Evil Does Not Exist - April 5th, cinemas
Writer/director Ryusuke Hamaguchi follows up his Oscar-nominated Drive My Car
with this tale of a rural Japanese village forced to contend with a
corporation's plans to turn the area into a tourist site. Far from the
conventional eco-thriller you might expect of such a premise, Hamaguchi's
film has been compared to an enigmatic piece of poetry in its refusal to
offer a coherent stance on its central issue.
Io Capitano - April 5th, cinemas
Nominated for Best International Feature Film at this year's Academy Awards
was director Matteo Garrone's Io Capitano. The Italian filmmaker's latest film follows two young Senegalese men (Seydou Sarr
and Mustapha Fall) as they make the dangerous journey northwards to
the hope of a new life in Europe.
Yannick - April 5th, MUBI
Prolific French absurdist Quentin Dupieux's latest is a black comedy in which a theatre
heckler (Raphaël Quenard) takes the actors and audience at a Parisian show
hostage. Insisting he could do better, he coerces the cast into performing
a play he conceives on the spot.
Close Your Eyes - April 12th, cinemas
Influential Spanish filmmaker Victor Erice (The Spirit of the Beehive) returns with his first film in over 30 years. An emotionally moving state
of cinema address, Close Your Eyes sees a former filmmaker
drawn back into the mystery of an actor who disappeared during the shooting
of his last film in the 1990s, reviving his passion for cinema in the
process.
The Teachers' Lounge - April 12th, cinemas
As far as cinematic stakes go, those found in this German drama are
relatively low as a teacher's attempt to find the culprit behind a series of
thefts in her school causes trouble for herself. And yet it's as tense and
suspenseful as any high stakes thriller, thanks largely to a remarkable
central performance from Leonie Benesch.
Abigail - April 19th, cinemas
The filmmaking duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and
Tyler Gillett (Ready or Not;
Scream) return with this bloody thriller. The film sees the titular 12-year-old
ballerina Abigail (Alisha Weir) abducted and left in the care of a
group of young criminals. What they don't realise is that Abigail is a
vampire who needs to quench her thirst for blood.
All You Need is Death - April 19th, cinemas
The narrative feature debut of writer/director Paul Duane,
All You Need is Death sees a young couple's travels across
rural Ireland in search of obscure folk songs take a dark turn when they
unleash an ancient evil. The acclaimed thriller is the latest to revive the
folk-horror sub-genre.
Sometimes I Think About Dying - April 19th, cinemas
Director Rachel Lambert expands her 2018 short
Sometimes I Think About Dying to feature length with
Daisy Ridley in the lead role. Ridley plays Fran, an introverted
young woman who dreams of taking her own life. When a new colleague (Dave Merheje) at her drab office displays interest in Fran she begins to come out of
her shell.
Challengers - April 26th, cinemas
Directed by Luca Guadagnino (Bones and All;
Suspiria), Challengers stars Zendaya as Tashi, a tennis coach
whose husband Art (Mike Faist) is a tennis champion having a bad run.
When Art is drawn against Patrick (Josh O'Connor), his former best
friend and his wife's ex-lover, the trio's past creates fresh tension.
That They May Face the Rising Sun - April 26th, cinemas
The best movie we saw on the 2023 film festival circuit was director
Pat Collins' That They May Face the Rising Sun. Adapted from the novel by John McGahern, the film takes place in a
small village in the rural Ireland of the 1980s. There we find Joe and Kate
Ruttledge (Barry Ward and Anna Bederke), a young couple who
have relocated from London, and the various friends and acquaintances that
make up their tight knit community.