What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 17th June 2021.

The 50th anniversary of the International Film Festival Rotterdam took place in its extended format from Wednesday 2nd through to Sunday 6th June, with the first part taking place earlier in the year between the 1st and 7th February, and connected via a series of physical and online events in between. Taking place on a special Spring date that honours the festival’s very first edition in 1972, the second part of the festival was a festive celebration that invited larger audiences. Here IFFR presented ‘IFFR’s anniversary programme’ which tapped into the rich history of IFFR by inviting luminaries of the last five decades to enter a dialogue with fresh names and faces. 

For this second part of the IFFR, the opening film was 'The World To Come', a romantic frontier drama by Norwegian filmmaker and Actress Mona Fastvold, with the closing film being 'Poupelle of Chimney Town' a Japanese animated family feature with climate change at its heart, Directed by Hirota Yusuke.

Among the line up of feature films, documentaries and short films showcased there were a total of twenty World Premier feature screenings, which included : -

* 'All About My Sisters' from the USA and Directed by Wang Qiong. Jin was born in the 1990's, during China’s one-child policy. It was normal then for unborn girls to be aborted, right up to the last month of a pregnancy, because boys were preferred. Living babies were also ruthlessly dumped in the garbage, or in the woods. Jin survived for a week in a box on the streets. The story of this rebellious fighter unspools before the camera’s gaze, which follows her everywhere over several years. Jin is now a mother herself, struggling with her heritage.

* 'BERG' from Switzerland and Directed by Joke Olthaar. Three hikers meet shortly before climbing a mountain together. They discuss their expectations briefly in voice-over. The protagonist here is not the people setting out to climb the mountain, but rather the mountain itself. Here it is man who has to adapt, picking a path step by tentative step, hoping that the mountain will not block the way.

* 'Damascus Dreams' from Canada and Directed by Emilie Serri who had only visited Syria, her father’s country, a few times prior to the start of the civil war. Following her grandmother’s death, a desire grew within her to form a stronger connection to this country of which she knew so little. Serri studied old family photos and films, interviewed members of her family and other Syrians forced to flee their homeland, and in this documentary mixes her own memories with theirs.

* 'Decameron' from Hong Kong and Directed by Rita Hui Nga Shu. Here, a coronavirus-ravaged Hong Kong that is also still struggling with traumas from the recent past presents us with a valuable political document which, by placing the recent protests within a broader context, enters into a complex dialogue with the city’s present, past and future.

* 'Fat Chance' from Canada and Directed by Stephen Broomer. Laird Cregar was one of studio-era Hollywood’s heavies, for he was a huge guy who resented what life and the film industry had to offer men like him. Cregar died aged 31 from subjecting his rotund body to a crash diet that he believed would thin him down to romantic-lead size. Using various techniques of mainly chemical image manipulation, the Director took excerpts from films featuring Cregar, and turned the actor’s anguish and anxieties into a black-on-grey delirium of shadows, silhouettes, spectres and blots.

* 'Feast' from the Netherlands and Directed by Tim Leyendekker. There was music and wine, but also syringe needles - crates of objects from the scene of the crime displayed on tables. Based on the troubling Groningen HIV case whereby men were purposely drugged and injected with contaminated blood at parties, this is the Directors no-compromise search for the truth, taking in deep, primary emotions such as lust, aggression and the need for security.

* 'Glossary of Non-Human Love' from India and Directed by Ashish Avikunthak. In a parallel universe in our own space-time continuum, humanity has been overrun by artificial intelligence. The machines are better, faster and more efficient at everything, outstripping their makers. However, one aspect of humanity escapes them, love. Here, the Director outlines a worrying, yet confusing impression of a post-human future in which technology has overtaken and annexed humanity.

* 'Hotele Lerallaneng' from South Africa and Directed by Charlie Vundla. Here, two storylines involving artists in lockdown intersect in this drama about creativity, mindfulness and wellbeing.

* 'Looking for Venera' from Kosovo and Directed by Norika Sefa. Calm, taciturn teenager Venera lives in a small village in Kosovo. At home, three generations are constantly under one another’s feet in their cramped house, so she has hardly any privacy. Outside too, on the streets, it’s not much better either. All this makes it difficult for Venera to go her own way. Her spirits lift when she makes friends with rebellious Dorina, who already has a boyfriend. The two girls go out having fun together, as far as Venera’s father allows. One thing they know for sure, they don’t want to end up like their mothers.

* 'Lumina' from Italy and Directed by Samuele Sestieri. A naked woman awakes on a deserted beach. After wandering around, she ends up in the ruins of an abandoned town. The living left long ago. In a tumbledown house she finds artefacts of existence - clothing, furniture, a record player and a telephone. The latter contains a young couple’s photos and videos.

* 'Pebbles' from India and Directed by P.S. Vinothraj. The inhabitants of the village Arittapatti in southern India depend entirely on agriculture, which has suffered terribly due to a long drought. The women catch and roast rats or wait for hours until it is their turn to pull muddy water from the well. The men hang around, play cards and sleep. One of the latter is Ganapathy, whose wife has fled the home and his domestic violence, but he is determined to fetch her back from her village. He forces his young son to join him. At his in-laws, Ganapathy causes a terrible scene and in revenge, his son tears up the money for the return bus journey. This is the start of a 13km walk on one of the hottest days of the year.

