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[cinemacento]

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

A brilliant follow-up to the original, we meet an adult Lydia Deetz as an adult with her own teenage daughter and some more ghoulish goings-on. I laughed out-loud and absolutely loved it.

[cinemacento]

Blink Twice

Two young women are invited to a billionaire's island for an isolated, hedonistic escape. Something isn't right though. Fantastic debut from director Zoë Kravitz.

[cinemacento]

Kneecap

Excellent tale of an Irish-language hip-hop group in modern-day Belfast. Fast-paced, provocative and very funny, loved it.

[cinemacento]

A Shrine

An Iranian man attempts to escape the restrictions of his job by setting up a shrine in the mobile home in which he lives. As he visits the pious around Montreal, he starts making a lot of money, but questions how he can live with this lie. Very low budget film, well-made and absorbing.

[cinemacento]

Timestalker

Alice Lowe brings us the brilliant tale of a woman who discovers love, only to die soon after. She is then reincarnated in a later time, with the same characters around her and repeats the process. Great film.

[cinemacento]

Sunlight

Great road trip film, involving a suicidal man and a woman who prefers to remain in a monkey suit. Loved it.

[cinemacento]

3 Women (1977)

A timid woman starts working at a health spa for the elderly and becomes enamoured with her trainer, an talkative and shunned co-worker . The two women have very different personalities and become roommates. Glad I got to see this interesting film, that I had never heard of before.

[cinemacento]

Kinds of Kindness

Three stories starring the same actors as different characters are linked by "RMF", a minor character. Very odd and quite indescribable, I absolutely loved it!

[cinemacento]

Marcia su Roma (The March on Rome)

We were lucky enough to have Mark Cousins for a Q&A after watching this documentary on the rise of Mussolini in 1922 Italy. The film studies how cinema represented these events, in particular the film "A noi", with the director's unique narration describing the events and the wonderful Alba Rohrwacher providing the people's perspective.

[cinemacento]

C’è ancora domani (There’s Still Tomorrow)

An enjoyable watch, considering much of the film focuses on domestic violence. Set in post-war Italy, the film follows the struggles of a family with a dominant male at its head. I thought the characters were a bit too simplistic (you know who is good and who is bad), but there is some interesting direction and I absolutely loved the ending.

[cinemacento]

La Chimera

Excellent tale of a grave robber and his gang as they hunt for ancient goods. Great performance from Josh O'Conner in the central role. This is a dreamlike, magical and really interesting film. Loved it.

[cinemacento]

Monster

A single mother becomes concerned about her son, it appears he is being bullied or maybe bullying at school. The story is told from three perspectives, each challenging the previous versions. Smart and moving, loved it.

[cinemacento]

Dune: Part 2

Continuation of the epic story. Spectacular and gripping big-screen tale of the escape of Paul Atreides and his mother as they enmesh themselves into the desert dwelling tribe and learn their ways. And some big battles and some very big worms!

[cinemacento]

Wicked Little Letters

A woman living with her elderly parents starts to receive wonderfully foul-mouthed letters. The prime suspect is her younger neighbour. Great fun, some language may offend!!

[cinemacento]

American Fiction

An acerbic black writer is well respected in his field, but doesn't sell a lot of books. Fed up with successful trashy "black" fiction, he decides to write an over-the-top novel featuring stereotypical characters as a joke. Of course, this is the book that does well for him. Enjoyed the dry humour and the pains and joys of his family life.

[cinemacento]

The Zone of Interest

Unsettling exploration of family life, while the horrors of Auschwitz are just the other side of the garden wall. Excellent, but a difficult watch.

[cinemacento]

The Holdovers

A much-disliked teacher is forced to remain at a boarding school over the Christmas holidays to look after the students who are not able to return to their families.