30th Jan2021

The Exception (Film)

by timbaros

TheException_7_KataVermesFour women work together in a library dedicated to genocide, but when a couple of them start to receive deaththreats, the work situations tense, almost explosive, in the new psychological thriller ‘ The Exception.’

Iben (Danica Curcic) and Malene (Amanda Colin) sit right across each other at the library, and are best friends in and out of work. They both receive a death threat in an email and initially suspect a war crime criminal who is still alive – one that may or may not have a close connection to one of the employees. Meanwhile Anne-Lise (Sidse Babett Knudsen), a new employees, doesn’t quite fit in with the other women and believes they are constantly talking about her and making fun of her behind her back. She seems to be a bit on the paranoid side, but with a loving husband, a young son, and a beautiful home, she seems to have it all. Another one of the other woman, Camilla (Lene Maria Christensen) maintains a low profile, but she too is not what she appears to be. The tension builds within the office, and suspicions continue as to who could’ve sent the email, but when bullying complaints are made to the manager, the tension between the woman escalates, and they slowly start looking at each other and suspect it could actually be one of them who is the culprit.

‘The Exception’ will released across all major UK Digital Platforms on 22nd January including iTunes, AppleTV, Sky Store, Google Play, Amazon, Virgin, Curzon Home Cinema & Chili (& BT on rental only from 1st Feb
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30th Jan2021

Breaking Fast (Film)

by timbaros

Breaking Fast 02Mr. right is practically knocking on Mo’s door in the lightweight romantic comedy ‘Breaking Fast.’

Mo (Haaz Sleiman) is a doctor who lives a Muslim lifestyle in West Hollywood. After a heartbreaking breakup, Mo is learning to navigate life as a single man, luckily with the support of his overbearing but very protective mother (Ruja Gardenier). Then enter Kal. Kal (an excellent Michael Cassidy), a very goodlooking and an All-American guy surprises Mo by offering to break fast with him during the holy month of Ramadan. As they learn more about each other, they fall in love over what they have in common and, what they don’t. But Kal has lots of family issues, and Mo wants to keep his life simple, letting his campy best friend friend Sam (Amin El Gamal) hijack his social life. But Mr. right is right in front of Mo’s face, will Mo ever realize it?

‘Breaking Fast’ was a short film of the same name from writer/director Mike Mosallam. This full length feature was released on VOD/Digital on January 22nd, 2021.

Written & Directed By: Mike Mosallam
Story By: Mike Mosallam & Seth Hauer
Produced By: Seth Hauer, Sarah Bazzi, Bay Dariz, Alex Lampsos, Davin Michaels
Starring: Haaz Sleiman, Michael Cassidy, Amin El Gamal, Patrick Sabongui, Christopher J. Hanke, Rula Gardenier, Veronica Cartwright, Aline Elasmar
Rating: Not Rated
Run Time: 92 mins

 

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07th Jan2021

The Blackout: Invasion Earth (Film )

by timbaros
Image 05-01-2021 at 18.35
A top recon team step in when an alien invasion shuts down the planet, in The Blackout: Invasion Earth, now on Blu-Ray, DVD and digital platforms (see below).
Imagine Chernobyl crossed with Battle: Los Angeles, with a touch of Predator, in this Russian sci-fi blockbuster that sees a future world teetering on oblivion. 
 
When the end comes for civilization, it will not be terrorism or nuclear war that causes it, but ‘The Blackout’. An unexplained phenomenon has struck the Earth. Contact between most towns on Earth has been severed. A small area in Eastern Europe is the only location that still has electricity. 
As military forces venture outside, they discover a shocking truth – corpses everywhere. In stores, in cars, on roads, in hospitals and railway stations. Who or what is destroying all life on Earth? And how long can the last outpost of mankind endure? It’s up to a crack squad of troops to investigate, venturing into a no-man’s land to confront the threat, whatever it might be – and exterminate it at all costs!
 
