Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2024 i Total Film

It's not every day you turn 350. But I like to think Total Film still looks good on it, and being able to put out a print mag in this day and age is a privilege that's not lost on us. We had to mark the occasion of our 350th in some way – without it descending into a complete navel-gazing love-in – so we did what we've always done, really, which is focus on the films. We sat down as a team and pored over all 349 previous covers to select the 10 best movies that have ever fronted TF. It wasn't easy to narrow it down, but we've ended up with a list of 10 certifiable bangers that represent the highlights of more than 25 years of publishing.…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE I think the refugees issue – and migrants in general – is one of the biggest issues and challenges for the future of Europe and probably for the world,’ says Agnieszka Holland (Mr Jones, Europa Europa). This comes after the 75-year-old Polish director has delivered her most controversial film in years, Green Border – a gruelling black-and-white drama that follows a Syrian family as they attempt to cross between Belarus and Poland. To say it hasn't gone down well in certain parts of Poland is an understatement. ‘I was expecting the worst,’ Holland admits. ‘But I wasn't expecting [the backlash] to be led directly and personally by the highest politicians.’ Before the recent Polish elections, justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, of the Catholic nationalist Sovereign Poland party, compared it to…

In 2017, the #MeToo movement in Hollywood was supposed to change everything. Harvey Weinstein was gone, women were demanding pay parity with their male co-stars, and female filmmakers were asked about their art, not just their outfits. In 2018, Natalie Portman confidently called out the institutionalised sexism of the industry when presenting the Best Director Golden Globe with a pointed ‘Congratulations to the all-male nominees’. We could all rest! We'd fixed it! Hence why we presently live in a feminist Utopia. The end. If only. The optimism of that era seems naive in hindsight. Yes, there have been positive strides forward – the success of recent audacious feminist films from Greta Gerwig, Raine Allen-Miller, Rose Glass, Greta Lee, Alice Diop and Justine Triet, to name but a few, is a…

TEASERS The British Board of Film Classification has repositioned itself in the headlines lately. Reports on ratings for films from 1964's Mary Poppins (which was rereleased in March) to 2024's Poor Things have stirred, in BBFC-speak, ‘mild’ debate. Now, the institution has drawn attention for its half-decade guidelines update, which suggests tighter restrictions on representations of sex and violence. Drawing on consultations with 12,000 participants by the group We Are Family, the BBFC – under president Natasha Kaplinsky – notes that ‘people’ are concerned. Not about ‘cannabis use and solvent misuse’ – the report notes relaxed attitudes there. They are concerned about sexualised or misogynist terms like ‘bitch’ or ‘dick’. They're concerned about sexual content at the 12A/15 border, whatever that might be, though less so on the 15/18 borders if…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE When Stéphanie Di Giusto (2016's The Dancer) discovered the story of Clémentine Delait, known as the ‘most illustrious and celebrated bearded lady in France’ in the late 19th century, she was hooked. ‘She always refused to be a carnival freak. She really just wanted to live her life as a woman and just stand for her own destiny, her own person,’ she tells Teasers. After researching ‘other women who suffered from hirsutism’, the French director decided, ‘I didn't want to make a biopic – it really wasn't my intention.’ So she instead conjured her own fictional story, Rosalie. The film stars Nadia Tereszkiewicz in the title role – a woman living in a small 1870s French community, who is about to marry debt-ridden café owner Abel (The Taste of…

Long before the likes of Greta Gerwig and Patty Jenkins, there was Susan Seidelman. Her new book, Desperately Seeking Something: A Memoir about Movies, Mothers, and Material Girls, recounts how she brought female-centred stories to the screen in an industry then dominated by men. Her debut, Smithereens, became America's first indie film to compete for Palme d'Or at Cannes. Her next movie, Desperately Seeking Susan, was a box-office smash that featured a young Madonna. How did it feel when your first short film, And You Act Like One Too, was nominated for a Student Academy Award? It was a real breakthrough and affirmation for me that I was on to something with the stories I wanted to tell about women breaking out of boxes they found themselves in. Flawed people…

Certain things only exist on the silver screen. Explosive car crashes where heroes walk away without so much as a sore neck; romcom protagonists waking up from a night of passion with perfect hair; academics who fight the forces of evil in their downtime, rather than marking homework. But even if we know to watch films with a heavy pinch of salt, the team behind Hit Man have been met with shock, confusion and even disappointment when audiences learn that, unlike in the movies… hitmen don't really exist. The dark comedy from Richard Linklater – co-written by and starring Glen Powell alongside Adria Arjona – bills itself as ‘a somewhat true story’, based on a 2001 Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth (co-writer of Linklater's Bernie) about how an unassuming…

In 1980s New York, the creator of a popular puppet-based children's TV show, Good Day Sunshine, grapples with the disappearance of his nine-year-old son, while his already strained marriage falls apart. Meanwhile, the detective in charge of this missing-person case uncovers a wave of corruption, and struggles with his secret life as a gay man against the backdrop of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Oh, and that dad whose child is missing? He starts hallucinating the presence of a giant monster puppet that follows him around the city. ‘It's not an obvious recipe, is it?’ Total Film is speaking to writer and showrunner Abi Morgan about Eric, her peculiar new limited series for Netflix. The Emmy and BAFTAwinning writer of shows The Hour, The Split and River, as well as Steve McQueen's…

