New Titles, July, 'Norwegian Wood', 'My Dog Tulip', 'The Trip'

Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung has a distinct curiosity about the significance of music, both in everyday life and in cinema. A recurring scene from his gorgeous 2000 film ‘At the Height of Summer’ saw a young couple waking each morning to the strains of the Velvet Underground’s ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ and engaging in a ritualised early-morning ballet of stretches and ablutions. At a pivotal moment in his wistful and agonisingly poignant new work – a thoughtfully abridged adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s lilting 1987 chronicle of late-teen neurosis in 1960s Tokyo – a young woman, Naoko, who’s still traumatised by the suicide of a schoolyard sweetheart, breaks down when a friend casually strums through a rendition of The Beatles’ torch song ‘Norwegian Wood’. The idea that something as ephemeral as a pop song could release a storm cloud of sorrows encapsulates the objectives of this film. It asks: how can we ever really be sure of love without understanding the hidden impulses of others? And what’s the point of love if death’s cruel hand can swipe at any moment?

My Dog Tulip

This gently episodic film by Paul and Sandra Fierlinger manages to say more about man’s relationship with dogs in a single, lush frame than ‘Marley and Me’ would if it were to run on a loop until the end of time.

It’s attentively adapted from a memoir by the late British wit JR Ackerley, which offers – in infinitesimal detail – the mucus-slathered trials of life with his fusty Alsatian bitch, Tulip, in 1950s Putney. Ackerley’s bone-dry prose is the epitome of self-flagellating, post-war Englishness, recalling at once the instructional irony of George Orwell’s essays and the arch, self-effacing out-loud-thoughts of Alan Bennett.

Other New Stuff

Limitless

Way Back, The

Made In Romania

The Trip

Archipelago

L'Amour Fou

Company Men

Macbeth (2010)

July, New Titles, 'Carlos The Jackal', 'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest'

Continuing a pattern of switching between subdued ensemble dramas (‘Summer Hours’, ‘Late August, Early September’) and balls-out ‘global’ techno-thrillers (‘Demonlover’, ‘Boarding Gate’), French director Olivier Assayas returns with a hulking, seething, intermittently sublime, five-and-a-half hour film in which he manages to draw together elements from both of these distinct styles.

‘Carlos’ is the lightly fictionalised biopic of Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, known to the world – but not in this film! – as Carlos the Jackal, and it comes across as the mother of all New Yorker profiles writ loud and large on the screen. Central to the film is a passionate, technically complex (he’s fluent in half a dozen languages) performance from Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramirez who feels like the perfect, paunchy mouthpiece for Carlos’s fervent, if flawed, gunboat Marxism.

Covering the period between his joining the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1970 and his capture in Sudan in 1994 (as he was being treated for a varicose vein on one of his testicles), the film works best when it presents information visually rather than with swathes of ideological discourse. The highlight is a masterly rendering of Carlos’s raid on an OPEC meeting in Vienna in 1975 for which Assayas orchestrates detail in such a way that it speaks about the politics, fears, tactics and ambitions of all involved. Elsewhere, small episodes – such as the gun-toting capture of Baader-Meinhof wildcat Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann – feel like they’ve been included purely for the sake of thoroughness.

Assayas doesn’t try to reflect too audaciously on Carlos ‘the man’, though he does paint him as someone whose single-minded focus on political goals was partly fuelled by raging sexual desire. (NB: The film is also screening in a more compact 158-minute version.)