* 'The Rain Falls Where It Will' from Iran and Directed by Majid Barzegar. Do we prolong life or death by trying to keep a dying family member with us as long as possible? Here nurse Sara decides it is time to euthanise her friendless patient. She calmly adds a drug to the intravenous line, just like she does with the other hopeless cases she encounters. However, everything changes on a new assignment. Is it truly this comatose man’s last week?

* 'Phoenix' from Belgium and Directed by Bram Droulers. A freewheeling film that celebrates both sexual and stylistic fluidity. A medical student who sometimes rents out a room in his house receives a visit from a young woman he was romantically involved with the previous summer. But he shows little interest in her – mainly because he’s now in love with Harry.

* 'Under Tomorrow's Sky' from the Netherlands and Directed by Jan Louter. The global population is set to rise by billions in the coming decades, with the majority of these new earthlings living in cities. A different architecture will be required to keep future urban living pleasant and healthy, says the co-founder of MVRDV, a globally operating firm of architects. Instead of uniform tower blocks, he argues in favour of 'high rises on a human scale', stacked structural volumes with open spaces and greenery around them that feel like vertical villages.

For the rest of the World, International, and European Premier screenings, feature length films, documentaries, short films, 50th anniversary specials and more you can visit the official website at : https://www.iffr.com/en

Turning the attention back to this weeks latest new releases, of which there are five, coming to an Odeon screen near you, we kick off with the ninth instalment in this massively successful and popular action packed franchise that sees all the old stablemates return plus a few new ones as two brothers clash and all manner of vehicles crash. This is followed by a drama of a single mother raising her only daughter, who is forced to take matters into her own hands after tragedy strikes; and next up, returning to his childhood home in Italy, a former business executive, his family and a few locals try to reinvigorate an old vineyard to produce wine. Then we turn to an Australian documentary following the life of a pioneering scuba diver who has dedicated her life to exposing the myth surrounding our fear of sharks. And finally, we have a Chilean documentary about an elderly man who poses as a resident in a nursing home to see if he can find signs of abuse.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new movies 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.

'F9 : FAST & FURIOUS 9' (Rated M) - this American action film is Directed by Justin Lin who also co-wrote the Screenplay and story. His previous film making outings take in the likes of 'Annapolis', 'The Fast and the Furious : Tokyo Drift' both in 2006, 'Fast & Furious' in 2009, 'Fast Five' in 2011, 'Fast & Furious 6' in 2013, and 'Star Trek Beyond' in 2016. This is the sequel to 2017's 'The Fate of the Furious', the ninth main instalment, and the tenth full-length film released overall in the 'Fast & Furious' franchise. Those ten films (including the 2019 spin-off 'Fast & Furious Presents : Hobbs & Shaw') has so far grossed US$6.15B off the back of combined production budgets amounting to US$1.41B. 'F9' was originally slated for worldwide release in April 2020, but was delayed several times, first due to the releases of 'Hobbs & Shaw' and then 'No Time to Die' and then the COVID-19 pandemic. It was released in Hong Kong and South Korea in mid-May and is scheduled to be released in the US in late June. This instalment has so far grossed US$271M off the back of a US$200M budget and has generated mixed or average Reviews.

Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) is leading a quiet life off the grid with Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and his son, little Brian, but they know that danger always lurks just over their peaceful secluded horizon. This time, that threat will force Dom to confront the sins of his past if he's going to save those he loves the most. His crew joins together to stop a world-shattering plot led by the most skilled assassin and high-performance driver they've ever encountered, a man who also happens to be Dom's forsaken brother, Jakob (John Cena). Also starring Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Kurt Russell, Michael Rooker, Cardi B, Lucas Black, Shea Whigham with uncredited appearances by Gal Gadot and Jason Statham. As is the staple for this fast paced franchise you can expect bonkers action sequences, grinding metal on metal, grinding metal on tarmac, explosions, gun play, fist fights, and all manner of vehicular destruction writ large. 

'MY ZOE' (Rated M) - is a drama film Written, Directed and starring the French American Actress Julie Delpy whose previous directorial outings include '2 Days in Paris, '2 Days in New York', 'The Countess' and 'Lolo'. All up Delpy has sixty-four screen acting credits to her name, thirteen as Writer, six as Producer, ten as Director, two as Editor and four as Composer. She has twenty-eight award wins and another sixty-six nominations including two Oscar nods for her writing work on 'Before Sunset' and 'Before Midnight'. The film saw its World Premiere showing at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September 2019, was released in Germany in mid-November 2019, in the UK in early October 2020 and only now does it get a limited showing in Australia from this week. Having so far taken just US$51K at the Box Office the film has garnered mixed or average Reviews so far, although Delpy's performance has been praised. Isabelle Perrault-Lewis (Julie Delpy), a geneticist recovering from a toxic marriage, is raising her only daughter, Zoe (Sophia Ally), with her contentious ex-husband James Lewis (Richard Armitage). Zoe means everything to her mother and so when tragedy strikes the fractured family, Isabelle uses her expertise to take matters into her own hands. As this mother’s love knows no bounds, Isabelle travels to Russia in seeking the help of a world-renowned fertility physician Thomas Fischer (Daniel Bruhl) who Isabelle believes can help bring back her little girl. Also starring Gemma Arterton and Lindsay Duncan.

