Through the Snow (Snowpiercer)
The fate of the English-language full-length debut of South Korean director Pon Joon Ho (author of the parasites that thundered in 2019) is, without exaggeration, complicated. Created by the joint efforts of South Korea and the Czech Republic, the film was released in Korean distribution in 2013, however, release in the United States was postponed due to disagreement between the director and head of the distribution company, the notorious producer Harvey Weinstein. The latter did not want to release a directorial version of the film, and June Ho resisted it with all his might. The actors Tilda Swinton and John Hurt took the side of the director. Weinstein surrendered, but gave “Through the Snow” to the small branch of his studio - Radius. As a result, the tape received a limited rental.
The script is based on the graphic novel of the same name by the French Jacques Lobe and Jean-Marc Rochette, which June Ho accidentally stumbled into in a comic book store. The film takes place in the near future, when, due to a chemical disaster on Earth, the Ice Age sets in. The spaces of the planet are plowed by a train in which there are two to three thousand people, distributed among the wagons depending on their social status - rich people travel closer to the locomotive. Once on the train, an uprising begins.
The Lighthouse
One of the current nominees for the Academy Award in the category “Best Operator Work” is the Gothic Noir “Lighthouse” by Robert Eggers, the author of The Witch. The tape was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 as part of the experimental program “Two Weeks of Directors” and received the FIPRESCI Prize.
Newbie ranger Ifraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) arrives on a deserted island in New England. For four weeks, he will learn the skills of a caretaker from an experienced colleague Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) - not the most pleasant type, who is malicious and derogatory to the ward.
Initially, Eggers' brother Max planned to adapt Edgar Allan Poe's unfinished story, The Lighthouse. The output, however, turned out to be a work completely different from Po Lighthouse. Surrealistic elements of the narrative have something in common with the works of Herman Melville and Robert Lewis Stevenson.
Proxima
"Proxima" is the name of a space mission to Mars lasting one year. Throughout the film, astronaut Sarah is preparing for her - the heroine of Eva Green. Sarah will not only have to undergo psychological and physical training, but also prepare herself for parting with her eight-year-old daughter.
This is the third feature film of the French director Alice Vinokur. Green on the set was made by American Matt Dillon, as well as Russian actors Alexei Fateev and Igor Filippov. Most of the filming process took place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
"Special" (Hors normes)
For 20 years, Bruno and Malik have been helping people with autism adapt to life in society. Bruno takes care of single young people, and Malik is engaged in the education and retraining of people from dysfunctional families.
The film - by the way, based on a true story - was directed by the directors Olivier Nakash and Eric Toledano, who presented the movie “1 + 1”. The main roles in the film were played by Vincent Cassel and Reda Kateb. The picture was presented outside the competition program at last year's Cannes Film Festival.
Song of Names
On the day of German invasion of Poland, the father of a Jewish boy, Dovidla, takes the child to London in the hope of leaving his son in the care of a music teacher (Dovidl is a talented violinist). The boy enters the Simmonds family, impressed by his talent. They raise Dowidle as Martin’s own son, also a musician.
12 years later, on the day of the debut on the big stage, Dovidl disappears. Years later, Martin sets off in search of a friend.
The picture was directed by Francois Girard, author of The Red Violin, and the British Clive Owen and Tim Roth played two virtuoso musicians. The script is based on the novel by music critic Norman Lebrecht.
Little Miss Doolittle (Liliane Susewind - Ein tierisches Abenteuer)
In 2003, the German writer Tanya Stüner wrote a story about a red-haired girl named Lilian Suzvind who knows how to talk with animals. The first book about the heroine’s adventures was published in Germany four years later, and in 2017 the director of “Sorvantsov” Joachim Masannek took up the adaptation of the story.
Only her parents know about Lilian’s ability to communicate with animals. Because of her gift, the girl often gets into alterations, but one day the ability of Lilian will help her save the inhabitants of the zoo.
The work of Stüner is homologous to the novels of the English children's writer Hugh Lofting about Dr. Doolittle, therefore the name received an associative version in the Russian translation.
“My beautiful summer with Sophie” (Une fille facile)
The 16-year-old Naima is preparing for the summer holidays when her cousin Sophie arrives to her from Paris, a sexually liberated girl living on the principle of Carpe diem (“live real”), engraved on her tailbone. Naima accepts Sophie's life motto and is drawn into her life.
The sensual drama about the hobbies of girls and the fight against temptations was staged by the author of the painting “Grand Central. Love for atoms ”Rebecca Zlotowski. The original version of the name of the film is “Girl of easy virtue”.
“(NOT) the perfect man”
The company for the distribution of humanoid robots receives a defective copy of the cyborg, played by singer Yegor Creed. The head of the company does not want to take on the financial risks associated with the possible return of the robot by customers, so he decides to return the defective goods to the manufacturers.
However, one of the employees of the company named Sveta (Julia Alexandrova) stands up for the android. The girl decides to buy the perfect man, but soon discovers that she can’t get used to his bug.
Read more about the release in RT.