Other New Stuff This Week

GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST, THE (2009)

MECHANIC, THE (2011)

HALL PASS (2011)

OTHER GUYS, THE (2010)

BARNEY'S VERSION (2010)

KING'S SPEECH, THE (2010)

WAITING FOR SUPERMAN (2011)

WARRIOR'S WAY, THE (2010)

I SAW THE DEVIL (2010)

YOUNG AT HEART (1954)

MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE (1964)

INSIGNIFICANCE (1985) CRITERION

MAKIOKA SISTERS, THE (1983) CRITERION

SUDDEN FEAR (1952)

HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1951)

TOPPER RETURNS (1941)

Coming Soon

Steve Coogan's THE TRIP

NORWEGIAN WOOD

ARCHIPELAGO

Anton Chekhov's THE DUEL

Tony Gatlif's KORKORO

KISS ME DEADLY Criterion

ZAZIE DANS LE METRO Criterion

THE MUSIC ROOM Criterion

BLACK MOON Criterion

PEOPLE ON SUNDAY Criterion

DIABOLIQUE Criterion

NAKED KISS Criterion

RED SHOES Criterion

PATHS OF GLORY Criterion

LE BOSSU (1960)

BETT'S BATH & OTHER STORIES

TINTIN & THE MYSTERY OF THE GOLDEN FLAME

CHEKHOV COMEDY SHORTS

ON TOUR

LUNCH HOUR (BFI)

THE MUSIC LOVERS

SET THE PIANO STOOL ON FIRE

WARD NO. 6

DEEP END (BFI)

July, New Titles, 'Farewell', '127 Hours', 'Biutiful'

Farewell

The Farewell affair was an espionage plot that unfolded in the USSR, France and the USA between 1981 and 1983.

Sergei Gregoriev (Emir Kusterica), a KGB operative hungry for change, begins feeding secrets to Pierre Froment, a French engineer in Moscow, who in turn takes them to François Mitterrand (Philippe Magnan), who passes them to Ronald Reagan.

While in Moscow, the households of Gregoriev and Froment come under increasing strain from their secret professional – and personal – lives. ‘Farewell’ boasts a strong cast – Willem Dafoe pops up as a CIA chief and Niels Arestrup plays his French counterpart – and is strong on life in Soviet Moscow. That rare thing nowadays, a Cold War thriller, reminiscent of 'Gorky Park'.

127 Hours

There’s little more gruesome and extreme than the story of Aron Ralston, an American outdoors nut who in 2003 went canyoning alone in Utah without telling anyone where he was going. James Franco plays the frenetic 27 year old as an experience junkie and sociable loner. He bombs through the desert on a mountain bike leaving a trail of dust behind him. He meets girls in the wilderness, makes them laugh and leaps into underground lakes with them before saying goodbye. He bounds over gulleys. Then he misses his footing, slips into a canyon and a boulder follows him down, pinning his arm to the wall just as he lands on his feet. He’s trapped, and the film’s kineticism turns in on itself: like Ralston, its energy is stuck in a hole.

Biutiful

Bardem plays Uxbal, a grafter who shuttles between corrupt police, Chinese sweatshop owners and illegal African street hawkers. He brings comfort to the bereaved by passing on messages from the deceased, while at the same time coping with his estranged wife’s bipolar disorder and facing the shadow of serious illness himself.

Other New Stuff in July

IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA SEASON 4 (2008)

BLOW OUT (1981) CRITERION

SOMETHING WILD (1986) CRITERION

PALE FLOWER (1964) CRITERION (REGION 1)

BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO (2011)

BIUTIFUL (2010)

METROPOLIS (1927) MADMAN RESTORATION

YOGI BEAR (2010)

WHITE MATERIAL (2009)

WE ARE WHAT WE ARE (2010)

CATFISH (2010)

TAMARA DREWE (2010)

HEART OF GLASS (1976)

TOM WAITS UNDER REVIEW 1971-1982 (2008)

RABBIT HOLE (2010)

127 HOURS (2010) BLU-RAY

127 HOURS (2010)

BLACK SWAN (2010)

GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, THE (1966)

STORY OF THE KELLY GANG, THE (1906)

TRASH HUMPERS (2009)

HOLY ROLLERS (2009)

BLUE VALENTINE (2010)

DISTRICT 13 ULTIMATUM (2010)

REIGN OF ASSASSINS (2010)

HOWL (2010)

ROUTE IRISH (2010)

SUSPIRIA (1977)

GNOMEO AND JULIET (2011)

