Rialto Channel’s Month of Sin wraps up this weekend with one of the most controversial and sinful films of 2014, Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac: Vol I and II. These films are as indulgent, playful, and full frontal as you’d expect from world cinema’s enfant terrible, who is clearly in the mood to shock and enlighten his audience. Don’t miss this epic sexual odyssey, it’s one of the most polarizing and talked about films of 2014, and is my first pick for the week.
Rialto Channel’s Month of Sin wraps up this weekend with one of the most controversial and sinful films of 2014, Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac: Vol I and II. These films are as indulgent, playful, and full frontal as you’d expect from world cinema’s enfant terrible, who is clearly in the mood to shock and enlighten his audience. Don’t miss this epic sexual odyssey, it’s one of the most polarizing and talked about films of 2014, and is my first pick for the week.
Nymphomaniac Vol I and II
Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgard, Shia LeBeouf, Christian Slater and Uma Thurman
Directed by: Lars Von Trier
Screening: Saturday 28th February, 8.30pm and 10.30pm
Bold, brave and ambitious, Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac series is also indulgent, darkly funny and forced at times. It’s a film that fluctuates between sharp observations on relationships, sex and love, and melodramatic, tenuous scenes about one young woman’s destructive behavior. Charlotte Gainsbourg stars as a nymphomaniac who regales her story of sexual domination, to a kind gentleman (Stellan Skarsgard) that takes her in after she’s been beaten. The sex is more clinically shot than erotic and is interspersed with nature shots – just one of the more playful aspects of this film. There’s more to these films than just it’s explicit material though. The music, sound, pacing and art direction is all very deliberate and precise and contributes to the dark and witty sense of humour on display. Fill any awkward silences on Saturday with comments on the many clever references to art, music, religion and literature!
The Kill Team
Starring: Adam Winfield and family.
Directors: Dan Krauss
Screening: Rialto Documentary, 26th February, 8.30pm
You might have noticed over the last month Rialto Channel has been playing a series of films examining, in a variety of different ways, America’s foreign policy in relation to it’s War on Terror. This week we wrap up the series with a film that tells the almost unbelievable tale of Specialist Adam Winfield, a 21-year-old infantryman in Afghanistan, who with the help of his father, tried to alert the military to heinous war crimes his platoon was committing. Unfortunately for Winfield, his fellow soldiers discovered his tell all plan, forcing him to choice between survival and his conscience. It’s a sad and outrageous story told with urgency and intrigue by Oscar nominated director Dan Krauss (The Life of Kevin Carter). His access to those directly involved in this story is remarkable, but not as remarkable as the blasé, candid and unapologetic manner in which these interviewees talk about their criminal actions in Afghanistan.
I’m So Excited
Starring: Javier Cámara, Pepa Charro, Cecilia Roth
Directors: Pedro Almodóvar
Screening: Rialto World, Monday 23rd February, 8.30pm
Only Pedro Almodóvar could pull off a film about life and death in such a camp and flamboyant manner. Lighter than his usual work, I’m So Excited is a disaster film spoof mostly set on board a plane heading to Mexico. A mechanical fault with the landing gear (caused by two characters played by regular Almodóvar collaborators Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz in cameo roles) means that the plane must keep flying until a safe runway can be found to land on. With a little help from singing and dancing air stewards, drugs and alcohol, the passengers and pilots do their utmost to continue enjoying themselves. Filled with crazy, outrageous characters and behavior, I’m So Excited is like a sky-high daytime soap on steroids; fast paced, over the top, absurd and amusing.