'FROM THE VINE' (Rated M) - this Canadian drama film is Directed by Sean Cisterna who started his career directing a string of straight to video horror films in 2006 including 'War of the Dead', 'The Legend', 'Blood Creek' and 'The Haunting at Thompson High' before turning to more main steam fare with the likes of 'Moon Point', 'Full Out' and 'Kiss and Cry' most recently in 2017. This film saw its Premier screening in June 2019 at the Italian Contemporary Film Festival in Toronto, and was originally scheduled for commercial release in May 2020, although this was cancelled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, instead being released on digital platforms in July 2020. Now it gets a limited showing in Australia from this week. Based on the novel 'Finding Marco' by Kenneth Canio Cancellara, here we have Marco Gentile (Joe Pantoliano), as a burned-out business executive from Toronto who gives up on the corporate rat race, and moves his wife Marina (Wendy Crewson) and daughter Laura (Paula Brancati) to Italy to revive his grandfather's vineyard in Acerenza with the aid of some helpful locals. 

'PLAYING WITH SHARKS' (Rated PG) - Written and Directed by Sally Aitken this Australian documentary follows Valerie Taylor - the shark fanatic, photographer, filmmaker, an inaugural member of the diving hall-of-fame and an Australian icon. A marine maverick who forged her way as a fearless diver, cinematographer and conservationist, she filmed the real sharks for Steven Spielberg's classic 'Jaws' and famously wore a chain mail suit, using herself as shark bait, in experiments that changed scientific understanding of sharks forever. Over her career she also filmed underwater sequences for other notable films including 'Orca', 'Gallipoli', 'The Blue Lagoon', 'Return to the Blue Lagoon', 'Honeymoon in Vegas' and 'The Island of Dr. Moreau'. Her love affair with the ocean spanned half a century... and a whole lot of danger. This feature documentary draws on five decades of re-mastered film footage, features a stranger than fiction script, a magnetic heroine, and world-famous faces. And, of course, sharks. The film has garnered positive Reviews.

'THE MOLE AGENT' (Rated G) - is an internationally Co-Produced documentary film Directed and Written by the Chilean film Producer, Director, documentarian, Screenwriter, and film critic Maite Alberdi. It was screened at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition and at this years Academy Awards it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Released Stateside in early September last year, the film gets a limited release this week in Australia and has so far generated mostly positive press. Here then, a private investigator (Romulo Aitken) in Chile hires a stoic 83 year old man (Sergio Chamy) to work as a mole at a retirement home where a client of his suspects the caretakers of abusing his mother, or at least having her possessions stolen.

With five new release films 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 in the coming week, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

MINAMATA : Tuesday 8th June 2021.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'MINAMATA' at my local independent movie theatre earlier this week. This US and UK Co-Produced drama film is Directed and Co-Produced by Andrew Levitas who has sixteen Actor credits to his name, twenty as Producer, three as Writer and two as Director, with his previous film making offering being 2014's 'Lullaby' which starred Garrett Hedlund, Richard Jenkins, Anne Archer, Amy Adams, Terrence Howard and Jennifer Hudson. Based on the book of the same name by Eugene Smith and Aileen Mioko Smith, the film saw its World Premier screening at the Berlin International Film Festival back in late February 2020, was released in the US in early February this year, here in Australia last week and not in the UK until early August. It has so far generated mixed or average Reviews. 

Eugene Smith, here portrayed by Johnny Depp who also Co-Produces, was an American photojournalist who lived from 1918 until 1978 and has been described as 'perhaps the single most important American photographer in the development of the editorial photo essay'. His major photo essays include World War II photographs, the dedication of an American country doctor and a nurse midwife, the clinic of Dr Schweitzer in French Equatorial Africa, the city of Pittsburgh, and the pollution which damaged the health of the residents of Minamata in Japan.

The film opens up with Gene Smith, living in his rented New York apartment, processing black and white photographic images in his make shift dark room. It is 1971, he's at a low ebb in his life, he's drunk, smokes like a chimney, in debt, hasn't seen his children in years, is compelled to sell his photographic gear and accept an endorsement deal from a photographic film maker even though he has never taken a colour photo, ever, preferring the 35mm black and white medium which has been the mainstay of his career. 

He resorts to snapping away at the locals in his neighbourhood through cuts outs in his blacked out windows, until one day Aileen (Minami), a Japanese woman comes knocking on his door. She is hoping that the famous photographer will be able to assist her in raising awareness of mercury poisoning in the small Japanese town of Minamata, at the hands of chemical manufacturing giant Chisso Corporation that is dumping its toxic chemical by-products directly in to the local water supply. She hands him an envelope, and asks him to take a look.

At first Gene is dismissive, but then later that night when he can't sleep he studies the photographs and scant newspaper articles that Aileen left him earlier in the day, and is convinced that there's a story in there that needs to be told on a worldwide scale and that he should take up the job. He pitches the idea to Robert Hayes (Bill Nighy) the Editor of Life Magazine, and although the pair have worked together for the past twenty-five years, their relationship it seems is on the brink of collapse due to Gene's lack of responsibility and reliability and the mounting pressure on Hayes to keep his magazine relevant with the ever increasing emergence of television. Any way, Hayes, commits to Gene that he can fly to Japan and investigate the matter further, but not to leave him hanging and to report back with photographic evidence within two weeks when the next deadline is up.

