Based on the harrowing memoir of Eric Lomax, who was one of thousands of Allied Prisoners of war forced to work on the construction of the Thai/Burma Railway during WWII. Colin Firth plays a buttoned-down introvert who is helped by his new wife to finally confront the horrible events of his captivity which he has tried to blot out. An unforgettable story about cruelty, endurance, courage and making peace with demons from the past.
15 cert – UK 2013 – Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
Running time: 116 minutes – Language: English
Cast: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgard
In this award winning, warm and affectionate film, Saajan, a Mumbai office worker nearing retirement is delivered the wrong lunch by a dabbawala. Young housewife ,Ila, had intended it for her emotionally indifferent husband. To Saajan’s surprise, the food is a vast improvement on his usual meal. When he finds a note from Ila enclosed with another meal, he decides to write back. So begins Ritesh Batra’s exquisite comedy-drama.
Immature New Jersey party boy Jon gives his female conquests scores out of ten but none of them can compare with the women in the porn he is infatuated with. His family and friends, even his local priest, wonder if he will ever grow up and have a relationship based on mutual respect. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut is an endearing comedy with a thought-provoking message
Small-time con-man Irving (Christian Bale) and his seductive British partner Sydney (Amy Adams) are forced into working with a rogue FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) who pushes them into a world of shady New Jersey powerbrokers and Mafia that’s as dangerous as it is alluring. Filled with rich characters, sharp dialogue, big hairstyles and knockout 70’s soundtrack, American Hustle earned David O. Russell a Golden Globe for Best Film Comedy and three Baftas for Make-up and Hair, Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Lawrence.
Adapting his 2008 one-man stage show for the big screen, the award-winning French theatre actor Guillaume Gallienne revisits his sexually confused youth in this flamboyant farce, which premiered to rapturous applause in Cannes. The 41 year old Gallienne plays himself from school-age child to awkward adolescent to young man. There are shades of Pedro Almodovar, as Gallienne unpicks his complicated love-hate relationship with his domineering mother, who raised him more like a daughter than a son. Despite all the indignities suffered during his formative years, he maintains a cheeriness and perseverance that reward him in the end.
Spike Jonze’s film about a lonely man who falls in love with his computer operating system (you’ll just have to go with this one) manages to be weird, witty and wise all at once. Joaquin Phoenix is endearing as the bruised divorcee withdrawing from real human contact, while Scarlett Johansson provides the soft voice to spark his imagination. But the greatest plaudits must go to Jonze’s Oscar-winning script which doesn’t put a word wrong.
Lucus is forced to start over after his marital breakup. Just as things are starting to turn around, his life is torn apart when an untruthful remark made by a child spreads throughout his small community into a collective state of hysteria. An unnerving yet engrossing psychological drama which highlights the best and worst of human character traits. Mads Mikkelsen (a Royal Affair) won the Best Actor Award at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival for his penetrating portrayal of the wronged school teacher.
The Kings of Summer is a unique coming-of-age indie film about three teenage friends who, in the ultimate act of independence, decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the land. Free from their parents’ rules, their idyllic summer quickly becomes a test of friendship as each boy learns to appreciate the fact that family – whether it is the one you’re born into or the one you create – is something you can’t run away from.
A desperate family from the northern Philippines leave the rice fields to seek a better life in the city. Within a week of moving into the capital, they are struggling to feed their children. When the father at last lands a job with a security firm, he thinks he has made the right move, but a high mortality rate among his co-workers and some shady business dealings at work raise his doubts. Metro Manila is an intense and emotionally gripping crime thriller set in the colourful squalor of modern Manila.
The Grand Budapest Hotel recounts the adventures of Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes), its legendary concierge and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story revolves around the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune – all set in the fictitious central European country of Zubrowka between the wars. Wes Anderson has attracted an ensemble cast in this typically stylish and visually scrumptious screwball comedy.