What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 20th October 2022.

The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) this year is held from Wednesday 19th October through until Sunday 30th October. The AFF is an international film festival usually held for two weeks in mid-October in cinemas in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally presented biennially in March from 2003, since 2013 AFF has been held in October, and from this year forward the festival will be staged annually. It has a strong focus on local South Australian and Australian produced content, with the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund (AFFIF) established to fund investment in Australian films. Established in 2003, it was listed in Variety's '50 Unmissable Film Festivals around the world' in 2007.

The Opening Night Gala film presentation is the documentary about the Adelaide rock band of the '70's 'The Angels : Kickin' Down The Door', that is Written and Directed by Madeleine Parry. The Closing Night film is the psychological horror thriller 'Talk to Me' Directed by Danny and Michael Philippou, and centres around a troubled teenager, Mia, and her group of friends who discover how to conjure spirits using a ceramic embalmed hand. They become hooked on the new thrill, until Mia is confronted by a soul claiming to be her dead mother.

The Feature Fiction Competition this year consists of six films, comprising the following entries :-

* 'Metronome' - from Romania and France and Written and Directed by Alexander Belc. Romania, autumn 1972. Ana, a 17 year-old, finds out that her boyfriend will flee the country for good in a few days. The two young lovers decide to spend their last days together.

* 'Huesera' - from Mexico and Peru and Co-Written and Directed by Michelle Garza Cervera. Valeria has long dreamed about becoming a mother. After learning that she's pregnant, she expects to feel happy, yet something's off.

* 'Autobiography' - from Australia and Indonesia and Written and Directed by Makbul Mubarak. A young man is employed as a housekeeper in an empty mansion. When its owner returns to start his mayoral election campaign, the young man bonds with him and defends him when his campaign is vandalised, setting off a chain of violence.
* 'Klondike' - from Ukraine and Turkey and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Maryna Er Gorbach. The story of a Ukrainian family living on the border of Russia and Ukraine during the start of the war. Irka refuses to leave her house even as the village gets captured by armed forces. Shortly after they find themselves at the centre of an international air crash catastrophe on 17th July 2014.
* 'War Pony' - from the USA and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Riley Keough and Gina Gammell. The interlocking stories of two young Oglala Lakota men growing up on their Pine Ridge Reservation home, and how the pair must wrestle with grief, violence and identity to forge their unique paths to adulthood.
* 'Whina' - from New Zealand and Co-Written and Directed by James Napier Robertson and Paula Whetu Jones. The sweeping biopic of iconic Maori elder and activist, Whina Cooper.

The Documentary Competition, feature six films, consisting of :-

* 'Hidden Letters' - from China, the USA and Norway and Directed by Violet Du Feng and Zhao Qing. For centuries in Jiangyong County in China’s Hunan Province, women had their feet bound and were expected to follow the Confucian Three Obediences of strictly following orders from their fathers, husbands and sons. In response they developed a written script, Nushu, that men couldn’t understand, to share their intimate thoughts and write poetry and songs. 

* 'The Hamlet Syndrome' - from Poland and Germany and Directed by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski. In the months leading up to the full-scale Russian invasion, five young Ukrainians prepare to stage a theatre production combining the core themes of Hamlet with their combat experiences in the ongoing war between the two countries since the revolution of 2014.

* 'The Plains' - from Australia and Written, Produced, Directed and Edited by David Easteal. Every evening a man in his late fifties commutes home in his car at the end of the working day in the outer suburbs of Melbourne.

* 'Fledglings' - from Poland and Directed and Co-Edited by Lidia Duda. Zosia, Oskar, and Kinga are seven-year-olds who are moving away from their parents for the first time to attend boarding school for the blind and vision-impaired. Zosia is relentlessly talkative, Oskar works out his insecurities on the piano, and Kinga is a solid, supportive presence.

* 'Sanson and Me' - from Mexico and the USA and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Rodrigo Reyes. This film follows a young immigrant's path from coastal Mexico to a life sentence for murder in California.

* 'Dos Estaciones' - from Mexico and France and Directed and Co-Edited by Juan Pablo Gonzalez. In the bucolic hills of Mexico's Jalisco highlands, iron-willed businesswoman Maria Garcia fights the impending collapse of her tequila factory.