Upon arriving in Minamata, Gene and Aileen are almost straightaway confronted with evidence of chemical poisoning - in the bent arms and legs, gnarled hands and deformed facial features of many of the children and adults they come across. Whilst Gene is out with his camera snapping away it quickly becomes apparent that many of the locals don't want to be photographed - probably out of fear of reprisal from the corporate Chisso organisation, on whom many of them are either directly or indirectly dependent for jobs. Later Gene, Aileen and local organiser Mitsuo Yamazaki (Hiroyuki Sanada) gain access to the local hospital where they secretly infiltrate the wards and research labs where many of Chisso Corp. patients are being treated for mercury, and whatever else, poisoning. Whilst there, Gene, with permission from the patients, takes photographs of deformed limbs and faces. 

Later, during a protest staged outside the main entry to the Chisso manufacturing plant, Gene is invited in by the CEO of the company Junichi Nojima (Jun Kunimura) for a tour of the facility and an explanation of exactly what they do there - heavily sanitised of course! Towards the end of the tour, and on an upper catwalk away from prying eyes and ears Nojima hands Gene an envelope containing US$50K to hand over all of his negatives, forget the plight of the locals, and head back to New York no further questions asked by either party. Needless to say Gene tells him in no uncertain terms to go forth and multiply!

A few days later undercover of darkness Gene's makeshift dark room which had been set up by Yamazaki as a near replication of his home dark room back in New York, is torched and all of his prints and negatives are burned to the ground. At that Gene rebels against Aileen and Hayes back in New York whom he calls in a drunken stupor in the dead of night, wakes from his sleep and tells him that he can't carry on, that's he's had enough and that all his images have been destroyed. However, 24 hours later, he returns and asks the gathered locals to help him so that he can help them. He asks them for unrestricted access to their homes and their families to take photographs of their deformed sons and daughters and family members yet done with the utmost respect, care and integrity. They all agree with a unanimous show of hands. 

Come the day of a shareholders meeting at Chisso and some 500 protesters are gathered outside the main gates of the chemical plant, with about fifty having infiltrated the main building and lie in wait outside the meeting room to confront Nojima in the hope of making him see sense and agree to financial compensation. 

Outside the main gates, things escalate quickly as protesters and security guards clash. In the ensuing melee Gene and Aileen become separated and Gene is man handled to within the factory gates and is then punched repeatedly to the face, kicked to the stomach and his hands trodden on. He falls in a heap on the ground. Meanwhile, inside the meeting room, the gathered protesters speak their mind some of which recount their own personal stories of the impact of the mass chemical poisoning which has inflicted their children. Nojima is speechless. After reaching an impasse, Nojima excuses himself to consult with his Financial Manager as to the possibility of monetary compensation, but returns saying there are no funds available and that's the end of it. 

Gene later comes round in a hospital bed with bandages wrapped around both arms and hands and across his head covering one eye. A man enters the room whom Gene recognises as the man who beat him to the ground earlier. While trying to shield himself from the possibility of another attack, the man thrusts into his hands a thick package which upon inspection reveals to contain all the negatives and many of the prints believed to have been destroyed when his dark room was torched. Discharging himself from his hospital bed, he and Aileen go back to Minamata and take what is regarded as the centrepiece photograph of Gene's photo essay into exposing Minamata Disease 'Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath' depicting the severe deformation of a child in her mother's arms in a traditional Japanese bath together after the child was exposed to the effects of Chisso's contamination of the water supply. 

Gene sends his collection of black and white photographs to Hayes at Life Magazine just in time to meet the deadline, and the magazine goes to print with his stark images for all the world to see. A copy lands on Nojima's desk, who then finally relents and agrees that his company must pay compensation. In a final scene, the protesters are seen outside a court building rejoicing that they won their case against Chisso, but stating that while the battle was won, the war was not yet over. Afterwards Gene and Aileen were married. Gene died in mid-October 1978 with his injuries sustained in the factory attack being a contributing factor to his passing. 

Johnny Depp is barely recognisable in his portrayal of William Eugene Smith with his grey beard, grey hair, facial blood spots and his gaunt expression brought about by a doubtless poor diet and excessive alcohol and cigarette consumption, but he is right on cue with his performance and about as far removed from any character he has played in quite some time. This is hardly an uplifting film, but neither is its subject matter which Director Levitas plays it as he sees it without too much nuance, subtlety or care for what the viewer may think of the bent contorted bodies seen on screen, or the corporate giant waging a war of denial against the locals over its 34 year long pollution of the water supply. Instead this is clearly a passion project for the Director who himself rose through the art world as a painter, sculptor, and photographer and who here has crafted a story that needs to be told which is at times an emotional heart felt film that pays tribute to Smith and the victims of this tragedy while still being as highly relevant today as it was fifty years ago. And to this end, during the closing credits we are reminded, by way of stills photographs, of the all too many acts of negligent pollution by governments and corporations that have impacted populations around our fragile planet throughout very recent history.

'MINAMATA' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 10th June 2021.

The Cheltenham International Film Festival took place from 24th May to 5th June streaming over thirty-five films, including premieres from around the world and mostly by emerging filmmakers. The intention is to support new Directors making their mark, and to bring the best of independent cinema to audiences in and around Cheltenham, throughout the South-West of England and across the UK. First launched in 2019, in 2020 it became the first international film festival in the UK to stream its entire programme online to critical acclaim and commercial success. By going online the festival extended its reach to audiences around the country with a complementary programme of new feature films and guest celebrity interviews. The film festival operates under the auspices of Cheltenham International Film Trust. The Trust is a charity dedicated to translating artistic and creative values into social and economic benefits for the city.

