There’s no question that Sam Mendes is a talented filmmaker, with films such as American Beauty, Road to Perdition, and Skyfall to his name. Known predominantly for his directing, his first writing credit came when he co-wrote the 1917 screenplay a few years ago, but his latest sees him on script duty once again. Set in the 1980s on the south coast of England, romantic drama Empire of Light takes place in around an independent picture house. Struggling with mental health problems, duty manager Hilary (Olivia Colman) forms an intimate friendship with new employee Stephen (Michael Ward), who is facing his own difficulties.
Best known for playing beloved vet Paddy in the long-running soap Emmerdale, actor Dominic Brunt pursues his other passion off-screen. Away from the Dales, he directs horror films, and his latest feature is werewolf comedy slasher Wolf Manor. Set in the English countryside and written by Pete Wild and Joel Ferrari, it presents a fun take on the sub-genre as the film shoot for a vampire flick is disrupted in the night by a deadly lycanthrope. I was fortunate enough to sit down with the director to discuss the film.
Wolf Manor is now your fifth feature within the last decade or so. Does the process get any easier or are there different challenges to each one?
It’s still very difficult, actually, I think because no film is exactly the same and no scene is the same. I think I’m getting better in the way of not panicking, and Marc Price (director of zombie film Colin on a budget of £45) is a fellow director and is brilliant at sorting out problems. He always says, ‘just press record’, you know, get it done. If the problems are there, they can be sorted out later so in the face of adversity, he’s the best one to be around. I think I’ve learned that preparing and preparing and preparing, getting a shot list, and making sure you know the locations back to front, and talking to the actors beforehand, saying, ‘Look, trust me, when you stand there, and you move where I tell you to when I say to move, I’ll make it look good. I promise you won’t look stupid’. The last thing actors want to hear is anybody flapping but it’s always scary. It’s a million-piece jigsaw putting together a film. So yeah, the short answer I think is in some ways, I don’t think anybody gets any better at filmmaking.
Filmmakers often tell the story of their childhood through their pictures; recent examples of this include Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma and Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast. Acclaimed writer and director James Gray looks back at his own formative years in Armageddon Time, a coming-of-age drama set in Queens, New York City in 1980. The semi-autobiographical plot follows schoolkid Paul (Banks Repeta) who becomes friends with black student Johnny (Jaylin Webb) on his first day of sixth grade, bonding over their fascination with space travel. His mother Esther (Anne Hathaway) and father Irving (Jeremy Strong) struggle to cope with their son’s regular mischievous behaviour, but he always listens to his grandpa Aaron (Anthony Hopkins) who inspires and mentors the youngster, delivering nuggets of wisdom and teaching him about the importance of his family’s Jewish roots.
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have been favourites at Cannes Film Festival for many years and were awarded the special 75th anniversary award for their latest effort. The film, their twelfth collaboration as both writers and directors, is Tori & Lokita, a drama which follows two youngsters seeking asylum in modern-day Belgium. Posing as brother and sister though in fact they are really good friends who met on the boat from Benin, Tori (Pablo Schils) and Lokita (Mbundu Joely) turn to petty crime to make ends meet whilst they wait for their immigration paperwork.
Maika Monroe attracted the attention of cinema audiences in 2014 with a double whammy of excellent turns in creepy horror It Follows and neon-synth flick The Guest. Since then, she’s largely been relegated to supporting parts, but returns to centre stage for Watcher, the feature debut of writer and director Chloe Okuno. The psychological thriller follows Julia (Monroe) who moves to Bucharest with her husband Francis (Karl Glusman) when he lands a new job. He speaks the language thanks to his Romanian family roots, but she begins to feel isolated, and is unnerved when she spots a man in the building opposite who appears to be looking into their apartment.
Over a decade on since the trio collaborated on cult classic In Bruges, writer and director Martin McDonagh reunites with actors Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson for his latest black comedy. The Banshees of Inisherin tells the tale of dairy farmer Pádraic (Farrell) and fiddle player Colm (Gleeson) who have an abrupt falling out after years of friendship. Reeling from the news that his old pal doesn’t like him anymore, Pádraic turns to his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) and local idiot Dominic (Barry Keoghan) for support. Their row has repercussions across the small rural island where they live, and soon takes a very sinister turn.
B.J. Novak will be best known to many as Ryan in the American version of The Office, but he has many strings to his bow. As well as being an actor, comedian, TV writer, and children’s book author, he has now written and directed his first feature film. Vengeance is a black comedy thriller which follows New York-based journalist Ben (Novak, casting himself in the leading role), who flies to Texas for a funeral when his ‘girlfriend’ Abilene (Lio Tipton) dies of a suspected drug overdose. Her brother Ty (Boyd Holbrook) suspects foul play and asks for help to avenge her death, which gives Ben an idea for a new true crime podcast series.
Amidst a series of sensationalised tabloid rumours that led to a much-talked-about premiere, the anticipation around Olivia Wilde’s latest film has been rife. Following on from her acclaimed debut Booksmart, she’s back in the director’s chair for psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling. Florence Pugh stars as mid-century housewife Alice who enjoys steamy marital bliss with Jack (Harry Styles) in suburban company town Victory, California. After a few red flags, she becomes suspicious of the community around her, in particular of her husband’s mysterious boss Frank (Chris Pine), and soon their idyllic existence is called into question.
Almost thirty years after the seminal original, Kevin Smith brings his layabout trilogy to a close with his latest comedy Clerks III. Back at the Quick Stop convenience store where it all began, Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) team up with drug-dealing duo Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) to make their own autobiographical movie, taking them down memory lane and putting their friendship to the ultimate test.
Moving from in front of the camera to behind it, Dutch actress-turned director Halina Reijn takes a stab at a social satire slasher with her English-language debut, Bodies Bodies Bodies. Adapted from an original story by Cat Person author Kristen Roupenian, the plot sees Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) and her new girlfriend Bee (Maria Bakalova) join pals for a hurricane party thrown by David (Pete Davidson) at his family’s mansion. The couple, along with Alice (Rachel Sennott), Greg (Lee Pace), Jordan (Myha’la Herrold) and Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), decide to do a murder mystery roleplay, but when quietly held grudges and scandalous secrets bubble to the surface, it takes a very dark turn.
Cinema Perspective 