WASP NETWORK : Sunday 21st June 2020.

In these very trying and testing times for us all that has seen many cinema's, Odeon's, and movie theatres around the world close their doors for the foreseeable future because of the escalating threat of the COVID-19 Coronavirus taking an ever increasing hold on the world at large, many film and television productions halted in their tracks indefinitely, and new film releases pushed back to some future date when some sense of movie going normalcy is expected to resume, I have, needless to say, had to adapt to this new world order. And so with my usual Reviews of the latest cinematic releases being curtailed, instead I will post my Review of the latest release movies showing on Netflix until such time as the regular outing to my local multiplex or independent theatre can be reinstated.

In the last few weeks then, a number of new feature films have landed at Netflix - of which I review as below 'Wasp Network' which went live on the streaming service on 19th June and which I saw from the comfort of my own sofa on Sunday 21st June.

'WASP NETWORK' is Directed and written for the screen by Olivier Assayas, the French film maker whose previous credits include 2016's 'Personal Shopper' for which he collected the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival, 2014's 'Clouds of Sils Maria' and 2010's 'Carlos' amongst others. Based on the 2011 book 'The Last Soldiers of the Cold War' written by Fernando Morais this is the  true story of the 'Cuban Five'. The film saw its World Premier screening at the Venice Film Festival in early September last year and thereafter at TIFF, the San Sebastien International Film Festival, the  New York Film Festival, and the BFI London Film Festival before its release in France in late January this year. Picked up by Netflix in January for distribution on its streaming service, the film has garnered mixed or average Reviews so far.

It is 1990, Havana, Cuba and we meet Rene Gonzalez (Edgar Ramirez), his wife Olga (Penelope Cruz) and their six year old daughter Irma (Carolina Peraza Matamoros). Rene works as a pilot of light aircraft taking parachute jumpers up to circa 13,000 feet and seeing them skydive back down to the ground. It's a living, but he longs for more. After his shift, he goes home to his loving family, and the next day wakes up to complete the same routine all over again. Saying farewell to Olga and Irma in the morning, he drives out to the airport, walks up to the air traffic control tower, sabotages the two way radios, and steals a plane and flies to Miami, Florida to begin a whole new life, leaving his family behind. Quizzed by authorities and the press as to the reason why he has defected, he gives a rational explanation of how he's had it with the authoritarian Castro regime and how Castro's days are numbered with the crippled Soviet Union funding drying up. He goes on to say that he was born in the US and therefore has citizenship, and soon is taken in by a group of Cuban exiles and opponents of the Castro regime and given three months of free accommodation and hooked up with some influential people who offer him a job as a pilot.

Flying for the 'Brothers to the Rescue' run out of Florida and headed up by Jose Basulto (Leonardo Sbaraglia) they operate against the Cuban regime by seeking to destabilise Cuba's tourist industry and operate through covert military means. They frequently breach Cuban airspace which they are warned against every time but are prepared to take the risk of military intervention, which never amounts to anything more than 'sabre rattling'. The 'Cuban American National Foundation' (CANF) also established in Florida and headed up by Jorge Mas Canosa (Omar Ali), together with Brothers to the Rescue drop propaganda leaflets over Havana, lead illegal boat immigrants from Cuba to Florida undetected by the US Coast Guard, drop off supplies to them en route, and also smuggle drugs and weapons in and out of the US. They also engaged in various terrorist activities co-ordinated by Luis Posada Carriles (Tony Plana).

Juan Pablo Roque (Wagner Moura), another Cuban pilot, also defects by swimming to Guantanamo Bay and seeks political asylum at the US Naval Base there. He is granted asylum and arrives in Miami, where shortly afterwards he is introduced to recently divorced Ana Martinez (Ana de Armas). He is also offered a job as a pilot flying for Brothers to the Rescue and CANF, and engaged in various nefarious deeds which pays him very well, as well as being a paid FBI Informer at US$1500 a week, but which he refuses to tell Ana the source of his money, and adds further that he doesn't tell her everything about him. She also asks why is he carrying around a cell phone (remembering that in the early '90's cellphones were only just emerging on the market), and he makes up some excuse to shield her from the truth. Despite such altercations and differences of opinion, they seemingly hit it off and soon enough are married in a very lavish wedding.