The festival opened with an exclusive preview screening of the Oscar-nominated film, 'The Father', and closed with a preview of 'Brighton', based on a play by Steven Berkoff, with a cast of well-known British Actors and Directed by Stephen Cookson. In addition, there was a line up of interviews with filmmakers, plus a special 'In conversation with Stephen Frears', acclaimed BAFTA award winning and Oscar nominated Director.

The five films in competition for Best Film Emerging Director were :-

* 'ARISTOCRATS' - is a Japanese drama film Directed and Written for the screen by Yukiko Sode and concerns two young women, struggling to follow their own destinies against class-defined expectations, and who form an unlikely friendship.

* 'DISCLOSURE' - is an Australian and UK Co-Produced black comedy drama film Directed and Written for the screen by Michael Bentham and centres around two couples chatting beside a suburban pool in Melbourne, but the unease mounts as they turn to a recent incident involving their young children.

* 'I NEVER CRY' - is a Polish drama comedy Directed and Written for the screen by Piotr Domalewski and tells the story of a young Polish girl who travels to Ireland to recover the body of her father, long estranged from the family back home. This film was the CIFF Competition Winner. 

* 'UNIDENTIFIED' - is a Romanian dramatic thriller Directed and Written for the screen by Bogdan George Apetri in which a flawed but determined detective begins to seem ever more flawed.

* 'WET SEASON' - is a Singaporean drama film Directed and Written for the screen by Anthony Chen about how in Singapore, teacher Ling becomes the object of an infatuation when she takes one of her students under her wing.

The Festival Programme, included, amongst others, the following feature films :-

* 'SURGE' - is an English thriller Directed and Co-Written by Aneil Karia about a man who goes on a reckless journey of self-liberation over a 24 hour period in London, and featuring an award winning performance by Ben Whishaw.

* 'THE SWORDSMAN' - is a Korean action adventure drama offering Directed and Written by Jae-Hoon Choi and surrounds an ailing swordsman who must persevere in his bloody craft to win back his kidnapped daughter before his eyesight fails.

* 'HOW TO BE A GOOD WIFE' - is a French comedy drama film Directed and Written by Martin Provost and starring Juliette Binoche as a dutiful wife who rises up, inspired by the Spirit of May '68 and by the secret her dead husband bequeaths her.

* 'THE ATLANTIC CITY STORY' - is a US drama film Directed and Written by Henry Butash about Jane who forms an unlikely bond with a young gambler in Atlantic City, but she can’t run from her marriage forever.

* 'DINNER IN AMERICA' - is a US comedy dramatic romance film Directed and Written by Adam Rehmeier about a victimised girl and an anarchic punk with a penchant for pyromania who form an unlikely couple.

* 'INTO DAD'S WOODS' - is a French drama Directed and Co-Written by Vero Cratzborn and tells the story of how Gina, age fifteen, struggles with the mental disintegration of her beloved and eccentric nature-loving father.

* 'WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME' - is a Swiss drama film Directed and Co-Written by Rolando Colla and concerns two people with secrets and from very different backgrounds who make for an unlikely marriage, something neither was seeking.

* 'WINONA' - is a Greek dramatic comedy offering Directed and Written by Alexander Voulgaris here tells the story of four young women visiting a beach for a day of play with close friends it seems, but there's a reason they’re there.

* 'EDEN' - is a Finnish drama offering Directed and Written by Ulla Heikkila about three teenagers, one clever, one confident and one timid, who fall under the influence of a slightly older zealot at a religious summer camp.

* 'THE OUTSIDE STORY' - is a US comedy drama Directed and Written by Casimir Nozkowski with Brian Tyree Henry and Sonequa Martin-Green about a man, Charles, locked out of his apartment, sees there's more to life as he suddenly becomes dependent upon his long-ignored neighbours.

* 'NIGHT OF THE KINGS' - from France, Canada, the Ivory Coast and Senegal this fantasy drama film is Directed and Written by Philippe Lacote in a story of a young prison inmate named Roman, who in a bid to save his life, weaves a tall tale about the rise and fall of a notorious gang leader.

* 'SWEET THING' - from the US and Directed and Written by Alexandre Rockwell this drama film charts two young siblings who set out on the road with a friend to escape their dysfunctional family life.

* 'FATHER' - from Serbia, this drama is Directed and Written by Srdan Golubovic and centres around a determined father who treks from his village home to the Serbian capital Belgrade to protest against the removal of his kids.

* 'HIGH GROUND' - is a historical action thriller from Australia Directed by Stephen Johnson and starring Jack Thompson, Caren Pistorius, Simon Baker, Ryan Corr, Callan Mulvey and Jacob Junior Nayinggul and surrounds the sole survivor of a massacre as a child in 1919, Gutjuk is recruited twelve years later to hunt for a violent Aboriginal warrior.

* 'BRIGHTON' - is an English comedy drama Directed and Co-Written for the screen by Stephen Cookson and featuring Phil Davis, Adjoa Andoh, Lesley Sharp, Marion Bailey and Larry Lamb about two British working-class couples who return to Brighton after forty years and struggle to accept changes in both society and themselves.