SEASON OF THE WITCH (2011)

UNKNOWN (2011)

UNKNOWN (2011)

UNKNOWN (2011) BLU-RAY

ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, THE (2011)

HEREAFTER (2010)

HEREAFTER (2010) BLU-RAY

FAREWELL (2009)

INTERLUDE (1957) MADMAN DIRECTOR'S SUITE

DAY OF THE OUTLAW (1959)

PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER, THE (2010)

AGE OF REASON, THE (2010)

SANCTUM (2011)

SANCTUM (2011) BLU-RAY

PIANOMANIA (2009)

TREE, THE (2010)

I AM NUMBER FOUR (2011)

RANGO (2011)

FASTER (2010)

INSIDE JOB (2010)

AND EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE FINE (2010)

LEAVING (2009)

June, New Titles, 'True Grit', 'Blue Valentine'

True Grit

The Coen brothers return, offering their own distinctive take on Charles Portis's revenge-western novel. Jeff Bridges assumes the role of the cycloptic avenger Rooster Cogburn which won John Wayne an Oscar in 1969.

Blue Valentine

The title of this mature and moving new US indie captures the tug of war between the excitement of new love and the misery of its slow, painful death. Young American filmmaker Derek Cianfrance bats us back and forth between all sorts of emotions and moods – hot and cold, hope and despair, energy and lethargy – as he shares with us the exciting beginning and dispiriting end of the five-year marriage.

Other new stuff

How Do You Know

Unstoppable

Marketing Of Madness

No Strings Attached

Glass Lips

Childrens Hospital season 1&2

June, New Titles, 'The Green Hornet', 'Next Three Days', 'Hit List'

This wonky but charming action caper documents the crime-thwarting travails of Britt Reid aka The Green Hornet (Seth Rogen doing Seth Rogen), a lingo-spouting party boy and publishing heir, and Kato (a film-stealing Jay Chou), his quiet Chinese expat mechanic-cum-sidekick who is happily saddled with most of the inventing and fighting duties. Their enemy is debonair crime kingpin Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz, rolling out his Oscar-winning, hot-hot-hot-hot-COLD! Hans Landa turn), and with the aid of a slickly remodelled vintage Chrysler, some custom-moulded masks and a pair of silly hats, the pair set out to obliterate the criminal scourge of LA.

The Next Three Days

Fred Cavayé’s popular 2008 French prison-break melodrama ‘Anything for Her’ becomes a terse, overly serious, character-driven potboiler in the hands of Paul Haggis, the writer-director of ‘Crash’ and ‘In the Valley of Elah’. The plot – Russell Crowe’s browbeaten family man finds his life falling apart when his wife (Elizabeth Banks) is convicted of murder and decides to bust her out – promises high-stakes drama and high-octane action, so it’s a shame that it takes ‘The Next Three Days’ well over an hour to get going. When it does, the film is gripping, intense and highly enjoyable. But it’s a long, tough slog to get there.

Other New Stuff...

The Hit List (2011), Cuba Gooding Jr. in a twist on 'Strangers On A Train', as his wishlist of people he'd like dead start dying

Journey Of The ChildMen - Mighty Boosh on Tour

Wonders Of The Solar System

June, New Titles, 'Black Swan' 'Uncle BoonMee...' 'The Fighter'

It’s best to switch off the more sensible side of your mind, along with any idea that you’re going to experience a documentary-style portrait of the world of ballet, before encountering Darren Aronofsky's ‘Black Swan’. It’s a film that really only works if you let yourself be swirled up, like its main character, in a storm of hysteria, paranoia and tears: it’s too impulsive and emotional to be picked apart at the level of logic and too ludicrous to exist in a world other than its own. It’s huge fun, but only if you’re willing to swallow its more bonkers excesses.

