If Only I Could Hibernate was chosen by members last season, but it was withdrawn by the distributors; it is now available! It was the first Mongolian film to be shown at Cannes Film Festival. It follows the daily life of Ulzii, a young 15-year-old boy, who is torn between personal ambition and family loyalty.
"Brings an earthy, lived-in authenticity to a premise that, in other hands, could feel like a piece of ethnographic voyeurism." - Wendy Ide, Observer
"Detective Ma Zhe wanders through the frames of Wei Shujun's period noir Only the River Flows, smoking cigarettes like carbon monoxide is actually his oxygen, almost always bedecked in his leather coat. These are the trademark symbols of a weary cop who has worked too long and seen too much" - Andy Crump, Paste Magazine.
"Fittingly, as pure cinema, Only The River Flows is a knockout: eerie and dreamlike" - Danny Leigh, Financial Times
"One of the best movies of this or any other year."- Bilge Ebiri New York, Magazine/Vulture
"There isn’t a boring frame in the film." - Josh Larsen, LarsenOnFilm
"It would be a waste to see About Dry Grasses anywhere other than on the largest screen, in the darkest cinema. It not only repays the time, it makes a change of pace nothing less than a moral recalibration." - David Sexton, New Statesman
This thriller-cum-political drama takes place in the Green Border - the space between Belarus and Poland where hopeful refugees wait the next stage of their journey into Europe…
"'Green Border' strikes me as the best and most important film to be released in the U.S. so far this year." - Godfrey Cheshire, RogerEbert.com
"Brought to life by an electrifying cast fronted by Derbez and an ensemble of young actors already at the top of their game, while 'Radical' might feel like familiar territory, it is energized with so much heart and compassion that it feels almost impossible not to fall for its myriad charms." - Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, AWFJ
The Outrun starts in London where we meet Rona who is spiralling to the bottom of her alcoholic life, pushing her loving partner Daynin away on her way downwards. She decides to run for cover to the place of her youth, Orkney. Not out of the woods yet - her family there cause her more heartaches - but she gradually finds peace and tranquility in the remote and windswept Scottish Islands
Rona is played by Saoirse Ronan in another potentially award winning performance:
"When it comes to disappearing into emotionally and physically demanding roles, there are a few actors out there as gifted and committed" - Tomris Laffly, Harper's Bazaar.
Another Members' Choice this week with La Chimera. Josh O'Connor, who can do no wrong, stars in 'his best performance to date'; Alice Rohrwacher directs her 'best film to date'. How good can it get? The critics loved it.
"Not just great, but expansive: it shows new ways a movie can be." - Esmé Holden, Little White Lies
In Hounds local mobster Dib's prized dog loses a fight, so he gets a couple of cheap goons , Hassan and Issam, to kidnap his rival. What could possibly go wrong? Just about everything as it turns out. We follow Hassan and Issam in almost real time through the surroundings of Casablanca as they try to recover from their initial mistake, only to get into more and more problems...
"A tense journey through the underbelly of Morocco’s largest city where a father and son walk a knife edge between life and death, right and wrong, reality and a spirit netherworld." - Lee Marshall, Screen International
"A very watchable, offbeat slice of period drama." - Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter
"If you enjoy films that explain it all for you, then let me do you a kindness and say that 'Kinds of Kindness' is not for you. But if you like the kind of challenge that exasperates as often as it entertains, then this mesmerizing mindbender is just the provocation you need. It's your choice" -Peter Travers, ABC News.
"There's a real sense of fury behind this film... The problem at its core is systemic but [director] Jung makes a strong case to the effect that it must be addressed with the same vigour as one would expect if individuals were causing equivalent harm. Sohee is broken to the point where she cannot see any hope. Oh likewise makes some bleak discoveries, but her attitude – as someone older with a stronger sense of possibility – is very different. Next Sohee speaks for people who do not have a voice, and it does so eloquently". Jennie Kermode, Eye For Film
“A disconcertingly beautiful picture about the ugliness of humanity.” - Wendy Ide, The Observer