About half way through the film we first hear mention of the Wasp Network - a secret Cuban governmental organisation tasked with the highly confidential mission of infiltrating the Miami based paramilitary groups dedicated to reversing the damage inflicted by Fidel Castro's rule over Cuba. The Wasp Network is directed by Gerardo Hernandez aka Manuel Viramontez (Gael Garcia Bernal). As agents working for both sides, the members of the Wasp Network, the Cuban Five (Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez of which the latter three go unmentioned in this film) who had left Cuba and arrived in South Florida to great shakes as they voiced their opinions against the actions of the Cuban government, but back home, those families and friends of the five were placed in at times compromising and awkward positions and made outcasts because of their connection to the apparent traitors.

While the Wasp Network worked undercover, the American government continued its own investigation into the Cuban presence stateside. In February 1996, three Brothers to the Rescue Cessna light aircraft take off from Miami. Flying over Cuban airspace as they had done countless times in recent years, they receive a warning from the Cuban military that they are at risk. Choosing to ignore these warnings, this time two Cuban Air Force MiG fighter jets take down two of the aircraft carrying  a total four personnel. The third aircraft flown by Basulto escaped. The day before the shootdown Roque turns his back on his marriage to Ana and returns to Cuba stating publicly that he was a mole who worked to infiltrate anti-Castro organisations. When asked in a live TV interview what he misses most about his life in Miami he says his Jeep Cherokee, while Ana is watching him on screen from Florida - gobsmacked!

After a few years of cutting through lots of red tape and jumping through governmental hoops, Olga and Irma are finally permitted to leave Cuba and join Rene in Miami. Before doing so Viramontez meets with Olga and advises her that her husband is in fact no traitor, but more a hero. He confides in her that Rene is in fact a Cuban intelligence agent who successfully infiltrated CANF, and for the sake of herself, her husband and daughter, her family, friends, himself, the Cuban establishment and the Wasp Network she must maintain this secret to herself and not discuss it with anyone, under any circumstances. She agrees and leaves the office, and the next day is on a plane with Irma (now played by Osdeymi Pastrana Miranda) bound for Florida.

With the three reunited in Miami, it's not long before Olga finds steady work and Irma settles into school, and shortly thereafter Olga announces that she is pregnant with their second daughter, whom they intend calling Ivette. Meanwhile, in El Salvador, Raul Cruz Leon (Nolan Guerra Fernandez) in mid-1997 is recruited by anti-Castroists to place C4 bombs in four Havana hotels - The Copacabana, the Hotel Capri, the Hotel Nacional de Cuba and the Melia Cohiba Hotel with the aim of destabilising the recently resurgent Cuban tourist industry. Whilst the four bombs all successfully detonated in September 1997 there was only one fatality - that of an Italian tourist at the Copacabana and eleven other injuries. The very same day Leon is apprehended by the Cuban Police while exiting another hotel where he was due to collect his money for a job well done - money that he never saw! Thereafter the Wasp Network abandons Leon to his own fate. Carriles admitted to organising the bombings but was never prosecuted.

Finally, some months later by which time Olga has given birth to baby Ivette, the FBI closes in on the Wasp Network and arrests the whole network of agents including Rene Gonzalez and Manuel Viramontez. Combined they face charges of conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, acting as an agent of a foreign government, drug and gun running and a few other US deemed illegal activities. In a TV interview Fidel Castro admits to his knowledge of Cuban intelligence agents operating on US soil.

While serving out his jail term, Rene is visited often by Olga. He is offered a plea deal by the FBI in exchange for information but refuses to inform on his colleagues and his government. He serves twelve years in prison and was released in late 2011. Olga was arrested and served three months in jail, before being reunited with her daughters and deported back to Cuba. Manuel Veramontez was sentenced to a double life sentence but was freed after fifteen years as part of a spy swap. Raul Cruz Leon is still serving a thirty year jail term for planting the four Havana bombs and Carriles died in 2018, aged 90. Juan Pablo Roque never flew again and had financial difficulties, while his estranged wife Ana sued the Cuban government for punitive damages amounting to US$27M, but has only ever received about US$200K.