Featuring hi-tech effects, heavy-duty military equipment, bloody bear attacks and a suicide mission to end them all, The Blackout: Invasion Earth is a thrilling and chilling, action-packed epic that sees the fate of humanity resting in the hands of a group of heavily armoured, but massively overmatched soldiers (headed by Aleksey Cahdov, star of Nightwatch), and a lone female journalist. This is two hours of doom and destruction, intense firefights and mind-control mayhem – and a strange, leather-clad figure called Id, who holds the key to the blackout.
The Blackout: Invasion Earth will make you hold your breath from beginning to end. A Russian-made film but dubbed in English, it looks like it was very expensive film to make.The Blackout: Invasion Earth has amazing special effects the likes of which have not been seen in a very long time. Action-packed, riveting and definitely well worth a watch!
 
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12th Dec2020

Patrick (Film)

by timbaros
122215407_669965360613345_2529482755345637630_o-c226bc41Patrick has lost his hammer, and he’s also lost his clothes!
You see Patrick (Kevin Jannsens), in the new film simply called ‘Patrick,’ works at a nudist camp deep in the woods in a remote area in Belgium. It’s a nudist camp his father owns, and where, along with his mother, all share a home in the camp. His mother is blind and his father is getting a bit too old to run the camp. Then one day Patrick notices that one of his hammers is gone, so he spends the entire film in search of his hammer (yes, literally a hammer). Patrick goes from tent to tent in the hopes of finding his hammer – he so obsessed about it that when his father suddenly dies, Patrick still has only one thing on his mind  – yes you guessed it –  to find his hammer.
The nudist camp is full of cast of characters, all naked all the time. After a bit, the nudity becomes a bit unnoticeable and the storyline gets quirkier and quirkier, including when a famous American musician takes up a spot in the camp who perhaps knows a thing to two about the hammer. Also about to be revealed is a secret his father had, and his mothers knowledge about the secret. But Patrick is oblivious to the whole thing – he just wants his hammer back. From Peak Blinders director Tim Mielants, ‘Patrick is quirky, a bit funny, and definitely different.
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06th Dec2020

Ghosts of the Republique (Film)

by timbaros

376A newly married French gay couple journey to America to find a surrogate in the moving documentary ‘Ghosts of the Republique.’

It was love at first sight for Aurelien and Nicolas when they meet at a gay club in Paris. They wind up getting married and such begins the film and their journey. It’s 2014 and estate agent Nicolas and flight attendant Aurelien make a perfect couple, while both their parents have accepted the fact that their gay sons would never be parents. Even Nicolas’s mother is happy to
now have two sons but upset that she’ll never be happy as she’ll never have a grandchild. However, Aurelien and Nicolas do want to have a child, but they face serious obstacles – the most difficult one being that the French government does not allow surrogacy. It’s a government that passed same-sex marriage in 2013 but is not quite progressive enough. Aurelien and Nicolas are so determined to be parents that they fly to Las Vegas to start a family of their own through international surrogacy. They search high and low for an egg donor and also a surrogate to carry the egg to produce a child. They interview several local women, make decisions, and proceed with the process. It’s a process that’s complex, full of loopholes and uncertainty, and where every step has to go perfect and according to plan. Getting their non-French born baby back into France and establishing French citizenship is another hurdle to tackle. We go through the highs and the lows with Aurelien and Nicolas in the documentary – it’s an emotional ride made bearable by the charming couple who desperately want a baby, and we see them travel back and forth from France to the U.S. several timesTo check in their baby mama. ‘Ghosts of the Republique,’ directed by American Jonathon Narducci, provides us much joy and drama in this sweet and touching story of Aurelien and Nicolas. 

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06th Dec2020

County Lines (Film)

