Well, here we go again! Another year has arrived and this January Rialto Channel has another superb lineup of films, including a collection of crime documentaries profiling an interesting array of characters and subjects. Check my blog later this week for a more in-depth look at what’s coming up in the Rialto Documentary slot on Thursday evenings, but in the meantime make a note to watch the profile on cultural icon, pimp and author Iceberg Slim in Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp.

Well, here we go again! Another year has arrived and this January Rialto Channel has another superb lineup of films, including a collection of crime documentaries profiling an interesting array of characters and subjects. Check my blog later this week for a more in-depth look at what’s coming up in the Rialto Documentary slot on Thursday evenings, but in the meantime make a note to watch the profile on cultural icon, pimp and author Iceberg Slim in Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp.

Here are a few of my highlights for the week:

To Rome With Love

Starring Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz, Roberto Benigni & Jesse Eisenberg

Directed by Woody Allen

Premieres Saturday 11^th January, 8.30pm

Farce, fantasy and comedy come together in Woody Allen’s madcap love-letter to the city of Rome. As you expect from Allen, To Rome With Love is filled with an ensemble cast and a series of stories, some intertwined and some not related at all. He takes a magical realism approach, with a collection of storylines slightly wackier than usual – possibly inspired by the success of his previous film Midnight in Paris. An ordinary citizen (Benigni) suddenly finds himself Rome’s biggest celebrity, an American architect (Baldwin) relives his younger days in Rome, and an American opera director (Allen) discovers a funeral director who sings magnificently in the shower, and puts him on the stage – shower and all. These are just a few of the shenanigans in this beautifully shot and witty homage.

Apart Together

Starring Lisa Lu, Ling Feng, Xu Caigen, Monica Mok

Directed by Wang Quan’an

Premieres Wednesday 8^th January, 8.30pm

Rialto World continues throughout January, screening two films over consecutive nights from the same country. This week, the focus is on China with Memory of Love screening on Tuesday 7^th at 8.30pm, followed by Apart Together on Wednesday evening at 8.30pm. Written and directed by Wang Quan’an, Apart Together is a light family drama that tells the story of Liu (Ling Feng), who returns home to Shanghai after a 50-year exile in Taiwan. A Nationalist solider during the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949), Liu escaped the Communists but left behind his pregnant girlfriend Qiao Yu'e (Lisa Lu). It’s his intention to find his first love and return to Taiwan with her; he just has to convince her husband and family first. The political and historical references add some weight but Wang Quan’an keeps it understated in what is essentially a moving and amusing love story.

Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp

Starring Iceberg Slim, Chris Rock, Henry Rollins, Ice-T, Snoop Dogg, and Quincy Jones.

Directed by Jorge Hinojosa

Premieres Thursday 9^th January, 8.30pm

Produced by Ice T, Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp is just that – a portrait of a pimp. Although Iceberg Slim was a particularly colourful character that used his rather gritty life experiences to write seven groundbreaking books that are regarded as the birth of Street Lit. Director Jorge Hinojasa at times verges on hero worship but he redeems things in the second half, where he makes more of an effort to reveal the man behind the myth, not glossing over the grim details of Iceberg Slim’s profession. Plenty of impressive talking heads feature along with interview footage of Slim himself (who passed away in 1992), complemented by graphic art depicting Slim’s shady dealings.