I found 'Wasp Network' largely underwhelming which is a disappointment given the credibility and what we're used to from Writer and Director Assayas and his assembled all star cast consisting of Cruz, Ramirez, de Armas, Bernal and Moura. This is a muddled film where the whole is not equal to the sum of its parts, as its offers up too many plot contrivances and then leaves you hanging in mid-air without any closure as it ebbs and flows between too many characters, situations and locations to make for a coherent story. On the positive front, the production values are well realised with some stunning aerial photography of the corridor between US and Florida, shots of Havana from the air and the vibe of the early '90's are all captured thoughtfully. The principle cast especially Cruz as the initially abandoned then all forgiving and loyal dutiful wife, and Ramirez as the focused stoic double agent is so much better here than he was in 'The Last Days of American Crime' reviewed here just two weeks ago, give admirable performances, but the others are all undercooked. And despite all the sabre rattling, political intrigue and the ongoing strain of US/Cuban relations, Castro remained in power as President until 2008 and remained in office until 2011, which makes you wonder what was it all for anyway?

'Wasp Network' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

PERSONAL SHOPPER : Tuesday 25th April 2017.

'PERSONAL SHOPPER' which I saw early this week is a psychological thriller Directed and Written by Frenchman Oilvier Assayas whose last film was the acclaimed 'Clouds of Sils Maria' also starring Kristen Stewart as she does in this latest offering. The film Premiered at Cannes last May in competition for the Palme d'Or where is shared the Best Director Award, before its release in France in December and in the US in early March. Interestingly enough the film was booed at its initial Cannes Film Festival screening, but at its official Premier it received a near five minute standing ovation.

Here American Maureen Cartwright (Kristen Stewart) is a personal shopper for wealthy clients and in particular famous fashion model Kyra (Nora von Waldstatten) buying clothes, accessories and taking care of lesser tasks mostly in her home city of Paris, but her shopping trips often take her to London too and other European centres. As the film opens we see Maureen pulling up to a large set of iron gates in a friends car. She gets out, unpadlocks the heavy chains securing those gates and the car drives in. Maureen paces up behind the car to a large house standing in its own grounds on the outskirts of some nameless town. We learn that this is where Maureen's twin brother, Lewis, died just a few months ago and with whom she shared a genetic heart condition. Before he passed away they made a pact that whoever would go first, would then reach out from the other side and make a connection somehow with the surviving sibling that they are at peace. They both believed they had the ability to connect with the spirit world, but his powers were stronger than hers. She is dropped off at the house by good friend and former girlfriend of her brother, Lara (Sigrid Bouaziz). The house is empty, deserted and cleared of most fixtures and fittings. Maureen stays the night hoping for some kind of message, sign, or signal from her dead sibling.

Very little happens overnight although Maureen senses a presence in the household, but is unsure if this is her brother of some other ethereal entity.  The next day we see her at work, shopping for her employer - Kyra, who is very demanding, very head strong and very opinionated to the point that Maureen hates her job and she hates Kyra. The fashion model is hardly ever there however, more often than not attending some international fashion event, or photo shoot or party or social function that demands her presence. This leaves Maureen the free run of Kyra's apartment but under strict guidelines not to wear any article of clothing or use her accessories and not to stay over in her absence . . . never, ever! Meanwhile Maureen rides her scooter around the streets of Paris collecting dresses, jewellery, handbags, belts for Kyra and delivering them to her apartment. And Maureen is good at her job - she has a rapport with all the top fashion houses and boutiques around town, and she coincidentally is the same size as Kyra.

From time to time Maureen SKYPE's with her boyfriend Gary (Ty Olwin) who is some sort of IT Consultant working in Muscat, Oman. He is keen for her to join him as his work still has two months or so to run, Maureen however, cannot move on until she has received a sign from her dead brother, so her life is on hold. She spends another night in the deserted house hopeful of some sort of communication with her brother. This time, success, sort of, as taps turn on all by themselves, first in the downstairs kitchen and then quickly upstairs in the bathroom. Then there are things that go bump in the night, and then an ethereal manifestation appears but it's not that of her brother! This sends the scared shitless Maureen cowering into the corner as the entity floats menacingly above her. She musters up the strength to look up as the ghost like figure vomits up ectoplasm, and then it and the ectoplasm disappear through a stairwell window never to be seen again. Maureen decides its high time to exit the house and does so post haste, not even closing the doors behind her.

A day or so later Maureen has to go to London for the day to collect some more gear for Kyra. Going through the security checks at the train station in Paris she begins receiving text messages from 'Unknown'. Boarding the train and throughout the journey to London, during the day and on the journey back she has near constant text dialogue with 'Unknown' which increasingly becomes more and more sinister. 'Unknown' however, will not reveal his or her identity except that they know each other. Maureen senses the danger but cannot shy away from it.

