rousselle, Vincent Lindon and Garance Marillier. The film won the prestigious Palme d'Or at Cannes this year and at TIFF it took out The People's Choice Award for Midnight Madness.

* 'Unclenching the Fists' - Directed and Written by Kira Kovalenko, this Russian drama film stars Milana Aguzarova. The film won the Un Certain Regard Award at Cannes earlier this year. 

* 'The Velvet Underground' - Directed and Co-Produced by Todd Haynes this American documentary film follows the band The Velvet Underground, now widely recognised as one of the most influential bands in rock, underground, experimental, and alternative music.

* 'The Worst Person in the World' - Directed and Co-Written by Joachim Trier, this Norwegian dark romantic comedy drama film stars Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie. It is the third film in the Director's 'Oslo Trilogy' after 'Reprise' and 'Oslo, 31 August'. For her performance, Renate Reinsve won the award for Best Actress at Cannes this year.

For more details on the complete schedule of films being showcased at the 59th New York Film Festival, you can visit the official website at : https://www.filmlinc.org/

With Greater Sydney, where I live, still in COVID lockdown until Monday 11th October this means all of our cinema's are closed until this date, which further means that the release of the movies as given below, slated for release this week, will be delayed somewhat across certain parts of Australia at least. That said, these movies will either have been released or are set for an imminent release somewhere in the world, and as Odeon Online has an international audience, I thought it best to carry on regardless. 

This week then there are just two new release cinematic offerings coming to an Odeon screen near you, kick starting with an American drama of three stories that explore love, commitment, and loyalty between couples and friends, and closing out with an Australian documentary of the unprecedented devastation of Australia's 2019/2020 'Black Summer' bushfires, from a country-wide emergency to the astonishing stories of help and resilience that emerged.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the two latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE' (Rated M) - is an American drama film Co-Written and Directed by Eleanor Coppola, wife of Francis Ford Coppola, whose previous feature length films are 'Hearts of Darkness : A Filmmaker's Apocalypse' in 1991 and 'Paris Can Wait' in 2016 with Diane Lane and Alec Baldwin, as well as other short documentary films charting the films of her husband and children, most notably daughter Sofia Coppola. This film was scheduled to have its World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2020, but the festival was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and instead saw its World Premiere screening at the Deauville American Film Festival in early September 2020.

Here then are three sto­ries exploring love, com­mit­ment, and loy­al­ty between cou­ples and friends. 'Two for Din­ner' where a mar­ried cou­ple tem­porar­i­ly liv­ing in two dif­fer­ent loca­tions are more sep­a­rat­ed than they think. 'Sail­ing Les­son' about a long-mar­ried cou­ple who spend a day on a yacht rekin­dling their romance … and unex­pect­ed events arise, and 'Late Lunch' where a young woman who recent­ly lost her moth­er invites a group of her moth­er’s friends to share mem­o­ries, with sur­pris­ing rev­e­la­tions. The ensemble cast includes Joanne Whalley, Chris Messina, Kathy Baker, Maya Kazan, Rosanna Arquette, Alyson Reed, Cybill Shepherd and Rita Wilson.

'A FIRE INSIDE' (Rated M) - this Australian documentary film is Directed and Co-Written by the pairing of Justin Krook and Luke Mazzaferro. In 2019/20 Australia's wild bushfires horrified the world. The selfless acts of everyday Aussies inspired the nation, but the triple whammy of drought, fire and pandemic has taken an astonishing toll. On New South Wales far south coast, on the first day of the inferno, firefighter Nathan Barnden saved seven strangers but lost his uncle and cousin. He kept working throughout the 200-day emergency – there was next to no time to grieve. In the Southern Highlands, the selfless actions of Rural Fire Service Captain Brendan O'Connor and his crew saved his local community. In the aftermath others are rebuilding their homes while he's trying to rebuild his life. Australia's 2019/20 bushfire season was unprecedented. But just as communities started on the long road to rebuilding the lives, their homes and their businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic began its tight grip on the world. The Directors here interview volunteers, farmers, publicans and pensioners, uncovering stories of devastating heartbreak but also of astounding resilience in the face of adversity.

With just two new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere after Monday 11th October, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-