Welcome to the BRAG’s weekly rundown of what’s hot in the coming seven days of cinematic releases. Animation leads the way, but there’s also plenty of thrills, both documented and dramatised, to satisfy all you weirdos who prefer IRL life to drawings.
It’s the kind of release week that caters to a broad range of audiences, composed of a broadly-appealing family funbag, a more challenging animated experience, an espionage thriller, a queer art documentary and an arthouse drama. This is the kind of diversity our screens need!
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STORKS
The creators of The Lego Movie literalise the old myth used by every parent who wants to avoid “the talk” – yes, storks deliver babies. Or, they used to. Now, the noble birds are glorified postmen, delivering packages for online companies.
That is, until star delivery-bird Junior (Andy Samberg) accidentally sets off the baby-making machine, producing a tyke that needs a home. Aided by the company’s only human employee, Tulip (Katie Crown), Junior sets off to unite the kiddo with a new family.
The cast is superb – particularly Keegan-Michael Key & Jordan Peele as Alpha and Beta Wolf respectively – and you can’t tell me that wolf submarine in the trailer isn’t amazing. This will be a riot.
tl;dr A less awkward introduction to the topic of procreation.
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THE RED TURTLE
So this was co-produced by Studio Ghibli? Excuse me, there’s something in my eye…
The first effort to bear the brand since Hayao Miyazaki’s retirement, this international affair pairs the Japanese master with Dutch director (and Oscar winner) Michael Dudok de Wit and a team of French animators. It also has zero dialogue, rendering the language barrier null and void.
Who knows if this is the model Ghibli will continue to follow, but for now we can simply revel in the wonder of this meditation on man and nature’s inexorable ties. That such magnificent artists are working together is a glorious sign of the future for Ghibli and animation as form.
tl;dr It’s Ponyo for grown-ups! Even though Ponyo is already Ponyo for grown-ups.
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SNOWDEN
RT: 60%
Political biographer Oliver Stone takes on the US government’s worst enemy – one of their own who knows too much. Edward Snowden, much like Julian Assange before him, is finally getting the celebrity treatment, appearing in the uncannily accurate guise of Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
And while it hasn’t received the critical pounding of The Fifth Estate, it falls into similar traps – JGL is excellent, but the film can’t touch the complex politico-philosophical intrigues of the real story or the real man. Mostly because a thriller format necessitates making file theft sexy.
With major studio releases on controversial topics comes an inherent contradiction – given the public knowledge of such a production, at what point does the government consider the film insubordination or, worse, a threat to national security? What compromises would Stone and producers Open Road Films have to make to ensure release?
tl;dr Further attempts at making hacking look sexy.
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MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES
This HBO doco might be a tricky one to get your hands on, but well worth it for a portrait of an artist who lived on the same reel of film as he created.
As an examination of Robert Mapplethorpe‘s work, and his identity within both the New York art scene and queer community, the film is bound to tempt controversy. Which of course only makes it all the more alluring.
Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, both producers from RuPaul’s Drag Race, confront the artist’s life, work, sexuality and politics head-on. If the concept of BDSM makes you squeamish, a) grow up and b) maybe watch something else.
tl;dr Portrait of the artist and film producers.
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EARLY WINTER
Early Winter missed the cut a while back, and is definitely coming out at Dendy next week. Hooray for article padding!
Despite winning Venice Days Best Film in 2015’s Venice Internatonal Film Festival, it’s expected to have a frosty reception at the box office, which traditionally doesn’t favour glacially-paced dramas about failing marriages.
However, props must go to director (and Aussie!) Michael Rowe for his pointed but beautiful use of visual metaphor, as the weather outside perfectly reflects the plummeting passions inside.
tl;dr Like double dating with an iceberg and a cruise ship.
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And now for THE VERDICT – maybe you only get to see one of these flicks on the big screen, and you don’t wanna waste that night out. So, drum roll please…
Of course I’m going to say The Red Turtle. Of course. It’s Ghibli! But I’m excited to see what Sony Animation can do with Andy Samberg alongside Key & Peele, so if you’re in the mood, take your flock to Storks and let the big-budget animation continue to stall your children’s sex education.
Until next week!