The secret messenger taunts Maureen into facing her fears and taking advantage of her employers apartment and clothing in her absence. Upon returning from her London shopping trip armed with new clothes and Kyra overseas, Maureen settles into the apartment for the night and tries on a couple of high fashion outfits recently sourced. She falls asleep in Kyra's bed, only to wake with a start in the early morning with a ghost like entity hovering above her bed which disappears as soon as Kyra comes round from her slumber.

The next day the text messages from 'Unknown' continue but this time with a greater sense of urgency and menace. Going back to her own apartment and retrieving her post there is an envelope with 'Maureen' hand written in big bold text. In it is a key card to a hotel room to which she is go, to meet with 'Unknown', but upon arrival the room is empty. She waits and waits and leaves, enquiring at the desk whose name the room is booked under and who paid for the room - Maureen Cartwright and cash, therefore no trace, comes the response from the desk clerk. Later we see Maureen visiting a Cartier boutique to collect a very expensive necklace and arm band which she delivers later that afternoon to Kyra's apartment. Upon entering Kyra is clearly at home evidenced by the upturned vodka bottle on the table and luggage and clothes strewn about the place, but, the place is all quiet. Maureen stumbles across a shocking discovery, that sees her run from the apartment.

More text messages come forth this time of a threatening nature with 'Unknown' seemingly willing to confront her at her apartment, but these prove to be a hoax. At which Maureen promptly switches the SIM card in her phone and discards the old one. She does though make another visit to the hotel room, where 'Unknown' meets with her, although we do not see 'Unknown' and her together and we are left guessing as to the identity of her assailant. When the dust has settled Maureen spends a few nights at the house of her good friend Lara, having made the decision to go to Muscat to spend a few months with her boyfriend. Lara has a new boyfriend with whom she chats in the garden over a breakfast cup of tea. When the boyfriend leaves for work a short time later, we see a bearded figure through the kitchen window behind her, walking towards the back door, carrying a glass. Maureen is not aware of the mysterious figure behind her - only of the glass as it falls to the floor and smashes into a thousand pieces. and the mystery man disappeared, as if into thin air!

Maureen travels to Oman to be with Gary who has had to travel five hours out of the city to the mountains, but leaves specific instructions for her to travel onwards to meet him. Upon arriving at her destination, she hears noises from an adjacent room - large crashing noises. She enters to see a glass floating in mid air. Nervously she speaks out asking yes or no questions - knock once for yes and twice for no! She asks if it is Lewis to which there is a positive response and she asks if he is at peace to which he also answers yes, but the knocking is very loud, as if angry. Further questions ensue, leaving us hanging with Maureen's final question which will leave you the audience questioning her concluding sentence and debating the outcome long after the credits have rolled.

Stewart appears in almost every scene within the film and she carries the film in a career defining performance exhibiting many characteristics of a lost soul who is unable to move on with her life until a life defining moment manifests itself spiritually. And in the meantime she gets on with her everyday hum drum life in the way she knows how dealing with various challenges along the way including an unknown serial text stalker, a job she hates, a city she can't leave, and various connections with the nether world. She shows us that she can do sullen, tearful, frightened, freaked-out, vacant, wanting and obsessive all within the same character that makes Stewart's performance so watchable and such a departure from her previous work. This is a slow burn and takes a while to come up to speed, but when it finally does ramp up in the second half patience will be rewarded by a genre breaking story that is intriguing, mysterious, confusing and compelling all at once. This film will not please everyone because of its slow meandering pace, its mishmash of story lines, the lose ends left hanging, and the questions left unanswered as the screen fades to black, but for others, this will add to the attraction.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 13th April 2017.

With the release of 'The Fate of the Furious' as Previewed below, this mega sixteen year long running franchise that has so far grossed over US$3.9B from combined production budgets for the first seven feature length films of US$759M, I thought it timely to provide a quick summary of the franchise today, in chronological order.
* Film #1 : 'The Fast and the Furious' released in 2001, Directed by Rob Cohen, took US$207M from a US$38M budget.
* Film #2 : 'The Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furious' released in 2003, Directed by Philip G. Atwell, is a six minute short film connecting the first and second films.
* Film #3 : '2 Fast 2 Furious' released in 2003, Directed by John Singleton, took US$236M from a US$76M budget.
* Film #4 : 'Los Bandoleros' released in 2009, Directed by Vin Diesel, this twenty minute short film provides a back-story for the characters and events leading up to the oil truck heist at the start of the fourth film in the series.
* Film #5 : 'Fast & Furious' released in 2009, Directed by Justin Lin, took US$363M from a US$85M budget.
* Film #6 : 'Fast Five' released in 2011, Directed by Justin Lin, took US$630M from a US$125M budget.
* Film #7 : 'Fast & Furious 6', released in 2013, Directed by Justin Lin, took US$789M from a US$160M budget.
* Film #8 : 'The Fast and Furious : Tokyo Drift' released in 2006, Directed by Justin Lin, took US$158M from a US$85M budget and was released as the third film in the series.
* Film #9 : 'Furious 7' released in 2015, Directed by James Wan, took US$1.52B from a US$190M budget.
* Film 10 : 'The Fate of the Furious' released in 2017, Directed by F. Gary Gray, and made for a reported US$250M.

