What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 25th May 2023.

The 63rd Krakow Film Festival kicks off this Sunday 28th May and runs through until Sunday 4th 
June in Krakow, the second largest city in Poland. The Krakow Film Festival is one of the oldest events in the world dedicated to documentary, animated and short feature films. At its core it consists of three competitions of equal rank - documentary film competition, short film competition and national competition. During the eight festival days, the viewers have a chance to watch about 200 films from Poland and around the world. They are shown in competition sections and in special screenings. The festival is accompanied by exhibitions, concerts, open-air shows and meetings with artists. Every year, the festival is visited by approximately 900 Polish and international guests, including Directors, Producers, festival programmers and many dignitaries making up the audience. The importance of the Krakow Film Festival is asserted by the fact that it belongs to a prestigious group of festivals accredited by, among others, International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), European Film Academy (EFA) and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) - so reads the official website.

This year’s programme features over 190 films from around the world, including one hundred World and Polish Premieres.

The International Documentary Competition consists of fifteen films which will be competing for the Golden Horn and Silver Horns which opens the way to the European Film Awards and Oscars. They focus on anxieties of the contemporary world and revisit landmark historical events, family secrets and deeply hidden, systemic omissions. They show people without prospects and heroes of our times, inhabitants of metropolises and remote villages, little joys and the toil of creation, a life to be lived and a life as a monument. Using archival photographs and material, the filmmakers turned fascinating fiction into a documentary form. The selection features comics and crime fiction, family drama, social cinema and the terrifying shadow of the war in Ukraine.

In brief, those titles are as follows :-

* 'Dreaming Arizona' - from Denmark, Estonia and Norway and Directed and Written by Jon Bang Carlsen. 

* 'Is There Anybody Out There?' - from the UK and Directed by Ella Glendining.

* 'Lazaro and the Shark : Cuba under the Surface' - from Cuba and the USA and Directed and Written by William Sabourin O'Reilly.

* 'Motherland' - from Sweden, Ukraine and Norway and Directed and Written by Alexander Mihalkovich (who also Co-Produces) and Hanna Badziaka (who also Co-Edits).

* 'Much Ado about Dying' - from Ireland and the UK and Directed, Written, Co-Produced and photographed by Simon Chambers.

* 'My Name Is Happy' - from the UK and Turkey and Directed by Nick Read (who also Co-Produces) and Ayse Toprak.

* 'Radical Move' - from Poland and Directed and Written by Aniela Gabryel.

* 'Signs of War' - from Ukraine and Austria and Directed by Juri Rechinsky (who also wrote the script, Edited and Co-Produces) and Pierre Crom (who also Co-Produces).

* 'Silent House' - from Iran, Qatar, Canada and the Philippines and Directed, Co-Written and Co-Produced by Farnaz Jurabchian and Mohammadreza Jurabchian.

* 'Songs of Earth' - from Norway and Directed and Produced by Margreth Olin.

* 'The Dmitriev Affair' - from the Netherlands and Directed, Written and co-photographed by Jessica Gorter.

* 'The Hostage Takers' - from Denmark and Directed by Puk Damsgaard and Soren Klovborg (who also Produces).

* 'The Land You Belong' - from Italy and Romania and Directed and Co-Written by Elena Rebeca Carini.

* 'Unpaved' - from Poland and Directed, Written and photographed by Mikael Lypinski.

* 'Who I Am Not' - from Romania and Canada and Directed by Tunde Skovran.

For the full synopsis of the above mentioned documentary films, plus the full details of the thirty-seven films in International Short Film Competition, the forty-one films in the National Competition and the ten films in the International DocFilmMusic Competition, together with the other ninety-six films in the ever-popular screenings sections of non-competing films dedicated to various themes, you can go to the official website at : https://www.krakowfilmfestival.pl/en/

Turning the attention then back to this weeks five new release movies coming to a big screen Odeon near you, we kick off with a comedy horror offering that sees Dracula's henchman and inmate at the lunatic asylum for decades, longing for a life away from the Count, his various demands, and all of the bloodshed that comes with them. Next up we have a live action remake of an animated Disney classic that has a young mermaid making a deal with a sea witch to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress a prince. Then we turn to a French film that follows a novelist who attends the trial of Senegalese woman at Criminal Court to use her story to write a modern-day adaptation of the ancient myth of Medea, but things don't go as expected. This is followed by a RomCom about a couple in a relationship, who decide to invite their parents to finally meet about marriage, but as it turns out the parents already know one another well, which leads to some differing opinions about marriage; and closing out the week we have an action comedy that has the past coming back to haunt this pervious party animal when a murderous mobster tries to kidnap him to atone for his crimes of twenty years ago when he was a drunken student in Russia. 

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.