SCREEN OUT 26 APRIL CINEMAS Anyone for tonsil tennis? It's the least you'd expect from Luca Guadagnino, the Italian maestro who defiled a peach in Call Me by Your Name and made cannibalism look sexy in Bones and All. It's hardly surprising, then, to see the Sport of Kings receive a racy makeover in his stylish latest, in which the on-court rivalry between two friends turned adversaries – cool customer Art (Mike Faist) and wild card Patrick (Josh O'Connor) – comes with a sizzling undertow of erotic tension. The nominal source of their antipathy is Zendaya's Tashi, a Serena-ish prodigy turned exacting taskmistress who, having had her playing career curtailed by a cruel injury, has devoted herself to making husband Art the best he can be. A previous dalliance with…

OUT 3 MAY CINEMAS As bombs fall on war-torn Damascus, a close-knit family debate whether they should stay or go. For dad Mutaz (Samer al Masri), leaving is out of the question; for his wife, Hala (Kinda Alloush), and daughter Zeina (Hala Zein), it's a matter of survival. Syrian writer/director Soudade Kaadan's tale of female emancipation employs a surprising lightness of touch, despite the harrowing subject matter. Finding contrasting notes of joy and fantasy amid the rubble, this feminist parable delicately blends modern fairy-tale elements with heart-rending drama.…

OUT 3 MAY CINEMAS Cinema's most famous dog sniffs out a mystery in this gentle follow-up to Lassie Come Home from director Hanno Olderdissen. Dubbed into English from its native German, the story finds intrepid collie Lassie investigating the disappearance of several pedigree chums, assisted by best friend Flo (Nico Marischka) and terrier Pippa. Set in picturesque rural Italy, it's a sedate outing for the dog detective, with perky performances from canine and human alike. The story packs few surprises, but the visuals delight, and at least the dogs aren't CGI.…

OUT 10 MAY CINEMAS Adapted from Kaite O'Reilly's play, this well-meaning misfire stars script writer and co-director Celyn Jones as Joe, a man with amnesia whose wife, Sarah (Rebel Wilson), struggles with his condition. Likewise, Toni (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is failing to cope with her cellist partner Gwen (Trine Dyrholm), who has similar memory issues. So goes the set-up for a film mired in unlikely contrivances. Wilson shows willing in a rare dramatic turn, and Jones’ portrayal of memory loss is touching, but otherwise he and co-director Tom Stern fumble the film's emotional impact.…

SCREEN OUT 17 MAY CINEMAS Written and directed by French filmmaker Marc Fitoussi, this comedy of middle-aged female friendship is set in the summer of 2019. Recently divorced and uptight Blandine (Olivia Côte) reunites with her best friend from school, the free-spirited and extrovert Magalie (Laure Calamy), and the temperamentally opposed duo head off together on holiday to the sun-drenched island of Amorgos. Engaging performances from the leads offset a formulaic screenplay, and a bandanasporting Kristin Scott Thomas amuses as a hippie jewellerymaker on Mykonos.…

OUT 26 APRIL CINEMAS Natalie Terrazzino and a vast warehouse are the MVPs in this mixed-bag survival thriller from directors Greg Swinson and Ryan Thiessen. Terrazzino's Karen is a just-divorced mum working the night-shift in a factory. When masked thugs bust in, she uses the labyrinthine environment and various tools to fight back. Over a naggingly laggy 89 minutes, Karen's sufferings make for tough viewing and the b-word is drearily overused. What fun there is lies in seeing Karen turn the tables, resourcefully: one raw scrap lends new meaning to the phrase ‘toilet plunger’.…

OUT 26 APRIL CINEMAS Belgian-Congolese rapper Baloji directs this unusual examination of characters all accused of witchcraft and sorcery. The first is Koffi (Marc Zinga), who returns to DR Congo with his white fiancée Alice (Lucie Debay) to reunite with his estranged family. What follows is an increasingly bizarre and fractured narrative, as Baloji examines the tensions between modernity and ancient traditions. Visually it's splendidly unsettling, but the film's anthology-like nature – as Koffi's sister and mother enter the fray, alongside young local Paco (Marcel Otete Kabeya) – loses focus at crucial times.…

OUT 26 APRIL CINEMAS Based on an ever-growing multimedia brand, this Aussie 3D animation follows young Arkie (Jillian Nguyen) on her quest to unite a divided world, using a knack for technology and one tentacle arm. Directed by Ricard Cussó and Tania Vincent, the coming-of-age adventure features a prolific cast of voice talents, including Anna Torv, Tim Minchin, Deborah Mailman and Sam Neill – the latter put to good use as the villainous Doctor Maybee. The aggressively jumbled character designs initially grate, but creative visuals and a heartwarming message save the day.…

OUT NOW APPLE TV+ From the ‘wild and craaazy guy’ of the 70s to the grumpy guy of Only Murders in the Building, Steve Martin has reinvented himself successfully for nearly 50 years. Morgan Neville's affectionate, access-all-areas doc tries and fails bravely to cram Martin's evolution into an overstuffed film of two unwieldy halves. The first half is cracking, tracing Martin's rise from teen Disneyland magician to comic idol, but the bitty – if intimate – second half sorely misses the smart analysis that Martin's many-phased career deserves.…