And so to this week where we have five new movie offerings with which to tempt that cinema dollar out of your pocket. We kick off with the eighth feature length instalment in a franchise that is now sixteen years old and has brought in mega bucks for the studio behind this high octane, all action, pedal to the metal series. This is followed up by a Sci-Fi comedy featuring a hard drinking party girl who discovers she has something in common with a Godzilla like creature running rampant in Korea; and then a psychological thriller about a personal assistant and gofer who thinks she sees dead people, but is only really searching for one! We then go to a historical true telling of a courtroom drama that unfolded in the mid-'90's surrounding the denial that the Nazi Germany Holocaust of WWII actually occurred, and then wrapping up the week with a French and German foreign language tale of the aftermath of WWI as a grieving woman meets up unexpectedly with a former close friend of her recently killed in action fiancé and the bond that is forged between them, despite the challenges of the time, nationalities and other personalities on the periphery.

As usual, you are here cordially reminded that your constructive, relevant and timely views are welcomed when you have sat through your movie of choice in the week ahead. Simply record your opinions and observations of your film experience by leaving your Comment in the box below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and see what you've got to say about any film as Previewed below, or as Reviewed and Previewed between these humble Blog pages previously. Meanwhile, enjoy your cinema experience in the coming week.

'THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS' (Rated M) - also known as 'Fast and Furious 8', 'Fast 8' and 'F8', this mega franchise never seems to stop rolling, and so it is with this latest instalment in a line of Fast & Furious films that had its humble beginnings back in 2001 and has gone on to rake in a staggering US$3.9B from the first seven films, and has spawned two short films, video games, toys and model kits, a theme park ride and possible spin-off movies down the track. Following hot on the heels of 'Furious 7' released in 2015, Directed by James Wan and taking a huge US$1.52B at the worldwide Box Office making it the sixth highest grossing film in history currently, here we have this eighth offering this time Directed by F. Gary Gray, and released in the US this week too following its Worldwide Premier in Berlin last week. All the usual cast that we have come to know and love have returned together with a few new faces to add further gravitas to the already ensemble cast.

This film carries on from where 'Furious 7' left off. We see that Dominic Turetto (Vin Diesel) has settled down to a life of domesticity with his newly wed wife Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and are enjoying their honeymoon together in some far way secluded paradise no doubt. The Brian and Mia characters from the previous films have retired and are out of the game, and the remaining crew have been pardoned and are spread far and wide doing their respective thing. Just when you think the guys were finally getting their lives back in order, enter a criminal mastermind to throw the proverbial brown sticky smelly stuff at the fan! Her name is Cipher (Charlize Theron) who successfully manages to corrupt Dom against his family, his allies and those he is closest to, by coercing him back into a life of crime, from which there seems to be no means of escaping. The crew reassembles and will be put to the test like never before. Also starring Dwayne Johnson returning as Luke Hobbs, Jason Statham returning as Deckard Shaw, Tyrese Gibson returning as Roman Pearce, Kurt Russell returning as Mr. Nobody/Frank Petty, with Helen Mirren, Scott Eastwood and a bunch of others . . . oh, and not to forget a whole cavalcade of expensive sports cars, souped up vehicles, guns, explosions, car chases, crazy fight sequences, technical gadgetry, a tank and a nuclear submarine. 'F8' is sure to fuel the appetite, drive bums on seats, and accelerate the Box Office spend of any self respecting fifteen year old lad who gets off on high octane senseless action fare.