'RENFIELD' (Rated MA15+) - this American comedy horror film is Co-Produced and Directed by Chris McKay whose previous feature film making outings are his debut with 'The Lego Batman Movie' 2017 and 'The Tomorrow War' in 2021. This film is based on a story by Robert Kirkman of the hugely popular 'The Walking Dead' and 'Fear the Walking Dead' TV series among others, and he also serves as Co-Producer on this film, which is also inspired by characters from the 1897 novel 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker. The film had its World Premiere showcasing at the Overlook Film Festival at the end of March this year and was released in the US in mid-April, having generated mixed reviews from critics and so far grossing US$25M off the back of a US$65M production budget. 

Set in the present day, Count Dracula's loyal servant R. M. Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) is the tortured aide to history's most narcissistic boss, Dracula (Nicolas Cage). Renfield is forced to procure his master's prey and do his every bidding, no matter how debased. But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there's a life outside the shadow of The Prince of Darkness. If only he can figure out how to end his codependency. Also starring Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz and Adrian Martinez. 

'THE LITTLE MERMAID' (Rated M) - is an American musical fantasy film Co-Produced and Directed by Rob Marshall whose prior feature film making credits take in his debut with the multi-award winning 'Chicago' in 2002, then 'Memoirs of a Geisha' in 2005, 'Nine' in 2009, 'Pirates of the Caribbean : On Stranger Tides' in 2011, 'Into the Woods' in 2014 and 'Mary Poppins Returns' in 2018. This film is Co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures and is a live-action adaptation of Disney's 1989 animated film of the same name, itself loosely based on the 1837 fairy tale of the same title by Hans Christian Andersen. Ariel (Halle Bailey), the youngest daughter of the kingdom Atlantica's ruler King Triton (Javier Bardem), is fascinated with the human world but mermaids are strictly forbidden to explore it. After saving Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) from a shipwreck and falling in love with him, she becomes determined to be with him in the world above water. These actions lead to a confrontation with her father and an encounter with the conniving sea witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy), making a deal with her to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress Eric. However, this ultimately places her life (and her father’s crown) in jeopardy. Also starring Daveed Diggs, Jacob Tremblay, Awkwafina and Art Malik, the film saw its World Premier in LA in early May and is released Stateside this week too.

'SAINT OMER' (Rated M) - this French legal drama film is is Co-Written and Directed by Alice Diop in her feature film making debut after helming a series of documentary films since 2005. Rama (Kayije Kagame), a literature professor and novelist, travels from Paris to Saint-Omer in northern France to observe the trial of Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda) and write about the case. Coly is a student and Senegalese immigrant accused of leaving her fifteen-month-old daughter on a beach to be swept away by the tide in Berck. Rama, who is four-months pregnant herself and, like Coly, is in a mixed-race relationship and also has a complex relationship with her own Senegalese immigrant mother, feels a personal connection to Coly. She plans to write a modern day retelling of the Greek Medea myth about the case. The film is based on the French court case of Fabienne Kabou, who was convicted of the same crime, and which Diop attended her trial in 2016 and became 'obsessed' by it. The film has collected eighteen award wins and a further forty-two nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit, following its World Premier screening in-competition at the Venice International Film Festival in early September last year where it won the Silver Lion Grand Jury prize along with the Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future award. It was released in its native France towards the end of November, has so far grossed just US$823K at the Box Office but has received universal critical acclaim. 

'MAYBE I DO' (Rated M) - is an American RomCom Written and Directed by Michael Jacobs in his feature film making debut, and is based on his own 1977 play 'Cheaters'. Here, Michelle (Emma Roberts) and Allen (Luke Bracey) have reached the point in their relationship to take the next steps toward marriage. Thinking it is a good idea to invite their parents to finally meet, they set a dinner and make it a family affair. To everyone's surprise, the affair takes on a whole new meaning as the parents already know each other all too well -- they've been cheating on their spouses for months... with each other. Trapped in this precarious predicament, they try to hide their dalliances from the kids while confronting their spouses' lovers head-on. Starring Diane Keaton and Richard Gere as Michelle's parents and Susan Sarandon and William H. Macy as Allen's parents. The film was released in the US at the end of January and has so far grossed US$4.3M and has garnered mixed or average Reviews. 

'THE MACHINE' (Rated MA15+) - this American action comedy film is Co-Produced and Directed by Peter Atencio whose first feature film credit was 2010's 'The Rig' followed by 'Keanu' in 2016 and now this offering although he has notched up thirty Directorial credits mostly on TV series and short films. This film is inspired by the 2016 stand-up routine of the same name created by American stand-up comedian, podcaster, reality television host and actor Bert Kreischer, who also stars as a fictionalised version of himself. Here then Bert Kreischer and his estranged father Albert Kreischer (Mark Hamill) are kidnapped by those Bert wronged some twenty years ago while drunk on a college semester abroad in Russia. Together, Bert and his father must retrace the steps of his younger self (Jimmy Tatro) in the midst of a war within a sociopathic crime family, all while attempting to find common ground in their often fraught relationship. The film is released Stateside this week too. 

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 week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-