SCREEN 1994 OUT 10 MAY CINEMAS 1999 OUT 3 MAY CINEMAS Oddly parallel themes of trust/friendship aside, these two bookends of Ewan McGregor's 90s run sit galaxies apart. Reissued, however, they offer dual proof that his light-speed lift-off was merited. Aided by his Disney+ return to Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's largely McGregor who allows us to recall Menace with (guarded, mind) nostalgia. Beyond the prequel's much-noted issues, McGregor's winning on-screen presence helped offset George Lucas’ CG overload. And the three-way saber stand-off ranks alongside the saga's finest dust-ups, especially seen in cinemas with John Williams’ Duel of the Fates blazing. Rewinding five years, Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave climaxed with a bloodier three-person scrap. As three flatmates clash over a corpse and some cash, Grave holds up as a taut, stylish exercise in 90s…

1980 OUT 20 MAY 4K UHD, BD EXTRAS Commentaries, Video essays, Documentary, Featurettes, Interviews, Booklet Scorsese's bruising masterpiece comes out fighting on 4K Blu-ray. Not only does the restored blackand-white cinematography pack an almighty wallop, but when it comes to extras Criterion's disc is a true heavyweight champ. On top of repackaged Blu-ray goodies, including a trio of commentaries and a four-part making-of, this upgrade adds a pair of perceptive visual essays and gives the real Vikki LaMotta her say (no matter how brief) courtesy of a vintage TV interview alongside actor Cathy Moriarty.…

2003 OUT 13 MAY 4K UHD EXTRAS Commentary, Featurettes, Interviews, B-roll, Art cards Sex and cinephilia are the driving forces of Bernardo Bertolucci and writer Gilbert Adair's Paris 1968 story, a film more fixated on matters personal than political. The result is a mixed rumpus, most notable for Eva Green's film debut as one third of a ménage à trois getting naked and talking shot – Keaton or Chaplin? – in a spiffy apartment. The fluid direction, handsome furnishings and fine song choices are easy on the eyes and ears, but the trio's antics seem wearyingly selfabsorbed compared with what's going on outside.…

OPEN ROADS OUT NOW PC, PS4/5, SWITCH, XBOX ONE/SERIES X/S A rare Annapurna misfire, this interactive novella sees mother and daughter Tess (Kaitlyn Dever) and Opal (Keri Russell) embark on an impromptu road trip after a letter reveals a surprising family secret. A winning turn from the ever-reliable Dever fails to rescue a dramatically inert tale whose abrupt ending betrays the game's troubled development. PEPPER GRINDER OUT NOW PC, SWITCH Shipwrecked prospector Pepper must recover her stolen treasure using her trusty drill in this unconventional action platformer. The tool serves as both a weapon and a source of locomotion, tunnelling through rocks and piercing enemies alike, while plugging into a variety of devices. The odd fussy challenge aside, it's cleverly designed and – despite its conceit – never boring.…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE When Kiah Roache-Turner was a toddler, he was bitten in a sandpit by a big, black spider. An arachnophobe since, the Australian filmmaker's endured many terrifying encounters with ‘spiders the size of a hand’, but one confrontation was especially scarring. ‘I used to work in an office, doing editing. I went to get a lens out of the cupboard and a huntsman fell on my face. I tore my shirt off and just screamed and screamed. Everybody was just looking at me. I was like, “A spider, a spider!” My mate Nevin is like, “Where?” I couldn't find it. I'm just standing there with my shirt off. This fucking spider made me look like a dickhead.’ Cut to 40 years later and RoacheTurner, director of the crazed Wyrmwood movies…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE Back in 1926, Gertrude ‘Trudy’ Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel, arriving home to a New York ticker-tape parade. If you've never heard of her, don't feel too bad – neither had Joachim Rønning, the filmmaker bringing Ederle's extraordinary life to the screen. ‘I was just floored by Trudy's story,’ says Rønning, who was introduced to her achievements by screenwriter Jeff Nathanson while the pair were in production on 2017's Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge. ‘I love true stories like this, which is about the triumph of the human spirit.’ Surviving a near-lethal bout of measles as a young girl, Ederle defied gendered expectations of the period to become ‘Queen of the Waves’ – a goldmedal-winning, world-record-breaking swimmer, all before she was 20. But…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE It was incredibly difficult. It took years. But it's what we signed up for,’ says David Zellner, talking about the torturous gestation of Sasquatch Sunset, the latest surreal slice of absurdism that he co-directs with brother Nathan. And no wonder: a year in the life of a Sasquatch family, with four actors all in hairy ape costumes grunting, groaning and behaving like beasts in the wild; it's utterly unique. No dialogue, no human characters – just pure animal magnetism. ‘We've been fascinated with the mythology of Bigfoot since we were kids,’ says David, last seen subverting the western with 2018 Robert Pattinson-starrer Damsel. ‘Primates in general, we've always been obsessed with – whether it was 2001 or Planet of the Apes, or Koko the Gorilla. And a lot of…