For the full programme of films featured, the awards and more good stuff going down at this years Adelaide Film Festival, you can visit the official website at : https://adelaidefilmfestival.org/aff22/

This week there are four new movies coming to a big screen Odeon near you, launching with the eleventh offering in the DCEU that tells the origin story of Teth-Adam, a man born into slavery who acquires super powers and how he wants to use his newfound might some five thousand years later to wipe out criminals from the face of the earth having developed a distorted version of justice, after his traumatic experience as an enslaved person in Ancient Egypt. Next up is a horror thriller about a young woman staying at an Airbnb who discovers that the house she has rented is not what it seems. This is followed by a story of a detective investigating a man's death in the mountains ends up meeting and developing feelings for the dead man's mysterious wife in the course of his dogged sleuthing. And we close out the week with an Aussie drama about an alienated teenager who learns to find meaning and purpose through the pain of love and loss.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four 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.

'BLACK ADAM' (Rated M) - is an American Superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, is a spin-off from the 2019 film 'Shazam!' and is the eleventh film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). It is Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra whose prior film making credits include his debut in 2005 with 'House of Wax', then four films with Liam Neeson - those being 'Unknown' in 2011, 'Non-Stop' in 2014, 'Run All Night' in 2015 and 'The Commuter' in 2018, with 'The Shallows' in 2016 and 'Jungle Cruise' most recently in 2021. This film saw its World Premiere in Mexico City on 3rd October and is scheduled to be released here in Australia, the US and a number of other territories from this week, having cost in the region of US$185M to produce.

In the ancient city of Kahndaq, Teth Adam was bestowed the almighty powers of the gods. After using those powers for vengeance, he was imprisoned, becoming Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson). Nearly 5,000 years have passed, and Black Adam has gone from man to myth to legend. Now free, his unique form of justice, born out of rage, is challenged by modern-day heroes who form the Justice Society of America : Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Dr. Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo)and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), who try to stop his rampage, teach him how to be a hero more than a villain, and must team up to stop a force more powerful than Adam himself. Also starring Viola Davis as Amanda Waller from previous DCEU entries. 

'BARBARIAN' (Rated MA15+) - this American horror film is Written, Directed and stars Zach Cregger in only his third feature film making outing following 'Miss March' in 2009 and 'The Civil War on Drugs' in 2011. The film saw its World Premier at the San Diego Comic Con toward the end of July this year and went on general release in the US in early September, having so far grossed US$41M from a US$4M budget outlay and garnering generally positive critical reviews. Traveling to Detroit for a job interview, Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) books a rental home. But when she arrives late at night, she discovers that the house is double booked to a Keith Toshko (Bill Skarsgard) who is already staying there. Against her better judgement, she decides to spend the evening, but soon discovers a dark secret within the home and that there's a lot more to fear than just an unexpected house guest. Also starring Justin Long and Kate Bosworth. 

'DECISION TO LEAVE' (Rated M) - is a South Korean romantic mystery film Co-Written, Produced and Directed by Park Chan-wook whose previous film making credits include 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance', 'Oldboy', 'Lady Vengeance', 'Stoker', and 'The Handmaiden' most recently in 2016. A detective investigating a man's death in the mountains ends up meeting and developing feelings for the dead man's mysterious wife in the course of his exhaustive investigations. The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival in May of this year where Park Chan-wook won Best Director. It was released in its native South Korea at the end of May, has so far grossed US$17M and has garnered widespread universal critical acclaim, as well as picking up nine other award wins and eight other nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit. 

'EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN' (Rated M) - this Australian drama offering is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Nadi Sha in his feature film debut. As eighteen year old Jay Knight (Jordan Dulieu) stands on a cliff top contemplating putting an end to the meaningless miasma of his existence, twenty-eight year old Liz Myers (Freyja Benjamin) lands in town on the latest leg of her endless adventures backpacking around the world. After a sliding doors moment brings this unlikely pair together, they form a deep and immediate bond - much to the chagrin of Jay’s privileged but jaded socialite parents Meredith and David Knight (Gigi Edgley and Martin Crewes respectively). Unfortunately, Liz’s laissez faire lifestyle is brought to an abrupt halt by a life-threatening mystery illness and, as Jay becomes more and more entwined in her plight, all four are forced to come to terms with their world views.

With four 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 week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-