by timbaros
8. Conrad Khan as Tyler in COUNTY LINES poster image (dir. Henry Blake) Courtesy BFI copyHenry Blake, in his debut as director and writer, gives us an intimate and moving portrait of a young man groomed into the drug trade.
In ‘County Lines,’ we meet Tyler (Conrad Khan), who lives at home with his single mother Toni (a very good Ashley Madekwe) and his little sister Briony (Shauna Sim). Tyler is a disaffected youth in east London, and at 14 is the man of the house. His mother has a hard time making ends meet, and also has a hard time getting Tyler to open up. Tyler is just going through the motions at school, couldn’t care either way about it, nor about the men his mom brings home. But one day he meets the good-looking and sharp dressed Simon (Harris Dickinson). Simon offers Tyler the opportunity to make money, money much needed in his cash strapped home to pay the bills. Soon enough, Tyler gets sucked into the world of drug running – delivering drugs and collecting money – but it all comes at a risk, not just from the authorities but from other dealers in the business as well. But Tyler gets in way too deep, but will the new trainers and extra money be worth the risk?
Khan is just about perfect as the young man who wants to do right by his family and takes an opportunity he sees as a too good to be true. Khan, a veteran of many films, including The Huntsman and The Passenger, has an amazingly expressive face. Madekwe also just about perfect as his struggling mom, while Dickinson (Beach Rats) is good as always. Director Blake pulls us into Tyler’s bleak world from the start – it’s an amazing debut from Blake – who originally created this film as a short – winning Best British Short Film Award at the London Short Film Festival last year.
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29th Nov2020

Dedalus (Film)

by timbaros

DedalusSelect3-copy-2cee7b06‘Dedalus’ is a fictional triptych portraying community, love, and loss.

It’s a film that deals with homosexuality and age, with three very different storylines. And while one of them is a bit confusing, it’s a very good piece of work by a first-time director.

 
A goodlooking young man (newcomer Alexander Horner, a natural) is a bit lost in life, always struggling to make ends meet, going from couch to couch. But he knows what he likes – he enjoys the ‘company’ of older men. He also needs food and shelter during a cold winter in New York City. He is also sexually attracted to older men. And even though a young woman takes him in, nothing satiates his quest for love then older gay client. He meets a succession of them, most of them wealthy, and lonely. They all, of course, take a fancy to him. But he falls for an anxious lawyer  (Thomas Jay Ryan) and can foresee a relationship with him, but the lawyer has other things in mind. This second of the three stories in this film is the most hard-hitting and unforgettable.
 
Directed by Jonah Greenstein, an independent filmmaker, the other two stories deal with a fathers mortality which compels him to leave his home in Los Angeles and move in with his daughter, and the other story takes place in rural Iowa, a grocery cashier watches helplessly as classmates conceal their act of sexual violence against his teenaged step-sister. 
 
All gorgeously directed by Jonah Greenstein, an independent filmmaker. He’s worked with some big names (Rami Malek, Michelle Wiiliams, documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras), but it’s this debut, which laces loneliness. beauty and mystery, to create a film that is both startling and memorable.
 

Now on on Streaming Platforms including Apple TV, Amazon Prime, OVID.tv & Kanopy

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22nd Nov2020

The Nest (Film)

by timbaros
A marriage is on the verge of collapse in the new film ’The Nest.’THE+NEST+STILL+5
Set in 1986, in an era before mobile phones, ’The Nest’ follows young couple Rory (Jude Law) and his beautiful wife Alison (Carrie Coon) in their move from suburban America to Surrey. Rory, a cocky businessman, takes up a new role in a small firm in the City of London, so he has uprooted his family (which includes a teenage daughter and a younger son) to live in the sticks – Surrey that is – where he has rented a mansion in the middle of nowhere (and paid the rent upfront for a year). Rory has big dreams for him and his family, he also has a big mouth and exaggerates all the time. Having grown up in England, he has outgrown his birth family and hasn’t spoken to them in years. But his ego, and big head, get the better of him, and a deal that he assures Alison will yield a big pay check is not forthcoming. Alison, meanwhile is happy at home tending to her horse and their two children. But who knows what Rory has up his sleeve next, and when he asks her to borrow money from Alison she knows something is terribly wrong with their finances. And so do we. Their marriage starts to unravel, as does Rory’s career, and it all comes crashing down one night where the tension and drama explode like a runaway train.
1986 was two years before the Wall Street crash, and in ’The Nest’ we see how bankers assumed it was easy to make a lot of money in banking. But the crash instead collapsed dreams and expectations – and that being very wealthy would not transpire for many. Law is just about perfect as a man who has visions of grandeur, while Coon (A Gillian Anderson lookalike who has starred in ‘Gone Girl’ and the television show ‘Fargo’) matches Law scene-by-scene. And while the finale might scratch a few heads (why does Alison try to dig up her dead horse from it’s grave?), ‘The Nest’ is a very well-acted and gripping film.
’The Nest’ is now available on VOD.
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22nd Nov2020

Bare (Film)

by timbaros

BARE_still04Dozens of men audition for a dance project, the catch is that it will involve not wearing any clothes.