TEASERS FIRST WORD The original Twister – which starred Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as storm chasers on the brink of divorce, who are thrown back together during an extended spot of turbulent weather – was a massive box-office hit (the second-biggest of 1996) and a notable showcase for nascent digital VFX. Almost 30 years later, we're getting another film set within that world, though ‘sequel’ might not be quite the right word for the plurally titled Twisters. ‘I consider it a new chapter in this story that [screenwriter/producer] Michael Crichton and [director] Jan de Bont and that team had created,’ Twisters director Lee Isaac Chung tells Teasers. ‘This is just a new chapter in that world that they created, and also that concept of scientists that are, in a very…

Nadia Tereszkiewicz What did you think about Rosalie when you first read the script? I saw some proudness in her look and something that was strong and at the same time really feminine, because the movie questions femininity and where we put it and I saw something in the posture that I liked, and I wanted to know more. How did you find acting with Benoît Magimel? It's a huge chance because the way he was looking at me changed me every day. He's more than an actor in the way that he needs to create reality. So he rejected me in the first half of the movie… He rejected and was disgusted by the character, but also by me in the way that we didn't talk. I felt rejected.…

There are some films no one forgets watching for the first time: Jaws, Star Wars, Citizen Kane. 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road is an inarguable addition to that list. A lunatic symphony conducted with euphoric precision, Fury Road didn't just raise the bar for vehicular carnage – it set the standard so high, even a careening Pole Cat couldn't hope to clear it. Speaking in 2017, Steven Soderbergh put the achievement of director George Miller and his creative team best: ‘I don't understand how they're not still shooting that film and I don't understand how hundreds of people aren't dead.’ A similarly awestruck Chris Hemsworth can still recall the details of watching Fury Road for the first time. ‘I remember, I was at the Electric Cinema on Portobello Road,’ the…

What is an acolyte? ‘In Sith lore, there's an apprentice,’ says Leslye Headland. ‘And under the apprentice, there's an acolyte. So it's a job that someone needs to fill…’ Who is that someone in Lucasfilm's new eight-episode show, which features familiar faces (Carrie-Anne Moss as a Jedi Master, Jodie Turner-Smith as a high-powered witch) but a ton of new characters? The smart money is on Mae (Amandla Stenberg) – a ‘dangerous warrior’ who has history with Jedi Master Sol (Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae). But as the trailer reminds us, appearances can deceive… Described by creator/showrunner Headland (Russian Doll) as a ‘mystery’, Star Wars: The Acolyte is set in a previously unexplored time: 100-odd years pre-The Phantom Menace, at the tail end of the High Republic era (see overleaf). It's a…

SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) Billy Wilder's classic sees two men on the run posing as women to join an all-female band. Not only do Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon make pretty gorgeouslooking gals, but there's no better disguise than situating yourself next to the divine charisma of Marilyn Monroe. Who's going to be looking at you, anyhow? SUPERMAN (1978) Technically it's just glasses, but in the hands of the late, great Christopher Reeve, it's genius. Superman and Clark Kent are both 6ft 4in, chiselled figures who have never been seen in the same room together, but Reeve makes them feel so molecularly distinct you can't blame people for not catching on. COMING TO AMERICA (1988) The disguise in Eddie Murphy's classic comedy is Prince Akeem pretending to be a…

We don't turn 350 every month, and reaching that not insignificant milestone has got us looking back over our previous issues to select the best (and worst!) films we have featured on our cover. Before making our choices, though, we decided to set a few ground rules. No director would be allowed to have more than one film in our countdowns (not even you, Sir Christopher!); we turfed out year/decade-in-review editions; and we omitted films that didn't debut within our 27-year life span. Got that? Fab. All we need now are 350 candles and a whopping big cake… JACKIE BROWN ISSUE 15, APRIL 1998 Total Film was only 15 issues old when Quentin Tarantino's classy and mature adap of Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch took over our cover, with blaxploitation icon…

SUNSHINE ON LEITH (2013) MacKay plays a squaddie (one of several across his career) who returns home from Afghanistan and finds love to the feel-good beats of The Proclaimers in Dexter Fletcher's adaptation of the stage musical. All together now: ‘But I would walk 500 miles…’ CAPTAIN FANTASTIC (2016) Captain Fantastic put Viggo Mortensen on the awards circuit but MacKay deserved to be there alongside him. As eldest son Bodevan he voices the discontent of his siblings, raised in the wilderness by their survivalist father. 1917 (2020) Sam Mendes’ technically dazzling war movie tracks MacKay's Lance Corporal Schofield on a physically gruelling ordeal to deliver a vital message across enemy territory. The climactic ‘Schofield Run’ – featuring two unscripted collisions – was achieved on the second take. TRUE HISTORY OF…

OUT 26 APRIL CINEMAS Writer-director Milena Aboyan's character study confronts the effects of patriarchal cultural values via the story of a young German woman struggling to square her personal ambitions with the restrictive traditions of her Kurdish community. As anxious nearlywed Elaha (Bayan Layla) desperately seeks to disguise the loss of her virginity, the script occasionally threatens to stray into cliché. But Layla, seldom offscreen, doesn't strike a single false note – and her performance is aided by Aboyan's unfussy direction, boxy 1.33:1 framing adding to the claustrophobic mood.…

