What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 14th July 2022.

Now in its 26th year, The Fantasia International Film Festival, which was launched in 1996 is held in the Canadian city of Montreal, from Thursday 14th July through until Wednesday 3rd August. Since its inception, this festival is now recognised as the largest and most influential event of its kind in North America, a leader on the genre film scene and one of the country’s most popular film festivals. With a varied programming and an emphasis on the imaginative cinema of Canadian and world film, Fantasia’s offerings range from unique and powerful personal visions to international commercial crowd-pleasers rarely seen in North America, while discovering and nurturing exciting new talents and offering a platform through which artists and audiences can connect. 

Since it began, the Fantasia International Film Festival has explored the diverse realms of genre cinema, creating bridges between the cutting edge and the mainstream, and providing a festive but professional environment where emerging artists are given exposure alongside their more established counterparts, both locally and internationally.

The Opening Night film is 'Polaris' from Canada and Directed and Written by Kirsten Carthew and tells the story, set in 2144, against the harsh backdrop of a post-apocalyptic subarctic wasteland, of a young girl, raised by a Polar Bear, narrowly escapes capture from a brutal band of warrior women and sets out across the vast winter landscape in search of the only guiding light the girl knows, the Polaris star.

The Closing Night film is 'Next Sohee' from South Korea and is Directed and Written by Jung Ju-ri and is about Sohee, a high school student who starts training for a subcontracted position at a Call Centre. She is unable to bear the stressful work culture, when a mysterious incident leads to her death. A Detective starts an investigation into her death.

The main competition for feature films is the Cheval Noir Competition, and this year there are fourteen films in contention. Briefly, these are :-

* 'The Artiface Girl' from the USA and Directed by Franklin Ritch. World Premier.
* 'Convenience Story' from Japan and Directed by Satoshi Miki. World Premier.

* 'Coupez! (Final Cut)' from France and Directed by Michel Hazanavicius. North American Premier.
* 'Detective vs Sleuths' from Hong Kong and Directed by Wai Ka-Fai. North American Premier.
* 'The Elderly' from Spain and Directed by Raul Cerezo and Fernando Gonzalez Gomez. World Premier.
* 'The Fish Tale' from Japan and Directed by Shuichi Okita. World Premier.
* 'The Harbinger' from the USA and Directed by Andy Mitton. World Premier.

* 'House of Darkness' from the USA and Directed by Neil LaBute. International Premier.

* 'Megalomaniac' from Belgium and Directed by Karim Ouelhaj. World Premier.
* 'My Broken Mariko' from Japan and Directed by Yuki Tanada. World Premier.
* 'Next Sohee' from South Korea and Directed by Jung Ju-ri. North American Premier.
* 'Polaris' from Canada and Directed by Kirsten Carthew. World Premier.

* 'Popran' from Japan and Directed by Shinichiro Ueda. North American Premier.
* 'Special Delivery' from South Korea and Directed by Park Dae-min. North American Premier.

For more detail on the above mentioned films in The Cheval Noir competition, plus the other competitions running - The New Flesh Competition for Best First Feature and The International Short Film Competition, plus a whole lot more besides, you can visit the official website at : https://fantasiafestival.com

This week there are five new release movies to tempt you out to your local Odeon on a fresh mid-Winter's evening, kicking off with an action thriller that sees the CIA's top asset, his identity known to no one, who uncovers agency secrets, triggers a global hunt by assassins set loose by his ex-colleague. This is followed up by an amateur golfer who achieves his late-in-life goal of participating in the British Open Golf Championship in 1976, much to the ire of the staid golfing community. Next up we have a brilliant young fund manager who leaves her unfulfilling job and long-term boyfriend to chase her lifelong dream of becoming an opera singer. Then we turn to a romantic drama offering that following a fatal accident, this young woman is given the chance to save the love of her life when she discovers that their mixtape can take her back in time. And closing out the week we have a doco that offers the viewer the 'definitive' exploration of the Canadian singer and songwriting legend as seen through the prism of his most famous song.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new films 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 coming week.