Uncle BoonMee Who Can See His Past Lives

And if that isn't the right kind of bonkers for you, then try this Thai noodle. The film joins a dumpy, softly-spoken tamarind farmer (Boonmee) as he takes metaphysical stock of his time on earth while he slowly, gracefully succumbs to kidney disease. As the film rummages through his subconscious, we meet friendly apparitions of his late wife and his son, the latter of whom has been cross-bred with a monkey. We even get a glimpse of a past life when he inhabited the body of a horny catfish.

Other New Stuff for June

La Signora Senza Camelie (1953) Region 2

La Signora Senza Camelie (1953) Blu-Ray

Map Of The Sounds Of Tokyo (2009)

Of Gods And Men (2010) Region 2

Inside Job (2010)

Tamara Drewe (2010)

Restrepo (2010)

Canterbury Tales, The (1972) Region 2

Lemmy (2010)

Last Train Home (2009)

Dead Man (1994) Blu-Ray

Made In Dagenham (2010)

American: The Bill Hicks Story (2010)

Eden Is West (2009)

Two In The Wave (2009)

Morning Glory (2011)

Fighter, The (2010)

Black Swan (2010) Blu-Ray

Another Year (2010)

May, New Titles, 'Glenn Gould', 'The Tourist', 'Love And Other Drugs'

GENIUS WITHIN: The Inner Life Of Glenn Gould

It's an inescapable fact that Gould's singular musical insights – the way he brought out in Bach a mesmeric unity of sound – could only have arisen from a singular personality. An enigmatic musical poet — and the most documented classical musician of the last century — world-renowned pianist Glenn Gould continues to captivate international audiences twenty-six years after his untimely death. Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould humanizes the legend, weaving together an unprecedented array of unseen footage, private home recordings and diaries, as well as compelling interviews with Gould’s most intimate friends and lovers — all exploring the incongruities between Gould’s private reality and his wider image.

THE TOURIST

This is a remarkable film. Take the Oscar-winning director of the universally acclaimed ‘The Lives of Others’, and add not one, but two Oscar-winning screenwriters – Julian Fellowes (‘Gosford Park’) and Chris McQuarrie (‘The Usual Suspects’). Throw in Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, attractive locations in wintry Paris and Venice. Sounds like it can hardly miss, right? Well, ‘The Tourist’ is remarkable because its not inconsiderable talent pool has delivered a would-be ‘light-hearted international crime caper’ which runs the gamut from idiocy to tedium and back again, all the while exuding a smug sense of self-satisfaction which is frankly inexplicable. Long for the days of red London buses, Shirley MacLaine in oriental eye make-up, swishy dissolves and cocktail-hour music? Well, stick with the ’60s celluloid fluff of your choice because it certainly doesn’t get any better here.

(Time Out Film)

YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER

Woody Allen's latest continues his bumpy ride along the bottom. A shoddy, shallow, unfunny, medium-weight London ensemble drama upscaled to the big screen without a trace of Woody on it, save for the jaunty jazz soundtrack. Almost everyone is mis-cast. File alongside Stephen Frears' upcoming 'Tamara Drewe' for disappointing fare from formerly brilliant director now in the doldrums.

Oh, the story? Alfie leaves Helena to pursue his lost youth and a free-spirited call girl named Charmaine (Punch), Helena abandons rationality and surrenders her life to the loopy advice of a charlatan fortune teller. Unhappy in her marriage, Sally develops a crush on her handsome art gallery owner boss, Greg (Banderas), while Roy, a novelist nervously awaiting the response to his latest manuscript, becomes moonstruck over Dia. Zzzzz.

INSPECTOR BELLAMY (2008)

SOMEWHERE (2010)

BEHIND THE BURLY Q (2010)

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS (2010)

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS (2010) BLU-RAY

TANGLED (2010)

RUBBER (2010)

WAR YOU DON'T SEE, THE (2010)

I, DON GIOVANNI (2009)

LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS (2010)

LITTLE FOCKERS (2011)

LAST EXORCISM, THE (2010)

JACKBOOTS ON WHITEHALL (2010)

RED HILL (2009)

DILEMMA, THE (2010)

MORNING GLORY (2011)