SCREEN OUT 3 MAY CINEMAS British writer-director Rose Glass exploded onto the scene with 2019's Saint Maud, an oppressive, highly impressive chamber horror about a devout young woman experiencing ecstatic visions. Now backed by A24, plus some A-list names, she's moved country, and genre, to make a hyper-stylised thriller co-written with Weronika Tofilska. But here it's steroids, rather than scripture, offering mind-altering properties. In 1980s Albuquerque, bored gym worker Lou (Kristen Stewart) falls hard for bodybuilding drifter Jackie (Katy O'Brian), who's on her way to compete in Las Vegas. Lou's estranged father, Lou Sr. (Ed Harris), is a violent gangster who runs the local shooting range, where Jackie gets a job. Her sister, Beth (Jena Malone), is married to abusive dirtbag JJ (Dave Franco). So it's no wonder Lou's obsessed…

OUT 10 MAY CINEMAS Winner of the Caméra d'Or five years ago, César Diaz's debut feature tackles the Guatemalan genocide, otherwise known as the Silent Holocaust. His film centres on Armando Espitia's Ernesto, a forensic anthropologist whose investigations unearth a surprising familial connection – one that puts him at odds with his own mother. Even as Ernesto faces resistance from those reluctant to confront past atrocities, his journey feels underwhelming and bizarrely slight. Such vital subject matter deserves better: by the final excavation, you'll wish Diaz himself had dug as deeply.…

OUT 26 APRIL CINEMAS Inspired by the first filmed crime reconstruction, 1901's Arrest Of Goudie, Melanie Manchot's docudrama likewise seeks to blend fiction and fact. Stephen Giddings plays both compulsive gambler Tom Goudie in a film within the film, and himself in auditions, rehearsals and roundtable discussions – outlining his own experiences with addiction alongside non-pro actors and a clutch of former soap stars. Despite Giddings’ best efforts, the fictional element struggles to convince; it's the real-world anecdotes that provide all the most absorbing drama.…

OUT 17 MAY CINEMAS Mixing body horror with comingof-age tension, Amanda Nell Eu's unique debut plays like a Malaysian answer to Ginger Snaps (2000). Drawing upon regional myths and culture, Eu's folktaleleaning drama centres on 12-year-old Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal), a rebellious schoolgirl who is the first in her class to hit puberty. As her body changes, she becomes isolated from her peers and undergoes a striking metamorphosis. While the symbolism can be heavy-handed, homespun visual effects and intriguing currents of mysticism lend Tiger Stripes a distinctive and ambitious vibe.…

OUT 26 APRIL CINEMAS Rural Ireland is both the setting and the subject of Pat Collins’ contemplative adaptation of John McGahern's award-winning novel, a film that studiously takes its time as it charts a year in the lives of a writer (Barry Ward) and an artist (Anna Bederke) who have left London in search of a more peaceful existence as part of a lakeside community. The wedding of one neighbour and the passing of another are the primary developments in this quietly moving celebration of the quotidian, the mundane and the ineffable beauty of nature.…

SCREEN OUT NOW CINEMAS Co-written by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan, who also directs, this watchable reboot sequel shifts the action from Oklahoma to the saga's spiritual home of New York. Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon), her kids (Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard) and ex-teacher Gary (Paul Rudd) are in the firehouse, keeping the city ghost-free when a mysterious brass orb causes problems. The sharp script, creepy antagonist and OG stars (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts) please but the overcrowded stage results in an unwieldy, if likeable, brand extension.…

OUT 17 MAY CINEMAS Andy Warhol, Roger Vadim, three of the Rolling Stones: for most of her 75 years, the subject of Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill's documentary was defined for some by the men she worked, partied and slept with. Catching Fire serves as an overdue corrective to that androcentric narrative, using film clips, home movies and Pallenberg's unpublished memoir (read by Scarlett Johansson) to reappraise and recontextualise an artist, actor and mother whose screen credits range from cult classics Barbarella and Performance to Absolutely Fabulous.…

1977 OUT 10 MAY CINEMAS 20 MAY DVD, BD EXTRAS Interview, Featurettes, Booklet Rarely shown since its original release nearly five decades ago, this newly restored fly-on-thewall documentary follows Scottish comedian Billy Connolly on his 1975 tour of Dublin and Belfast at the height of the Troubles. What follows is a nimble portrait of the Glaswegian former shipyard welder on the brink of stardom. Wearing the outsized bananashaped footwear of the title, the banjo-playing stand-up displays his charm and comic prowess in front of expectant audiences.…

1945 OUT 17 MAY CINEMAS Reissued as part of a two-month BFI Southbank season devoted to Italian neorealism, director Roberto Rossellini's landmark Resistance drama was shot under exceptionally difficult circumstances in Rome in early 1945, while World War Two still raged in the north of Italy. Blending fact and fiction, and using professional and nonprofessional actors, Rome, Open City documents the efforts of various Roman partisans (whether Christian or Marxist) to evade capture during the brutal German occupation. Nearly 80 years later, the film's urgency and humanity remain undimmed.…

