ASSASSINS
Ryan White’s remarkable documentary tells such an incredible story that it could only be true. The action begins in 2017 at Malaysia’s international airport where Kim Jon-nam, the half brother of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-um, is assassinated in broad daylight and captured entirely on security cameras. Two women, one from Indonesia and the other from Vietnam, are seen following Jon-nam around the airport before they casually cover his eyes as if it were a game and spraying his face with a deadly gas. Within the hour the man is dead, and soon after the two women are arrested …
White builds up his nail-biting film like an intense conspiracy thriller before it develops into an edge of your seat courtroom drama. The women, who never met one another, claim that they thought their action was part of a video prank and at first, they are presented by the media as cold blooded and highly trained assassins White then looks at the story from the women’s point of view and by travelling to their countries he searches for the truth, interviewing friends and family as well as their legal representatives.
A breath-taking story which also highlights how simple, common folk are caught in a spiral web of epic magnitude manipulated by superpowers and left utterly helpless without any control for their predicament. A must-see!
SYNCHRONIC
Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead made their mark a few years ago with such unexpected and imaginative delights as SPRING and THE ENDLESS. They now tell the story of two New Orleans’ paramedics Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan), who after a series of unexplained deaths they begin to suspect that they are connected to a bizarre, designer drug called Synchronic…
A highly original film that begins like a routine thriller before it develops into a tense sci-fi. The performances are engaging particularly Mackie as the paramedic determined to put his own life on the line to solve the mystery behind the time travel pill.
WRONG TURN
Alan B. McElroy, the original writer of the franchise which began in 2003 is again the creator of this reboot, which tells the story of Scott (Matthew Modine) a father searching for his missing daughter Jen. He visits the place where she last sent him a text but that was six weeks ago. Then the action goes back in time and focuses on Jen (Charlotte Vega) and her friends travelling across a beautiful yet hostile landscape. The group is determined to go on the Appalachian trail despite warnings from a local woman that “the land here can be very unforgiving” and soon enough they find themselves struggling to survive against the odds…
It is a strong premise with exciting set pieces and genuine shocks that made me jump several times. Modine’s engaging presence adds gravitas to the proceedings.
THE CAPOTE TAPES
The life of the eccentric American writer Truman Capote has been the subject of many books and films like CAPOTE and INFAMOUS. The film versions of his books of BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S and IN COLD BLLOD have also been examined almost to death, so it quite refreshing that this fascinating new documentary unearths a series of tape interviews with Capote’s friends and enemies never heard before.
There is a lot of material about his eagerly awaited novel “Answered Prayers” which sadly never saw the light of day, probably to the relief of many, as the subject of his acid tongue was NYC’s high society.
Director Ebs Burnough with the help of George Plimpton’s tapes paints a fine portrait of this remarkable talent and unique personality unlike any other.
LIBERTÉ
Spanish director Albert Serra sets the action of his daring and sexually explicit new film in France of 1774. A group of aristocratic libertines are expelled from the court of Louis XVI but soon explore their newfound freedom in the woods indulging in every sexual practise that comes to mind.
The action is almost continuous, an endless orgy of every deviant imaginable which by the end leaves the participants as well as the voyeurs utterly exhausted. A cross between MARAT SADE and SALO superbly photographed with perfectly framed compositions but strictly not for those easily offended! (Blu-ray Second Run)
KILLER THERAPY
A strong opening for Barry Jay’s atmospheric psychological thriller which sets up the tone and stage for disaster when young Brain refuses to accept his parents’ adopted little girl as his sister. There is no doubt that Brian is a disturbed little boy and grows up to even more unstable and unpredictable in his actions…
The casting works well particularly with Michael Qeliqi as the grown-up Brian, a charming and vulnerable individual buts also capable for unspeakable deeds. The climactic sequence loses some of the impact and claustrophobia of the earlier scenes but overall a disturbing film about the extremes of a very fragile mind.
INNER SANCTUM: Six mystery films from the forties based on the popular radio shows with Lon Chaney in a different role each time. In CALLING MR DEATH Chaney is an expert doctor in hypnosis who wants his nurse to hypnotize him to find out the truth behind his wife’s murder. Suspenseful and atmospheric!
In WEIRD WOMAN a professor falls for an exotic woman he meets on a South Seas trip. But when he brings her back home everyone in high society suspects she is a witch…Imaginatively directed and photographed!
In DEAD MAN’S EYES an artist is blinded and hopes to regain his sight with surgery and the aid of someone else’s eyes in similar fashion to the pianist in THE HANDS OF ORLAC.
In THE FROZEN GHOST a mentalist is in trouble after a man selected from the audience has a heart attack on stage. Enjoyable especially when the action moves into a wax museum with a scene stealing performance from Martin Kosleck.
In STRANGE CONFESSION, a scientist is working hard to find a cure for influenza, but his boss releases the vaccine before it is completely ready…More melodrama than mystery and surprisingly quite topical to what is happening today. In PILLOW OF DEATH a lawyer is having an affair with his secretary and is suspected of his wife’s murder. Intriguing with a fine twist! (Blu-Ray from Eureka)
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