As spring hits us well and truly, we celebrate nuance and intricacy in film like a breath of fresh air into this season’s cinema. Here’s our pick of the best of April’s releases.
Clouds of Sils Maria
Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart and Chloë Grace Moretz form a trio of powerful performances in this tense, introspective drama by French filmmaker Olivier Assayas. An established actress (Binoche) is confronted with an unsettling reflection of herself when she agrees to take part in a revival of the play that launched her career 20 years earlier.
Hungry Hearts
Spotlighted at Tribeca Film Festival, Hungry Hearts starts off with a touching romantic encounter in New York City but quickly descends into a chilling escalation of a mother’s paranoia and obsession with her child. Adam Driver and Alba Rohrwacher deliver a haunting portrait of the complex nature of motherhood and family bonds.
Alex of Venice
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is Alex, an overworked environmental attorney coming to grips with the realisation that she is not in total control of her life, when her husband takes a break from the family. Chris Messina’s directorial debut is a genuine, nuanced character study with heartwarming performances.
Montage of Heck
A raw and unflinching documentary on Kurt Cobain’s life from childhood to his early death in 1994, Montage of Heck powerfully blends video footage, soundbites and animation into a touching poignant for the man behind the myth. With unseen footage and sound, the film presents an abundance of material while restraining from any judgement.
While We’re Young
Josh and Cornelia (Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts) are a forty-something married couple living in Manhattan who, in a bout of middle-age crisis, gravitate to a young hipster couple (Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried) in an effort to feel younger. Funny and touching, While We’re Young manages to avoid stereotype in its delivery of a considered exploration of what it means to age.
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The suave style and subtle codes of gay San Francisco in the ’70s
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Zine Scene — Conceived by photographer Paul Mpagi Sepuya in the ’00s, the publication’s photos injected vulnerability into gay portraiture, and provided a window into the characters of the Brooklyn arts scene. A new photobook collates work made across its seven issues.
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Joe Bloom’s View From a Bridge
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When David Wojnarowicz became Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud in New York — In 1978, the American artist and his friends donned masks to pay tribute to the French poet, who was born a century before him. Miss Rosen traces the differing yet parallel lives of the queer revolutionaries.
Written by: Miss Rosen
