After a brief encounter with February, the first week of March brings with it 14 new releases. With a schedule ranging from the physical theatre of Sea Without Shore to a celebration of short films in BAFTA Shorts 2015, as well as the latest comedy starring Vince Vaughn, Unfinished Business, it is a great way to kickstart the month. Take a break from the woes of mid-semester assignments and escape to the cinema for one of these new releases.
Sea Without Shore is brought to us by Zikzira Physical Theatre. The hauntingly physical performance of the film is an exploration of love at the fin-de-siècle, as the relationship between two women is abruptly cut short. With the surviving love being drawn into the depth of the mid-winter forest and streams of consciousness, it seems there may be no way to escape.
Appropriate Behaviour follows Shirin’s struggle to become the ideal Persian daughter, whilst simultaneously embodying a politically correct bisexual and a hip young ‘Brooklynite.’ In trying to escape any cliché in the comedy, Shirin gets tangled in the difficulties of hiding her other personality (and new found relationship with Maxine) from her parents.
Showcasing ‘cinema at its purest’ is the BAFTA Shorts 2015. It presents a feature length package of films nominated for the British Short Film and British Short Animation awards at this year’s BAFTAs, with films from eight different directors.
Starring Hugh Jackman, the futuristic Chappie centres on a robot stolen from the oppressive robotic police force by programmer Deon. When Chappie is reprogrammed, he is given the ability to think and feel for himself- but this creates worries about the potential threat of artificial intelligence by those who created them.
Difret is a drama set three hours outside of the capital of Ethiopia. When a 14-year-old Hirut is kidnapped and raped on her way home from school by her would-be husband, the kidnapper is accidentally killed. Meaza, a young lawyer, must step in and represent Hirut and attempt to prove that the shooting was an act of self defence.
Dreamcatcher is a crime documentary about Brenda Myers-Powell, who called herself ‘Breezy’ as a teenager when involved in prostitution and drug addiction. After waking up in a hospital, Breezy makes the decision to change her life. The documentary then follows the cycle of violence and exploitation that had lead Breezy, and so many girls like her, to think that prostitution is the only option.
Enakkul Oruvan develops as Mukhil, a man suffering from insomnia, is offered a drug called Lucia. Lucia, the ‘dream pill,’ makes his desires come true in his dreams and begin to blur the vision between reality and dreams.
A tender film which captures the most vital 24-hours in two people’s lives. High Tide, a gut-wrenching drama starring Melanie Walters as a mother with one day to reclaim a relationship with her teenage son Josh, played by Samuel Davies, before their lives are changed forever.
Hyena, graphic crime-drama starring Peter Ferdinando and Stephen Graham. While good policing is always necessarily straight down the line, how does a “good” policeman survive in London as the business of crime turns to favour the Albanians and Turks?
Kill The Messenger is centred on the true story of journalist Gary Webb whose decision to pursue a story exposing illicit cocaine smuggling by the CIA found him in the midst of a vicious smear campaign which forced him to fight for his integrity, his family, and his life.
Life of Riley, French comedy starring Sabine Azéma and Sandrine Kiberlain as amateur dramatics enthusiasts who discover their close friend George to be fatally ill with only a few months to live.
Starring Julianne Moore, Alex Bladwin, Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern, Still Alice is the Oscar-winning adaptation of Lisa Genova’s moving novel concerning the effects of early-onset Alzheimer’s on a young linguistics professor and her family.
Unfinished Business is a comedy starring Vince Vaughan and Dave Franco. A trio of hard-working businessman travel to Europe in anticipation of closing the deal of their lives. But what at first seemed to be a rather routine business trip escalates in every imaginable – and unimaginable – way.
White Bird In A Blizzard, set in 1988 Shailene Woodley stars as teenage Kat Connors who at 17 is mysteriously abandoned by her mother. Later confronted with the truth Kat must not only come to terms with her mother’s departure, but her own denial about the motive behind her abandonment.