For the full list of all feature films, short films, celebrity interviews and more, you can go to the official website at : https://www.cheltfilm.com/

Turning the attention then back to this coming week, we have six new release movies coming to your local Odeon to warm your bones on a cold Winter's evening. This week we have new films from almost all corners of the globe - Canada, Wales, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina and the US kicking off with a true story of Canadian farmer who in 1998 took on a giant corporation after their GMOs interfere with his crops. This is followed by a story of an unlikely race horse bred by a small-town Welsh bartender, who with no experience, convinces her neighbours to chip in their meagre earnings to help raise the horse in the hopes he can compete with the racing elites. Next up is the story of three Maori cousins who each live three very different and tumultuous lives, after one of them is taken from her family and raised in an orphanage. Then we have a sea plane destroyed in a freak accident, and five people find themselves drifting on a raft at the mercy of the tide and with little hope of rescue, the helpless situation takes a horrifying turn when they are terrorised by a ravenous great white. Following this and during the infamous Argentinian Depression of 2001, the neighbours of a little town conceive a plan to recover the money they lost after learning that their bank manager and a corrupt lawyer have stolen it. And closing out the week we have an animated tale about how a young girls life is changed forever when she moves from her home in the city to a small frontier town and befriends a wild mustang.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the six latest release new movies 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 week ahead.

'PERCY' aka 'PERCY vs GOLIATH' (Rated PG) - this Canadian-American-Indian biographical drama film is Directed by Clark Johnson who has 104 screen acting credits to his name and sixty-seven as Director, mostly of TV shows but also the occasional feature film including 'S.W.A.T.' in 2003, 'The Sentinel' in 2006 and 'Juanita' in 2019. The film premiered at the 2020 Quebec City Film Festival, and was released in Canada in early October 2020, and now gets its release in Australia from this week, having so far generated reasonably positive Press. 

Based on events that took place in 1998, this is the true story of a small-town farmer taking on one of the largest agricultural and food manufacturing corporations, Monsanto. Percy Schmeiser (Christopher Walken), a third-generation farmer, is sued by the corporate giant for allegedly using their patented seeds on his farm during two growing seasons. With little resources to fight the giant legal battle in which Monsanto demand US$150K in compensation plus legal costs Percy joins forces with up-and-coming attorney Jackson Weaver (Zach Braff) and environmental activist Rebecca Salcau (Christina Ricci) to fight one of the most monumental cases all the way up to the Supreme Court. Also starring Martin Donovan, Adam Beach, Luke Kirby and Roberta Maxwell.

'DREAM HORSE' (Rated PG) - is a sports comedy drama film Directed by Welshman Euros Lyn, whose previous feature film credits are 'Diwrnod Hollol Mindblowing Heddiw' in 2000 and 'The Library Suicides' in 2016, plus a bunch of TV series episodes including 'Casualty', 'Torchwood', 'Doctor Who', 'Sherlock', 'Upstairs Downstairs', 'Black Mirror', 'Broadchurch', 'Daredevil' and 'His Dark Materials'. The film saw its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival back in January 2020, and was originally scheduled to be released in the UK in mid-April 2020, and in the US in early May 2020, but these were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently released Stateside in late May and in the UK last week the film has generated mostly positive Reviews and has so far grossed US$2M. And so here we have the true story of Dream Alliance, an unlikely race horse bred by Welsh bartender Jan Vokes (Toni Collette). With very little money and no experience, Jan convinces her neighbours to chip in their earnings to help raise Dream Alliance in the hopes he can compete with the racing elites. The group's investment pays off as Dream Alliance begins to rise through the ranks with grit and determination and goes on to race in the Welsh Grand National. Also starring Damian Lewis, Owen Teale, Sian Phillips, Peter Davison and Joanna Page.

'COUSINS' (Rated M) - this New Zealand drama film is Directed by Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace Smith with the former also Producing and the latter also Writing, based on the 1992 novel by Patricia Grace. The pair have collaborated before on 2017's feature film 'Waru'. Here then we have Mata (Tanea Heke), Missy (Rachel House) and Makareta (Briar Grace Smith). Three cousins. Three lives. Separated by circumstances, yet bound together by blood. Orphaned Mata (Anna Scotney) believes she has no extended family and lives out her lonely childhood in fear and bewilderment. Back home on the land, educated Makareta (Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne) flees an arranged marriage to study law and begin the search for her missing cousin. She leaves behind cheeky yet dutiful Missy (Hariata Moriarty) who takes on her role as guardian of the land. As the years pass, loss of the family land seems imminent and the women’s promise to bring their stolen cousin home seems more unlikely than ever, until a chance encounter changes everything. 

'GREAT WHITE' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian survival horror offering is Directed by Martin Wilson in his feature film debut. Released in Australia this week before its US release in mid-July, here we have an all too familiar shark bait story, as a seemingly blissful tourist trip to the picturesque Hell's Reef quickly turns into a nightmare when five passengers on a downed seaplane become stranded miles from shore on a life raft. In a desperate bid for survival the group try to make it to land before they either run out of supplies or are taken by a couple of menacing terrors lurking just beneath the surface. Starring Katrina Bowden, Aaron Jakubenko, Tim Kano, Kimie Tsukakoshi and Te Kohe Tuhaka. The film has so far garnered mixed or average Reviews.