1927 OUT NOW BD EXTRAS Commentaries, Visual essay, Interviews, Play extracts, Booklet If not the first ‘old dark house’ movie, then Paul Leni's silent horror comedy is surely the most influential (that familiar frightfilm standby of a corridor full of billowing curtains got its start here). This new 4K restoration reveals it to be among the most stylish, too, the German filmmaker mixing expressionist symbolism with a fluidity of camera movement. Even the film's text cards refuse to sit still, thanks to Walter Anthony's delightfully loopy animated intertitles.…

SCREEN CLASSIC TV 1992-96 AVAILABLE ON DVD, DIGITAL A few years before George Lucas set about expanding a short piece of exposition from Return of the Jedi (1983) into a mixed-results movie trilogy, he had already tried his hand at a prequel to another blockbuster franchise. Reportedly inspired by repeated inquiries from Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg about Indiana Jones’ formative years, Lucas conceived a television show exploring the character's early life. But unlike some brand extensions, this was no mere exercise in nostalgia bait. Instead, Lucas had a different ambition for The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Befitting a character whose primary source of employment was as a professor of archaeology (even if his cinematic adventures tended to prioritise extracurricular exploits), Lucas’ chief desire was to use the show to educate…

CLASSIC SOUNDTRACK SURF RIDER, THE LIVELY ONES ‘I think we should be leaving now…’ All sax squall, spidery guitars and low-string cool, this surfswaggering 1963 classic nails the outro duties for Quentin Tarantino's Palme d'Or/Oscar-winner. Morricone goes to California is the rough gist. FLOWERS ON THE WALL, THE STATLER BROTHERS After killing Vincent, Butch cracks a rare smile and croons along to the radio. Virginia country crew the Statlers provide the damaged-cowboy ditty, later quoted by Bruce Willis – ‘Smokin’ cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo’ – in Die Hard with a Vengeance. COMANCHE, THE REVELS ‘The gimp's sleepin’…’ Tarantino wakes him up to the Revels’ surf screeches of sax and sonic violence. He wanted The Knack's My Sharona for its bumping rhythm – insert childish snigger – but Comanche hits…

FOR SALE A luxuriously appointed, 19th-century country mansion in the Palisades on the outskirts of Gotham offers all the conveniences the modern billionaire could hope for. With towers on each corner, this Jacobean-style manor boasts an impressive welcome hall and a showstopping glass roof, and the master bedroom has been left untouched by the current occupant. Be aware that beneath the property, there are vast limestone caverns, prone to rodent infestation (watch out for guano), but there's ample off-road parking via a private road.…

TEASERS @JAMIE_GRAHAM9 We're calling it: “Castaway in space, if Wilson talked back”,’ laughs Canadian filmmaker Brad Peyton. Swap Tom Hanks for Jennifer Lopez and the grubby loincloth for a giant killer robot mech suit, and you'll have some idea of what Atlas is shaping up to be. ‘Science-fiction is something I've been passionate about since I was a kid,’ says the director, speaking from the edit deck of Atlas as he puts the final touches on the film that's been more than five years in the making. ‘I'm one of those people that's seen all the Rutger Hauer movies that no one else has seen – I'm that guy. To me, science-fiction is hallowed ground. And because of that, I don't want to retread what's been done well before.’ Handed…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE In 2023, Doctor Who capped its 60th-anniversary celebrations by kicking 10th/14th Doctor David Tennant out of the TARDIS. Now, after battling goblins in Christmas special The Church on Ruby Road, it's time for Doc 15 Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education) and Millie Gibson – co-traveller Ruby Sunday – to take over. Their first season honours Doctor Who's past by embracing the show's self-regenerating drive, as the duo rocket from space stations to 60s London between opening two episodes Space Babies and The Devil's Chord alone. But what secrets do their pasts hold as they time travel on? Teasers speaks to Gatwa, Gibson and showrunner Russell T. Davies about new beginnings… The Doctor and Ruby had an adventure at Christmas but it was so swift, they hardly got to know each…

Daisy Ridley How did you feel about shooting the swimming scenes for real? Before we were about to go, I told everyone, ‘Just so you guys know, I am quite fearful of open water.’ I think they thought I was joking. So it was really intense. After the fact, I thought: ‘I actually cannot believe I did that.’ And I certainly have not done it since. No more swimming, thank you. Did diving in with both feet help you temporarily overcome that fear? I was actually talking to my GP when I went for a medical last year, because I was about to start [shooting] Cleaner. I've also developed a fear of heights, and that film is about someone hanging onto the side of the building. I was like, ‘What's…

