Five reasons to go to the cinema after Barbenheimer
Passages
Ira Sachs’ (Married Life, Frankie, Love is Strange) latest offering comes in the form of a troubled marriage between Tomas (Franz Ragowski) and Martin (Ben Whishaw) that is tested when the former dives into a impassioned affair with Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). It’s a story about the rocky balances of love, marriage and extramarital romances, and the consequences and casualties certain actions leave behind – all wrapped up in the streets of Paris and promises of Venice.
In cinemas 1 September
Wonka
After reams of TikTok videos showing people waking up all over England (much of Wonka was filmed in Bath, Lyme Regis and Oxford) and looking out their windows to see Timothée Chalamet riding on the back of a cart through cobbled streets, the 27-year-old actor’s depiction of the beloved Roald Dahl character is here. Created by Paul King and Simon Farnaby (Paddington), the film is a bit like a villain origin backstory, except the “villain” is a loveable children’s character who has his own chocolate river and makes bubble gum that tastes like roast beef. But the essences of why Wonka became Wonka are there, what happened to him in his life that turned him to a life of liquorice and, of course, reclusion.
In cinemas 15 December
Past Lives
Sometimes, in fact quite often, you never want to bump into someone you knew when you were younger, at school or later. They were times full of figuring things out, terrible haircuts and worse life choices, with the fashion sense to match the turbulence. But in Celine Song’s directorial debut, the plot centres around the rekindling of a relationship of two once school friends Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), whose friendship was ruptured by separation 24 years ago. Song’s debut has become critically acclaimed globally, also winning the awards for Best Indie, Best Actress and Best Screenplay at the Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Film Awards.
In cinemas 9 September
Killers of the Flower Moon
It may sound a bit like a Nick Drake song, but Martin Scorcese’s latest film behemoth (three hours 26 minutes, to be exact) shines deserved light on real-life, true-crime atrocities in Oklahoma. Co-written with Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, A Star is Born, Dune), Scorcese directs his focus on David Grann’s 2017 book of the same name which spotlights the Osage Nation murders of the 1920s that were committed after the discovery of oil on native American-inhabited land. The $200 million budget film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Brendan Fraser, Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons and many more.
In cinemas 20 October
Lie With Me
Based on the André Aciman backed novel of the same English name (French: Arrête avec tes mensonges, meaning Stop Your Lying) by Phillipe Besson, this French love-tangled drama follows a middle-aged author, Stéphane (Guillaume de Tonquédec) who returns to his hometown for the first time in 35 years to give a speech, although his intentions are different. Directed by Olivier Peyon, the film melds two timelines of both lost love and new found romance, most likely flirting with the same themes of secrecy, guilt and class woven throughout Besson’s bestseller.
In cinemas 18 August
