The Alliance Française French Film Festival announces 2017 Festival dates, and reveals four titles from the 2017 line-up

The Alliance Française French Film Festival announces 2017 Festival dates, and reveals four titles from the 2017 line-up

The Alliance Française French Film Festival will return to New Zealand screens from 1 March- 12 April, 2017, inviting audiences to experience one language, and a world of emotions.

Following the success of the 2016 Festival, which marked 10 years of celebrating the best of French cinema, the 2017 Festival will feature over 30 of the finest films from France and French-speaking regions. As New Zealand’s premier event celebrating French culture, the 2017 Alliance Française French Film Festival will continue to bring scintillating French cinema to an audience spanning 12 cities around the country.

From more intimate films to big entertainment, the 2017 Festival will offer a wide range of genres and themes, showcasing many talents.

Ahead of the full programme launch in February, the Alliance Française French Film Festival is delighted to reveal four titles from the upcoming 2017 line-up.

Baden BadenFrance/Belgium 2016Director: Rachel Lang
Starring: Salomé Richard, Claude Gensac, Zabour Breitman, Swann Arlaud

26-year-old Ana (Salomé Richard), leaves a job she detests, and upon returning to her hometown of Strasbourg, engages herself in a DIY reconstruction of the bathroom of her indisposed Grandmother. From this simple concept, director Rachel Lang’s sparklingly humorous debut explores complex ideas of love lost, and the pursuit of personal transformation.

Monsieur ChocolatFrance 2015
Director: Roschdy Zem
Starring: Omar Sy, James Thiérrée, Noémie Lvovsky, Clothilde Hesme

Based on a true story, Omar Sy excels as Chocolat the clown, the first black performer in French circus. Joined by James Thiérrée (grandson of Charlie Chaplin) as the white clown George Footit, the two form an unforgettable performance partnership, and journey through the challenges of gaining success in the 1890s. The film deftly mixes incredible feats and uplifting moments with thought provoking themes of racism and the corrupting power of fame. 

It's Only the End of the World (Juste la Fin du Monde)France/Canada 2015
Director: Xavier Dolan
Starring: Gaspard Ulliel, Nathalie Baye, Léa Seydoux, Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard

Derived from the play Juste la fin du monde, by Jean-Luc Lagarce, It’s Only the End of the World introduces Louis (Gaspard Ulliel), a writer suffering from a fatal illness, who returns to his family to inform them of his inevitable demise. Familial divisions, personal conflict, and past grievances are capably treated by director Xavier Dolan, as we follow Louis’s poignant story.

Dark Diamond (Diamant Noir)France/Belgium 2015
Director: Arthur Harari
Starring: Niels Schneider, August Diehl, Hans Peter Cloos, Abdel-Hafed Benotman

Arthur Harari’s film opens with the death of Pier Ulmann’s father; poverty stricken and ousted by his family after a fatal accident. Pier’s (Niels Schneider) desire to avenge his father leads him to infiltrate the ranks of his affluent diamond-dealing extended family. Considering the family culpable for his father’s loss, Pier plans a heist under the guise of carrying out construction work on the diamond firm. This polished film noir challenges the distinction between right and wrong, and is a master class in the effective building of tension. 

The full AF FFF 2017 programme will be available online and in print from Thursday 2 February 2017.

The Alliance Française French Film Festival will run from 1 March - 12 April 2017 in 12 cities across New Zealand. For dates and venues information, visit www.frenchfilmfestival.co.nz

Dr Who Christmas Special, The Return of Dr Mysterio gets Boxing Day Release

Dr Who Christmas Special, The Return of Dr Mysterio gets Boxing Day Release

A special Boxing Day cinema event in New Zealand

BBC Worldwide Australia & New Zealand (ANZ) and Rialto Cinemas today announced a Boxing Day screening of this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio, which sees the Doctor teaming up with a comic-book superhero in New York.