Following the events of 2019's Joker, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is incarcerated in the famed Arkham Asylum. It might look drab in Arthur's cell, but the guard's wake-up call of ‘It's showtime!’ hints at the musical aspects of Todd Phillips’ sequel that are yet to be fully revealed. At CinemaCon, Phillips said music is ‘an essential element’, stopping short of calling the film a musical. The trailer certainly has some whimsical features that seem musical-inspired, like the guards’ colourful umbrellas. ‘We use music to make us whole,’ Arthur says in the voiceover. But Arthur isn't alone any more. Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn features in the trailer, and from the looks of it she's a patient, not a doctor as she is in the comics. But, as is usual for the…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE As a small child, French director Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq was raised by the Portuguese caretaker of her building. ‘When I was six years old, she had to go back to her country, to her family,’ she explains. ‘It was such a shock that I refused to say goodbye to her.’ They did stay in touch, however, but it was not until five years ago that Amachoukeli-Barsacq began to question the relationship. ‘I never asked myself: Who was that woman? Why did she have to come to France?’ The director channelled all these questions and feelings into Àma Gloria, a film that boasts a remarkable performance from newcomer Louise Mauroy-Panzani as Cléo, a Parisian child who must contend with the departure of her nanny, Gloria (Ilça Moreno Zego), back to Cape…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE Full disclosure, my father's a psychiatrist,’ director Matthew Brown says cheerily when he calls in from the Florida Keys to talk Teasers through his adaptation of Mark St. Germain's stage play, itself based on Armand Nicholi's book. A work of speculative fiction, it posits the idea that during the last weeks of his life and on the eve of World War Two, proud atheist Sigmund Freud met with C.S. Lewis – an Oxford don shaped by Christianity – to discuss life, death and faith. Did he actually? That's not the point, says Brown, drawn to the project by his family background and the loss in his life that attracts him to the exploration of death and immortality. ‘I'm drawn to working some of that stuff out in my work,…

‘I got offered the part [of Dementus] three years before we started shooting. I had all this energy, and this creative discussion was pouring out of me, but I didn't have an initial, strong opinion on who the character was. The months would go by. A year would go by. On year two, I'd go, “It'll come to me.” I'd keep reading, and keep discussing things with George. I got about two weeks out, and thought, “Shit, now I'm starting to worry.” ‘George suggested to me to journal as the character, which I hadn't done before. It was 2am one night. I was awake, and I just put pen to paper, and just started scribbling down thoughts and ideas as Dementus. I didn't think much of it. I went to…

SCREEN OUT 26 APRIL CINEMAS A monster hit of Japanese media transitions to the big screen with this lively, endearing caper – a standalone treat for both fans of, and newcomers to, the manga or TV show. The Forger family take a weekend vacation, only to become embroiled in a warmongering scheme – dad's a spy, mum's an assassin, the young daughter's a telepath, and only she knows the others’ secret identities. The slice-of-life comedy delights, while lushly animated setpieces that experiment with the show's house style more than justify the cinematic upgrade.…

OUT 17 MAY CINEMAS Some films get under your skin and for trans male filmmaker Sav Rodgers that film is, somewhat surprisingly, Kevin Smith's 1997 romcom Chasing Amy, where Ben Affleck's Holden enters into a relationship with queer woman Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams) and then slut-shames her. Here, Rodgers interviews the team behind Smith's third feature and examines his complex relationship with it. The result has some sweet moments and interesting insights into LGBTQ+ art, but unless you already share Rodgers’ passion for his subject, this is more curious than fascinating.…

SCREEN OUT 26 APRIL CINEMAS, CURZON HOME CINEMA Veteran Italian director Marco Bellocchio (Fists in the Pocket, The Traitor) here dramatises a shameful event in Papal history. In 19th‑century Bologna, six‑year‑ old Jewish boy Edgardo (Enea Sala in his film debut) is snatched from his family to be raised Catholic in Rome, when it emerges that a maid baptised him as a baby. Handsomely lensed, acted and furnished at every turn, it's an admirable endeavour but a little too staid to truly get the blood pumping. Interestingly, Spielberg once toyed with the idea of bringing this story to the screen.…

OUT 3 MAY CINEMAS Shot over a five-year period, this is a clear-eyed and poignant portrait of ageing, caregiving and dying, courtesy of British documentary filmmaker Simon Chambers. The latter reluctantly becomes the principal carer to his gay octogenarian uncle David, a Shakespeare-loving former actor and drama teacher who lives alone in a leaking, mouse-infested London flat. While Much Ado about Dying reveals the glaring inadequacies of the UK's elderly care system, it also celebrates its subject's optimism and charm as he takes centre stage in the final act of his life.…

OUT 26 APRIL CINEMAS Director and co-writer Anthony DiBlasi remakes his own 2014 movie Last Shift, only noisier and gaudier. Essentially smashing together John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 and Prince of Darkness, Malum plonks rookie cop Jessica (Jessica Sula, Split) in a decommissioned police station for the night, besieged by a vicious cult mysteriously linked to her father's death. The odd vivid vision escalates to a volley of violence, but it's really not as fun as it sounds, containing little of Carpenter's suspenseful atmosphere and formal expertise, just a barrage of jump scares.…

OUT NOW CINEMAS 29 APRIL DIGITAL Making the most of modest resources, this largely singlelocation siege movie is the directorial feature debut of British writer Will Gilbey (Rise of the Footsoldier). Set in Washington State but shot in Kosovo, and featuring a largely English cast playing American, it stars Nikki Amuka-Bird as a harassed deputy sheriff defending her lonely HQ from armed invaders over the course of an action-packed evening. Amuka-Bird makes a fierce protagonist, the firefights are intense and Michael Socha shines as an abusive prisoner. An impressive first try.…

OUT 3 MAY CINEMAS Wry, sensuous and surprisingly subversive, this gentle romance from Georgian director Elene Naveriani finds stoical rural spinster Etero (Eka Chavleishvili) plunging into an illicit affair with married delivery driver Murman (Temiko Chichinadze). A sharp, no-shit-taken performance from Chavleishvili highlights Etero's fierce hunger for freedom. The film's meandering pace gives Naveriani ample room to explore Etero's self-willed transformation, alongside a pointed take on the tough lives of Georgian women.…

