What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 17th August 2023.

The 76th annual Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) takes place this year from Friday 18th August through until Wednesday 23rd August. Established in 1947, in is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF showcases both UK and international films (all titles are World, International, European, UK or Scottish Premieres), in all genres and lengths. It also presents themed retrospectives and other specialised programming sections. 

This years Opening Night Film is 'Silent Roar' from the UK and Directed by Johnny Barrington in his debut feature film. A teenage tale of surfing, sex and hellfire set in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, this film has its World Premiere screening. The Closing Night Film is 'Fremont' from the USA and Directed by Babak Jalali. A deadpan dramedy about an insomniac Afghan woman unable to dream the American dream.

Awards are given for the following categories : The Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film, with a £20K cash prize; The Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film; The Award for Best International Feature Film, with a £10K cash prize; The Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, with a £10K cash prize; The McLaren Award for Best New British Animation; The Award for Best Short Film; The Award for Creative Innovation in a Short Film; The Award for Outstanding Individual Contribution to a Short Film and The Audience Award.

In the New Feature Films section, the following titles are playing :-

* 'AFIRE' - from Germany and Directed by Christian Petzold. A procrastinating writer must face his insecurities in this sharp portrayal of creative hurdles, against the backdrop of a raging forest fire.

* 'ART COLLEGE : 1994' - from China and Directed by Liu Jian. Gnarly animation and slacker humour reign in this Chinese punk comedy.

* 'CHOOSE IRVINE WELSH' - from the UK and Directed by Ian Jefferies. Irvine Welsh in his own words, with Iggy Pop, Martin Compston, Danny Boyle and others paying tribute. World Premiere.

* 'CHUCK CHUCK BABY' - from the UK and Directed by Janis Pugh in her feature film making debut. Amid the vibrant neon lights of a chicken packaging factory, two women fall in love. World Premiere screening.

* 'FEMME' - from the UK and Written and Directed by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping in their feature Directorial debuts. Here this queer erotic revenge thriller is a tense neo-noir film about desire and self-loathing.

* 'THE FIRST SLAM DUNK' - from Japan and Directed by Takehiko Inoue. Exhilarating basketball action meets teenage guts in this anime adaptation of a world-popular manga series.

* 'IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?' - from the UK and Directed by Ella Glendining in her film making debut. A filmmaker examines questions of disability on a journey to find herself in others.

* 'JORAM' - from India and Directed by Devashish Makhija. Tough questions of land development and indigenous rights fuel this tense thriller featuring a woman hellbent on revenge.

* 'KILL' - from the UK and Directed by Rodger Griffiths.  Twisted grief and paranoia run through the veins of this gritty Scottish thriller.

* 'THE LYNDA MYLES PROJECT : A MANIFESTO' - from the UK and Directed by Susan Kemp. An exclusive, responsive, preview screening of Susan Kemp’s remarkable documentary in progress,  structuring this intimate and insightful portrait of Lynda Myles, invokes a form known to define, criticise, and shift paradigms in culture – the manifesto, an active document set to inspire anyone who programmes, produces or simply loves cinema today.

* 'ORLANDO, MY POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY' - from France and Directed by Paul B. Preciado. Here the Director creates an electrifying work of fiction/non-fiction, a polyphonic retelling of Virginia Woolf’s 'Orlando'.

* 'PASSAGES' - from France and Directed by Ira Sachs. A love triangle makes for the thorniest and horniest film of the year. 

* 'PAST LIVES' - from the USA and Directed by Celine Song. A moving examination of South Korean diaspora told through a delicate tale of star-crossed friends.

* 'PROPERTY' - from Brazil and Directed by Daniel Bandeira. An unsparing new take on the home-invasion horror genre that will surprise and disturb.

* 'RAGING GRACE' - from the UK and Directed by Paris Zarcilla in her debut feature film. This smart, chilling debut merging gothic horror about an undocumented Filipina cleaner moving from house to house in London with her impetuous daughter Grace in tow, is saving up her meagre cash payments to get a visa and a more stable home for them both.

* 'SHOWING UP' - from the USA and Directed by Kelly Reichardt. Michelle Williams and Hong Chau star in this intimate drama exploring art-making, creativity and resilience.

* 'THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE' - from the UK and Directed by Hope Dickson Leach. Jekyll and Hyde trade London for Edinburgh in this cinematic retelling of the gothic classic from Robert Louis Stevenson. World Premiere showcasing.

* 'TRENQUE LAUQUEN: PARTS 1 AND 2' - from Argentina and Germany. Laura, a botanist, has disappeared. As the two men who felt they knew her best seek out clues to her whereabouts, they realise how little of Laura they ever really knew.
* 'UNGENTLE' - from the UK and Directed by Huw Lemmey and Onyeka Igwe. Histories of British espionage and male homosexuality intertwine in a mid-length film narrated by Ben Whishaw.

* 'YOUR FAT FRIEND' - from the UK and the USA and Directed by Jeanie Finlay. Here is a rousing portrait of author, activist and podcaster Aubrey Gordon, whose illuminating critique and lived experience as a queer fat woman powerfully interrogate the structures of anti-fat bias that damage and condescend to fat people on a daily basis.