'HEROIC LOSERS' (Rated M) - is an Argentinian heist film Directed and Co-Written by Sebastian Borensztein, and based on the 2016 novel 'La noche de la Usina' ('The Night of the Heroic Losers') by Eduardo Sacheri, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Released in its native Argentina in mid-August 2019, it saw its international premiere as part of the Special Presentations section at the Toronto International Film Festival, has garnered generally positive Critical reaction and has so far grossed US$7M. In 2001, as Argentina is hitting its lowest ebb in its great depression, with his glory days far behind him, retired soccer star Fermin Perlassi (Ricardo Darin) now runs a service station in a small provincial town. Hoping to pull his family and their community out of decline, he seeks to convert some abandoned grain silos into a viable storage facility. He convinces friends to invest in the cooperative, but is railroaded by a conniving bank manager and a corrupt lawyer into placing their cash into a savings account just as the banks are about to be frozen by the government, rendering their money useless and their plans thwarted. For a while things seem to go from bad to worse, until rumours spread of a secret depository containing the cooperative’s pilfered cash and much more besides. With Fermin as their Robin Hood like leader, the group conspires to infiltrate the stash of cash, but it’s going to take some serious resolve, a little inspiration, and a lot of luck to pull off this heist. Also starring Chino Darin, Luis Brandoni, Veronica Llinas, Daniel Araoz, Carlos Belloso, Marco Caponi, Rita Cortese and Andres Parra.

'SPIRIT UNTAMED' (Rated G) - this computer-animated adventure film is Produced by DreamWorks Animation and is Directed by Elaine Bogan and Co-Directed by Ennio Torresan Jr., in their feature film directorial debuts. This is the second cinema released film of the Spirit franchise, and is a spin-off of the traditionally animated 2002 film 'Spirit : Stallion of the Cimarron' and based on its Netflix animated spin-off TV series 'Spirit Riding Free'. After moving to Miradero a sleepy little frontier town, young Lucky Prescott (voiced by Isabela Merced) befriends a wild kiger mustang named Spirit, who shares her rebellious spirit. When heartless wrangler Hendricks (voiced by Walton Goggins) plans to capture Spirit and his herd, Lucky and her new friends embark on the adventure of a lifetime to rescue the horse that forever changed her life. Also starring the voice talents of Jake Gyllenhaal, Julianne Moore, Mckenna Grace and Andre Braugher, the film has so far received mixed or average Reviews and has recouped US$1M from its US$30M budget since it opened in the US last week. 

With six new release films 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 in the coming week, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

A QUIET PLACE : PART II - Tuesday 1st June 2021.

'A QUIET PLACE : PART II' which I saw this week is an M Rated eagerly anticipated long awaited American horror follow-up to 2018's 'A Quiet Place' which grossed US$341M off the back of a US$20M production budget, and was Co-Written, Directed and starred John Krasinski. For this sequel John Krasinski returns to the Directors chair and he also wrote, Co-Produced and once again has a small role in this film, even though his character was killed off in the first film. This film saw its World Premier screening in New York City back on 8th March 2020, with a worldwide release set from 20th March 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was rescheduled to 4th September 2020. It was then changed to 23rd April 2021 and then changed again to 17th September 2021. After three postponements, it was moved earlier in the year to last week. This film was made for US$61M, has so far grossed US$90M and has generated largely positive Critical acclaim. Apparently, in May of this year Emily Blunt revealed that her husband John Krasinski has an idea for a third instalment. 

The film kicks off on Day One of the alien attack, over a year before the events of the first film. The Abbott family are attending their son Marcus' (Noah Jupe) baseball game. Lee Abbott (John Krasinski) has just returned from a general store where he has picked up a supply of fresh oranges for the mid-game break. He sits with his daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and his wife Evelyn (Emily Blunt) talking with another Dad, Emmett (Cillian Murphy) about how the game is unfolding. Mid-game the players and the spectators notice a burning object in the skies above their town hurtling towards the Earth. 

Panic ensues and most attempt to get outta there quickly by retreating to their cars and driving off. Lee drives off with Regan and Evelyn drives off with her two sons, agreeing to meet back at their farm house. Needless to say it doesn't end well for the townsfolk when many are systematically attacked indiscriminately by rampaging blind aliens with hypersensitive hearing and seemingly impenetrable armour like skin. The Abbott's are able to get out alive, but only just having been chased down by one such alien, who dispenses with the local Police Officer instead. 

We then fast forward to day 474 since the aliens arrived on Earth and wiped out much of the population, including Lee who sacrificed himself at the end of the first film while attempting to save Regan and Marcus from an approaching alien creature. Regan had discovered that the aliens are vulnerable to high-frequency audio feedback, and devised a means of transmitting her cochlear implant hearing aid's noise through a microphone and radio, so allowing Evelyn to shoot the creatures dead while in their vulnerable state. And so with Lee dead, we pick up where the last film left off. The Abbott family, together with their newborn son leave the farm for good, with the barn burning and only what they can carry between them. Evelyn is carrying an oxygen cylinder for the newborn baby and Regan has retrieved a portable guitar amplifier and microphone with which to fend off any alien attack. They head off down the sand path in search for what might remain of human communities at which they can reestablish themselves.

The Abbott's come to what looks like an abandoned train yard and enter a fenced-off area. Evelyn treads on a trip wire causing a bunch of cans and bottles tied to a rope to come crashing down. She orders Regan and Marcus to 'run' as an alien is alerted by the jangling noise. Marcus runs over a bear trap and his foot is caught. He screams out in agony which only further serves to attract an alien. Evelyn is able to shoot it dead as it approaches and then she frees her son who can now barely walk. 