In the new documentary film ‘Bare,’ these men are whittled down to eleven who rehearse and perform the premiere of Belgian choreographer Thierry Smit’s new dance piece ‘Anima Ardens.’ Director Aleksandr M. Vinogradov’s captures the auditions, and rehearsals, in this documentary that is both revealing, sexy and fun. Filmed in Brussels, the men, all presumably professional dancers, jump at the chance of working with Smits, a well-known choreographer who set up his own company in 1990, and who has created over 30 dance performances. His dance pieces are contemporary, with fusions of pop, queer and often provocative aesthetics included.
The eleven men have no problem getting naked. One, during the early stages of the audition, raises the question as to why the camera is in the room. The explanation is that a documentary will be made about this process answers the question, and the show goes on. However we really don’t get to know any of the dancers individually, and Smits, front and centre, also remains an enigma. But combining Smits with the dancers in their daily struggle to get the dance moves correct, with Smits not quite knowing exactly what he is looking for, brings mystery and drama into play. All the dancers are very sexy, of course especially when naked, but after a bit the nudity becomes almost invisible (but not quite) and it’s the performance piece they are rehearsing that takes center stage, because it’s unconventional. All the dancers appear to be very comfortable with each other, and near the end they are all very playful in the showers as they clean up after a day of rehearsal. And ‘Bare’ cleverly ends as the first performance of ‘Anima Ardens’ begins. Lucky for us, just a quick Google search will lead you to see the actual dance piece in its entirety. ‘Bare’ is indeed bare; it’s sexy, raw and in your face.
 
‘Bare’ held it world premier at Hot Docs and has also been featured at Cinema Diverse, Doc NYC and DocEdge. Look for it hopefully at UK film festivals in 2021.
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17th Nov2020

Dating Amber (Film)

by timbaros
DATING AMBER-12Fionn O’Shea and Lola Petticrew are just about perfect as a young couple who pretend to fall in love in1995 Ireland in the new film ‘Dating Amber.’
 
But they are not an actual couple. You see Eddie (O’Shea) is Gay (though he won’t admit it), and Amber (Petticrew) is a Lesbian, and both are on the cusp of finishing their last year of high school. Amber, who lives with her widowed mother in a trailer park, has dreams of moving to London after she graduates. Eddie, meanwhile, plans to go into the military to follow in his father’s footsteps. But to survive their final year at school, and to ward off name calling and bullying from their fellow students, they decide to pretend to be a couple (this is after a failed attempt on Eddies part to woo a blond girl, though he fails to grab her boob during a groping session). Eddie and Amber go through their charade and actually make a perfect couple; Eddie is shy, very cute and adorable, while Amber is aggressive, knows what she wants, and has all the best lines. However, after a night out to a gay bar in Dublin where Amber meets someone, and Eddie still not quite ready to accept that he’s gay, the pressure is on for him to take charge of his life, to appease his father (Barry Ward) and very understanding and knowing mother (Sharon Horgan), alongside his know-it-all younger brother (Evan O’Connor). 
 
This coming-of-age comedy is a poignant, honest and funny look at the highs and lows of teenage life, while growing up in a conservative environment where young people who are different don’t seem to fit in. Both leads are just absolutely perfect, the feel of mid-90’s Ireland comes through the screen, and the funny script make ‘Dating Amber’ the one of best romantic comedy and growing up films of the year.
 
Now available on Demand and Digital
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12th Nov2020

Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (Film)

by timbaros

oliver-sacks-slide-2-updatedThe late Oliver Sacks was a very fascinating man. Learn more about him in the upcoming documentary ‘Oliver Sacks: His Own Life.’

