Amour (12A)
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Dir: Michael Haneke
With: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva
Runtime: 127 minutes
MUCH like its subject, Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or-winning drama is something of a mystery. Technically brilliant, flawlessly shot and with outstanding performances from its central duo, it is curiously uninvolving. Georges and Anne (veteran actors Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva) are the married Parisiens in the twilight of their years who find themselves, and their marriage, tested by poor health. At once a portrait of love and a study of infirmity, Amour goes through all the motions of engaging the heart and mind, but never entirely succeeds.
Out November 16.
Rust & Bone (15)
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Director: Jacques Audiard
With: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts
Runtime: 122 minutes
UNLIKE Haneke's Amour, this French tale of love among the lost moves and engages from the off. Stephanie (Marion Cotillard) works with killer whales; Alain (Matthias Schoenaerts), a bare knuckle fighter, takes his life in his hands in other ways. Neither party wants anyone else in their life, but slowly and surely a bond forms. Jacques Audiard, director of A Prophet, delivers a story that's heartfelt and convincing, all the more so for not being neatly packaged.
Out November 2.
Hyde Park on Hudson (CTBC)
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Dir: Roger Michell
With: Bill Murray, Laura Linney
Runtime: 95 minutes
FROM the director of Notting Hill comes the curious tale of the special relationship between Franklin Roosevelt and his cousin Margaret, played by Bill Murray and Laura Linney. As Queen Elizabeth and King George descend on the titular presidential home as war looms, the birth of another special relationship is given the once over as well. This is a handsome piece that can't decide how seriously it wants to play things; the politics mixing with the playful. There's blue blood American acting talent on show in Murray and Linney, but it's the plucky Brits, Olivia Colman and Olivia Williams, who steal the picture with portraits of Elizabeth R and Eleanor R.
Out February 1.
End of Watch (15)
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Dir: David Ayer
With: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena
Runtime: 108 minutes
YES, it's yet another cop buddy movie with men doing what men have to do when they join the LAPD. But David Ayer's film has a freshness about it, and an outstanding performance by newcomer Michael Pena, to bump it far up the rankings of cop movies. Pena and Jake Gyllenhaal are the patrol cops who stumble on a case that is way above their pay grade. Shot for the most part in verite style, and with a rich streak of bleak humour, End of Watch tears along with tyres squealing right to the end.
Out November 23.
Midnight's Children (CTBC)
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Dir: Deepa Mehta
With: Seema Biswas, Shahana Goswami
Runtime: 148 minutes
Deepa Mehta's picture starts off promisingly only to become increasingly confused and confusing as the history of nations is played out through one character, a boy switched at birth as India is born. The film looks terrific, and for a long time it is enough to gaze upon the spectacle of it all, but after an hour of that one begins to long for a shorter version of history. Salman Rushdie adapted the screenplay from his novel, and in failing to prune his tale enough shows why it can be a bad idea for a screenwriter to be too close to the material.
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