Filmhouse Preview July
If all those sweltering temperatures over the last week or two have gone to your head (and your skin pigment), why not seek some shelter in the welcoming confines of the cinema? The Filmhouse in Edinburgh and the GFT in Glasgow have both unleashed their programme for the month ahead, so here’s a sneak peek at what’s in store.
Rupert Everett / UK, Germany, Belgium, Italy / 2018 / 105 mins
Rupert Everett steps to the fore in this portrayal of the last days of Oscar Wilde’s life, scooping up writer, director and actor credits in the process. Exiled in continental Europe after his high-profile incarceration and release for conducting an openly homosexual relationship, Wilde reflects on the persecution and hypocrisy of his contemporaries throughout his life.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 6 to Thu 12 Jul
Fatik Akin / Germany, France / 2017 / 106 mins
Diane Kruger gives a powerhouse performance as a recently bereaved wife and mother who will stop at nothing to track down the terrorists whose bomb claimed her loved ones’ lives. As she’s attacked on all sides by grief and shock, she learns more about her own code of ethics and just how far she’s willing to go to achieve some kind of justice.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 6 to Thu 12 Jul
Lucrecia Martel / Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Dominican Republic, France, Netherlands, Mexico, Switzerland, USA, Portugal, Lebanon / 2017 / 115 mins
An adaptation of the 1956 Argentinian classic novel by Antonio di Benedetto, Zama focuses on the eponymous officer of the Spanish Crown who is born to a tough life of servitude and strict rule enforcement in South America. Waiting for a letter from the king granting him permission to graduate to a better location, Zama must suffer all manner of indignities and humiliations, before risking all on a wild goose chase for a dangerous outlaw.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 6 to Mon 9 Jul
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts
Mouly Surya / Indonesia, France, Malaysia, Thailand / 2017 / 93 mins
A modern-day feminist Western revenge flick, Marlina the Murderer substitutes the spaghetti for satay and the plains of Italy for the barren beauty of rural Indonesia. As the title promises, over four acts our eponymous heroine takes her vengeance on a band of repulsively macho brigands who’ve come to rape and pillage her homestead in the wake of her husband’s death.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 6 to Mon 9 Jul
Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui / UK / 2018 / 111 mins
An examination of the life and career of fashion icon Alexander McQueen. Using never-before-seen interviews with friends and family, as well as some revealing archive footage and sumptuous visuals, McQueen affords us a rare insight into the mindset of this extraordinarily talented but desperately tortured individual. A must-see for fashion aficionados.
@ Filmhouse from Tue 10 to Sun 15 Jul
@ GFT from Fri 27 Jul
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms
Mari Okada / Japan / 2018 / 115 mins
A breath-taking Japanese animation, Maquia focuses on a title character whose people live for centuries and never age physically. After her land comes under attack from an invading army, Maquia flees for her life and stumbles across an orphaned baby – and it soon becomes clear he doesn’t share her own gifts of long life and youthful appearance.
@ Filmhouse from Tue 10 to Thu 12 Jul
Debra Granik / USA / 2018 / 109 mins
A father and his teenage daughter’s off-the-grid existence is thrown into disarray when their woodland home is invaded by social services, who sequester both in state care. Desperate to return to the land they love and the life they cherish, the pair must rage heartily against the machine if they are to have any chance of reclaiming the peaceful equilibrium they once enjoyed.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 13 to Thu 26 Jul
@ GFT from Fri 29 Jun
Michael R Roskan / Belgium, France, Netherlands, 2017 / 130 mins
The classic tale of star-crossed lovers is given a fresh modern update in the genre of Eurocrime, as upper-crust Bibi becomes passionately and irrevocably entangled with rough-around-the-edges Gigi. However, it’s not long before Gigi’s dark past comes back to haunt their burgeoning romance, with devastating consequences for the pair of them.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 13 to Thu 19 Jul
@ GFT from Fri 13 Jul
Kevin Macdonald / UK, USA / 2018 / 120 mins
Fresh from its UK premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, this stunning documentary takes a fond and moving look at the life of singing legend Whitney Houston. Packed full of exclusive home footage, unreleased recordings and revelatory interviews with friends and family, it’s a fitting tribute to a super singer and a woman taken long before her time.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 20 Jul to Thu 2 Aug
@ GFT from Fri 6 Jul
Ari Aster / USA / 2018 / 126 mins
In the wake of the Graham grandmother’s death, her daughter’s family begin to slowly uncover terrifying secrets about the history of the deceased matriarch. Before long, a trying but relatively mundane family tragedy evolves into a petrifying descent down the darkest of rabbit holes. Director Ari Aster’s acclaimed debut has drawn parallels with The Exorcist and earned plaudits both within and without the horror genre.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 20 to Thu 26 Jul
Daniel Kokotajlo / UK / 2017 / 95 mins
Sisters Alex and Luisa look to their mother Ivanna as a shining example of how to conduct themselves as good guardians of the Jehovah Witness faith. However, as Luisa reaches maturity and begins to question the wisdom of her peers’ teachings, she makes a decision that will turn her life upside down and risk ostracization not only from the congregation, but from her family as well.
@ Filmhouse on Sat 21 Jul and from Fri 27 Jul to Thu 2 Aug
@ GFT from Fri 27 Jul
Nancy Buirski / USA / 2017 / 91 mins
This documentary looks at the landmark case of Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black woman who was raped by six white men in the mid-1940s in rural Alabama. Instead of suffering her fate in silence, Recy spoke up and named her attackers, showing remarkable courage and instigating a nationwide surge of support that would change the face of race relations in the US forever.
@ Filmhouse from Sun 22 to Tue 24 Jul
Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Sara Driver / USA / 2017 / 78 mins
Now recognised as the face of the 1980s art scene in downtown New York, Jean-Michel Basquiat came to redefine the Manhattan Zeitgeist through his graffiti, confrontation of race relations and incorporation of the rise of hip-hop music. In this revealing documentary, Sara Driver looks at the formative years of the man in the city that shaped him.
@ Filmhouse on Wed 25 and Thu 26 Jul
@ GFT from Fri 29 Jun to Mon 2 Jul
Felix Randau / Germany, Italy, Austria / 2017 / 96 mins
Set over 5,000 years ago, Iceman is a visceral story of prehistoric revenge. Settlement elder Kelab returns from a hunting expedition to find that his entire tribe has been murdered and their sacred shine stolen by the assailants. Wracked by grief and inconsolable pain, Kelab embarks on the only path of action which makes any sense – punishing those responsible.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 27 Jul to Thu 2 Aug
@ GFT from Fri 27 Jul
Stefano Sollima / USA, Italy / 2018 / 122 mins
All’s fair in love and war – especially when that war is taking place between the drug cartels operating on the US-Mexican border. As the conflict spills over into terrorism, federal agents look to unorthodox sources and unethical behaviour to gain an advantage over their druglord nemesis, but soon begin to question whether such underhand tactics compromise the very ideals they’re fighting for in the first place.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 27 Jul to Thu 2 Aug
@ GFT from Fri 29 Jun