 The cinema event will include the full 60-minute special plus two bonus features, A New Kind of Superhero, giving a special inside look at Doctor Who’s concept of a modern superhero, and a special Christmas Doctor Who Extra, showing the making of this year’s special, with appearances by stars Peter Capaldi and Matt Lucas, and showrunner and executive producer Steven Moffat.

Fans throughout New Zealand will be able to enjoy the event in New Zealand cinemas nationwide. Information on participating cinemas and purchasing tickets for Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio can be found at: www.nz.rialtodistribution.com

Written by Steven Moffat, this family favourite will see the Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi, join up with an investigative journalist, played by Charity Wakefield (Wolf Hall, The Player) and a superhero to save New York from a deadly alien threat. Grant, the superhero in human guise, is played by Justin Chatwin (Orphan Black, War of the Worlds).

Matt Lucas (Nardole) will also be joining the cast of the special with Adetomiwa Edun (Lucifer, Bates Motel), Aleksandar Jovanovic and Logan Huffman.

“Superheroes are a cinema staple so we’re doubly delighted to give Doctor Who fans the opportunity to see this spectacular adventure on the big screen,” said Louise Hill, Live Entertainment Executive for BBC Worldwide ANZ.

It is written by Steven Moffat, Executive Produced by Brian Minchin, Produced by Peter Bennett and Directed by Ed Bazalgette (Poldark). Doctor Who is made by BBC Studios Wales and shot in Cardiff at BBC Wales Roath Lock Studios.

The 60 minute Doctor Who Christmas Special will also air on Prime TV on Boxing Day.

 Tickets for the theatrical release of Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio are  on sale nationally now at: www.nz.rialtodistribution.com

Our Kind Of Traitor: Blu Ray Review

Our Kind Of Traitor: Blu Ray Review

The ordinary guys finding themselves seduced by wealth and lifestyle before being placed in an extraordinary situation is nothing new to the thriller genre.

And in the hands of director Susanna White (a predominantly TV series based director), this adaptation of a John Le Carre novel is fairly workmanlike, and unfortunately lacking in many thrills.

Ewan McGregor and Naomie Harris star as Perry and Gail, who are holidaying in Marrakech and clearly trying to reconnect. When Gail's pulled away on a work call at dinner, Perry finds himself ensconced in a circle of Russians, headed up by Stellan Skarsgard's oligarch and money launderer Dima.

Attracted to the wealthier side of life, and seizing the opportunity it brings, Perry's soon asked by Dima to take a memory stick of information to the British authorities (here headed up by Homeland star Damian Lewis's stiff and starched Hector). Dima wants to defect and bring down the corrupt vein that's coursing through London.... but Perry and Gail find themselves thrust into the middle of a web of mistrust.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Our Kind of Traitor.

In many ways, White's execution of the Le Carre novel of the same name is a solid piece that lacks thrills to power it along, and feels curiously devoid of suspense throughout.

Of the cast, McGregor's fine as Perry, the man who's done wrong by Gail, but wants to do the right thing by others, and Harris is a muted presence as Gail. Fatally, the pair lack chemistry at times, though that could in part be due to the strained relationship they're supposed to portray as details of their chasm are drip-fed out. And any danger they may face is muted by this portrayal of the relationship.

But it's Skarsgard who has the bigger presence as the larger than life Dima.

His rounded character demonstrates what's missing in this thriller - characters that you really root for and engage with. While his portrayal borders on the over-the-top at times, it is a welcome source of wry humour and a distraction from the character elements that are unfortunately missing elsewhere.
Sequences of suspense that would have been page-turners in the original best selling novel are performed with such perfunctory flair that the film lacks a compelling sparkle with which to settle on and contains little sign of ever fully gripping you in its web of mistrust and intrigue.

In many ways, Our Kind of Traitor feels like a film out of time; perhaps fans of Le Carre's original novel will get some kind of buzz from its execution, but everyone else may feel this thriller is a little too vanilla and lacking in flair. 