* 'THE GRAY MAN' (Rated MA15+) - is an American action thriller film Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo who have previously helmed four MCU films, being 'Captain America : The Winter Soldier' in 2014, 'Captain America : Civil War' in 2016, 'Avengers : Infinity War' in 2018 and 'Avengers : Endgame' in 2019, amongst other feature films and TV series. Based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Mark Greaney, the film goes on limited release from this week before being released on Netflix from 22nd July. Costing US$200M to produce it is the most expensive film ever made by Netflix, and it hopes to start a series of films based on the 'Gray Man' novels.

The Gray Man is CIA black ops agent Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling), aka, Sierra Six. Plucked from a federal penitentiary and recruited by his handler, Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton), Gentry was once a highly-skilled, Agency-sanctioned mercenary. But now the tables have turned and Gentry is the target, hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a former cohort at the CIA, who will stop at nothing to take him out. Agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas) has his back, and it looks as though he’ll need it! Also starring Jessica Henwick, Rege-Jean Page, Dhanush, Alfre Woodard, Callan Mulvey, Scott Haze and Michael Gandolfini.

* 'THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN' (Rated M) - is a British biographical comedy drama film Directed by Craig Roberts in his third film making effort following 'Just Jim' in 2015 and 'Eternal Beauty' in 2019, although he also has forty-one screen acting credits to his name also in both major feature films and TV series. This film is based on the 2010 biography 'The Phantom of the Open: Maurice Flitcroft, The World's Worst Golfer' by Simon Farnaby and Scott Murray. The film tells the heartwarming true story of Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance), a dreamer and unrelenting optimist. This humble crane operator from Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria, England who managed to gain entry to The British Open Golf Championship qualifying in 1976, despite never playing a round of golf before. He shot the worst round in Open history and drew the ire of the golfing elite, but became a folk hero in the process and, more importantly, showed his family the importance of pursuing your dreams. Also starring Sally Hawkins and Rhys Ifans the film saw its World Premier screening at the BFI London Film Festival back in mid-October last year, has so far grossed US$3.1M and has garnered generally favourable Reviews.

* 'FALLING FOR FIGARO' (Rated M) - this romantic comedy film id Directed and Co-Written by Ben Lewin who has twenty Directorial credits to his name including his debut feature film in 1988 'Georgia', and then the likes of 'The Sessions' in 2012 and 'The Catcher Was a Spy' in 2018. Here then, Millie Cantwell (Danielle Macdonald), an American fund manager, realises one day that her life-long dream is to become an opera singer. Quitting the job and moving away from her boyfriend, she travels to Scotland where she eventually becomes an opera singer following intensive vocal training from former opera diva Meghan Geoffrey-Bishop (Joanna Lumley) and fierce competition from other opera singers. The film was screened at the TIFF in mid-September 2020 but was not released in the US and the UK until October 2021 and only this week in Australia, having generated mixed or average Reviews and grossing just US$170K so far. 

* 'PRESS PLAY' (Rated PG) - this American romantic drama film is Co-Written for the screen and Directed by Greg Bjorkman in his feature film making debut. A young woman, Laura (Clara Rugaard) has a chance to save the love of her life, Harrison (Lewis Pullman) when she discovers that the mix-tape they made together can transport her back in time. Also starring Danny Glover, Matt Walsh, Christina Chang and Lyrica Okano, the film was released Stateside towards the end of June and has received mixed Reviews. 

* 'HALLELUJAH : LEONARD COHEN, A JOURNEY, A SONG' (Rated M) - this music documentary film is Co-Written, Produced, Directed, and Co-Edited by the long time documentary film making pairing of Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine. Here, they take us on a journey of Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn, 'Hallelujah'. This American documentary combines three creative strands, namely, the songwriter and his times, the song's dramatic journey from record label reject to chart-topping hit, and moving testimonies from major recording artists for whom Hallelujah has become a personal touchstone. Approved for production by Leonard Cohen just before his 80th birthday in 2015, the film shows us never-before-seen archival materials from the Cohen Trust including his own personal notebooks, journals and photographs, performance footage and extremely rare audio recordings and interviews. 'Hallelujah' has been performed by almost two hundred artists the world over in various languages. The song is the subject of the book 'The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & the Unlikely Ascent of 'Hallelujah' by Alan Light and published in 2012. Cohen died in late 2016 aged 82.

With five new release movie offerings 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 at your local Odeon in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-