We have a treat for you this week, a month or so after we’ve all enjoyed spending Christmas with family and friends Rialto offers a rather different perspective on Christmas, and its mythical characters.
We have a treat for you this week, a month or so after we’ve all enjoyed spending Christmas with family and friends Rialto offers a rather different perspective on Christmas, and its mythical characters.
We’re currently running a World Cinema series called Around the World in 80 Days, and this week we’re screening two films from Finland, on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, including Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale.
One of the things I love about World Cinema is how unpredictable it is, and the bold choices made by the filmmakers - not just with a film’s narrative, but also in their choice of tone and genre.
Christmas films are generally children friendly, but Finnish film Rare Exports (Tuesday 5th February, 8.30pm) is not a film my kids will be seeing anytime soon. Director Jalmari Helander had the audacity to make a deadpan, dark comedy about an evil Santa Claus and his not-so-helpful elves, and it borders on being a horror film.
It’s an unusual film that runs out of steam a little near the end, but it’s still one of the most original, funny and suspenseful Christmas flicks you’ll see - if you dare!
Pick number two this week is the documentary We’re Not Broke (Thursday 7th February, 8.30pm). Any sympathy you may have for America’s fiscal situation may dissipate after watching this documentary on the U.S corporate tax system. The soundtrack is cheesy, and many of the protesters they follow are underwhelming compared to the insightful, informed interviews with tax experts and economists. But the message is clear; the average American is sick of paying their tax when large multibillion-dollar corporations use off-shore tax havens to avoid paying any tax at all.
Considering how prominent lobbyists are in the American political system, and that it costs at least a billion dollars these days to run for President, making substantial changes to this complex tax system is a challenge. It’s clear, however, that the jobs vs. taxes argument will continue to be at the forefront of American politics.
And finally, this week we screen Roman Polanski’s character driven piece on middle class manners called Carnage (Saturday 9th February, 8.30pm). Two things make this film worth seeing; its fabulous cast and an impressive and realistic projectile vomit from actress Kate Winslet.
It might not sound like it, but Carnage is a classy drama/comedy about two sets of parents who meet to discuss a playground fight between their eleven-year-old sons. John Reilly and Jodie Foster play the “victims” parents and Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz play the parents of the “bully”. It’s a talkfest that starts off politely but quickly descends into chaos as parenting skills are questioned and marriage rifts exposed.
The film is set almost entirely within a New York apartment and is based on a play by Yasmina Reza (The God of Carnage). While the performances are engaging, Polanski’s film never really loses its origins - it still feels like a play acted out on the big screen.
However, as I mentioned, Kate Winslet’s unexpected projectile vomit over the coffee table is well-worth seeing. The other nice thing, it’s short and sharp – Polanski knows when enough is enough.
Enjoy.