Underworld: Blood Wars: Film Review

Underworld: Blood Wars: Film Review

Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Theo James, Lara Pulver, Charles Dance
Director: Anna Foerster

The fifth Underworld film appears on the cinematic horizon four years after Underworld: Awakening rebooted a portion of the franchise.

This time around, Kate Beckinsale returns as Vamp death dealer Selene, all clad in black leather and ready to kick some ass as the ongoing war between the vampires and the lycans continues.

Having lost all trace of her daughter at the end of Awakening, Selene finds herself hunted by the terrifying new leader of the Lycans, Marius (Tobias Menzies) who wants her daughter's blood, believing it will give the lupine clan the ultimate power to end once and for all the conflict.
Forced to turn to the coven who betrayed her, Selene is once again slap bang in the middle of attacks from all side, political intrigue and betrayal as the fight for eternal life goes on.

War is hell.

And eternal war must therefore, by extension, be eternal hell.

But that would be preferable to the latest Underworld film, an action thriller that barely musters enough action or thrills under its fetish garb to keep you entertained during its 90 minute run time.

The latest film lacks bite and feels anaemic in comparison to other entrants into the franchise, and despite once again rebooting the film (along with a brisk pre-credits introduction which gets everyone up to speed), the fire in its cinematic belly is waning this time.

It's largely due to a lack of clarity, an extremely basic script and vision that's wanting.

Foerster, who's helmed episodes of Outlander and who is the first female director to take on the series, manages to deliver the sparse action with a degree of simplicity of style, but there's not enough action sequences to flesh out the relatively thin bones unfortunately. It largely doesn't help that the supporting characters are relatively non-existent and it's left to James and his ample shirtless six-pack and pouting, as well as Beckinsale's frosty Selene to carry things along, leaving the investment into proceedings severely wanting.

True Blood and Sherlock's Lara Pulver vamps it up in a treacherous duplicitous role, but the wooden dialogue and occasionally ropey C Grade CGI morphing does more to cripple proceedings than you'd expect. In prior films, that's been masked by the action sequences, and their plethora, but Underworld : Blood Wars has scant numbers of them throughout its short run time.

To be fair, there are some nice sequences where the vamps are dispatched by UV bullets, rendering their bodies asunder into ashes, but there's not enough visual flair on show.

Ultimately, Underworld Blood Wars may satiate the lust of the fanbase, but there's a nagging feeling that Beckinsale is cruising through this latest installment and its ham-fisted political shenanigans, thanks to a lacklustre script and threadbare action

Your Name: Film Review

Your Name: Film Review

Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi
Director: Makoto Shinkai

Mixing J-Pop, time travel,body swapping and Japan's pre-occupation with natural disasters, Your Name is quite the genre bending anime.

Already raising more at the Japanese box office than Princess Mononoke, the film's continued success atop the charts (taking around 98 million US) is leading many to claim Shinkai is the natural successor to the potentially retired Miyazaki.

It's the story of two high school kids, Taki and Mitsuha, (Kamiki and Kamishiraishi) who live in very different parts of the world. Mitsuha lives in a small village where there are no facilities (but bizarrely two pubs) and who dreams that she would like to wake up one day in Tokyo as a boy. Taki is a boy in Tokyo, whose high school life is as normal, and who dreams that he becomes a girl in a small village...

Connecting these two's lives is a comet strafing through the skyline, whose appearance only once every 122 years seems to signify something unusual...

Your Name's lushly created visuals and comic light touch make its 2 hour run time worth it.

Shinkai's world is based in the now, rather than Miyazaki's which has always lingered in the past, a touch which makes the Tokyo skyline stand out while Mitsuha's small village feels bucolic and contemporary too.

While the music interludes that hit in parts feel like a bizarre music video - they personally grated and jarred the experience, there's a degree of the body swap story landing as well as it should and feeling relatively fresh despite a tired old trope. With no real rhyme or reason given early on for the swaps, the Freaky Friday elements work well - and while there's comedy of Taki living in a girl's body (and obsessing over the parts any teen world), there's also a poignancy of Mitsuha living a life in another world.