The family runs into an abandoned steel foundry just as another alien approaches. Inside, with the alien giving chase, they run into Emmett, who hurriedly takes them to his bunker under the foundry, and they all hide in a giant cauldron until the coast is clear. Later that evening when Marcus has had his injuries attended to, he and Regan hear a radio signal broadcasting the song 'Beyond the Sea' on a loop. Regan comes to the conclusion that it is a clue meant to lead survivors to a radio tower on a nearby island. 

She decides to venture out alone, much to Marcus' chagrin, to go there in secret and transmit the high-frequency noise her hearing aid produces, allowing anyone picking up the signal to use it to thwart the aliens. After realising that Regan has left, Evelyn begs Emmett to go find her and bring her back. He eventually catches up with Regan inside the wreckage of an old train carriage and saves her from an alien.  He tells her they will be returning at once. However, after explaining her plan to him and appealing to his sense of duty he reluctantly agrees to help complete her mission. Back at Emmett's bunker, Evelyn leaves Marcus and her baby for just a couple of hours to go in search of much needed needed medical supplies, including oxygen for the baby, and bandages and medication to treat Marcus' injured foot and ankle. While she is gone, Marcus decides to explore the foundry by torchlight. He is startled when he comes across the corpse of Emmett's deceased wife, sending him reeling backwards in shock and knocking over several objects on a nearby table. This alerts a nearby alien to his location. He runs quickly back to the bunker, bundles up the baby, grabs the oxygen cylinder and then inadvertently locks himself and the baby inside the cauldron.

Meanwhile, Emmett tells Regan that he has located a boat to get them across to the island. Under cover of darkness the pair search a marina for a suitable vessel, when they are attacked by a group of feral humans who attempt to take Regan with them, while binding Emmett with fishing net to which is tied cans and bells. While the ferals are walking down the jetty with Regan, Emmett motions to her to dive into the water, leaving him to deliberately attract two aliens that set about slaughtering the ferals. One alien falls into the water and flails about while another becomes trapped on a boat. By now Emmett is in the water himself watching the carnage unfold before him. He realises the aliens cannot swim. 

Regan secures a boat and the two escape. Regan and Emmett arrive at the island and find a colony of human survivors living a near normal existence. The community's leader (Djimon Hounsou) explains that when the government discovered the aliens were unable to swim, the National Guard moved as many people as possible to the islands, but when people began to selfishly fight to get aboard, the aliens attacked and destroyed all but two of the twelve boats scheduled to leave. 

In the bunker, Marcus and the baby begin to run out of oxygen in the cylinder and the cauldron is airtight. Marcus loses consciousness. Almost at the point of suffocation Evelyn returns carrying her much needed medical supplies and two full oxygen cylinders. Hearing the cacophony Evelyn distracts the alien by firing a bullet at one of the cylinders which explodes in a ball of flame enveloping the alien. But, the alien comes out the other side almost unscathed, so she disorients it by setting off the overhead sprinkler system and then saves Marcus and her young son by clambering into the cauldron but being mindful not to lock them inside. The three share the oxygen tank to survive while the alien waits outside.

The next day, Emmett discovers an alien has drifted to the island on a boat, carried along by the tide. Just as Emmett races to alert the island folk it emerges and starts slaughtering everyone in its path. Emmett, Regan, and the leader lure the alien to the radio station, but upon entering the leader is grabbed from behind and killed by the alien which then follows Regan and Emmett inside. Emmett sustains an injury to his leg by being clawed by the alien when he attempts to distract it, but Regan is able to play the high-pitched sound from her implant through the radio station's internal speakers so weakening the alien. She then walks towards the alien and brings down a heavy pole through its head, killing it outright. At the same time in the bunker, Marcus picks up the signal and routes it through his portable radio, weakening the alien waiting outside. He approaches holding the radio aloft and shoots it with Evelyn's revolver, killing it. Regan leaves her hearing aid on the radio station microphone, allowing anyone picking up the correct frequency to use the noise to fight them darn pesky no good aliens.

'A Quiet Place : Part II' is a great sequel to a great movie, and in this second instalment Director and Writer John Krasinski has crafted a scary, emotional, tense, taut, lean monster feature that ups the action, the suspense and the feeling of dread in a truly immersive piece of film making that proves he is no one trick pony. Emily Blunt's Evelyn here takes a back seat to the action (albeit remaining as equally grounded and more in protective maternal mode) that is more centered upon Millicent Simmonds Regan and newcomer Cillian Murphy's Emmett as the pair venture out to find salvation from the marauding alien monsters. Noah Jupe's Marcus also puts in a convincing turn as both son and daughter ultimately lay to waste an alien foe so saving themselves and a pair of incapacitated adults in the process. The production values are top notch, and both the Editor and Cinematographer deserve a special mention for the part they play in crafting three varying story lines into a coherent whole. My only gripe would be that the origin and what motivates the alien creatures to randomly kill every human in sight is not touched upon - at all, and as such it feels that Krasinski has all too little to say about them anyway, or that they are poorly conceived, or that for the audience he would rather let the slicing and dicing of their human prey do the talking. That said, 'A Quiet Place : Part II' is certainly well worth the price of your cinema ticket, and if these first two films in the series is anything to go by, then bring on 'A Quiet Place : Part III'.

'A Quiet Place : Part II' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-