Sacks was not just a scientist and neurologist, he also wrote dozens and dozens of books including best sellers, was a master in his field, greatly respected, became a celebrity later in life, and he was also gay.

Sacks grew up in an upper middle class family in Cricklewood, London. Both his parents were doctors – so it was almost a natural that he’d be a doctor. But it wasn’t until his older brother Michael was diagnosed schizophrenic, an illness that affected the whole family but Oliver more so, that Sacks future was sealed. Going to medical school in Oxford, then to America where he took up residency in San Francisco is when his true self came out – a man with a motorbike dressed in head to toe leather. But while he was taking care of patients with severe neurological issues (stunning footage shows him with patients with neurological diseases and oddities) – Sacks never really found love or romance. His mother vehemently objected to his homosexuality but she also turned into a champion of his while he spent a summer writing a book at his childhood home. But her death affected him greatly, and after he turned 40 he remained celibate for the next 35 years.

Quite a bit of footage of Sacks is of him in his West Village apartment surrounded by staff, friends, etc. His personality comes through in these moments like a bright red sunset – with his charming laugh, unique British accent and sparkle in his eye that will win you over. He won Bill Hayes over – at age 75 Sacks and Hayes (20 years younger) remained together until Sacks death in 2015 at the age of 83. It’s a happy relationship to the end of an amazing life led by a man who changed medical science and at the same time opened our eyes to it. Director Ric Burns really captures the life and times of Sacks, especially of his final years of being with Hayes.

Now playing on https://filmforum.org/virtual-cinema/ and https://kinomarquee.com

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01st Nov2020

Summer of ’85 (Film)

by timbaros

ETE_85_Photo_3©2020_MANDARIN PRODUCTION_FOZ_France 2 CINEMA_PLAYTIME PRODUCTION_SCOPE PICTURES copyRemember your first romance? It probably took place during the summer. The new film ’Summer of ’85’ beautifully tells the story of one young man who experiences his first romance – in the summer of 1985.

The opening song ‘In Between Days’ by The Cure sets the era for the film (yes, you know it if you were around then). ‘Summer of 85’ is set in a Normandy, France, seaside town where Alexis Robin (a memorable Félix Lefebvre) lives with his parents and is in the gap period between school and college. Alexis enjoys being the near the water, so much so that one day he takes a small boat out to sea but gets caught in a storm. He is rescued by the all too dashing Benjamin Voisin (David Gorman). Benjamin makes sure Félix is fine and takes him to his home to take care of him, where his mom (a very good Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) undresses Félix for a hot bath, and admires his manhood). This leads to a quick relationship where Alexis has his first real crush (and love) with Benjamin. But it’s all too fast and furious, and when Benjamin’s mom (who was recently widowed) asks Félix to work in their nautical shop full time, it’s might be too much too soon for the perfect pair. And when Brit Kate (Philippine Velge) enters the picture the boys relationship is put to the test. Will it pass or fail? And then an unseen tragedy, typical in French films, dramatically changes the tone of the film.
 
Directed and co-written by the master François Ozon – the creator of so many great and memorable films (recent films include ‘By the Grace of God’ and ‘L’Amant Double’) scores another winner here with a superb choice of actors, location, and songs (’Sailing’ by Rod Steward and Bananarama’s ‘Cruel Summer’ tells the story in their titles). Though the film goes a bit off the charts by having Félix dress up as a young woman in one silly scene (reminiscent of ’The New Girlfriend’), ’Summer of ’85’ is still a very memorable and charming film about young love. It’s a film that will take you back to your first summer love.
Summer of 85 is in cinemas and on Curzon Home Cinema
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10th Oct2020

I am Woman (Film)

by timbaros
IAW 23-11 Lisa Tomasetti-270 copy 2An Australian singer, with a young daughter in tow, arrives in 1996 New York to make it as a singer. The woman’s name was Helen Reddy.
 
Yes, Helen Reddy the legend who sang such hits as “I Don’t Know How to Love Him”, “Delta Dawn” and “Angie Baby” and the iconic “I am Woman” started her career in NYC as a singer in a bar lounge. Thus begins the story of one of musics greatest superstars in the new film ‘I Am Woman.’
 
