This beautifully shot melodrama is set during the early years of the Nazi occupation of France in World War II. As the Germans rolled through France, their officers were billeted with locals, and Suite Française tells of the love that bloomed between French villager Lucile Angellier (Michelle Williams), and German soldier Bruno von Falk (Matthias Schoenaerts).

The film is an adaption of a novel written by Irène Némirovsky, a French writer of Ukrainian-Jewish origin. Némirovsky died at Auschwitz in 1942, and 60 years later, Némirovsky’s daughter discovered the manuscript for Suite Française inside one of her mother’s journals. Her fictional story of life in France during the war became a best-selling novel and has been adapted for the big screen by British filmmaker Saul Dibb, along with Oscar-nominated screenwriter Matt Charman (Bridge of Spies).

This war story is told from the point of view of those left to deal with the occupation, and it not only captures the compassionate and heroic deeds undertaken, but also how poorly people behaved. Denunciations and collaborations are very much part of Suite Française, as well as controversial love affairs.

Dibb isn’t a fan of working on studio sets so Suite Française was shot on location in Belgium and France. Not only does Dibb believe it provides the actors with a more genuine setting, it also proved to be an emotional process for some of the locals who can still recall the tanks rolling in during WWII.  

The Wolfpack  Premieres Thursday 25^th August, 8.30pm

The Wolfpack, directed by Crystal Moselle, premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival where it won the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize. It tells the story of a family who raised and homeschooled their seven kids inside an apartment on the Lower East Side of New York City. Prevented from leaving their home, the six Angulo brothers and one sister were encouraged to play music and re-enact famous movies to pass the time, until one day, one of the brothers left the apartment to explore the real world.

Moselle, a graduate of New York's School of Visual Arts, discovered the brothers on the street of New York where their waist length hair and Tarantino-inspired outfits caught her attention. They bonded over their love of film, and after learning they’d been kept inside for 14 years, convinced them to let her document their lives.

It’s almost unbelievable that after being locked up by their father, who wanted to protect them from the criminals and drug dealers on the street, that the family would let a film director into their house. It’s clear that Moselle has been very careful as to how she has pieced together this film, and who appears in it. The boy’s younger sister who they describe as ‘special’ is mentally handicapped and barely features, as does their father who quite possibly has mental health issues. Their mother Susanne fronts for the camera, and even though she is concerned about the boy’s safety outside of the house, seems pleased they now have an opportunity to connect with the world.

Obviously psychologists would be fascinated to talk to these boys; there is plenty of confronting and disturbing behavior going on in this family. And yet, Moselle’s film is one of warmth and hope. You can tell she only wants the best for the Angulo brothers, and considering their young ages, that’s a good thing.

Not Another Happy Ending  Premieres Sunday 28^th August, 8.30pm

If you’re in the mood for a lighthearted Scottish rom-com then Not Another Happy Ending might just do the trick. A wonderful advertisement for Glasgow, the film flits from stylish shopping districts and offices, to cool apartments and lovely parks. Distracting us from all that Glasgow has to offer is the film’s leading lady, the charming Karen Gillan (Doctor Who, Guardians of the Galaxy).

Gillan plays Jane Lockhart, a writer whose first book (inspired by paternal abandonment) has turned her into an award-winning, best-selling author. But all this success has made her happy, and the one thing Jane can’t do when she’s happy, is write. Desperate to leave her publisher, with whom she had a falling out but is clearly attracted to, Jane tries all sorts of ways to get the creative juices flowing, but still the words fail to come.

Even her hard-up publisher Tom (French actor Stanley Weber) gets in on the act, doing everything he can to make Jane miserable. It makes for a quirky, colorful and upbeat rom-com, albeit one that wears its heart on its sleeve. The script needs tightening up and subplots seem to fade away without coming to anything, but Gillan manages to hold the show together with her klutziness and charisma.