“Raw”
Director: Julia Ducournau
Cast: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Naït Oufella, Laurent Lucas, Joana Preiss
Synopsis: A young woman from a vegetarian family goes to veterinary college, where her first sampling of meat gives her a taste for human flesh.
Verdict: Maybe the single best directorial debut we saw in 2016 is one that won’t actually hit theaters until 2017 (and one that famously caused vomiting and fainting during its TIFF screenings) — Julia Ducournau’s stunning coming-of-age drama “Raw.” Placing in the Top 3 on Oli’s year-end list and winning comparisons to Dario Argento, Brian De Palma and David Lynch in our review from Cannes, it’s a bloody look at sexual awakening and hidden secrets that “shows surprisingly sharp command, and more importantly, restraint, given the subject matter” from its young director, With a “committed” performance from its young star Marillier, and an “uncompromising vision,” it’s likely to be one of the more unforgettable cinema experiences you have in the next twelve months.
Our Review: A- from Jordan Ruimy at Cannes
Release Date: March 10th, courtesy of Focus World.
“Risk”
Director: Laura Poitras (“Citizenfour”)
Cast: Julian Assange
Synopsis: Documentary following Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the Arab Spring through his self-imposed exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London
Verdict: After winning the Oscar for her Edward Snowden doc “Citizenfour,” the great Laura Poitras returned at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight last year with a look at another controversial — indeed, much more controversial — whistleblower, in the shape of Julian Assange, with unprecedented access to the platinum-haired Australian provocateur. And per our man from the Croisette, “Poitras has done it again,” with a film that paints a picture of Assange and his collaborators “with vital and endearingly humane brushstrokes.” If anything, given the Wikileaks, uh, contributions to the U.S. election, it’s only become more divisive since it premiered, so we’re sure enormous debate will follow once it finally opens.
Our Review: Nik’s B grade review from Cannes
Release Date: Curiously, this still doesn’t appear to have a U.S. distributor — perhaps the ever-moving nature of its story, including allegations of sexual assault against a second of the film’s subjects, Jacob Applebaum, means that Poitras has been revising it. But we expect this to surface at some point this year.
“The Salesman”
Director: Asghar Farhadi (“A Separation”)
Cast: Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti, Babak Karimi
Synopsis: A young couple in Tehran move to a new apartment, but the life of the previous occupant causes terrible consequences for them.
Verdict: When we said in our review from Cannes (where the film won Best Actor and Best Screenplay) that Asghar Farhadi’s “The Salesman” doesn’t quite hit “the greatness, and the engulfing universality of his best work,” it should be noted that Farhadi’s best work is among the very best films of the 21st century, and second-tier Farhadi is still more than worth the price of admission. Set against a production of Arthur Miller’s “Death Of A Salesman” in which the central married couple are appearing together, and with hints of the revenge thriller to the meticulous drama that the director usually puts together, it again sees the helmer examine the fractures in relationships and the role of women in Iran with compassion and generosity. And even if its lessons are “a little more remote than the blazing immediacy of his best work,” it’s still a film of “intense pleasure” in its director’s “thrilling storytelling.”
Our Review: Jess fell between a B and a B+ at Cannes
Release Date: Rolling out from January 27th
“Sieranevada”
Director: Cristi Puiu (“The Death Of Mr. Lazarescu”)
Cast: Judith State, Rolando Matsangos, Simona Ghita, Marin Grigore, Ilona Brezoianu
Synopsis: A Romanian family reunite to mark the death of the family patriarch.
Verdict: The second of two films that saw the returns of masters from the Romanian New Wave movement at Cannes last year, “Sieranevada” brought back the great Cristi Puiu with his first feature since 2010’s “Aurora” (and only his second since 2005’s amazing “The Death Of Mr. Lazarescu”). Our review said that it’s “a wild ride despite being set for the majority of its near-three hour runtime in a tiny, cramped apartment,” with an almost Altman-esque juggling of characters and storylines that “becomes by turns pit-of-stomach-sad, flight-of-fancy-funny and pin-in-heart moving, and never less than wincingly true in its deadpan acknowledgement of the beautiful absurdity of family life.” Sold!
Our Review: Jess gave it an A- at Cannes
Release Date: No U.S. distributor yet, shockingly.
“The Son Of Joseph”
Director: Eugène Green (“La Sapienza”)
Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Victor Ezenfis, Natacha Régnier, Fabrizio Rongione, Maria de Madeiros
Synopsis: A teenage boy tries to find his father, but on finding out it’s a wealthy publisher, tries to form a bond with the man’s brother instead.
Verdict: The idea of a film, stuffed with Biblical symbolism, from the baroque, formalist American-born French-based director Eugène Green doesn’t sound like much fun. But his latest, “The Son Of Joseph,” turns out to be exactly that — fun — and it’s likely to be one of the year’s earliest arthouse treats. The director’s “most accomplished and surprising film to date, boasting his trademark thoughtfulness and precision, yet also being almost puppyishly easy to love,” it trades in references of a dizzyingly highbrow nature, but with a light, playful nature that makes it enjoyable but also nourishing. The result is something that feels “so genuine, generous and joyful,” and is more than worth a trip to your local arthouse in a few weeks.
Our Review: Jess split the difference between a B+ and an A- at Berlin last year.
Release Date: January 13th