Yes, she was sure a woman. And Reddy, who just recently passed away in September in Los Angeles, had it rough when she moved to NYC after winning a singing competition in Australia where the prize was a ticket to NYC and a recording contract. But with a suitcase and only $230 in her pocket, and with no recording contract, she was determined, and desparate,  to make it on her own.

 

Besides hanging out with rock journalist Lillian Roxon (Danielle Macdonald), she also meets Jeff Wald (a fantastic Evan Peters who steals the movie), a young aspiring talent manager who becomes her agent and eventually husband, and he helps her get to the top. After their move to Los Angeles, Reddy’s singing career began, and continued to hit new peaks, where she became the first Australian singer to top the U.S. charts, and even winning a Grammy award in 1973. But Wald had a cocaine habit, which eventually got worse and worse, and with Reddy not home a lot due to a Las Vegas singing residency, and with a new son to take care of, their relationship started to crumble, and eventually ended when Reddy found out Wald had made bad investments with her money. 
 

However, ‘I am Woman’ is the story of a woman, against all adversity, who was determined to make her dream come true. Reddy not only became the most successful female recording artist of her time, but she also broke stereotypes and led the way during the most crucial period of the women’s liberation movement. And she became a role model for what all women could achieve.

 
It’s an incredible story, made all the more real by director Unjoo Moon, who has very little experience in the directing world, and by Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who effectively plays Reddy, but unfortunately it’s not an award winning performance. It’s Peters performance who steals the film as her husband. But it’s also Reddy’s life and legacy that will most stick with you. What she had to do and what she accomplished, in a time when women’s rights were just a passing hope, and how perhaps her message through song and her voice really did help propel the feminist movement in helping to pass the equal rights bills across America.  

IN CINEMAS AND ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS FRIDAY 9TH OCTOBER
Review by Tim Baros
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10th Oct2020

LGBT Films at the BFI London Film Festival 2020 (Film)

by timbaros
ammonite-2020-kate-winslet-saiorse-ronan-together-on-beach-medium-close-up-2
LGBT Films at the BFI London Film Festival
 
From 7-18 October 2020 The BFI London Film Festival will be broadcast online and in cinemas at the BFI Southbank, partner London venues and all across the UK. 
All shorts, events and a virtual exhibition of XR and immersive art will be accessible for free online. Here are some of the LGBT film highlights:
Ammomite
A fictionalised account of the life of the 19th century palaeontologist Mary Anning, Kate Winslet plays the pioneering scientist with Saoirse Ronan as the gentlewoman who falls in love with her while staying in Mary’s beloved Lyme Regis. Directed by Fancis Lee (God’n Own Country).
 
Supernova
After twenty years together, Sam and Tusker’s blissful life has been shattered following Tusker’s diagnosis with early onset dementia. Intent on spending as much precious time together as they can, the pair travel across England in their old campervan, visiting loved ones and returning to special places from their past. Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci star in a film directed by Harry Macqueen.
 
Cicada
As introspective bisexual Ben embarks on a new relationship, he is forced to face the traumas of his past in this remarkable debut feature based on personal experiences of the filmmakers.
Kajillionaire
In Miranda July’s assured third feature, Old Dolio (Evan Rachael Wood) and her parents (Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger) are a trio of offbeat, small-time hustlers. Old Dolio’s heart is stirred when she meets Melanie (Gina Rodriguez).
 I am Samuel
Born and raised in rural Kenya, Samuel moves to the capital and falls in love with Alex. This courageous debut feature offers an intimate portrait of a young couple navigating their way in a country where homosexuality is criminalised.
If It Were Love
This Teddy Award winner for Best Documentary at Berlinale 2020 is an intoxicating exploration of love and desire, documenting the production of choreographer Gisèle Vienne’s Crowd, a work exploring the 90s rave scene.
Days
Tsai Ming-Liang’s profound commitment to less is more flourishes in this transfixing work, in which a middle-aged man suffering from chronic pain hires a young male masseur. This film is intentionally without subtitling.
For more information and tickets, please go to: https://www.bfi.org.uk/london-film-festival
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