As you’re probably more than aware, December kicks off next week and along with it a whole new collection of films on Rialto Channel. The highlight for me is the Film Star Face Off featuring the works of two of the most talented and rather gorgeous actors working today; Michael Fassbender and Ryan Gosling. They’re both fearless, versatile, intense and likeable actors who flit comfortably between the indie and mainstream worlds, and they’ve both worked hard to become know as more than just ‘the guy from The Notebook’ and the ‘hung actor’. Every Friday night, Rialto Channel will screen a film from both actors such as Fassbender’s Hunger, A Dangerous Method and Shame, and Gosling’s Half Nelson, Drive and Only God Forgives. If you don’t already have a favourite, you will by the end of this Film Star Face Off. I can’t think of a better way to wind down the year.
This week there’s plenty to enjoy on Rialto Channel as ambitious filmmakers from around the world take us on delightful and unique adventures. Here are my picks for the week.
As you’re probably more than aware, December kicks off next week and along with it a whole new collection of films on Rialto Channel. The highlight for me is the Film Star Face Off featuring the works of two of the most talented and rather gorgeous actors working today; Michael Fassbender and Ryan Gosling. They’re both fearless, versatile, intense and likeable actors who flit comfortably between the indie and mainstream worlds, and they’ve both worked hard to become know as more than just ‘the guy from The Notebook’ and the ‘hung actor’. Every Friday night, Rialto Channel will screen a film from both actors such as Fassbender’s Hunger, A Dangerous Method and Shame, and Gosling’s Half Nelson, Drive and Only God Forgives. If you don’t already have a favourite, you will by the end of this Film Star Face Off. I can’t think of a better way to wind down the year.
This week there’s plenty to enjoy on Rialto Channel as ambitious filmmakers from around the world take us on delightful and unique adventures. Here are my picks for the week.
Monday 23rd November, 8.30pm … Kaplan
This charming meditation on old age and the significance of ones life was Uruguay’s submission to the 2015 Academy Awards Foreign Language category. Written and directed by Alvaro Brechner, Kaplan is a deadpan comedy about Jacob Kaplan (Hector Noguera), a Polish Jew who escaped WWII as a child by fleeing to Uruguay, and now at 76 years of age, believes he’s discovered a former Nazi running a local beachfront café. He’s made this assumption on the slimmest of evidence - his granddaughter and her friends call this elderly German gentleman “The Nazi” – and yet he’s sure that uncovering this war criminal is his destiny. Wilson (Nestor Guzzini), a hapless, unemployed former cop who has been hired by Jacob’s family to drive him around, joins in on Jacob’s quest to capture and bundle this mysterious German out of Uruguay and back to Israel for trial. Jacob and Wilson are delightfully mismatched, and that adds to the fun, as too does Jacob’s delightfully stoic and patient wife Rebeca (Nidia Telles). The film is inspired by Colombian author Marco Schwartz’s novel El Salmo de Kaplan, and Brechner’s own grandfather Jaime Brechner, who fled Poland for Uruguay in 1939. The delightful scene where Jacob, who can’t swim, attempts to prove to his friends that swimming is just a survival instinct and then needs to be saved by his wife, is just one of those fond memories and anecdotes of his grandfather that Brechner shares with us in this quirky and enjoyable film.
Wednesday 25th November 8.30pm… Cut Snake
Tony Ayres is a gay Asian-Australian arthouse director, and one of Australia’s most respected filmmakers. He released his debut feature, the AFI award winning Walking on Water, in 2002 followed by the semi-autobiographical Home Song Stories in 2007, as well as contributing to The Turning, an adaptation of short stories by Tim Winton in 2013. This year he released his latest effort Cut Snake, a melodramatic romance and period crime thriller filled with immaculate art direction and an excellent cast lead by Sullivan Stapleton (300: Rise of an Empire, Animal Kingdom), and rising stars Alex Russell (Unbroken) and Jessica de Gouw (These Final Hours). Set in Melbourne during the 1970s, Cut Snake is a tense psychologically driven crime thriller that tells the story of a young ex-con called Sparra (Russell) who is trying to get on with his life after a stint in jail. His fiancée Paula (de Gouw) has no idea about his past, but that all changes when his old cell mate, the dangerous and intense Pommie (Stapleton) tracks him down. While Cut Snake contributes to Australia’s growing reputation for producing great crime thrillers and television series, Ayres film is unique thanks to its twist on the love triangle premise. It’s a step in a new direction for Ayres and while this brutal, intensely violent and passionate romance film noir doesn’t surpass his previous work, is worth watching for Stapleton’s superb performance alone.
Saturday 28th November, 8.30pm… Anarchy
Anarchy, known as Cymbeline in America is director Michael Almereyda’s ambitious adaptation of one of William Shakespeare’s lesser-known plays. In 2000, Almereyda released a modern day interpretation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet staring Ethan Hawke, and he takes the same approach with Cymbeline setting the play in a contemporary setting and retaining, but trimming Shakespeare’s language. Cymbeline is a particularly tricky tragedy to follow. It’s filled with scheming, politics, misunderstandings and romantic intrigues as the leader of a motorcycle gang (Ed Harris) goes into battle against the police. At the same time his daughter (Dakota Johnson) secretly marries against her father’s wishes. Everyone has an agenda in this film, and there are plenty of twists and turns and yet it’s not always easy to follow. Some of the cast (Ethan Hawke, John Leguizamo and Anton Yelchin) handle Shakespeare’s words well, others get lost in them, making it harder for us to follow proceedings. However, if you’ve ever wondering what would happen if you combined Sons of Anarchy and Shakespeare, then here’s your answer.