What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 25th January 2024.

The 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) this year takes place between Thursday 25th January and Sunday 4th February in the second largest city in the Netherlands. The festival offers a high quality line-up of carefully selected fiction and documentary feature films, short films and media art. The focus is on recent work by talented new filmmakers, as well as retrospectives and themed programmes. IFFR is a leading cultural platform accessible to all, that champions compelling cinema and audiovisual art. Through screenings, talks, exhibitions, and various networking opportunities, IFFR enables discovery, dialogue, learning and people coming together. In 2023, IFFR recorded over 283,000 visits and in excess of 2,500 attending film professionals, making IFFR one of the largest audience and industry-driven film festivals in the world. The festival's official selection generally includes more than four hundred feature, mid-length, and short films from over ninety countries and also offers a high-quality line-up of exhibitions, performances, masterclasses and talks.

IFFR’s trade mark Tiger Competition celebrates the innovative and adventurous spirit of up-and-coming filmmakers from all over the world. The competition was founded in 1995 with the aim of discovering, raising the profile of and rewarding up-and-coming international film talent. The Tiger Award is accompanied by a €40K cash prize, to be shared between the Director and Producer of the winning film. Two Special Jury Awards worth €10K will also be presented for exceptional artistic achievement within the competition.

Those films in contention for the Tiger Award are as given below :-

* 'The Ballad of Suzanne Cesaire' - from the USA and Co-Written and Directed by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich. World Premiere.

* 'Flathaed' - from Australia and Written and Directed by Jaydon Martin. World Premiere.

* 'Grey Bees' - from Ukraine and Directed by Dmytro Moiseiev. World Premiere.

* 'Kiss Wagon' - from India and Written, Directed, Edited, Sound Designed and Co-Scored by Midhum Murali. World Premiere.

* 'Me, Maryam, the Children and 26 Others' - from Iran, Germany and the Czech Republic and Written, Co-Produced, Directed and starring Farshad Hashemi. World Premiere.

* 'Moses' - from Finland and Written, Produced, Sound and Production Designed, Directed and starring Jenni Luhta and Lauri Luhta, with Jenni Luhta also Editing and photographing this film. World Premiere.

* 'La Parra' - from Spain and Written, Directed and Co-Edited by Alberto Gracia. World Premiere.

* 'Praia Formosa' - from Brazil and Portugal and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Julia De Simone. World Premiere.

* 'Rei' - from Japan and Written, Produced, Directed, Edited and starring Tanaka Toshihiko. World Premiere.

* 'Reise der Schatten' - from Switzerland and Written and Directed by Yves Netzhammer. World Premiere.

* 'She Fell to Earth' - from Hong Kong and Directed and Edited by Susie Au. World Premiere.

* 'sr' - from Germany and Written, Directed, photographed and Edited by Lea Hartlaub. World Premiere.

* 'Swimming Home' - from the UK and Written and Directed by Justin Anderson. World Premiere.

* 'Under a Blue Sun' - from France and Israel and Written and Directed by Daniel Mann. World Premiere.

For a synopsis of the aforementioned films, plus details of the other films in competition and a whole lot more good stuff besides, you can go to the official website at : https://iffr.com/en

This week with three new movies coming to a big screen Odeon near you, we kick off with a highly acclaimed French court room drama as a woman is suspected of her husband's murder, and their blind son faces a moral dilemma as the sole witness. This is followed by a remake of a 1985 film that charts the decades long hardships a woman faces in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood; before closing out the week with an American sports comedy about a former NFL superstar who agrees to coach a youth football team to avoid serving time in prison.

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

'ANATOMY OF A FALL' (Rated MA15+) - this French court room drama film is Co-Written and Directed by Justine Triet whose prior feature film credits take in her debut in 2013 with 'Age of Panic' which she followed up with 'In Bed with Victoria' in 2016, and 'Sibyl' in 2019. This film saw its World Premiere showcasing at the Cannes Film Festival towards the end of May last year where it won the Palme d'Or and the Palm Dog Award and also competed for the Queer Palm. It continued to win awards, including the National Board of Review Award for Best International Film and two Golden Globes Awards, for Best Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film among its total haul of fifty-six award wins and a further 125 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit. So far the film has generated US$22M at the Box Office from a production budget of US$6.8M and has garnered widespread critical acclaim.

For the past twelve months or so Sandra Voyter (Sandra Huller), her husband Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis), and their eleven-year-old son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) have lived a secluded life in a remote town in the French Alps. When Samuel is found dead in the snow below their chalet, the Police question whether he was murdered or committed suicide. Samuel's suspicious death is presumed murder, and Sandra becomes the chief suspect. What follows is not just an investigation into the circumstances of Samuel's death but an unsettling psychological journey into the depths of Sandra and Samuel's conflicted relationship. Also starring Swann Arlaud as Vincent Renzi, the lawyer for the defence and Antoine Reinartz as the lawyer for the prosecution. 

'THE COLOR PURPLE' (Rated M) - is an American coming-of-age musical period drama film Directed by Blitz Bazawule, whose prior feature film credits take in his debut in 2018 with 'The Burial of Kojo' and 'Black is King' in 2020 which he Co-Directed with Beyonce and  various others. The screenplay for this film is based on the stage musical of the same name, which in turn is based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker, and is the second film adaptation of the novel, following the 1985 film Directed by Steven Spielberg and Produced by Spielberg and Quincy Jones. Spielberg and Jones return as Producers for this film. Torn apart from her sister and her children, Celie (Fantasia Barrino) faces many hardships in life, including from an abusive husband Albert 'Mister' Johnson (Colman Domingo). With support from a sultry singer named Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson), as well as her stand-her-ground stepdaughter, Celie ultimately finds extraordinary strength in the unbreakable bonds of a new kind of sisterhood. Also starring Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Louis Gossett Jnr., and Danielle Brooks. The film cost US$95M to produce, has so far grossed US$59M and has generated largely favourable reviews. 

'THE UNDERDOGGS' (Rated MA15+) - this American sports comedy film is Directed by Charles Stone III whose previous feature film making credits include his 2002 debut with 'Drumline' and then 'Paid in Full' also in 2002, 'Lila & Eve' in 2015, and 'Uncle Drew' and 'Step Sisters' both in 2018. This film then, sees Jaycen (2Js) Jennings (Snoop Dogg) as a washed-up ex-professional NFL star who has hit rock bottom. When Jaycen is sentenced to community service coaching an unruly pee-wee football team, he sees it as an opportunity to turn his life around. The film also stars Mike Epps, and cost US$30M to produce.

With three 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-