'COLOSSAL' (Rated M) - this Sci-Fi comedy film is Directed and Written by Spaniard Nacho Vigalondo and it Premiered at TIFF back in September last year before its US release last week. Here, Gloria (Anne Hathaway) is a hard drinking, party hard girl, who can't hold down a job, or a boyfriend either it seems, and after being dumped by her boyfriend Tim (Dan Stevens) and kicked out of his Manhattan apartment, she decides its time to return to her home town in a last ditch attempt to regain her life and start afresh. Back on her home turf Gloria reignites her friendship with childhood friend Oscar (Jason Sudeikis) who just happens to be the owner of a bar, and where he spends the majority of his time hanging out with his best buddies and locals Garth (Tim Blake Nelson) and Joel (Austin Stowell). Meanwhile, on the other side of the world in downtown Seoul, a giant scaly monster is wreaking havoc in the streets like something akin to Godzilla. As the world watches on in disbelief, Gloria from the comfort of her suburban lounge room, inadvertently makes a connection with said scaly monster. In time she comes to realise that when she makes a move, so the monster thousands of miles away replicates those moves identically. How can this be, what does it mean and what must she do to stop the death and destruction of innocent Koreans?

'PERSONAL SHOPPER' (Rated MA15+) - this psychological thriller is Directed and Written by Frenchman Oilvier Assayas and the film Premiered at Cannes last May in competition for the Palme d'Or where is shared the Best Director Award, before its release in France in December and in the US in early March. Here American Maureen (Kristen Stewart) is a personal shopper for wealthy clients buying clothes, accessories and taking care of lesser tasks mostly in her home city of Paris, but her shopping trips often take her to London too and other European centres. Maureen's twin brother died recently and they both shared a genetic heart condition. Before he passed away they made a pact that whoever would go first, would then reach out from the other side and make a connection somehow with the surviving sibling. They both believed they had the ability to connect with the spirit world, but his powers were stronger than hers. Upon visiting the house where her brother died she starts to sense a presence, which manifests itself moreso with text messages, strange sightings and things that go bump in the night from an unknown source. The film has received positive Reviews, and some are saying it is Stewart's best performance to date.

'DENIAL' (Rated M) - here we have a true story historical drama Directed by Mick Jackson based on American author, Deborah Lipstadt's book 'History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier'. The film dramatises the 1996 Irving v Penguin Books Ltd case, in which Lipstadt, a Holocaust scholar, was sued by Holocaust denier David Irving for libel. In English law the burden of proof rests with the accused, and so Lipstadt and her legal team must fight to prove that the Holocaust did occur. Starring Rachel Weisz at Deborah Lipstadt an American Professor of Holocaust Studies, Timothy Spall as David Irving a Nazi German Scholar and Tom Wilkinson as Richard Rampton the Barrister and Andrew Scott as Solicitor Anthony Julius working for Lipstadt to prove the case for the Holocaust. The film Premiered at TIFF in September last year, was released in the US in late September and in the UK in late January this year, has so far gained generally positive Reviews and has recovered just over half of its US$10M production budget.

'FRANTZ' (Rated PG) - this French and German Co-production is Directed by Frenchman Francois Ozon and is a drama film set in the aftermath of WWI in 1919 and is based on the 1932 American film 'Broken Lullaby' Directed by Ernst Lubitsch which was in turn based on a 1930 play by Maurice Rostand and its 1931 English language adaptation by Reginald Berkeley. The film Premiered in Paris in July last year before its wider release in France in early September and Germany later that same month. It picked up a Venice Film Festival and a Caesar Award win and was nominated in several other categories at these same Awards. Set in the German town of Quedlinburg in 1919 young German woman Anna (Paula Beer) is mourning the death of her fiancé Frantz (Anton von Lucke) who died in combat a year before. One day, Anna is shocked to discover that his grave is visited by Adrian (Pierre Niney), a Frenchman claiming that he and Frantz were friends in Paris before the war. In time the two form a bond as Adrian recounts fond memories of his time spent with Frantz, despite certain ill feeling towards the Frenchman's presence in the town given the scars of the war are still deep and fresh. Nonetheless as their relationship develops Anna follows Adrian back to Paris in the hope of discovering more of his world, understanding him, and determining if her feelings toward him are genuine, or simply a rebound from Frantz. Filmed in black and white with splashes of occasional colour for emphasis.

Five very different cinematic choices this week, and whether you like epic big screen action, courtroom drama, historical foreign language drama, Sci-Fi comedy or psychological thriller fare, there is sure to be something for you to get your cinema ticket clipped in the week ahead. Don't forget too to share your movie going views with us right here, when you have done so. In the meantime, I'll see you somewhere, sometime in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-