As the two lives tangle closer together, Shinkai brings a reflective nature to the story-telling, abandoning the frivolity and levity for something all the more philosophical and elegant. While there's definitely an argument that the film could drop some of its run time, the beauty of the anime and the contrast between Tokyo and the mountain village are gorgeous to revel in.

Your Name ends up being more thoughtful than its body swap premise promises - and ultimately, it's a sign that anime continues to surprise and thrill.

Kitchen: PS VR Review

Kitchen: PS VR Review

Released by Capcom
Platform: PS VR

If Resident Evil: Biohazard has any plans to scare us stupid in January, then Kitchen's VR Demo (available free on the PS Store now) is an indication we'll all need to be wearing nappies come release date.

Utilising the idea of the SAW movies, Kitchen drops you, cable-tied and sitting in a kitchen setting where it's evident the cleaner's not been for months. Grubby, grimy and looking like hell, you've got a recording camera shoved in your face, as you raise the motion controller to see your hands are tied.

As you thrust the camera away, what looks to be a body to your left comes to life - and that's where the nightmares start; not because it's a zombie but because it's a desperate scrabble to get away from something else lurking in the room.

What Kitchen gets right in its very brief execution (the thing lasts all of about 5 minutes) is the sense of depth and immersiveness. The sole location, with its dirty decor, is terrifying and claustrophobic, and while some of the play-out of the piece is frankly obvious to anyone aware of the horror genre, the clever stretching out of the tension adds much.

With Biohazard likely to be a PS VR Exclusive for a while, the bar's been set reasonably high. And with sound and atmospherics playing a large part here, here's hoping the wait will be worth it.

Dishonored 2: PS4 Review

Dishonored 2: PS4 Review

Developed by Bethesda and Arkane Studios
Platform: PS4

The first Dishonored was a great game.

Mixing treachery with the supernatural, revenge with stealth proved to be a major boon for the first outing and a return to Dunwall was inevitable after it snagged some 100 Game of the Year awards.

This latest sees you returning on the 15th anniversary of the death of Jessamine Kaldwin and the arrival of a coup, spearheaded by an unknown existence and threat which has lain dormant for years. With Emily and her protector Corvo Attano thrust from power, you're on the run - and you get to choose which person to play as.

Heading to Karnaca, the coastal city, secrets begin to come to light as you take on the forces that have seized power and claw your way back up to reclaiming your rite - and the throne of Dunwall.

Playing as Emily is a choice many will choose in this stealth sim, that's as much of a thrill as the first game was back in 2012. Arkane Studios has really built on the promise of the first game in this revenge driven thriller that hits all of the stealth bases.

But you actually have to play the game - even on the easiest setting. There's no way to simply blunder into proceedings and to hope to survive. You need to be stealthy, creeping around and eliminating those in your way before they become too alert to your presence and take you out.

And that's sometimes easier than it sounds; even on the game's easy setting, guards go from zero to alert in seconds, meaning you have to be onto it. From teleport powers to specific powers tailored for whichever character you choose to be, Dishonored's two-for-one deal means that really, many will find time to want to play this through again as the other once completion is hit. It's a canny move from Arkane, but rather than reeking of cash-in, it's a perfect way to play.

The game itself looks good, but at times, some of the mouths and eyes look hollow, with patches of white appearing unannounced and reminding you you're playing a game - it's a shame as visually, the Victorianesque streets of Dunwall and the brighter worlds of Karnaca look incredible, a testament to what the PS4 can achieve.

Ultimately, Dishonored 2's attention to detail, its revenge plot and its simplicity of play mean it's a title well worth picking up - even in the busiest part of the tail end of the year, it's a game that shines out and that deserves to be applauded.

Ah, Arkane, you've done it again.