For the full low down on the other film strands playing at the EIFF, you can go to the official website at : https://www.eif.co.uk/edinburgh-international-film-festival

Turning the attention then back to this weeks six new films coming to a big screen Odeon near you, we kick start with a biographical comedy drama that charts the story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone. This is followed up with an American psychological thriller that follows a dominatrix and her wealthy client, and the disaster that ensues when he tries to end their relationship. Next is a crime drama thriller about a group of environmental activists who plot a daring plan to disrupt an oil pipeline. Then we turn to an Icelandic and Danish film set at the end of the 19th century, in which a young Danish priest is sent to a remote part of Iceland, but the deeper he travels into the Icelandic landscape, the more he loses a sense of his own reality, his mission and his sense of duty. Following on we have an American adult comedy movie about an abandoned dog who teams up with other stray dogs to get revenge on his former owner; before closing out the week with a South Korean offering about a man who is left in space due to an unfortunate accident while another man on Earth struggles to bring him back safely.

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

'BLACKBERRY' (Rated M) - is a Canadian biographical comedy drama film Co-Written for the screen, Directed and also stars Matt Johnson. It is loosely adapted from Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff's book 'Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry'. Matt Johnson's two previous feature film offerings are 'The Dirties' in 2014 and 'Operation Avalanche' in 2016. This film saw its World Premiere screening at this years Berlin International Film Festival in mid-February before its Canadian release in mid-May, having so far grossed US$2.6M from a production budget of US$5M and garnering generally positive critical acclaim. 

The film is a fictional account of the creation of the BlackBerry line of mobile phones by co-founders, Douglas Fregin (Matt Johnson) and Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel), and investor, Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton) - the three men who charted the course of the spectacular rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone. Also starring Martin Donovan, Saul Rubinek, Michael Ironside and Cary Elwes. 

'SANCTUARY' (Rated MA15+) - this American psychological thriller film is Directed by Zachary Wigon in only his second feature film outing following 2014's 'The Heart Machine'. This film had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in mid-September last year and received a limited cinema release in the US from mid-May this year, having so far taken US$776K at the Box Office and receiving positive reviews from critics. Set over the course of one night in a single hotel room, the film tells the story of Rebecca Marin, a dominatrix (Margaret Qualley) and Hal Porterfield (Christopher Abbott), her wealthy client. About to inherit his late father's position as CEO and fortune as head of a hotel empire, Hal tries to end their relationship, but when his attempt to cut ties backfires, disaster ensues.

'HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE' (Rated M) - this American environmentalist action thriller film is Directed by Daniel Goldhaber, who also Co-Wrote the screenplay and Co-Produces here too. This is Goldhaber's second feature film following his debut in 2018 with the psychological horror film 'Cam'. This film relies on ideas advanced in Andreas Malm's 2021 book of the same name, where he examines the history of social justice movements and argues for property destruction as a valid tactic in the pursuit of environmental justice. Set for the most part in West Texas, the film follows a fictional group of eight young individuals who decide to blow up an oil pipeline at two key locations. It explores the moral validity of extreme actions in addressing the climate crisis, the question of terrorism, and the use of property damage and sabotage as activist tactics. Starring Ariela Barer, Sasha Lane, Jayme Lawson, Marcus Scribner, Jake Weary, Forrest Goodluck, Kristine Froseth and Lukas Gage. It saw its World Premiere screening at TIFF in mid-September last year, was released Stateside in early April this year, has generated largely positive critical reviews and has so far grossed US$883K in Box Office sales. 

'GODLAND' (Rated M) - is an Icelandic and Danish Co-Production Written and Directed by Hlynur Palmason in his third feature film making outing after 'Winter Brothers' in 2017, and 'A White, White Day' in 2019. Set in the late 19th Century, here, Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove), a Lutheran priest from Denmark is sent to Iceland to oversee the establishment of a new parish church, only to have his faith tested and challenged by the harsh conditions of rural life, including his inability as a monolingual Danish-language speaker to communicate with his assigned Icelandic guide, Ragnar (Ingvar Eggert Sigurosson). The film saw its World Premiere showcasing in the Un Certain Regard category of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, and had its North American Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September last year. The film has garnered universal critical acclaim and has generated just US$1.1M in Box Office receipts. 

'STRAYS' (Rated MA15+) - this American adult comedy film is Co-Produced and Directed by Josh Greenbaum whose debut as a feature film maker was 'The Short Game' in 2013, which he would follow up with 'Becoming Bond' in 2017, 'Too Funny to Fail : The Life & Death of The Dana Carvey Show' in 2017 and 'Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar' in 2021. When a gullible Border Terrier named Reggie (Will Ferrell) is abandoned on the streets by his selfish and ruthless owner Doug (Will Forte), an animal-hating drug addict who never wanted him, he teams up with other stray dogs including a street-wise Boston Terrier named Bug (Jamie Foxx), an Australian Shepherd named Maggie (Isla Fisher), and a therapy Great Dane named Hunter (Randall Park) to get revenge on Doug. Also starring Josh Gad, Rob Riggle, Sofia Vergara and Dennis Quaid. The film is released in the US this week also.

'THE MOON' (Rated M) - is a South Korean space survival film Written and Directed by Kim Yong-hwa, whose previous feature film output includes 'Oh! Brothers' in 2003, 2006's '200 Pounds Beauty', 'Take Off' in 2009 and 'Mr. Go' in 2013. Set in the not to distant future, Korea's first manned mission to the Moon ends in a tragic disaster when an explosion occurs on board. Five years later, a second human spaceflight is launched successfully but a strong solar wind causes it to malfunction. One astronaut, Sun-woo (Do Kyung-soo) is left stranded in space. Facing another fatal catastrophe, the Naro Space Centre turns to its former Managing Director Kim Jae-guk (Sol Kyung-gu) to help bring Sun-woo back home safely. With a production budget of about US$25M, 'The Moon' was pre-sold in 155 countries before its release date commencing with South Korea on 2nd August. 

With six 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-