Moonlight (2016)
Genre: Drama
Certification: 15
Duration: 111 minutes
Directed by: Barry Jenkins
Starring: Mahershala Ali, Shariff Earp, Duan Sanderson, Janelle Monáe, Naomie Harris, Trevante Rhodes, Alex R. Hibbert, André Holland
KRS Releasing Ltd
The winner of the best picture Oscar at the 2017 Academy Awards hits local cinemas.
The coming-of-age drama is based on an unpublished semi-autobiographical play entitled In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney, who co-writes the film’s screenplay together with director Barry Jenkins.
The film presents three stages in the life of the troubled main character – a young man named Chiron. As a boy, he is taken under the wing of a local drugdealer; as a teenager, he falls in love with his best friend; and as an adult, he must resolve his inner identity with his hardened exterior. Three different actors play the part of Chiron and his best friend Kevin, and Jenkins made sure the actors did not meet each other until after filming to avoid imitations of one another. Visually, the three chapters were also designed to imitate different film stocks. This technique, together with the storyline, certainly paid off.
Moonlight became the first film with an all-black cast and the first LGBT film to win the best picture award. Mahershala Ali, who plays the role of a drugdealer, won best supporting actor. The film also won the best adapted screen-play Oscar.
Dan Jolin of Empire called Moonlight “a genre-defying film”. He wrote: “Its visual splendour belies its tough, surface-level subject matter, while the performances pull us deep below that surface with their soulful naturalism.”
David Sims of The Atlantic said: “Barry Jenkins’s new film somehow manages to feel grand and intricate in the same moment, weaving random memories and crucial life experiences into a gripping tapestry.”
And S. Jhoanna Robledo of Common Sense Media continued: “It’s difficult to distil the power, grace and grit that make this film so unforgettable.”
The low-budget film, released last October, has so far grossed $25 million internationally.
Ratings
IMDB: 7.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Empire : 5 stars
Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson are unaware they are treading on King Kong’s home in Kong: Skull Island.Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Genre: Adventure
Certification: 12A
Duration: 118 minutes
Directed by: Dan Gilroy
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly, John Goodman
KRS Releasing Ltd
King Kong has been an icon of cinema ever since the gorilla stormed into the frame in 1933.
Eighty-four years later, the figure that dislocates reptilian jaws, slurps up the tentacles of octopuses and viciously attacks anyone who steps on to his land, lives on, as the producers of Godzilla transport audiences to its mysterious and dangerous home.
The reboot follows a diverse team of explorers who are brought together to venture deep into an uncharted island in the Pacific, which is as beautiful as it is treacherous, unaware that they are crossing into the domain of the mythic Kong.
The action adventure stars Tom Hiddleston as a disillusioned former British Special Air Service Captain who is hired as a hunter tracker; Samuel L. Jackson as a US Army Lieutenant Colonel who leads the group of explorers; and Brie Larson as a war photojournalist and peace activist. John C. Reilly plays a World War II lieutenant who spent 28 years stranded on Skull Island.
In most respects, critics found the film enjoyable and entertaining but nonetheless flawed. In fact, the critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads: “Offering exhilarating eye candy, solid acting, and a fast-paced story, Kong: Skull Island earns its spot in the movie monster’s mythos without ever matching up to the classic original.”
Despite this, the remake is considered to be better than previous attempts.
As Variety’s Owen Gleirberman said: “In its jungle-stranded B-movie way, Kong: Skull Island may come closer in spirit to the wide-eyed amazement of the original than either of those remakes.”
The film, made on a production budget of $190 million, is being released internationally this week.
Ratings
IMDB: 8.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 81%
Empire: 3 stars
Hugh Bonneville and Gillian Anderson rule over India in Viceroy’s House.Viceroy’s House (2017)
Genre: Drama
Certification: 12A
Duration: 106 minutes
Directed by: Gurinder Chadha
Starring: Gillian Anderson, Michael Gambon, Om Puri, Hugh Bonneville, Simon Callow, Manish Dayal
KRS Releasing Ltd
Viceroy’s House in Delhi was the home of the British rulers of India. After 300 years, that rule was coming to an end.
For six months in 1947, Lord Mountbatten (Hugh Boneville), great grandson of Queen Victoria, assumed the post of the last Viceroy, charged with handing India back to its people. The film’s story unfolds within that great house.
Upstairs lived Mountbatten together with his wife (Gillian Anderson) and daughter; downstairs lived their 500 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh servants. As the political elite converged on the House to wrangle over the birth of independent India, conflict erupted.
A decision was thus taken to divide the country and create a new Muslim homeland: Pakistan.
Mark Kermode of The Guardian refers to the film by Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham, Bride and Prejudice) as a “lavish yet heartfelt account of the household caught in the middle of India’s partition”.
Ian Freer of Empire also calls it a heartfelt film but says that it “delivers a mixed-bag of broadly sketched politics, powerful historical footage and an under-cooked romance”.
The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February.
Ratings
IMDB: 8.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 72%
Empire: 3 stars