They Shall Not Grow Old (Documentary)
Director: Peter Jackson
2019, 99 mins, R
Peter Jackson directs this homage to the British troops of the First World War with never-before-seen-footage of soldiers as they faced the fear and uncertainty of frontline battle in Belgium. Digitally remastered and now in color, the footage has been studied by lip reading experts whose transcripts were recorded and used as audio for the film. Overlayed by a narrative of those who partook in the war from interviews made in the 1960s and 1970s, this historic revisiting marks one hundred years since the end of the Great War.
Never Look Away
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
2019, 189 mins, R
Cast: Tom Schilling, Sebastian Koch, Paula Beer, Saskia Rosendahl
A sweeping romantic historical drama, NEVER LOOK AWAY follows thirty years in the life of a great artist – loosely based on Gerhard Richter, one of the 20th century’s most admired visual artists – played by Tom Schilling (Woman in Gold, Generation War). The film goes from a childhood witnessing Nazi Germany, to post-war East Berlin, where he falls in love with a young woman (Paula Beer, Frantz, The Dark Valley, Transit) whose father is an ex-Nazi murderer in hiding (Sebastian Koch, The Lives of Others, Homeland, Blackbook), to escaping to the West at the time of the Berlin Wall, and ultimately being part of the exciting new movement in contemporary art.
Stan and Ollie
Director: Jon S. Baird
2019, 97 mins, PG
Cast: Steve Coogan, John C. Reilly, Nina Arianda, Shirley Henderson
Laurel & Hardy, one of the world’s great comedy teams, set out on a variety hall tour of Britain in 1953. Diminished by age and with their golden era as the kings of Hollywood comedy now behind them, they face an uncertain future. As the charm and beauty of their performances shines through, they re-connect with their adoring fans. The tour becomes a hit, but Stan & Ollie can’t quite shake the specter of Laurel and Hardy’s past; the long-buried ghosts, coupled with Oliver’s failing health, start to threaten their precious partnership. A portrait of the most tender and poignant of creative marriages, they are aware that they may be approaching their swan song, trying to rediscover just how much they mean to each other.