OUT 3 MAY CINEMAS, DIGITAL How do you cope with the certainty and imminence of death? Diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour, Kit Vincent responds by picking up his camera in this achingly intimate documentary. Discussing his illness with his partner and separated parents, Vincent refuses to tidy up the uncomfortable exchanges had. Instead, flashes of humour – and his dad's conversion to Judaism – add moments of warmth, before Vincent's declared determination to give loved ones ‘something to remember me by’ emerges as a profoundly affecting mission statement.…

OUT NOW CINEMAS A Canadian-German production, this sweet computer-animated children's film captures a day in a bug's life as two monarch butterflies, one-winged Patrick (Mena Massoud) and vertigofearing Jennifer (She-Hulk's Tatiana Maslany), bond with caterpillar Marty (Lucinda Davis). But they're all excluded from the flutter's annual migration due to their inability to fly. While director Sophie Roy and the writers lead with messages of inclusivity and conservation, they're hampered by flat visuals and an uninspiring story. Despite noble motivations, this leaden adventure never quite takes flight.…

1976 OUT 6 MAY BD EXTRAS Documentary, Featurette, Booklet Available in the UK for the first time, Michael Pataki's 1976 video nasty is so tame it only warrants a 15 certificate these days. Featuring a stacked cast (Richard Basehart, Gloria Grahame, Lance Henriksen), plus future maestro ‘Stanley Winston’ on make-up, it follows an LA surgeon (Basehart) as he resorts to increasingly unethical means to restore his daughter's sight. While the film itself looks great, and there are striking images of eyeless victims, the whole enterprise creaks like a dungeon door.…

SCREEN 1991 OUT 6 MAY BD EXTRAS Commentary, Interviews, Essay A moment of casual cruelty leads to a young Marine and a coffeeshop waitress making unexpected connections on the night before he ships to Vietnam in Nancy Savoca's bittersweet romance. As pat as it sounds, multifaceted performances from River Phoenix and Lili Taylor turn the story into something more complex and painfully uncertain. In the extras, Savoca, Taylor and Mary Harron address studio concerns over the film's commercial prospects, with She's Interesting (!) and Nice Personality (!!) seriously proposed as alternate titles.…

1975 OUT 29 APRIL BD, DIGITAL EXTRAS Alt versions, Commentary, Intro, Interviews Fitting in at the more outré end of 1970s Italian pop cinema, Luigi Bazzoni's cult-ish oddity sees an amnesiac translator (played by Florinda Bolkan) chase after her double after being tormented by visions of Klaus Kinski; a puzzlelike yarn develops, marrying arthouse technique and mystery thriller expectations to surreal and atmospheric effect. This Shameless Films release comes with three cuts of the film, retrospective interviews and historian Rachael Nisbet's commentary.…

PRINT THE LAVENDER HILL MOB POP ART OUT NOW Pop-art specialist Art & Hue's celebration of 75 years of Ealing comedies (see Extras, issue 348) continues with a collection inspired by the studio's 1951 crime caper. Choose from individual portraits of the Mob itself (Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sid James, Alfie Bass), co-star Sydney Tafler and a pre-superstardom Audrey Hepburn. There's also a group shot of the gold-swiping gang and a new take on the original ‘clinch’ poster. An official collab with Studiocanal, the prints are available in three sizes and 20 colour options. Leg it to artandhue.com. TOY/COLLECTIBLE LEGO GOTHAM CITY SKYLINE OUT NOW Inspired by the opening titles of Batman: The Animated Series (1992-95), this 4,210-piece Gotham City-scape offers even more than meets the eye. There are 15…

SCREEN GAMES OUT NOW PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES X/S Hollywood might seem overly fond of remakes/reboots, but no medium cannibalises its past to the same degree as video games. Yet from cosmetic makeovers to wholesale upgrades, the industry seldom looks beyond the established classics. Which makes it doubly refreshing that Capcom resurrected its 2012 action-RPG – more cult fave than all-time great – with director Hideaki Itsuno again at the helm. The title screen makes the developer's intentions plain by forgoing the titular number: this is less a sequel than a chance to use modern hardware to gleefully fulfil the ambitions of a flawed but pioneering original. You are the Arisen, chosen by a dragon seeking a worthy foe. As such, you'll need to prove yourself, battling goblins, harpies and golems.…

REEL SPOTS BEHIND THE CAMERA WHAT? In period horror Witchfinder General (1968), Matthew Hopkins (Vincent Price) oversees the burning of Elizabeth (Maggie Kimberly) in a town square. WHERE? The Guildhall, Lavenham, Sudbury, Suffolk GO? The Lavenham Guildhall is a National Trust property steeped in almost five centuries of history, with both a religious and an industrial past (it famously produced dyed cloth), and can be visited all year round, though it isn't open every day. Kubrick's masterpiece Barry Lyndon and, um, TV's Lovejoy were also filmed in and around the Guildhall. Want us to investigate if a movie scenario is bollocks or snapped yourself at a film location? Contact us at totalfilm@futurenet.com…